Stairwalks of SF, The Ski Jump, Bay Cruise
I've had a busy leisure life apparently, because not only have I done some cool SF touristy things, but had no time to write about it!
Stairwalks of SFMy buddy (good news for optimists, on right) and her buddy, et moi, went on a "stairwalks of SF" hike on Sunday, I believe. I was ridiculed last night for not blogging about it because I guess there is some expectation in writing about walking around SF if your blog is about walking around SF. So here goes!
I trekked up Chestnut street, steep as it is for 3 huge blocks, to Hyde, then walked over to favorite cafe, nook. OK, written about nook before. I was wearing my cool heart monitor so I could tell thatI was having a good workout empirically, if not just checking with the sweat pouring down my body, and my frequent desires to "just go home and watch a dvd" instead of exercising. Anyways, metup with these two, and we decided to do the Northern part of Russian Hill. Funny because anytime someone said, "is this the north side?" "are we on the southeast corner?" etc. we would all look blankly at each other. There's just something un-directional about SF. Most of the people I know here just think of south of market, and then the north side of the city, and those are about the only references. You say "other side of van ness" and people know what you're talking about, or you say "down on Geary, Sunset side" or "Bayside." I wonder if it's because we're a peninsula, with 2 grid systems, one at a 45degree angle to the other. Hmm. Will ponder this further.
The hills and walks of the North Russian Hill walk is neat, but it was an anticlimax for me (sorry Kathy) because this is the area I walk through to get to all points.... West?... over near the Marina. So Ada, the author of
Stairwalks of San Francisco didn't have a whole lot to tell me. I enjoyed sharing the walk with friends, though, and the hamburger at the end at the Bell Tower was very cool.
The Ski Jump
credit to:
thomas hawkI was forced out of my apartment, despite a really busy schedule, to see Johnny Moseley's
ski jump.
- there was white styrofoam compensating for the snow in about 50% of the main hump on Vallejo.
- I stood on the top of it, in the middle and the bottom and all vantages were cool.
- There were tons of reporters and TV cameras. Everyone had a camera. It was the most well-documented thing I've ever been at.
- They were supposedly pulling kids into the cable car that was the jump station. Some kid told me that if he waited there long enough he would get asked to jump. Sure...
- standing downt he block from the middle section was cool because you could see the person flying in between the buildings. It was like a cross-section view.
- I saw a double spin by a guy on skis, young, blond fro. For the "jeep" sponsor.
- I saw about 3 guys totally lose it on the jump part and hurt themselves.
- I saw 2 tailgate parties that were serving... champagne. Classic Pac Heights.
- lots of students in the audience.
Bay CruiseI went on a HornBlower bay cruise for my friend's wedding today. We went by the Bay Bridge during construction, and that was amazing. You see all of the different pilons standing there, not connected yet. Amazing number of flat platform tankers out in the bay for the construction.
I am very prone to motion sickness so spent most of the time concentrating on not getting sick. No wedding festivities, just ... thinkign about not hurling. Fun!
The Golden Gate Bridge is truly beautiful, approaching it in fogged in banks, with increasingly choppy waves. The shipping tunnel there has really choppy waters. Angel Island I also never get tired of, nor Alcatraz. We were fogged in by both of those, but we did spin around to McCovey Cove, near PacBell Park. It was really calm there, and a Norwegian Cruiseline was up in dry dock. Seeing a huge cruise ship in dry dock is pretty amazing. You can kind of tell how they float when you see it like that.
Two military ships were also in harbor so tightly knit together that it looked like an uber-ship.
Two Vallejo ferries went by - catamarrans - and they are the fastest thing on the bay. really efficient.
There's a 4-mile old pilings that go out from Berkeley Harbor. 4 miles! I guess it used to be a railroad that went out to join up with a Ferry Landing, the one (101) that headed out from Hyde St. Pier. In total ruin now, but that seems like a very efficient way of getting across the bay. Too bad it's down.
working in SF, and Berkeley
I have travelled so much for work, that working here is unique to me. A couple of reasons why it's weird to work near where you live, from a chronic business traveller:
1. I describe evening activities and people know what I'm talking about
2. I can bring food from home, but I don't, as an act of protest vs. just not having a kitchen in my hotel room.
3. I can do random fun things after work with friends, at the drop of a hat.
4. I can squeeze in errands before and after work
5. I meet people I know at work, who just happen to work here
OK, not very interesting but very novel to me.
Wheeler Hall in Berkeley
went to go see
Dr. Atomic composer, librettist, and random Physics award winning guy talk about the moral issues of soul and science or somesuch nonsense. It was really inspiring and great. But local color notes: tons of grey-haireds. I counted, in my peripheral vision, how many dark haireds to grey haireds and the grey haireds won by about three to one. Lots of foot stomping and loud clapping when anyone made an anti-Bush remark. Woman in front of us in line for the seats kept introducing herself to people as "I work at the Physics Nuclear Engineering Dept." instead of a name, etc. Nice flowing expensive garmets and silk fabrics with lots of interesting earings, with Fleece and Merrill shoes thrown in for good comfortable measure. We lost out on getting the (free) tickets, but managed to scalp some in front of the auditorium. That was kind of fun in a meet-your-neighbor way!
Cafe Milano,
Cafe StradaUC Berkeley campus brings back tons of memories for me since it was a key to rebellious youth (shopping at the shops was about as scandalous as it got). The coffee in almost any given place is amazing. I had to stop in Cafe Milano to relive some happy memories. Just sitting around being near college people and being in public. I think that was the zenith of my high school years.
