Author: Alfredo Casuso

media contact: David Perry / (415) 676-7007  news@davidperry.com

Capricorn Framing Celebrates 20 Years of Craftsmanship,
Community and Conservation Framing in San Francisco
Co-owners Lloyd Haddad and Keith Wicker mark two decades of preservation-focused design, philanthropy, and expansion

19 February 2026 — SAN FRANCISCO: According to Edgar Degas, “The frame is part of the painting.”  Lloyd Haddad and Keith Wicker would agree. Capricorn Framing (www.capricornframing.com), the San Francisco-based custom framing studio they founded, is celebrating its 20th anniversary, marking two decades of craftsmanship, innovation, and community engagement that have helped shape the Bay Area’s design and arts landscape.

“Twenty years ago, Capricorn Framing began with a simple idea: treat every piece — whether it’s a priceless artwork or a family photograph — with the same level of care and respect,” said Haddad and Wicker, who are both partners in life and labor.  “Over time, that philosophy grew into a business built on preservation, collaboration, and community. We’re proud that our work supports artists, designers, and nonprofits throughout San Francisco, and we’re deeply grateful to the clients and partners who have trusted us with their most meaningful objects. As we celebrate this milestone, we’re excited to continue evolving while staying true to the values that brought us here.”

Founded in 2006 with a commitment to archival-quality framing and expert design consultation, Capricorn Framing has grown from a single workshop into a respected industry leader known for preservation framing and bespoke solutions for collectors, designers, and nonprofits alike. The business expanded significantly in recent years with the acquisition of Walter Adams Framing, strengthening the partners’ ability to serve clients across multiple neighborhoods while maintaining a deeply personal, service-driven approach.

Over the past two decades, Haddad and Wicker have championed conservation framing — a discipline focused on protecting artwork, documents, and heirlooms for generations — helping to shift industry standards toward long-term preservation. Early in their careers, the pair saw firsthand how improper framing damaged artwork, motivating them to build a business grounded in the principle of “doing it right the first time.”

Today, Capricorn Framing works closely with interior designers, collectors, and families throughout the region, offering custom framing solutions that blend aesthetics with technical expertise. Their background in engineering, aviation, and design has contributed to a reputation for solving complex installation challenges and delivering tailored results that tell a story. 

A Commitment to Community:

Beyond craftsmanship, Capricorn Framing has built a strong legacy of philanthropy and civic engagement. Through both Capricorn Framing and Walter Adams Framing, Haddad and Wicker regularly donate framing services and resources to arts organizations, schools, and charitable initiatives — including Art for AIDS, Southern Exposure, The Denali Foundation, and Creativity Explored — reinforcing their belief that art should remain accessible and preserved within the community.

Their work reflects a broader mission: to educate the public about proper preservation and archival care while supporting the cultural fabric of San Francisco through partnerships with artists, designers, and nonprofit organizations.  Wicker, a former military helicopter pilot, has made a commitment to fellow veterans a centerpiece of their “giving back” efforts.

“From conservation framing techniques and archival materials to innovative design collaborations, Capricorn Framing remains dedicated to helping clients preserve the stories behind their art — ensuring that the pieces framed today will endure for decades to come,” summed up Haddad and Wicker.  “All of our work is done with conservation and/or archival materials and methods, unless the client specifies otherwise. We believe that framing is an art unto itself.”

Perhaps Vincent van Gogh said it best: “A picture without a frame is like a soul without a body.”

Six Planets Over California
A February Evening When the Solar System Lines Up

On the evening of February 28, 2026, Californians from the desert to the Pacific coast will have a chance to watch a quiet celestial choreography unfold. Astronomers call it a “planetary alignment” — six planets appearing along the same arc of sky after sunset — but the experience will feel less like an event and more like a moment of stillness shared across the state.

From Mercury and Venus near the fading glow of the Sun to bright Jupiter rising higher overhead, the planets will trace the ancient pathway known as the ecliptic, the same sky-road navigators and astronomers have followed for centuries. They are not physically lined up in space — only visually aligned from our vantage point on Earth — yet the illusion is powerful, a reminder that perspective shapes how we see the universe.

