The Wave Organ is a sculpture located in San Francisco, California. It was constructed on the shore of San Francisco Bay in May 1986 by the Exploratorium, [1] and more specifically, by installation artist and the Exploratorium artist-in-residence Peter Richards, who conceived and designed the organ, working with stonemason George Gonzales. [2] [3]
The Wave Organ is located at the end of a spit of land extending from the Golden Gate Yacht Club. There is a panoramic view of the city across the narrow channel into the St. Francis and Golden Gate yacht clubs, bounded on the left by the Fort Mason piers and to the right by a towering eucalyptus grove bordering Crissy Field. The park and trail to it are wheelchair accessible, with the trailhead at the Marina Green park. [4]
Through a series of pipes, the Wave Organ interacts with the waves of the bay and conveys their sound to listeners at several different stations. The effects produced vary depending on the level of the tide but include rumbles, gurgles, sloshes, hisses, and other more typical wave sounds. The sound is best heard at high tide. [5] The structure incorporates stone platforms and benches where visitors may sit near the mouths of pipes, listening. [6] The stone pieces used in its construction were salvaged from the demolition of the Laurel Hill Cemetery in San Francisco.
The Wave Organ includes 25 PVC organ pipes and is dedicated to Frank Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was the founding director of the Exploratorium, led the fundraising efforts for the Wave Organ, and died seven months before construction started.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) is a San Francisco, California, U.S. based yacht club founded in 1939.
Frank Friedman Oppenheimer was an American particle physicist, cattle rancher, professor of physics at the University of Colorado, and the founder of the Exploratorium in San Francisco.
The Sea organ is an architectural sound art object located in Zadar, Croatia and an experimental musical instrument, which plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps.
Fort Mason, in San Francisco, California originated as a coastal defense site during the American Civil War. The nucleus of the property was owned by John C. Frémont and disputes over compensation by the United States continued into 1968. In 1882 the defenses were named for Richard Barnes Mason, a military governor before statehood. Fort Mason became the headquarters for an Army command that included California and the Hawaiian Islands from 1904 to 1907. In 1912 the Army began building a port facility with piers and warehouses to be a home base for ships of the Army Transport Service serving Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines and other Pacific Army posts and focus of Army supply for the Pacific.
Octavia Boulevard is a major street in San Francisco, California, that replaced the Hayes Valley portion of the damaged two-level Central Freeway. Once a portion of Octavia Street alongside shadowy, fenced-off land beneath the elevated U.S. Route 101 roadway, Octavia Boulevard was redeveloped and redesigned upon the suggestion of Mark Jolles of San Francisco.
Seal Rock is a group of small rock formation islands in the Lands End area of the Outer Richmond District in western San Francisco, California. They are located just offshore in the Pacific Ocean, at the north end of the Ocean Beach, near the Cliff House and Sutro Baths ruins.
The Port of San Francisco is a semi-independent organization that oversees the port facilities at San Francisco, California, United States. It is run by a five-member commission, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Supervisors. The Port is responsible for managing the larger waterfront area that extends from the anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge, along the Marina district, all the way around the north and east shores of the city of San Francisco including Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero, and southward to the city line just beyond Candlestick Point. In 1968, the State of California, via the California State Lands Commission for the State-operated San Francisco Port Authority, transferred its responsibilities for the Harbor of San Francisco waterfront to the City and County of San Francisco / San Francisco Harbor Commission through the Burton Act AB2649. All eligible State port authority employees had the option to become employees of the City and County of San Francisco to maintain consistent operation of the Port of San Francisco.
The Berkeley Marina is the westernmost portion of the city of Berkeley, California, located west of the Eastshore Freeway at the foot of University Avenue on San Francisco Bay. Narrowly speaking, "Berkeley Marina" refers only to the city marina, but in common usage, it applies more generally to the surrounding area.
The High Tide Organ was a tidal organ 15 metres tall constructed in 2002 as part of "The Great Promenade Show" series of sculptures situated along Blackpool's New Promenade in the UK. It was removed in early 2022. The artwork, described as a "musical manifestation of the sea", is one of a few examples of a tidal organ; others include the San Francisco Wave Organ and the Sea Organ in Croatia.
Ned Kahn is an environmental artist and sculptor, known in particular for museum exhibits. One of which is the Exploratorium in San Francisco. His work usually intends to make an invisible aspect of nature, visible.
Established in 1917, the Presidio Fire Department provides primary emergency response to the Presidio of San Francisco.
The Marina District is a neighborhood located in San Francisco, California. The neighborhood sits on the site of the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, staged after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to celebrate the reemergence of the city. Aside from the Palace of Fine Arts, all other buildings were demolished to make the current neighborhood. The Marina currently has the highest non-Hispanic white resident percentage of any recognized neighborhood in San Francisco.
The General Frank M. Coxe was a steam ferry which was built for the United States Army to provide transportation services among several military facilities that ring California's San Francisco Bay. The Army port facilities, including the vessels, throughout the bay were under the command of the San Francisco Port of Embarkation from its establishment in May 1932 through World War II and the Korean War.
The Exploratorium is a museum of science, technology, and arts in San Francisco, California. Founded by physicist and educator Frank Oppenheimer in 1969, the museum was originally located in the Palace of Fine Arts 1969 and was relocated in 2013 to Piers 15 and 17 on San Francisco's waterfront.
The Sausalito Yacht Club (SYC) in the city of Sausalito, California on San Francisco Bay was founded in 1942 to promote yachting, both racing and cruising.
Philosopher's Way, San Francisco is a 2.7-mile (4.3 km) loop trail around the perimeter of John McLaren Park created by artists Peter Richards and Susan Schwartzenberg, staff artists at the Exploratorium. The trail, dedicated on January 5, 2013, is the first and only path built for philosophers in the United States and features fourteen stone markers by mason George Gonzalez intended as "musing stations" to stimulate contemplation. The US$146,000 trail was funded as a public art set-aside by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and offers views of Mount Diablo, Mount Tamalpais, Angel Island, and the Pacific Ocean on a clear day.
The San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department is the city agency responsible for governing and maintaining all city-owned parks and recreational facilities in San Francisco, as well as Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica and Camp Mather in Tuolumne County. Current facilities include 4,113 acres (1,664 ha) of total recreational and open space with 3,400 acres (1,376 ha) of that land within San Francisco. The department runs 179 playgrounds and play areas, 82 recreation centers and clubhouses, nine swimming pools, five golf courses, 151 tennis courts, 72 basketball courts, 59 soccer fields, numerous baseball diamonds, and other sports venues.
Forbes Island is a floating island near Holland Tract, California, United States. It was formerly a restaurant, located between Pier 39 and Pier 41 in Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. It was the only "floating island" restaurant in the Bay Area. The restaurant was inspired by Captain Nemo's marine dwelling. The restaurant closed in 2017, and the floating platform was moved to the Holland Riverside Marina in Brentwood, California.