I managed to go to Cafe Strada to get a mocha at the end of the lecture. This is what our college youth is like: Nothing like
I Am Charlotte Simmons thank god. Where were the orgies??? I'm asking you Tom, where were they? Just lots of studious collegiate girls with bowed heads in hoodies.
Aquatic Park
Came back from a 1:15 minute stroll around the neighborhood. Returned book to library, then down mason to Bay, up around Fort Mason, by Aquatic park, up to North Point, then to ma house. The water in Aquatic Park is SO BLUE. Will I ever get up the guts to swim there??
Chinese Consulate and driving in Pac Heights
Ah, the communist manifesto.
So, for a quiet building in Japantown, you wouldn't expect a steel security gate. But as my experienced China-traveller friend noted, "these are all over China too." The line was long at 8:35AM. I was surprised when the woman next to me spoke English and confirmed that I could get my photo taken inside. You go in, and there's 50 chairs bolted to the floor, facing a large LCD readout display. Chinese and English characters scroll up (the Chinese written horizontally, which I'm suspecting is a simplified technique). There's a security guard (Caucasian) and at first he makes you take a ticket out of a little kiosk that looks like a parking lot ticket stand. It issues out a paper thin ticket in English and Chinese. I barely had time to fill out the Visa form when my number was called: "er... ling.. ba" (208). I went to the window- there were about 7 tellers- and she told me with staccato English that I needed a photo. No duh! I told her, no one was at the photo kiosk. "She'll be there. Come back after."
So I go back and get my photo taken. I spotted the photo lady right away. Like all bureaucratic institutions, libraries, post offices, there's some indefineable "thing" about the employees there. She was nicely made up and wore makeup, maybe that was the giveaway. Everyone else had tumbled out of bed, pulled on fleece or a quilted jacket (it was very foggy in Japantown that morning).
My activity looked odd, because all of the 50 chairs were taken with the people sitting diligently watching the LCD monitor. Strange thing is, the line moves super fast. I was up there at the teller's twice in 10 minutes. So why were these people sitting here? I had been halfway through the line outside, so my number should have been smack dab inbetween everyone else's. Odd. I wonder if it's the beginning of an experience of communist nations, where you get in line first, ask questions later. No idea.
Best thing about Chinese Consulate? right next to Peets in Fillmore. Ah, the beloved upper classes and their taste for fine coffee and good scones (blackberry, raspberry). Lots of 40ish guys with little baseball caps, and jauntily clad women in stylish sports clothes, requisite baseball hat and sunglasses, sporty tennis shoes, stroller, or latte in hand, cell phone in the other. Sitting at little tables, looking expectantly at me, who was conducting a work call, parallel parking, and getting order.
Pacific HeightsHad an interesting driving moment on the way home. Pull down Jackson in Pacific Heights, there is a UPS bus parked, an SUV behind it, in front of me. In the other direction is a moving van. A small MG is trying to nose its way through the two trucks, and the SUV is not budging. Another SUV is a few car widths behind it (still in front of me). Finally a couple of us decide to just high tail it out of there. Kind of funny- the cutesy streets do get clogged, and we have to back out of them.
Note on the steep hills: I once got a panic attack going up Union street to the top of Russian Hill. My friends were in the car, we were going to Victoria Bakery (nummers!). It was just too steep. I was worried about my car losing out on first gear, which had happened once on California street going up to Nob Hill (I was 16, my girlfriends were in the car screaming, it was a bad scene.)
So now I occasionally drive up Union street, but usually just take the Broadway Tunnel and left on Powell. I took my MOm up and over the other direction, up Taylor to Union, then over to Van Ness. It's a bit steep on Taylor but not awful. The grades do matter when you're going uphill, not so much when you're going down, which is my caveat. I do hate going down Pacific Heights to the Marina, almost all directions, and will try to do Franklin as best I can. So Mom gets panicky going down Union Street to Van Ness. I'm like, really? There's something about it being a busy street with tons of buses that builds confidence in me. I think if she saw it as a "saddle" between Nob Hill and Russian Hill she would get over her panic, but not sure.
Quiet Neighborhood Notes
so I'm not the only one writing about post offices... (from 6 posts ago) my friends in Paris recently celebrated
l'anniversaire de la Poste! Weird we don't have one... Or is that Ben Franklin's birthday?
Noe Valley Library
Ok more on civic architecture, can I say that I've visited a few SF Libraries, and can now add Noe Valley as a notch on my belt. Cute! Cute! Cute! The neighborhood association, or some busybodies, have put up photo displays of the neighborhood's history. I found it really interesting, but then again I was enjoying my day off.
Even though Carnegie was a d*** to his kids, I appreciate the libraries and architecture. It's similar to Chinatown's, that really haven't served them well, though. Noe's hasn't grown like Chinatown's, so it's still a good fit. God, they have a couch in their library. Leather. Amazing. And a huge DVD binder of covers that rivals NetFlix.
Crissy Field
I adore the long windy 1.5 mile walk out to the Warming Hut, with the view of the Golden Gate and Marin Headlands the entire way. I like the wind in my face! My hair in the wind! Ah. And then the reward once you get to the Hut... Today's meal, when not fending away blackbirds (or, little black birds the name of which I don't know), was a hot grilled ham and mustard sandwich and a soy latte. rock on! I also love people watching, and the field was full of it. Some big office party was going on near the picnic benches and I was glad I wasn't in that. Added onto it was that they were doing organized games (sorry Kathy, hate those).
I think those are the only places I've gone in 3 days. I'm just recovering from visitors. That's the way it goes. Manic socialness then cocooning.
