San Francisco (SFO) & San Jose (SJC) Airports
It's been awhile!
Normally I focus my travel posts on zoos, aquariums, museums, and other tourist attractions. I typically don't write too much about airports unless I'm talking about transportation logistics. But this time I will be featuring the San Francisco (SFO) and San Jose (SJC) airports, mainly because of the cute mascots that both airports have along with the nice artwork and collection of historical phones at SFO and the rolling ball sculpture at SJC.
I do also have a backlog of pictures for the NorCal area, so this is a good intro for future and backlogged San Francisco and San Jose posts including:
- Winchester Mystery House
- Triton Museum of Art
- San Jose History Park
- San Jose Museum of Art
- California Academy of Sciences
- Blue & Gold Fleet SF Bay Cruise
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- Legion of Honor
- de Young Museum
- San Francisco Zoo & Gardens
- Monterey Bay Aquarium
- Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
- Oakland Zoo
- CuriOdyssey
- Happy Hollow Park & Zoo
- Asian Art Museum
- Marine Mammal Center
- Sacramento Zoo
- California State Railroad Museum
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (SFO)
I passed through SFO airport twice via connections in February 2026. The first time I entered through Terminal 3 and then walked to International Terminal G. The second time I traveled to Terminal 2.
The airport had some eye-catching art displays, amusing parrot motifs, and cute gift shop options.
PANDAS (SFO)
SFO Museum is proud to partner with the Chinese Historical Society of America to showcase the Painted Pandas Project for a limited engagement at the airport. Beginning in February 2026, six Painted Pandas will dot the post-security landscape as fun and interactive moments promoting these symbols of friendship, resilience, and strength as well as the important connection between China and San Francisco.
More information can be found at:
https://www.flysfo.com/pandas
https://chsa.org/paintedpandasproject/ (page is currently down)
On my first trip I was able to find 3 of the pandas (Chris Treggiari/Sergio De La Torre in Terminal 3; Keith Williams & Adrian Arias in International G). I wasn't able to see the other 3 pandas (Marina Perez-Wong & Norman Chuck in International A; Vanessa Espinoza between Terminals 1 & 2):
This panda is painted by Bay Area artists Chris Treggiari and Sergio De La Torre. Treggiari explores how art connects diverse communities, with work that has been showcased internationally as well as at the Oakland Museum of California and the Berkeley Art Museum. De La Torre documents the ways citizens reinvent themselves in their cities, and has shown his work around the world. He is an associate professor at the University of San Francisco Art and Architecture Department.
This panda is painted by Keith Williams a.k.a. K-Dub, a visual artist, educator, and youth arts and sports activist. K-Dub was the director of the Oakland High School Visual Art Academy for eight years and has spearheaded efforts to build skate parks in Oakland, forging connections between local youth, city officials, and major brands. His work emphasizes empowerment and active participation in community development.
This panda is painted by Adrian Arias, an internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artist whose work integrates visual arts, poetry, performance, and social justice. As a descendant of Peru's ancient Moche culture, he channels his ancestral wisdom, especially the practice of interpreting dreams as a link between reality and imagination.
PARROTS (SFO)
Parrots seem to be the mascot of SFO due to San Francisco's colorful history with the birds. Two of the hallways connecting to Terminal 3 featured tourist and historical landmarks in San Francisco dotted with plentiful parrots in playful poses! Not only was it entertaining but it serves as a good advertisement for San Francisco's sights!
A City of Icons: Terminal 3 is undergoing a transformation! While we work to bring you exciting upgrades, take a journey through this little detour. San Francisco's famous urban parrots will be your guides as you walk by some of the City's most iconic landmarks.
Spot the Wild Parrots! You might be surprised to spot flocks of wild parrots in a city like San Francisco. Once imported to the U.S. as exotic pets, these lively birds found their way outside and now love exploring our beautiful city as much as we do!
Castro Theatre: Located in the heart of the Castro District, renowned for its influential LGBTQ+ cultural scene, the Castro Theatre is a beloved icon famous for its architectural significance and contribution to San Francisco's LGBTQ+ culture. Built in 1922, the theater features lavish, ornate interiors and blends Spanish Colonial Baroque, Moorish, and Art Deco styles. Beyond its beauty, it has been a vital space for LGBTQ+ rights and activism, earning it recognition as a San Francisco Historic Landmark in 1977.
