An interesting but sometimes unexpected feature of the Wells Fargo Museum's  San Francisco Is In Ashes exhibit focuses on the rebuilding of the destroyed city. This feature sits on the Mezzanine level. Most Museum visitors eventually do make their way upstairs as they explore the facility. So, after crawling in the reproduction stagecoach body to feel what a stagecoach trip would be like or—for our 100lbs and less guest—enjoying a restored stagecoach “kiddie ride” from the 1950’s (like you see out front of supermarkets), they come across the issue of rebuilding San Francisco.

Now that things have been settled for over 90 decades, thinking about what San Francisco could have been  feels wistful and benign. Proposal drawings of a tiered and heavily landscaped Telegraph Hill, or a plaza of walkways and boulevards around City Hall, are musings to think about for a moment.

This harmless and pleasant Museum activity is in stark contrast to much the same process being applied now to New Orleans and the other areas hit by hurricanes last fall. A while ago, I read about the announcement of the rebuilding proposal for New Orleans , and could feel the anguish and heated emotions —understandably so—around the topic. There are no easy answers, and we are seeing the drama unfold day by day.

Despite drastic and dynamic changes proposed around the rebuilding of San Francisco, the priority was recovery and getting back to business , and therefore rebuilding to how things had been before. This portion of the Museum exhibit also highlights the 1909 Portola Festival  and 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition  as events that physically and mentally marked a city rising from the ashes. It makes me wonder if in a few years (decades?) we will see Mardi Gras  or Jazzfest or the Essence Music Festival as the same touchstones marking the recovery of New Orleans.