Reading:
Elizabeth George
With No One As WitnessListening:
Louise Erdrich
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: ABeethoven
Watching:
Whale Rider,
Mists of Avalon
coffee art, literally
due credit
PacBell Park part deux, WashBag
PacBell ParkWent out with the fam to the park, and this time I managed to hijaak a kid from one of my sisters and try out the fun play areas @ PacBell. I went down a slide a dozen times. Some nice random Dad person pointed me to the slide, behind the other slides, that had absolutely no line. My height-impaired friend just wanted to sit on the cable car they have sitting center field. I have to say, that is an amazing view. We saw two pop flies, and when Barry Bonds did his homer into the Cove, I was holding rent-a-kid high in to the air to see this momentous occasion. Total body workout.
Washington Street Bar and GrillThis place is so great! Some of my friends have been telling me they love the wine selection. I went there because Iluna Basque wasn't open yet, and sure enough, it is a nice place to hang. I went there with the rents, and we got a very good brunch. It is quite steep though. Similar meal at Cafe Divine was 1/3rd the cost, but a tad colder.
Cafe Macaroni (or Scuie, Scuie)Got dinner there the other night. I usually shy away from it but Bocadillos AND Ristorante Gondola were closed. My rigatoni with sausage was OK, but I like the sausage broken out of the skin and mixed into the sauce, instead it was sliced like keilbasa. I ate my Mom's order of spaghetti and meatballs the next day for leftovers and it totally the spot, if a little salty. Which I think is more authentic anyway. Cute decor, but it does border on the dusty/cutesy elements that most North Beach restaurants tend to go. Real Italian spoken there, if anyone cares.
Curry HouseOn Columbus X Chestnut. The name's a couple of things, including something like Cable Car Company. They sell SF sweatshirts out on the back log, and share dining space with Kennedy's. The samosas last night were really, really large and generally tasteless. I like more fried area, I guess. My friend's dosa looked OK but I remember mine being kind of dry and tasteless too. I had a chicken wrap the other day, and it's like a mild burrito for 5$. Not bad!
when asked these questions:
1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal. Or not. It's a free country.
kim responded:
1. You like to decant paper cups of coffee into a mug.
2. Wichita Lineman.
3. Ambrosia with extra mini-marshmallows.
4. "Why won't anyone believe me when I say that I'm not having a secret love affair with Bobo????"
5. Who are these weird drunk girls in my stairwell?
6. A Swedish fish.
7. If you were a WNBA star, what nickname would the press give to you?
Yay! I would be Shaq. I actually AM Shaq, some other bball folks call me that, it's true. It's not because of any slam dunk percentage but because I have the same "boxing out" method.
If anyone read this post this far, and wants me to do them the same favor in answering the questions about THEM, please post a comment!
lexis nexis,choicepoint, paris hilton, blue bottle coffee
in the news...Yes, turns out the same hackers that got into Paris' sidekick also compromised 300,000 consumers data on choicepoint/lexis nexis. BBC article
here. Lame as it comes through P. Hilton, at least it unveils how corporations are willy nilly with personal information. The method that the hackers used, and somewhat in that BBC article but elsewhere when it occured, I heard that they used common usernames and passwords and just saw how many accounts used those "defaults". Bad news in consumer land.
blue bottle coffee companySometimes I don't run across things in the city. Sometimes other people do, and they mention it to me. Sometimes it takes about 4X mentioning it to me for it to stick! One of my friends maintains a "blog" which he defines as, long email conversations that he uploads to a site hosted at his work, at the rate of about once per year. That "blog" has no links to any other links, and he emails out the address when a conversation is getting close to the topic that he "posted" about. Anywho, he has been mentioning this place frequently, and I ran across their blog (yes, a coffee kiosk has a blog). Now I have to get my fat a** over there. The coffee looks great. I love up close and personal food shots (see: chocolate & zucchini blog to the right). Check it out:
blue bottle coffe co.. Not sure where non-blogger friend visited, but this BBCC seems to be in the old central freeway area, now Octavia.
Seat Belt PursesSpent beaucoup bucks at Therapy last night. Note, do not go shopping after having some beers, all of your wallet inhibitions will go down! Finally got to buy the "seat-belt" purse. A purse maid of Buick seat belts! Thanks to
therapy for my retail therapy session.
Note on blogging: It seems decadent and weird to post about every single place I go, so I don't. So like last night I went to may be 4 different venues but all I mention is the retail one.
Around Telagraph Hill (tel-hi)
Tel-HiI took a tour around Telegraph Hill, logged here on the cool
google-maps-pedometer. (link received from Good News for Optimists, link on right).
My route was the rule of: no elevation change unless absolutely necessary, and keep to the edge of the hill. It took about 2.3 miles, and lasted about an hour. A huge factor of that time was slogging through the big Market Day in Chinatown. The neat thing about walking around Tel-Hi are the sheer cliffs of reddish rock that go right up to huge apartment buildings and historical mills. On the sheer rock you have clumps of dirt where fennel, this marjoram kind of plant, nasturtium, and blackberry grow. There's probably poison oak in there somewhere too. I want to go back with my camera and take some photos. You have a house built righ ton the tip of an outcropping of rock, in downtown San Francisco. Kind of odd. Also, signs saying "falling rocks, no pedestrians."
Chinatown... where I saw:
- bucket of live, flipping fish
- mesmerizing trays of half dead fish
- some large ginger-root looking bulb the size of a human head being decanted into another bucket
- an adorable kid kept yelling for his grandad, who was booking super fast in front of him.
- a really, really pushy under 4-foot elderly woman who had a technique of getting through the crowds that reminded me of skilled basketball players
- an entire fish "truck", with iced/water chambers, and a guy in full white water gear, big fisherman's boots (yellow galoshes). Absolutley no insignia or logo anywhere on the truck.
- a homeless woman with clear bags full of old fish and vegetables, sorting through discarded vegetables on the sidewalk.