Japanese Tea Garden: In the heart of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is a tranquil Japanese oasis. Originally built for the Midwinter International Exhibition in 1894, the Japanese Tea Garden is the oldest maintained Japanese public garden outside of Japan and features meticulous natural landscapes, koi ponds, zen rock gardens, and traditional Japanese architecture.
Transamerica Pyramid: Built in 1972, the once controversial and now iconic Transamerica Pyramid defines the San Francisco skyline and is one of the most photographed buildings in the world. A dazzling 6,000-watt bulb is housed within a 32-pane cathedral-style glass room that sits on top of the tower. Known as the "crown jewel", the light is extremely difficult to access and only a handful of people have ever laid eyes on it.
Telegraph Hill: Wild parrots love the lush gardens of Telegraph Hill! With Coit Tower standing tall and panoramic views of the city and San Francisco bay, this area was once a destination for poets and bohemian intellectuals and, today, continues to inspire both San Francisco residents and visitors.
Palace of Fine Arts: Originally built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, this awe-inspiring palace evokes a decaying ruin of Rome and is surrounded by immaculate gardens and a peaceful lagoon.
Cable Cars: Listen for the cling and clatter of cable cars cruising through our city streets. The first cable car in San Francisco operated down Clay Street in 1873. Today, San Francisco's cable car network is the last manually-operated cable car system in the world - and a beloved reminder of San Francisco's innovative spirit.
Chinatown: The iconic Dragon Gate welcomes visitors into San Francisco's Chinatown - the largest Chinatown outside of Asia. Established during the California Gold Rush in the 1850s, this bustling neighborhood filled with shops, restaurants, temples, and cultural institutions is also North America's oldest Chinatown, continuing to draw tourists from all over the world.
Fillmore District: Sometimes called "the Harlem of the West", the Fillmore District is famous for its flourishing jazz scene and was a hub for Black musicians, artists, writers, and businesses. Musical legends such as John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, and Charlie "Bird" Parker often played here in the 1940s and 1950s, contributing to the neighborhood's long legacy and rich influence on jazz music that continues to be celebrated today.
Mission District: Vibrant murals and street art line the city streets in the diverse and culturally rich Mission District. The annual Carnaval festival - one of the largest multicultural festivals on the West Coast - fills the neighborhood with colorful parades, energetic music, and dance, celebrating Latin American and Caribbean culture in the city.
Painted Ladies: Overlooking Alamo Square Park are a row of colorfully painted Victorian and Edwardian houses known as the Painted Ladies. Perhaps most famous for being featured in the opening credits of the hit 90s TV show, Full House, these delightful homes appear in many movies and TV shows filmed in San Francisco and are a symbol of the city's architectural heritage.
Pier 39: At the edge of Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 is a quintessential experience that characterizes our city's charm. With awe-inspiring views of the San Francisco Bay, buzzing waterfront restaurants, a historic carousel, ferris wheel, and colonies of playful sea lions that crowd floating wooden docks, tourists and residents love visiting this lively area of our city.
Golden Gate Bridge: An iconic feat of engineering, the Golden Gate Bridge spans across the Golden Gate Strait connecting the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Its distinctive red-orange color - called "International Orange" - was intentionally selected as it contrasted with the ocean sky, providing visibility in San Francisco's famous sea fog.
There are also some parrots on the wall next to Compass Books:
ART IN INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL G (SFO)
Santuario/Sanctuary, 2000
Fresco mural and basswood bas-belief sculpture
Juana Alicia
b. 1953
Emmanuel Catarino Montoya
b. 1952
Arrival at SFO is the beginning of a new life for many immigrants, just as the surrounding wetlands provide sanctuary for shore birds during their annual migration. The mural is painted in fresco buono, an ancient technique that mixes pigment directly into wet plaster.
No Other Lands Their Glory Know, 2017
Pigmented inks and gold leaf on wood
Alice Shaw
American, b. 1965
This photographic image is of a redwood forest on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California, just north of San Francisco. The title for this artwork is taken from a line in a poem, The Redwoods, written by Joseph B. Strauss who was the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge. Visitors are invited to enjoy the natural splendor of the Golden State while at the airport.
Everywhere a Color, 2018
Painted wood, aluminum, acrylic
Leah Rosenberg
American, b. 1979
From the Golden Gate Bridge's iconic International Orange color, to the Painted Ladies in the Western Addition, Everywhere a Color pays homage to San Francisco. Each strip in this colorful artwork corresponds to a landmark, moment, or object that is unique to our beloved city. In creating the artwork, artist Leah Rosenberg explored various neighborhoods sampling colors from her surroundings and asking residents what colors stood out to them. In doing so, her artwork becomes a new kind of map of the city that speaks to how color can help define a place and contribute to the importance of togetherness.
