de Young Memorial Museum Thwarted

DE YOUNG AGAIN

Finally, it’s finished. Sixteen years after the Loma Prieta earthquake rocked the old museum and made it a seismic hazard zone, San Francisco’s new M.H. de Young Memorial Museum — a bold beauty whose decadelong public gestation was beset by complications — is opening at last. On Saturday, the public will get its first inside view of the sleek copper-clad building that has risen in Golden Gate Park on the site of the old Spanish-style de Young, a hodgepodge of shaky structures demolished in 2002.

The opening festivities begin at 10 a.m., with performances by the San Francisco Symphony Brass and artists from the Ballet and Opera, and speeches at a noon ribbon cutting. For the next 31 hours — noon Saturday to 5 p.m. next Sunday — the de Young will be open nonstop, free to the public (well, you have to pop $5 for the special “Hatshepsut” show). Stage readings, Gypsy swing and Maya marimba music will be part of the cross-cultural celebration taking place throughout and around the museum.

The de Young Museum was open all night - and apparently everyone in the Bay Area decided to go tonight. Parking was so bad that the neighboring neighborhoods were gridlocked. At 1050p when I drove by, there was a giant line of people snaking through the park.

After a long day of Treasure Hunt, I decided I’d just have to come back again some other time. Rats!