- wanting to check out exactly where produce came from, I checked out a box of produce that said "Dole" and I'm like, wow, this isn't small farmer stuff, it's Dole, then I realized: it says Dole bananas, and those are grapes. And the box looked about 3-rd hand.
Dim SumI got the bright idea about halfway through my "surround tel-hi" hike that I wanted some dim sum for lunch. Now, there are probably two good takeout dim sum cafes every block in Chinatown. There's one I really like, no name, only location: behind the bus stop, on Stockton, right before the Stockton Tunnel. This time I decided to just try a new one with a high "high local" count. Basically, I just peeked in and checked out each dim sum, and if enough locals were there, I went in. This time I wasn't disappointed. They had a neat spinach rice-pancake tart, with really fresh spinach inside. The meatball dumpling wasn't disappointing, either. Fun for 5$! Total price for 2 of everything I wanted, plus one pork bun: $3.30. I can only really eat 3 piecs of them too so it's a precursor for dinner as well. The pan-fried spinach dumpling wasn't so hot, though. The guy next to me ordered congee, two fried egg rolls, and a pork bun. Now, that is just a ton of food. I was kind of surprised when I saw him sit down by himself too. I can't even polish off one order of congee. It usually languishes in my refrigerator for days.
I also picked up some fresh greens (not sure what they are, probably mustard greens). Total price: $0.35. Chinatown is still: Fun for Five Dollars!
Marker Seven Party, Pakwan, Post Office... errands in NBeach
First in reverse order, if that makes sense...
Marker Seven PartyThanks to John, Patrick & Rebecca over at Marker Seven for a great party last night. Managed to hit the bridge at 5:30PM, and despite lots of back and forth with my buddy tharpo over there about the "fire" on the bridge and whether it was going to be backed up... no fire, hummed right along. I had checked 511.org and it said 29mph which was better, actually, than I usually expeirence on the Bridge... then on the bridge, it was exactly as
511.org had said. Very creepy, how can they be so accurate? Seattle's 511 was also creepily accurate.
I headed out and made it into the city by around 6:30. Old car managed to make it up to Nob Hill though the city was as gridlocked as tharpo ahd warned. Parked on Pine St. amid lots of honking, which I can only guess are Richmond people trying to zoom down Pine to the outer district.
Great party in brick-exposed offices, where the Dianetics people are below in the other floors. Kept on wondering if Tom Cruise would rear his ugly teeth baring head on us or aliens would zap us into oblivion. Dianetics has also taken some great real estate down on Columbus Ave near the Transamerica Building. I peer in each time I walk by and I wonder if they are recruiting me through weird telephathic vitamin enriched ways.
Pakwan
After much standing and chatting (mostly about
Skype's
purchase by eBay) wandered with fellow foodie to Pakwan, my favorite cheap Indian food place. My friend, who is Indian descent, was kind of horrified when the guys who work at Pakwan greeted me warmly. Horrified because he had never known I was such a regular, I guess. He was further freaked out by the fact I divulged, that sometimes I walk here, get takeout, and take the Cable Car back. So trite! So Touristy! But it's true, sometimes the locals do use cable cars. This is a fact folks who live in Potrero Hill can't abide, I guess. Scarfing Chicken Tikka "crack" Masala and rice - buddy had a kebab - and then drove over Taylor home, which is a street that kind of cracks me up. Goes up at a super steep incline, levels for about 5 yards, then goes down at an equally steep incline. haha!
U.S. Post Office- Stockton
On Washignton Square Park is probably the best Post Office, so have to give it some props. The guys are funny, the line was short, my package to Japan was only 9$! The credit card machine was down and they gave me some jocular shit about being ready to pay in cash. How old school! They have a central view of the park. Nice place. I had a good experience customer-support wise at the Passport office downtown on Sutter too. When did post office workers have the bad reputation as gun weilding wackos? Maybe the backlash of that meant they all get vacations and investments in better senses of humor, or something.
City Lights BookstoreThe famous beat place is truly great, and even if it's not a discovery, it deserves to be loved in all its greatness. My favorite are is the "Staff Picks" shelf. If you walk in, take an immediate right and it's near the magazines, on the end of a shelf. I was trying to find a really good book and had to ask, then was directed down to the basement and to a dark corner near Eastern Mythology. The funny thing about City Lights, as different from Borders, or Barnes & Snobby, is that poetry is given a well-lit corner on the street, and eclectic Staff Picks are near the door, but Thrillers (where I was looking) is hidden in the nether recesses. Excellent.
Cafe Crisis!
Cafe Crisis!Woke up late. I have no food at home for breakfast, so I have to go out. I need to write for a few hours before work, so I can't really do anything off the beaten track. Where can I find a coffee shop with good scones, wireless, and seating? IMPOSSIBLE. I dare you to find one for me, because this is a real crisis.
- the falafel place near my house (where I am currently sitting) has awful easy listening music, no scones, those icky tall glass "mugs" that make your drink cold in 2 seconds flat. Yes, wireless. 2 blocks from house. lots of tourists.
- the other cafe on the corner, may try this one Thursday. Good coffee, potentially good scones, you pay for wireless.
- Peets would be ideal, but they don't have seating, outlets available, and no wireless. Ferry Building might be an option, but would take 1/2 walking, 10 minutes biking, 15 minutes by bus. Seagulls are a nuisance in the seated areas. Russian Hill is an option but I couldn't muster the energy to hike over Russian Hill to get to it, and adds on potentially 30-40 minutes walking time one way. Peets downtown has absolutely no seating, but potentialy good wireless (both batter & montgomery).