Please refer to the adjacent legend to discover what each color corresponds to in the city of San Francisco.
Time, Turn, and Light, 2019
Bronze
Woody De Othello
American, b. 1991
Time, Turn, and Light depict ambiguous sets of hands interacting with everyday objects such as clocks, a flashlight, a candle, and a doorknob. These objects are rendered in an uncanny fashion with a sense of play, emotional intuition, and surrealism that provokes viewers to reimagine themselves and the way they view the world around them.
When the Path Through the Atmosphere is Longer, 2021
UV inkjet print, silk and cotton sari cloth, laminated glass and aluminum composite
Ranu Mukherjee
American, b. 1966
When the Path Through the Atmosphere is Longer is inspired by the feeling of being suspended in time and space during long-haul air travel and seeing two sunrises or sunsets in the same day. The image is collaged from printed sari cloth-a diasporic object that is rooted in Indian culture and suggests the movement of bodies. Included in the composition are depictions of the Arctic Tern, known for its long yearly migration, and the hummingbird, which is native to the Americas.
Bird Technology, 1999
Hand-painted ceramic tile
Rupert Garcia
American, b. 1941
This work combines two images: a bird that symbolizes natural flight, and a geometric grid that symbolizes the technological advances that made human flight possible. Implicit in the work is the potential for conflict between the natural world and technology.
Blue Deer, 2007-2008
Oil and pigmented ink with gesso ground on wood panels
Clare Rojas
American, b. 1976
Inspired by American folk art, quilting and storytelling, Clare Rojas creates dreamlike images executed in tightly drawn, crystalline shapes. Rojas intends to bring a sense of warmth and comfort to the viewer, and she often changes the exhibition space to better fit the feeling of her work. Here she transforms the gate room wall into space more reminiscent of home. "Blue Deer" is based on a children's book Rojas wrote and illustrated, "Blue Deer and Red Fox."
Mondrian Meets The Beatles, 2017
Enamel paint on wood
Kota Wzawa
German, b. 1969
In this diorama-like construction, The Beatles are shown exiting an airplane on their first U.S. tour in 1964. The colored rectangles superimposed onto this scene are based on Piet Mondrian's Composition C, 1935. By combining an archival image with an abstract composition, this work attempts to free the photograph of its documentary status while adding a narrative to a set of seemingly static primary color fields. Mondrian Meets the Beatles also imagines a meeting that never took place between a painter and music band, each of which revolutionized their respective fields of culture.
Fly, Flight Fugit, 1999
Porcelain Enamel on Steel
Squeak Carnwath
American, b. 1947
"When I'm in a plane," says Squeak Carnwath, "I often think about things that fly naturally. This work is about those things-bees, flags, snow, bugs, mercury, rain, and flights of fancy." Much of Carnwath's work is about her own thoughts, reactions, and memories. She frequently combines hand-scrawled words, visual images, and rich color into luminous paintings that prompt the personal thoughts and memories of her viewers.
¡Baile!, 1999
Copper and powder coated steel
Carmen Lomas Garza
American, b. 1948
This image of Mexican folkloric dancers is inspired by the tradition of Mexican and Chinese tissue paper cutouts and French silhouettes. As an artist, Carmen Lomas Garza often recalls her memories of growing up in south Texas as inspiration for her imagery. She is known for her portrayal of popular customs and events, from tamale-making to community fiestas.
Thinking of Balmy Alley, 1999
Ceramic tile mosaic
Rigo '99
Portuguese, b. 1966
This work, of a solitary boy totally absorbed in the act of painting, is inspired by a mural (since destroyed) painted in 1993 by the artist and local youth in Balmy Alley, located in San Francisco's Mission District.
ART IN TERMINAL 3 (SFO)
City Hall, San Francisco, 2022
Dye sublimation aluminum print
Pankaj Bhargava (@ punksworld on Instagram)
San Francisco Ferry Building, 2016
Dye sublimation aluminum print
Dan Kurtzman (@ dankurtzmanphotography on Instagram)
California Street, San Francisco, 2019
Dye sublimation aluminum print
Alice Thieu (@ alicethieu on Instagram)
Ocean Voices II, 2015
Cedar, graphite
Ursula von Rydingsvard
American b. Germany 1942
Ocean Voices II is an epic wood sculpture. Ursula von Rydingsvard has created sculptures out of cedar wood for the past 35 years. Her respect for organic materials and dignity of labor inform her work and may be traced back to her formative experiences of moving from one displaced persons camp to the next across postwar Germany during childhood. Using a circular saw, she and her assistants have patiently carved and chipped at cedar 4-by-4 planks of varying lengths, finally rubbing powdered graphite into the work's textured, faceted surface to create this monumental form.
