The Rincon Center in San Francisco was built in 1940 as part of President Roosevelts New Deal, for the Post Office. It is a very beautiful building, inside and out.
Anton Refregier got the commission to do a series of murals along the inside of the building, depicting California and San Francisco history. Unlike the other muralists of the period, who showed romanticized workers, Refregier showed the racism and the plight of the everyday workers.
Unfortunately for Refregier, this being the Post WW2, staunch Anti Communist era, the murals were considered UnAmerican, and there was a loud cry to have them removed. Only an act of congress was able to save them.
There is also a model of the Gulnare, a bark or small ship. The real one may have been one of the countless hundreds of ship that came to San Francisco, filled with hopeful Gold prospectors. Most of those ships were abandoned, and eventually used as landfill as the city grew beyond the old waterfront. The real Gulnare was found while digging for this building.
The Post Office moved out in 1979 to the Hunters Point area.
As seen 21 December 2022.
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