- Francisco cafe, also 2 blocks from house. Abysmally awful service, bad pastries and so-so coffee, no wireless. You can jump on a neighbor's but it's a weak signal.
- nook cafe up on Hyde Street. Not as far away as Peets on Russian, but you have to pay for wireless or jump on a neighbor's. Amazing food and coffee.
- I vaguelly remember something called "Chameleon" another cafe. I'll check it out
- the cable car cafe on Mason near the Cable Car museum. Usually an option but that is a hike.
p.s. I'm giving Golden Gate Perk a break. Also, the pastries there aren't too hot.
Columbus, Kearny, Golden Gate Perk
Did the 'new commute' out to Bush & Kearny. Met up with a scalper at Tully's in Crocker Galleria, ah, the scene of the crime. Am I the only one who sees their life as a constant Maltese Falcon? I have never gone to Perry's. There Tharpo, match me there- you can be the foray there. I've actually not been to tone of places.
Favorite lunch place, DPD Chinese Restaurant on Pacific (or Jackson?) and Kearny has gone through a super renovation. Wonder if it's still MSG filled. It really is an awesome cheap place.
I've also never been to Chef Jia's on the same block. House of Nanking, went there ages ago.
Gave some advice to an Asian-American couple on how to tour Chinatown this morning. "Up Commercial street, wind your way back, make sure to go up to Stockton and check out the fresh produce markets." They seemed really nice.
So Golden Gate Perk has bulgogi. Yep, it's Korean. I couldn't figure out how the big plasma screen playign DVDs, house music, and great wireless matched up wtih doilies on the plates, fresh flowers at every table, etc. until the guy working behind the counter- who I think is Jae from his business card-- mother came in and started working the counter. Ah-ha! Very cute place. I could be wrong but I think that's the setup.
SF, You Minx You
My friend (see to the right,
apple pie proud) recently posted a great pathetic fallacy that has inspired me as well, to tell the time when I was seduced by the city. The city being a lover, that is. That's the pathetic fallacy part. A new literary phrase that I learned listening to a review of a country western song on NPR.
I'm doing a lot of journal writing to procrastinate writing, let it be known, and in a way you could say "oh it's a warmup for writing" but let's be honest, it's a big fat procrastination technique. Blogging, that is.
The seductive moments of SF:
Living with my parents in the South Bay, right out of college, I knew I wanted to move here. It was just "away", as well as being close enough to run home to home-baked meals. I found a college friend who was living with her boyfriend on Page and Lyon. I would bike across Sunnyvale to the CalTrain stop after work or on weekends, and take the hour long ride up to the city in my biking outfit, with maybe a nice shirt and shoes rolled up in the backpack with a toothbrush. This is the 90s version of the "airline stewardess overnight bag" that Tales of the City Armistead Maupin writes about (single women going to town with a negligee and a toothbrush, if I remember it right).
OK let me start earlier. A few years before, I was taking a break from super expensive posh college and working at an animation software company in Shallow Alto, er, Palo Alto, my friend from high school was trying to drag me into CD creation (visual basic scripting).
"Anna, it's the new thing. You have to learn it."
She told me this as we were walking around the super cute neighborhood of South Park, which since then became the headquarters of the internet revolution-
Wired, Organic,
Suck, etc.
During that semester at home I partied with her a lot in the city, mostly because her Canadian boyfriend took her to all of the industry parties (at that time) and I was the official "friend of." We were under age, I think, and that is just so sick when you think of how old he was. Anyways, it was my first taste of what would later become scrounging.org, the industry party review site. Since defunct since there are no more industry parties (or kids who want to hang out at them and eat rich food and free hors d'oeuvres?)
The highlight of that era was the industry party, the "Be-In", where we saw some people playing at a setup network game. Yawn, sure, now, but at that time it was intense. Play games? On a network? And it's not Doom?
Christine and her boyfriend got a flat painted landlord white, and put a huge TV screen in it (that I later broke when I was putting the futon back together). I remember Christine pointing to the long railroad hallway and saying "I'm going to print a swoop in Adobe Illustrator and print it out and frame it. Isn't that cool?" To understand how we could even think that was cool, this was the age of hanging Nagel prints.
Christine's version of San Francisco was amazing because up until that time, it was the dingy city where we would day trip to, just to walk around an urban city so unlike our suburban area. Just talking with a south bay friend last night. We had seen a movie (bullitt, see below) where the Embarcadero Freeway features largely. For us, that was San Francisco: grimy, dirty, urban. Coming to South Park with Christine I realized it was cute, pretty, and kind of hip as well. You can dress her up and take her out!
Before SF laid on its big seductive effort, though, I was a little raw from a previous relationship-- Paris. After that breakup I was homesick for the U.S., and even more specificly, homesick for California. I find some college friends who are nearby, and I start what becomes a weird commute: biking across Sunnyvale, to Caltrain, up to the city, biking to Upper Haight, where I crash and live for the weekend. I do this for months before realizing, I just need to move to SF. She had her hooks in me. I think that "weekend warrior" version of San Francisco is still in me. There's nothing more freeing than knowing that you won't see anyone during the week at work or at the gym!
The commitment moment with SF, was two different super early morning moments. My Dad has always said that the best way to see a city is to walk around it early in the morning before daybreak, and I think he's right. I remember running a race in Chinatown at 7am in the morning, and later househunting with the couple. It was a pivotal moment for me, because I realized the town was not just what I had seen with the couple, but a friendly, outgoing, colorful, diverse, beautiful, place of pure potential. I woke up at 5am, drove up to San Francisco, parked in the Financial District, jogged over to the CHinatown YMCA (beautiful Julia Morgan building), then ran with a set of strangers who had been up from the night before. We were running through festive colorful streets, streamers and posters everywhre. The shop merchants were just setting up their stalls, and the fish and produce didn't have that day-old reek they have when tourists go by, but an early morning fresh smell. The route snaked through Chinatown, down through North Beach, to Aquatic Park and Chrissy Field. I got on a bus to return to the start, and chatted with a 60 year old woman who had "just started running". "You can do whatever you want, never use excuses. Look at me, I just started running and I just ran a 7 K." How can I remember a conversation I had 10 years ago?
