My approach to this task was to take something that was not a tree and make it bear fruit like one, in such a way as to encourage passersby to pick them.

I went to the ferry building and hunted for a suitable fruit -- something easy to peel so people would feel reasonably safe from street fruit cooties. Tangerines! I prepared by tying them to lengths of twine, and then wandered the streets looking for something that was treelike but not a tree.

A row of green umbrellas in the Embarcadero Center caught my eye.



I suspended the fruit as quickly as I could before attracting attention from security. An old lady sitting nearby gave me the evil eye but didn't say anything. When I finished, I strolled off nonchalantly and then circled around to a higher level so I could observe for a bit.

The old lady eventually got up to go, and stopped to look at the mysterious fruit, but didn't touch any of it. As she was leaving, I saw her talking to a group of friends, pointing back at the fruit. One of them went to investigate, sampled one, and called back "It's good!".

After that I sat nearby with my camera at the ready, hoping to snap someone in the act of plucking a tangerine. No luck. Next time I'll use something more noticeable, like pineapples...