Last week I had the total delight of being invited on an employee your of the SF Chronicle’s City Plant — the place where all our newspapers are printed. It’s an old plant with machinery dating 1970, and according to the man who ran the tour, it’s the only “cozy” one left. Cozy meaning old machines, machines that smelled like heaven to me and were all these great industrial colors. We were walked through the entire printing process in the thoroughly un-modern plant, from plates to folding machines. My friend Tim, who invited me, has this great post about the plant and our tour (with more images). As Tim wrote, the plant is being shut down in a year, everyone is out of work, and production will continue in a very new plant that hasn’t even been built yet. One of the workers angrily put his hand up when my camera came near; others were proud and smiling to show us how they do their jobs. The whole feel of the vast plant was bittersweet.
I watched the paper being printed in a way that’s a slice out of the past, lingering just barely into the present. The machines filled me with longing.
I livestreamed the entire tour: the sound is a challenge, but if you just want to look at pretty machines and spend a little time with me, check out the many videos on my Qik page (yes, there was a delay when I streamed because I was in a big industrial building). Or, peep my Flickr photo set of the tour and cherry pick your video time: watch this video of me in the ink room and this one of me in the folding room.
Hell of a lot cooler than a room full of servers, no?