Another time, also an early morning, I was very disappointed in love, and couldn't sleep all night. I climbed to the top of Roswell Peak, and witnessed the city coming to life on a weekday morning. A fire engine snaked its way through Duboce Triangle and Castro street, avoiding one ways and no left turns, to put out a fire in the Mission. You could hear the sounds in a remote way, almost like you were watching a miniature town. Cabs start running, people line up for the streetcar, parents watch kids in a park, dogs run around the do park, and businesses start to open, all like Richard Scary's BusyTown. The din rose up before me as I sat on that craggy red rock. You could see across the bay to Oakland and Berkeley. I've had good moments like this in Paris and Seattle, but for some reason this felt more like something that was me.
The couple introduced me to a tour of Yale, Oberlin, and Reed college parties, a spout of pretentious abusive drinking spots that I bet are reenacted every weekend in every major city, but which helped me create amazing friendships. I just was at the wedding of one of those friends, who I met in this way: the couple & I are having a party, so in the world of SF we just stop by people's flats and leave cute little created flyers. I was somewhat involved with this "James the Lawyer" and when we stopped by his place, two little heads peaked down the staircase, and they were remotely familiar faces. Turns out never saw James the Laywer again, but made two amazing friends who later became housemates, coworkers, buddies, and on and on. The closeness of the city- how we're all near each other- 'tis great. Suburbs separate people. I walked home the other day from errands and ran into an old lunch friend. Sure, I could have emailed him or talked to someone who knew him, but walking with him back to work, which is near where I live, has a kind of casual friendliness that caught us both off guard, I think.
San Francisco has kept me to it even while I commuted abroad for work for years. I tried to explain to a Seattle friend how nice the winters are here by taking photos one weekend and showing her them online. "See that guy? That's Mike. He lives a block from me. He's just gone to a really good local gourmet store (Bi-Rite). It's last weekend. Yeah. He's wearing a short-sleeved shirt. Yep." They were stunned. T-shirt in winter? Sunshine? Same crowd of Chinese Nationalists were also amazed at Yank Sing, the dim sum restaurant that white people go to, and you sit with only one or two people, not in a big round, and the price tag is frequently over 80 dollars.
Just when I get trite about how cutesy it is, or how expensive, how twee everything is, I come across new things just around the corner. A new restaurant, the baseball game, or last night....
El ValencianOn Valencia at about 23rd Street,
El Valencian is a small place that expands into a huge dance area with orchestra stage. Last night, there was an amazing Cuban jazz ensemble, where, note, the women to men ratio was about 8 to 1. Got some really good Cuban food and a nice margarita, and listened to great jazz at little tables with white tableclothes (sucker for the tableclothes). No cover because we came in around 11:30pm.
Film in the ParkI saw
Bullitt last night in Dolores Park. Hundreds of people on the lawn, all reverently quiet for the man who knows how to wear a turtleneck. Pizzas from Delfina's new pizzaria, good wine, and being able to site local spots are all ingredients for a good time. And I learned from the Giants game and brought many scarves.
PacBell Park, Aquatic Park
PacBell ParkManaged to score a free ticket, thanks Mofo,for the
the Cubs/Giants last night.
Back when the park was being built my work was going to do some heavy season ticket purchasing so someone in biz dev managed to get us a reception in their suites and a tour of locker rooms, etc. I just remember Barry Bonds' locker (luxurious as lockers go) and that the owner's daughter was having some wedding photos on home plate (?). The game last night was fun, and I managed to get swept up in the game.
I think it was the first pro game I've seen since age 9. Then, I coudln't really figure out the scores but tried to follow along with my dad, on the program that we bought - and shared, if I remember correctly. There were also hot dog vendors in the stands (no more!). It was about as glacially freezing @ PacBell as it was at Candlestick. Now it just seems silly that a baseball team was playing on a football field. When you grow up with something, you don't recognize it as odd, that's for sure.
I kept saying to myself how odd it was that this little corner of the city had so many people in it. I just don't see crowds that much in SF. It's a kind of unpopulated city (790K at last count). Most of these people were bridge and tunnelers, but still, it was just incredible to realize that this many poeple(40K?) came into the park tonight. Maybe that's why my Bay Area commute today, going from Emeryville to Sausalito, took an hour!
OK as for the game itself, baseball is so much slower than basketball it was hard to get in the groove. Friend and I went for a little walk to get hot dogs, check out the play structures, and voila, the neither score, nor the game in any way, had progressed! Also, why do baseball players look kind of thunder-thigh-ish in their uniforms? Is it polyester blend plus long johns? Please comment.
I got a kick out of the playground-- a real little softball diamond is setup in back of the bleachers-- and that the lower class seating, I mean bleachers, are potentially much more fun. The crowd seemed cuter (well the guys were), they were rowdy, seating was chaotic, and they were participating a whole lot more than our little nest of paralegals. The lines for concessions were out of control in the posh sections, and pretty empty near bleachers. Bathrooms in bleachers area (at least for women) were big and spacious and unoccupied. An important feature of PacBell Park, thatI remember from Candlestick days, is that the exit was blissfully fast. My friend Kathy and I made a walk up to Market street, from the 7th inning, in about 25 minutes. In Candlestick we would still be sitting in the parking lot stuck behind some SUV trying to wait for an opening in the traffic.
