Whatever Happened to H & H ??

China Basin is a neighborhood built on landfill along the San Francisco Bay. It lies north of Mission Creek and the Mission Bay neighborhood, and includes AT&T Park, numerous restaurants and the Caltrain railroad station. It borders on the South-of-Market (SOMA) neighborhood to the north and the South Beach neighborhood to the east. The term China Basin also refers to the body of water the neighborhood takes its name from. This inlet where Mission Creek flows into the bay was once an active industrial waterfront.
This was where H&H Ship and Environmental Services used to be located, 220, China basin, to be exact. I used to work here as a Yard Suprintendant, (a title Wiil Jr. Gave when he hired me), in charge of the Underground fuel tanks dispossal facilty. I do not think it is there anymore. I spent six years of my life handling thousands of UST which were being cut and disposed offf in this yard.

One of those men that had influenced me in my life was "The Chemist", Dr. Peter O'Yimbo who was originally from Kenya. Soft spoken and an elegant gentleman, Peter taught me how to become a gentleman and carry my responsibility as such.

"The Boiler," was the heart of the tank cutting operation without which UST dispossal would not have been possible. The boiler produced steam for the steaming of the tanks prior to their being cut, sometimes the steaming process to purge all the residue of flammable materials inside the tank may take two to three hours.

Mr Cleveland Valrey was another of those men who had an impact on my life, he was the dispatcher for the Company and a whole lot more. Without him too the company could not have managed to stay afloat for so long. Cleveland was a man who was very dedicated to what he did like life itself depended on his job and he did it well.

"The Boys" I worked with were a mixed bunch most had seen the rough side of life that the San Francisco Water Front had to offer. Blacks, Latinoes, Whites, Philippinos, Vietnamese, most were hardcore survivors, most were drunks and into drugs of one kind or another, myself included. it was a miracle that we did not have any fatal accident while I was on the watch.

One does not stop being an artist regardless of where or what one is doing at the moment, creativity happens, one does not have to force it to happen. When everythinf we see or do become a creative act the result is a work of art for art is in being spontaneously, effortlessly creative with the ability to capture and transform the moment into something expressively tangible dfor others to share with.

"The Cutter", in htis sketch the man being 'Too Tall' Grayson cutting a 600 gallon tank using a torch with the handle tthree feet long. The tank is being steamed while he is doing this so as to keep the tank from falming up inside. It was a dangerous job but through careful monitoring and safety ptocedures hardly any mishap happened.

When I started my job at H&H I was hired as a sweeper, cleaner like a kuli as the malysians would call it. In one year i became the Head of Department with my salary of $7 an hour being double to $14 and hour with a all the benifits including having my own company vehicle. I accomplished this not without alot of struggle to overcome those who were also after the position and i laid my life on the line on saveral ocaissions, but I made it through one simple practice and that was "The Philosophy of the Broom". I came, I saw and I cleaned.
I cleaned the front and back yard of the facility singlehandedly and I cleaned the minds of the employees untill they valued themselves as human beings. I elavated their self esteem to such a level that they see themselves as intelligent hardworking men instead of the waste and dross of society that was being exploited by those who made sure they remained as such. How i accomplished this is recrded in my journals and sketchbooks.

I had crawled into the belly of the vacuum trucks alongside my men and i had shovel hazardous waste materials from thousands of tanks of every shape and sizes over a six year period and I had kept myself and my men from getting hurt in performing their hazardous labor. I listened to them and their grievances and I challenged the administerative personels to share the wealth of the company.
I demamded the upgrading of the whole facility from its appearence to its employees being provided with a week's change of coveralls as well as every necessary safety equipments they may require for the job they were doing.

I was not a popular guy among my bosses and those who had kissed their asses but my men in the yard respected me. Yes, I can safely said I changed their lives.

I always was sketching while i was working at H&H and everywhere else. It helped me to gather my thoughts or at least find an escape from too much thinking. My fellow workers always enjoyed them and even ofeten enough asked me why I was not sketching when they catch me in my troubled mood.