Cap-wall Jackson? Bottlecap Art Pops Up On Bryant St

Posted by Zach Perkins on Fri, 09/23/2011 - 5:50pm

Categorized: Art - The Streets, Mission District

Over the last week some ambitious, albeit confusing, bottle cap art popped up on a garage door on Bryant St between 24th and 25th. It's definitely a Civil War era portrait, but as to who it is and why, I'm not so sure. The consensus amongst local HIstory Channel nerdz is that it's an image of Confederate General 'Stonewall' Jackson. My brain is apparently incapable of understanding why anyone in San Francisco, and the Mission for that matter, would want to tout a giant image of the man who lead the Confederacy to victory in the Battle of Bull Run (parts 1 and 2).

Maybe they used beer bottle caps as some sort of commentary on him as a raging alcoholic? After drudging up some quotes from Stonewall himself, it seems like the guy definitely had some problems with the bottle in his life:

I like liquor — its taste and its effects — and that is just the reason why I never drink it.
...
I am more afraid of King Alcohol than of all the bullets of the enemy.

Whatever. It's street art, it's there to be rad until someone inevitably defaces it. Maybe they'll throw up an Abe Lincoln next.

UPDATE: Uptown reader 'Steve', who is ten million times smarter than all Uptown authors and their so called 'history buff' friends combined, has correctly identified this image as Emperor Norton, aka the man who built the Bay Bridge, aka 19th century proto-Frank Chu.