Aquatic ParkIt's been a few weeks since I did 'the loop'. Start chez moi, go to Ghirardelli Square, walk along the jetty out to the tip where it almost meets Hyde Street Pier, walk around the faux lighthouse, go up the hill dodging Blazing Trail bikers, loop around North Point park, walk down North Point to Columbus, hike back up home. I was in the same route as some homeless guy who kept yelling the N-word (though no black persons in sight), lots of tourists, and in North Point Park, a bunch of locals out in twos and threes collapsed on the lawn, sunning their hangover away (I imagine). Oh those Marina types and their binge drinking! I was practicing Chinese language tapes and trying not to be too much of a freak. "SHENG CI!" I probably yelled, as you do when you are using headphones and think you're whispering.
Julia Morgan and Black Cat
Julia Morgan HouseFound myself in a friends of friend house, pure
Julia Morgan (link is not to the specific place I visited, which is not on the list). She did the Hearst Castle, Asilomar, MacArthur Park restaurant in Palo Alto (former barracks for US Army), UC Berkeley. Other neo-classical structures, but mostly an Arts and Crafts maven. The details were beautiful, and I was constantly reminded of the Gamble House down in Pasadena. Really amazing architecture, right on Russian Hill near my house. A low-income apartment building in her time, but now of course premiere real estate, with a beautiful view of Bernal Heights!
Black CatI'm catsitting another architectural gem, the P,G&E workers bungalows up on Russian Hill. But, the other day when sifting through kitty litter and replenishing water, the outgoing cat ran out the door. I followed him through a weird gate "chat gentil!" sign on the gate, to one of the most amazing views of the city, and a tree full of super noisy green parrots. The cat, outgoing in the house, was elusive in the blackberry bushes and roses. I sat there for a while rattling a plastic container of is food, then I noticed another cat, and realized I left the door open to the house. Grrr. I couldn't remember what color the elusive black cat was (had written in notes that she was black). So I tried to tempt this smoky/grey one. Finally returned to house and there was the outgoing cat waiting for me. We went inside and I convinced myself the elusive one was cowering somewhere. OK long story short, about 7 hours later returning from Nob Hill dinner, I saw a smokey cat dart across the sidewalk. I realize, with fear, that I'm a few yards from catsit residence. Is that the elusive one? Hungry and cold and neglected? About to be driven over by a cable car? I convince my friend that I had dinner with to go up to the house and check. The smoky cat is following us all the way there, making me think that it is the elusive one. I open the door to the cat sit, and voila, there is the black one. Sigh. Total relief. The smoky cat was the "chat gentil" !
a morning in the hood, autumn
There is no snappy headline or overall theme to today's post, except perhaps that I adore
Golden Gate Perk, the cafe on Bush & Kearny that has free wireless and allowed me to check some work emergencies at 8am this morning. I was on the way to passport renewal errand. Then got deterred by reading blogs and eavesdropping on some Australian tourists. Good things about GGPerk: plasma screen showing a movie, satellite radio over the speakers, very nice cute barista boy, very quiet, super central, free wireless, lots of outlets, good soy cappuccino.
Washington Park in the morning was kind of interesting. The healthy old Asian populous was out swinging their arms in huge circles, doing little knee bends, all in their padded four-layer-of-clothes bodies. Kind of cracks me up. There was an office-girl type with coifed hair and an older Asian guy under a tree where 1-on-1 tutorials happen in tai chi. I heard her saying "OK, thanks, next time," etc., and he would respond in Cantonese. I guess someone has decided they need to start preparing for the golden years?
After being in so many different cities lately I really appreciate San Francisco. My first night going to sleep, hearing the sea lions, Alcatraz's foghorn, the ring-a-ling of the cable car, all of those sounds are just so soothing to me. Especially the little wisps of cold air going by. It feels so cozy. The air is dry with slight humidity. I just feel cleaner here. I could never move to the East Coast, though my experiences have always been slightly sleep deprived, and with too much drinking. Still, the criticisms East Coasters have of the West Coast are things I adore. Everything's brown... well, there's also not random mold growing in places. The weather never changes... and yet, I never have to think of the weather, or postpone plans because of it. There's also something monumental about the landscape of the West. Seattle is the best example. It's just stunningly beautiful and grand, almost everywhere. SF has it once in a while.
I think about the fragility of our cities, especially SF, in regards to the Katrina disaster. I lived through Loma Prieta, and discussing it with some Canadians last night, realized that it's just not as scary. The aftershocks will keep your nerves frayed, but there isn't five feet of standing water. The death toll was far smaller. There are smart things you can do in your house to keep it earthquake proof, but the death aspect is pretty random. Never drive on a bridge? Go under an overpass? Ha. It was kind of funny when drivers would pause before overpasses while waiting for a light or something, making sure they weren't sitting ducks.
In local news, drove along the new
Octavia road between Market & lower Haight area. It is quite pretty. I'm glad the central freeway went down! Some locals and I were laughing about how they put "take down the central freeway" on the ballot with no alternative. Duh! When they finally put "rebuild, or build expressway" people finally got to let their opinions be known. And they think NO politics are screwy.
One thing I noticed about the walk downtown- it's turning into autumn. My nephew has started obsessing about his Halloween costume ("I want to be a ninja!" me: "I know a ninja" him: silence, his way of telling me I'm full of shit). The weather driving across from Emeryville was distinctly chilly. And this is one day after our single day of summer (90 degrees, around 70 in the evening!).
There's something European about autumn in a city. I think it's the pervading grey that I found in Paris. When SF gets grey, I think of France. Note, to all Parisians and those learning French in Paris; it's "a Paris", because it's feminine. Not irregular like I'd thought, just a city, and feminine, so you add an "a". I had drilled in my head at one point that one always says "a paris".
