Is life imitating art?

This truck caught my attention this afternoon. A beat up old rig with a barred window trailer that looks a little like some kind of combat vehicle from a post-apocalyptical sci-fi movie, probably used for transporting the criminally insane or carrying out top secret medical tests. So I went downstairs to investigate further. I found no corpses, aliens, prisoners or biohazards, only that the truck belongs to JSA Cone Penetrometer Testing Services, which kind of sounds like it could be any of those things listed above. But it turns out they will soon be carrying out 20 foot deep soil drilling tests in our parking lot to learn more about how to stabilize the buildings during earthquakes. It’s the Presidio Trust’s latest round of “improvements” for the Baker Beach neighborhood. What does that mean for the full time resident who works nights and weekends? Endless construction at the end of which, they raise your rent. Boy, I wish my life could have been improved sooner!

I suppose the neighborhood does need some work though. While I joke about living in “the projects” this neighborhood is very much a public housing project, technically a public/private project. It was built in the 1950s under the Wherry Act, named for Nebraska Senator Kenneth Wherry who introduced a bill providing for private companies to build, maintain and rent out housing on military bases. This tradition continues today with our landlord, the Presidio Residences, a subsidiary of the John Stewart Company, but I digress.

While I enjoy the views, scenery and wildlife it also hard to miss the peeling paint, cracked concrete and dead grass I see out this window as well. I don’t think there have been any “improvements” made in the last 50 years. In fact, the Army didn’t even want this place.  One historic account states, "The Presidio considered the Wherry housing to be below army standards and...in 1961 the Presidio drew up a long list of the buildings inadequacies: too crowded, rehabilitation too expensive, the light frame construction, bedrooms and storage areas too small, kitchens crowded, electrical wiring inadequate, utilities undersized, and they lacked sound proofing."

At roughly the same time Paramount Studios was building Jimmy Stewart’s apartment complex for the movie Rear Window. At the time of its completion it was the largest indoor set ever built by Paramount Studios. Buildings were 5-6 stories tall, containing 31 fully furnished apartments with electricity and running water. Actress Georgine Darcy, who played “Miss Torso” actually lived in her apartment during the month-long filming. That way she could relax as if really at home in between takes.

Miss Torso

So maybe the apartments featured in the movie Rear Window and the ones featured in the blog Rear Window aren’t all that different, except that if there had been cone penetrometer testing services being performed at Jimmy Stewart’s apartment building, it might have been a lot less suspenseful movie. I wonder what they will find buried in our courtyard?