Walking back this morning from an early errand I cut through Chula Lane alongside Mission Dolores Cemetery. Through the high chain link fence that protects the cemetery I could see the sunlight falling among the trees in such an admirable way that I decided to go home and get the camera and come back. It is my own settled belief that the best-quality daylight of the year arrives in San Francisco each October -- and here was the cemetery confirming my view.
Nobody has been buried here since the 1890s. There must have been more statues in the past, but there has been a lot of theft and damage over the years. During the summer the old Mission and cemetery are full of Asian and European tourists, unloaded in crowds by the their big red buses. During the rest of the year the place is usually deserted.