Signs in San Francisco(4)

It’s an advertising sign of a company specializing in termite control and pest control. The person hiding a big hammer behind him is trying to entice a mouse to come to him so he can hit the mouse with the hammer. The sign is placed on the roof of a building next to the highway 101 and it comes into your eyes while driving there.

The sign and boat are in Pete's Harbor where yachts and boats are moored. Whether it’s a joke or serious is not known. Supposing a boat arrives in this harbor from abroad, it tells that you are about to enter the US from this point.

When you look at it closely, the scene of the opposite side across the street is drawn as it is reflected in mirror. “Lush Lounge” and “One Way” signs tell the mirror effect. It will be missed in a glance. It’s a smart painting.

Mexican food is familiar to Californians. One of the food items is a burrito which is meat, beans, and cheese etc. wrapped in flour tortilla. Someone who found this small dead end street called “BURRITT” added “O” at the end to make it like Burrito. (Strictly speaking, the spelling of burrito has only 1 “T”.)

The signs are put up in the Stanford University campus. Many students commute from their apartments or move among school buildings by bicycle. It’s an obvious sign that cars should be careful to avoid accidents with bike riders.

The parking meter is converted to collect donations for homeless, so that they don’t have to beg for money. The meters seem to be placed at tourist spots and busy crowded streets. You might be more willing to put one or two coins into the parking meters.

In the 1890’s, a pharmacist named Chapa had a wall of his pharmacy painted with lions and it came to be known as the lion pharmacy. As there is a market square across the street where you find Mexican restaurants and a market selling Mexican products, the spot became a meeting point. It might be a Texas version of Gin-no-Suzu or Hachiko(famous meeting spot in Tokyo).