Watching From the California Coast:

Along the Pacific — especially in places like San Francisco — viewers will enjoy one of the simplest horizons imaginable: open ocean to the west. With nothing but water beneath the sunset, the lowest planets may linger a little longer in view.

Find a spot facing the western sea, allow your eyes to adjust as twilight deepens, and begin by locating Jupiter, the brightest anchor in the sky. From there, your gaze can drift downward toward the sunset glow, where Venus and Saturn hover close to the horizon. Mercury, elusive and fleeting, may appear briefly before slipping into the ocean haze.

The experience along the coast feels almost nautical. The planets seem to sail toward the horizon like distant vessels, disappearing one by one into the evening — a reminder that California’s maritime identity has always been tied to the sky as much as to the sea.

Watching From the Desert — Palm Springs and the Shadow of San Jacinto:

In the Coachella Valley, the same alignment takes on a different character. The towering mass of Mt. San Jacinto rises west of Palm Springs, lifting the “local horizon” higher than the true one. For observers in central Palm Springs, this means the lowest planets may vanish earlier than expected — hidden behind the mountain long before they technically set.

The solution is simple: begin looking sooner, roughly 15–20 minutes after sunset, or consider driving a bit east in the valley, where the western view opens and the mountains no longer block the sky. Even if Mercury or Saturn slip behind the ridgeline, Jupiter will remain bright and unmistakable, offering a reliable guidepost for the rest of the lineup.

What changes between coast and desert is not the sky itself, but the geography beneath it. California’s landscapes — cliffs, mountains, and valleys — shape how each community experiences the same cosmic moment.

A Shared Alignment:

Planetary parades are not rare in astronomical terms, yet seeing so many worlds gathered in one evening sky feels quietly extraordinary. The alignment will be visible for several nights, but around February 28 the planets appear most closely grouped, forming a gentle arc that mirrors the path of the Sun.

There is a timelessness to such evenings. Ancient observers watched similar alignments without knowing the physics behind them; Renaissance astronomers sketched them into early charts; modern Californians might photograph them from a beach in San Francisco or a patio in Palm Springs. The technology changes, but the human instinct to look up remains the same.

As twilight fades across the state — waves rolling in along the Pacific, desert air cooling beneath the San Jacinto peaks — the planets will slowly sink from view. No grand finale, no dramatic flash. Just the steady motion of a solar system revealing itself for a brief moment to anyone willing to pause, face west, and watch the sky move.

James “Gypsy” Haake: A Lifetime in Drag, A Legacy in Motion

Happy 94th Birthday James “Gypsy” Haake, a Palm Springs legend and the World’s Oldest Working Drag Queen!

In an industry where reinvention is often the key to survival, few performers embody endurance quite like James “Gypsy” Haake. Born on February 14, 1932, Haake’s remarkable journey across the stages of Broadway, cabaret, film, and drag performance spans more than seven decades — a living testament to the resilience and artistry that have shaped American queer performance culture.

Haake’s career began in 1951 as a Broadway chorus boy, a launching point that would set the tone for a lifetime of theatrical expression. From the beginning, he possessed a rare ability to adapt to changing audiences and evolving forms of entertainment. That adaptability would become his signature, allowing him to remain relevant through shifting eras of nightlife, from mid-century cabaret glamour to modern pop-culture collaborations.

Perhaps most famously, Gypsy became a beloved master of ceremonies for La Cage Aux Folles, guiding audiences through evenings of laughter, spectacle, and unapologetic celebration. He was also a fixture of cabaret nightlife, performing in — and at times operating — the legendary venue “Gypsy’s,” a space that became synonymous with community, performance, and queer visibility long before such visibility was widely embraced.

Beyond the stage, Haake’s presence extended into film and television, with appearances in productions such as To Be or Not To Be and The Morning After. Yet even as screens changed and audiences evolved, Gypsy’s greatest strength remained his live connection with viewers — a performer who thrived on intimacy, humor, and the electricity of shared experience.

