Tony Bravo December 19, 2020Updated: December 20, 2020, 9:46 am
Water pours out of the Vaillancourt Fountain at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle
On a recent early-morning walk in Embarcadero Plaza, the sky was radiant. The bay glimmered and seagulls swooped around the tower of the Ferry Building. The view felt more like a postcard than real life, until my gaze fell on the twisted mass of stark concrete tubes, spouts and protruding forms on the northwest side of the plaza that make up the Vaillancourt Fountain. The water looked a little … different. It was a slimy shade of kelp-like green. Against the weathered concrete of the fountain, the color was shocking, like bile or some toxic cleaning solution. It looked both comical (a St. Patrick’s Day prank months early?) and a little dangerous. As I watched the blocky, acne-textured tubes puke out green liquid, I felt my heart swell.