Something fishy this way comes...

This is the new California Academy of Sciences located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco with its grassy roof. It’s the part of the building you should view first when you go. And you must go; it’s nothing short of spectacular. To give it its due allow at least four hours, which does not include any glitch you might encounter gaining entry. It is so popular right now nonmembers need to obtain timed tickets and go back when it’s their turn. Membership, an excellent buy, gives you access without waiting.

Not that you won’t encounter some lines within the structure. There are four distinct areas, three of the four deserving your undivided attention. There is an aquarium, a planetarium, a rain forest and a natural history museum. Only the latter is a matter of taste and depends on your attitude toward stuffed animals depicted in front of painted dioramas. To me this part just feels old, dusty and dated and, yes, sad since some of these species are destined for extinction within our lifetimes. If there are only 300 hartebeests left in the world is it a kindness to stuff two of them and display them in a museum?

The aquarium is spectacular, in no small part because it is so new. There are even “holding” ponds where less mobile sea creatures like anemones and coral are allowed to get acclimated before being transferred into the deeper and more visible environs of the tanks themselves. The large tanks are so clear, well lighted and unclouded the spectacle is almost unreal since, as any snorkeler and/or Scuba diver can attest, there is never perfection in the wild and visuals depend on natural vagaries, since clarity depends on climate, cloud cover, current, wind and tidal movement. An aquarium is a dance viewed up close and the denizens, especially here, are directed by calculated water movement so the fish and fauna are always ready for their close-ups. You can go nose to nose with some mighty exotic denizens of finland without breaking a sweat; and some people do just that.

You’ve never seen a planetarium like this one. There is no longer the monster-projector-from-a-mad-scientist’s laboratory creating the stars and moons for your viewing pleasure. This is the first planetarium in the world that is totally digital and, as such, can fly you to galaxies far far away without worrying about a case of the flickers or burned out bulbs, or imperfections in the arching dome. The current, and inaugural, show is spectacular and if you feel your place in the universe is puny, well, this makes you feel so insignificant it’s almost embarrassing. It’s like that storage locker from Men in Black II: the Milky Way of which we are a part is not even a blip in the cosmos that we see on the ceiling from our comfortable recliners. Interestingly, the narration is by Sigourney Weaver who, I’m sure, was deliberately hired to conjure up (at least it did in me) the movie Alien, with its ugly-beautiful space artifacts and incubating creatures that scared us/me out of our wits. (If you recall, Ms. Weaver looked pretty spiffy in her bra and panties, and snuggle-cat, as she prepared herself for warp-sleep--or something--before the terrifying denouement. But that’s another blog article altogether.)

The 4-story rainforest sphere is also, like the aquarium, a work-in-progress but it is easy to conjure up what it will become once the trees, plants and vines take over and the flora becomes lush and plush and mysterious, as it is in the wild. There are already birds and butterflies flitting about that catch your eye and a great deal of pointing and sharing from viewers as they trudge up the ramps to the top of the all-encompassing globe. As you look down into what will, in time, become a swamp of sorts you can, oh those clever architects, see through the water…down into the aquarium below; including people, who look like so many distorted crustaceans far below. Although the aquarium seems to be easily approachable without any interference, both the planetarium and the rainforest might cost you some queue time or, at least, you can receive a “future viewing” ticket and come back at your designated hour.

Although the dusty deserts of the natural history museum might leave you saddened and wondering just why this stuff continues to be displayed, some consolation can be gained by watching a bunch of penguins frolic in and above their pond of tranquility at the far end of the African hall. I’m not all that impressed by their enclosure, which seems small and cramped, but who am I to say they aren’t well fed and kempt and free from predators.

Oh yeah, three other things absolutely need to be mentioned. 1.) Serving seafood at the restaurant near the aquarium seems somehow wrong; but my Shrimp Louie was quite tasty (and expensive). I do recall that the last time I went to the New York aquarium and took a break in the cafeteria my choice of sandwich was tuna salad. So maybe it’s my own fault that I’m influenced by my surroundings, thereby choosing creatures from the sea to assuage hunger while exacting revenge from sore-footed tramping around, seeing them on the hoof. 2.) Some of the stuff in the shops is interesting (there are two…one aimed at the kiddies) but I’m sure, as suppliers discover what sells, more items will accrue that someone might actually want to take home. 3.) The hand dryers in the bathrooms are state-of-the-art and, although looking dangerously like toasters, they sure do an amazing job.

A day well spent! And many happy returns will be enjoyed in the future. Remember to start on the roof…it gives you terrific perspective as to what you are about to see and it’s truly amazing in itself; so innovative and now, I’m told, there have been beehives installed (didn’t see ‘em myself) which will insure the propagation of all the native flora thereon. It also gives you a different perspective of the ugly pile of brown architecture that is the new deYoung Museum across the plaza. What the hell happened there? Modernism gone berserk maybe.