What sets Haake apart most, however, is longevity. At an age when many performers have long since retired, he continued to work, collaborate, and inspire new generations. His appearance in Miley Cyrus’s “Younger Now” era — both in video and live performance — introduced him to younger audiences and affirmed his role as a cultural bridge between past and present.

In 2023, at age 91, James “Gypsy” Haake was honored as a Palm Springs Pride Parade Grand Marshal, a fitting recognition of a life lived boldly in the spotlight. The honor was not simply a celebration of years served, but of a legacy shaped by persistence, humor, and a deep commitment to the art of drag as both performance and cultural expression.

Today, Gypsy stands as a reminder that drag is more than glitter and gowns — it is history, survival, and storytelling. His journey from Broadway chorus lines to Pride parades reflects the arc of LGBTQ+ visibility itself: hard-won, joyful, and defiantly alive.

In honoring Gypsy, we celebrate not only a performer but a living archive of queer entertainment history — a performer who never stopped stepping onto the stage, no matter the decade.

Subject Signals in Clay: The Broadcast Age Lives On at 420 Taylor

Tucked just off Market Street, on a stretch of San Francisco that has quietly witnessed the rise and reinvention of media for nearly a century, a towering ceramic mural still speaks in the language of early television. Mounted high on the façade of the former KBHK-TV studios at 420 Taylor Street, it is easy to miss at street level — and yet impossible to ignore once you truly look up.

The mural, often referred to as The World of Communications, is a vivid artifact of mid-century optimism. Created when television was still a daring experiment rather than an everyday companion, it captures a moment when San Francisco stood at the forefront of broadcast innovation.

Rendered in glazed ceramic tile, the work glows even under gray skies, its colors resilient against time and weather. The style blends the civic ambition of WPA-era murals with the streamlined modernism of the 1950s. Figures populate the composition from top to bottom: performers, technicians, and symbolic characters representing music, news, drama, and the arts. They gather around a central vertical current — a ribbon of color rising like a broadcast signal — suggesting that ideas, images, and voices travel upward into the invisible airwaves.

At the base, the imagery leans into the mechanics of television itself: stylized cameras, studio lights, and geometric forms hint at the machinery behind the magic. Above them, dancers, musicians, and storytellers seem to emerge from that technological foundation, a reminder that while equipment may evolve, creativity remains the driving force of communication.

Standing beneath the mural today, one feels the echo of a transitional era. This was a time when San Francisco was not merely consuming culture but inventing new ways to share it — when cinema palaces still dominated Market Street, radio was reinventing itself, and television promised to bring the world into the living room. The mural’s message feels especially resonant now, as media once again reshapes itself in the digital age.

What fascinates me most is how the piece bridges generations of storytelling. It belongs to the same civic impulse that gave us Coit Tower’s murals, the grand theatrical façades of Market Street, and the vibrant public art that still defines our city. Yet it also points forward, toward an era when performance, journalism, and technology would merge into something entirely new.

The former KBHK building may have changed hands and purpose over the years, but the mural remains — a vertical chronicle in tile and color, quietly reminding passersby that San Francisco has long been a place where signals begin, stories travel, and culture finds new forms.

Look up the next time you pass 420 Taylor. You may just hear the hum of an earlier broadcast age, still radiating from the wall.

BofA Presentation on 2026 Economic Trends

Wealth Transfer

• Baby Boomers now own $85 trillion or more than half of U.S. household net worth. Some $105 trillion is expected to be inherited by members of Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z through 2048 in the U.S.*

• Supported by appreciating Equities and home prices, boomer spending was a key driver of U.S. consumer resilience in 2025, a theme that we see continuing in 2026.

• The transfer of assets to the next generation of investors and consumers should mean greater demand for traditional stocks and bonds and alternative investments for qualified investors.

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• Data center power demand could more than double within five years, concentrated in PJM* states (PA, NJ, MD, and more)—testing grid capacity and planning.

• In the U.S., data centers consume around 5% of electricity but may account for 35% of incremental demand through 2035.²

• The race to build AI infrastructure faces critical constraints: securing grid connections, not just generating power. Transmission delays and interconnection queues can stall projects.