This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

I don't trust anyone who doesn't love a good map. Even something as everyday and basic as a

Rand McNally road atlas could occupy me for hours in the backseat of a hot car. But if you want

my eyes to literally dilate with excitement, show me a 3D physical scale model of a city.

There's one of these in San Francisco, a 41 by 37-foot scale model of a city that was created in the

late 1930s and then lost for decades. It was recently unearthed, refurbished and distributed

in pieces to neighborhood libraries. I had heard about this crazy model years ago.

Some cryptic allusion to it, maybe in the Chronicle? They'd just said there was this

enormous scale model of San Francisco that once was on display briefly and then vanished.

The idea that there was a miniature world is something just so irresistible to your childlike

brain. This model of the city is a tangible 3D road map through time and space,

triggering stories from San Francisco's past, realities of the present, and visions of the future.

These stories were collected by the kitchen sisters, Davie Nelson and Nikki Silva, and produced

into the gorgeous audio collage we're going to play for you today. Here's Nikki Silva.

Our story begins with this gigantic handmade model made up of over 6,000 tiny carved buildings

and bridges forgotten for almost 80 years. It involves artists, curators, poets, planners,

and amega collaboration between SF-MOMA and 29 branches of the San Francisco Public Library.

This object has become the catalyst for over 100 public programs throughout San Francisco.

It's activated bicycle tours. It's lured in thousands of locals and tourists and historians,

triggered people's memories, and generated questions and ideas about how we can go forward as a city,

keeping it dynamic and diverse and just and hospitable, protecting the environment,

a pretty tall order for an object. Welcome to San Francisco. Stories from the Model City.

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