Untitled (Large Variation), 2015
Mosaic mural
Amy Ellingson
American b. 1964
Untitled (Large Variation) suggests movement and transformation through color, geometry, repetition, scale and spatial illusion. Ellingson's practice is a synergy between digital media and the handmade object. Typically, she uses graphics software to create multilayered compositions of great complexity that are translated into physical form using traditional painting media. Here she has realized her virtual design as a mosaic mural of commanding physical presence.
Forever in the Sky, 2013
Pigment print on archival paper
Sanaz Mazinani
Iranian b. 1978
Mazinani's series of photographic montages, Forever in the Sky, takes as its subject clouds over San Francisco. The photographs of San Francisco's skies are intermingled with iconic San Francisco landmarks, and infused with Persian motifs to make complex portraits of the city's sky-scape. Mainani states, "Being an immigrant, I was always really interested in borders and issues around land and landlessness. I found it really rewarding to look up at the sky and see these beautiful clouds moving - without any limitations, without checkpoints, without passports."
Everywhere All at Once, 2012-2014
Pigment print on archival paper
Vanessa Marsh
American b. 1978
Vanessa Marsh looks at the night sky through this series of photograms - fabricated images which result from drawing, painting and darkroom techniques. Her mysterious nightscapes explore the intersections of the man-made, the natural and cosmological power. "I am imaging a landscape where the only light is the starlight, where all other sources are either gone or turned off, in a way, the lighting in the images points forward to a possibly apocalyptic future but nostalgic for a time when there was not so much manufactured light."
New Generation, 2015
Ceramic tile
Lousiana P. Bendolph
American b. 1960
For four generations, women who live in the isolated, African-American hamlet of Gee's Bend (Boykin), Alabama, have been creating bold dynamic quilts. Their quilting tradition was handed down by female slaves to their descendants, who pieced together strips of cloth to make bedcovers to keep themselves and their children warm. The Gee's Bend Quilters developed a distinctive style, noted for its lively improvisations and geometric simplicity. Lousiana Bendolph, one of the younger generation of quilt makers, is known for her stunning abstractions. This artwork was made from a design that was originally a quilt, then made into an etching, and here is translated into ceramic tile; it represents an innovative approach to translating this quintessentially American art form into other contemporary media.
Aeriform Aviary, 2015
Steel, stainless steel, muslin
8 x 4 x 1 feet / 20 x 12 x 3 feet
Shawn HibmaCronan
shawnhibmacronan.com / # aeriformaviary
Commissioned by Compass Books
A cute sign outside Compass Books:
ART IN TERMINAL 2 (SFO)
San Francisco Bay Area Bird Encounters, 2011
Wood, ink and plastic
Walter Kitundu
American, b. 1973
Walter Kitundu is an artist whose practice combines both the visual arts and music, and is known for his creation of unique artworks that are both sculpture and playable instruments. An avid bird watcher and photographer, he has made bay area birds the subject of and inspiration for these two playable artworks. The wings of each bench and the central wing in the mural may be played like a xylophone, when played left to right with the rubber mallets a portion of a bird's song is heard.
San Francisco Bay Area Bird Encounters is an interactive children’s play area featuring work by artist Walter Kitundu. The handmade mural and benches feature local birds such as Red-tailed Hawks, Anna’s Hummingbirds, herons, egrets, and others found throughout the Bay Area. The birds, which are printed on wood and inlaid into the mural, are derived from photographs by the artist. At the mural’s center is a large Golden-crowned Sparrow whose wings double as a musical instrument. The wing feathers are xylophone tines tuned to the notes of the sparrows’ song. The benches, in the shape of wings, are also xylophone tines tuned to the sparrows’ song.
Urns, 1986
Mixed media on wood
Robert Ramirez
American, b. 1949
Los Angeles artist Robert Ramirez depicts these classical Greek urns in an expressive style that gives them a heroic presence. Ramirez's paintings express emotion through their painterly brush strokes, the touch and texture of the paint, and the visceral impact of color.
Butterfly Wall, 2011
Dichroic acrylic, stepper motors, custom electronics, glass & steel casework
12’L x 12’6”H x 1’W
Butterfly Wall is a kinetic sculpture by Bay Area artist Charles Sowers. Creating a delightful dance of rising and falling mechanical "butterflies," the sculpture features twenty butterflies that continuously move along their belts, their iridescent wings spinning as they ascend and descend within a free-standing glass case. The butterflies' graceful movements create a mesmerizing display as they rise towards the ceiling and flutter back down.
Give Me a Ring: A Telephone Retrospective
Terminal 2 features an eclectic collection of historical telephones:
By the late 19th century, numerous innovators such as Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis, and Charles Bourseul had conceptualized two-way voice communication. Alexander Graham Bell, however, obtained the first patent on March 7, 1876, for an “apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically,” thereby securing the legal rights to the telephone’s development. Ironically, Elisha Gray filed a patent for a telephone several hours after Bell. As the patents shared similarities, the conflict was brought to court, and Bell won the case. Several days after receiving the patent, Bell and his assistant, Thomas A. Watson, made their first successfully transmitted message using a crude liquid transmitter, in which Watson heard Bell exclaim, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you!” On October 9, 1876, Bell and Watson talked to each other over a two-mile wire stretched between Cambridge and Boston. In 1877, with partners, Bell formed the Bell Telephone Company.
Telephone technology continued to grow at a rapid pace. Transcontinental telephone service, made possible by the tube amplifier, officially launched on January 25, 1915. One hundred thirty thousand telephone poles, with copper wires stretching across them, ran through thirteen states. Bell and Watson talked by telephone to each other over a 3,400-mile wire between New York and San Francisco in a call that sounded far clearer than their first conversation thirty-eight years prior. More than a decade later, the first official transatlantic telephone call took place in January of 1927 between New York and London via radio waves.
Western Electric manufactured telephones and telephone-related equipment for the Bell System in the United States. The Bell Telephone Company, whose parent company became the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1899, dominated the field of telecommunications until the 1980s. Even so, entities such as the Automatic Electric Company, established in 1901, supplied telephone equipment across the United States to independent telephone companies outside of the Bell System. Early telephones had no dials. Making a call required an operator at a switchboard to connect callers. By the 1930s, rotary dialing, which enabled users to make calls without the aid of an operator, prevailed.
In the era of cell phones, it seems difficult to imagine how revolutionary telephone technology was for its time. Landline telephones work by converting a caller’s voice into electrical signals that travel through wires to another telephone, which then converts the signals back into sound waves. Early types ranged from large wooden wall telephones to candlestick desk sets. The rotary dial telephone, with a handset resting on its base, permeated American homes by the 1930s. This exhibition features an array of classic telephones from the late 19th century to the 1990s—from streamlined Art Deco telephones, payphones, and novel Picturephones of the 1960s to a 1958 Touch-Tone telephone prototype.
SHOPPING (SFO)
DFS Airport Duty Free
Bon Ton Toys
Miffy Corduroy
$28
Bon Ton Toys
BT Chaps Dolly the Ragdoll
$55
Bon Ton Toys
Peanuts Snoopy
$32, $55, $88
Burberry
Bear keychains
$300 - $400
Brookstone
Fahlo
Red Panda Plush
$34.99
SAN JOSE MINETA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (SJC)
I normally visit San Jose about once a year. Here are some pictures I took of the airport in November 2024 and November 2025. Most of the photos are of the airport's chick mascots since this is a smaller airport and there is only a little bit of art.
CHICKS (SJC)
San Jose Airport's mascots are baby chicks because back in 1949, the airport's very first passengers weren’t human - they were baby chicks:
In 2024, SJC introduced cute chick mascots to celebrate the airport's 75th anniversary:
https://www.flysanjose.com/meetthebabychicks
Here you can see giant cardboard cutouts that were spread throughout the airport in 2024:
In 2025, there were new sports-themed cardboard cutouts of the chicks to celebrate events such as the 2026 Super Bowl, World Cup, and U.S. National Table Tennis Championship:
ART (SJC)
Rolling Ball Sculpture, 1990
George Rhoads
American b. 1926 d. 2021
An audio kinetic ball machine sculpture which captures the spirit of Silicon Valley. A 16-foot version is on display at The Tech Interactive, a family-friendly science and technology center in the heart of downtown San José.