Reading Chinese signs on the way to the passport office filled me with anxiety. I have forgotten everything about the Chinese language. I did the flashcards the other day and that helped a tad, but now I can say useful things like "shi yan shi" laboratory. Lovely. "please sir, i'd like to the laboratory." "qing wen xue sheng, wo xiang qu shi yan shi." Grrr.
boston, cambridge, seattle
BostonDid the Freedom Trail. Well, intended to do the FT, but couldn't really *do* the trail as I was too cheap to pay the fee, and the humiliation of following an 18th century costumed person around downtown Boston was just too much. So instead, I read up on the internet and walked the route. I read a lot of plaques too. It's a little more special-feeling to come across plaques randomly as you're doing some other errand and read them yourself anyways. A woman at the wedding who has lived in Cambridge all her life admitted she had never been on the Freedom Trail! Sigh.
Favorite cafe!!!! Found a great one while wandering around Beacon Hill the first day. It's got great breakfasts during the weekends,
Panificio. I whiled away the early hours Saturday and had a great scone and au lait, then returned the next day for eggs benedict, and a great cinnamon scone later that morning.
Funny thing walking around Charles Street in Beacon Hill. You don't notice the seven elevens and Starbucks. The building code there is very harsh, I think.
Yeah, that's a Starbucks. Kinda great, kinda creepy, the harsh building code.
It is a walking town, but there are a couple of weird observations I had (that I checked out with other Californians walking with me):
- the sidewalks (at least in Beacon Hill) are really, really uneven. Because of this, people walk in the street. What's the purpose of the sidewalks, again?
- I never figured out the streetlights. Everyone walks against them, and they never change lights. At 5am with a cabbie, he kept on running lights because we would sit there *forever* waiting for it to change.
- the East Coast phenomenon of paying for things that in the West are free- like roads, and national park museums. Well Ok the Smithsonian is free, but I wante dto go in the Meeting House, the first conservation project (according to the plaque), and it costs money. So weird!
- smoking. A lot of people smoke. That's my observation.
- I kept on thinking "this is like England, this is like England" or, "this is cute, this is cute". Coming from a quaint adorable city as well, I tried to remember that to people who live there the tweeness is just every day, not so spectacular as I thought.
- The house prices are very expensive. 600K for a 2-bed Beacon Hill apartment. SF is steeper by tenfold, but still.
CambridgeI didn't spend a lot of time here, because I had in the past. I did take the T, which had that urban grimey feel like East Coast transit (minus Marta in Atlanta). Conversation overheard on the T between two college students with full backpack regalia:
girl: "so what is your favorite camping item."
guy: "headlamp."
Go Harvard! Oh, they start next week, so maybe they were another college getting off at Harvard Square (?).
SeattlePrecious, precious, precious photo of a sign in Sea-Tac the airport:
Yes, it says in the upper left side of that photo, in white writing, "ESPRESSO" near information like restrooms and gates.
I went to the Massage Bar there every Friday for 2-3 years running, so I had to stop by and see my old friends. They were super happy because the brewpub had moved from next door to them and they no longer had to endure an annoying waitress' laugh. The guy gave me a 50% off discount, very sweet.
Random Flying NotesFriday, SF->Seattle. Kiwi sitting next to me has extensive blog that I'll find somewhere and link to from here. He opened up the world of business travel wireless to me (it hadn't kicked in when I did my heavy flying bit). Also funny story about his relatives in Sweden, and how they missed their main emigration ship because "someone had left an ivory needle at home". They took the next one a few weeks later. Turns out that the ship they missed sank!
Friday, Seattle->Boston. On the way to Boston, the guy next to me had gone to Afghanistan for relief work a few years ago. Very neat.
Monday, Boston-Seattle : When we landed in Seattle on the way home, a small dog got out of the baggage area and was running around on the tarmac. We all had to sit down and the dog owners (there were 3 sets of dog owners) had to figure out which dog it was. Small yellow lab, and the little yuppie couple scampered off the plane after their dog. People were very pissed.
Monday: Seattle->SF Flight. The guy next to me on the flight home thought I was a student. Score!
Monday, SF: Long Term Parking Lot Shuttle: Woman next to me on the shuttle to Long Term in SFO has a daughter in UCB, and she has gone to Cambodia, Thailand, Bali, you name it.
SF Zoo
SF Zoo
I was amongst the mommies. I took my nephew (4) to the zoo and was suddenly in the world of parents. It afforded me great opportunities to talk to random people. One woman, though, with two older kids, started talking to me with no greeting first or other transition.
Her: And so we left our dog in Long Beach in the basement, and it's going to be like watching a 2-year old, he eats everything, and I just am here like, wow all these animals, but I have this dog at home...
Not kidding. The Lemur Cafe is great at the zoo, but kind of odd in its presentation of just hamburgers, hamburgers with cheese, hot dogs, and fries. They are so kid-centric it's kind of odd.
Tried to convince nephew that the zoo didn't take kids, except perhaps the very well-behaved ones.
I got
lost a thousand times. Where the f*** is the playground??? And they fleece you of 3$ at every turn. The steam train ride was quite fun. The elephants have been escorted off the premises. Lots of "this animal (be it bird/elephant, etc.) lost his or her mate and has been relocated to a more social zoo/farm/etc." kind of interesting.
The Rhino was very active and pushed a log across the pen. He also sprayed a fence, which looked like someone was standing behind him with a water pistol. We got a kick out of that.
No animals mating! dang.
A goat in the petting/farm kid's zoo picked and ate a map out of a guy's pocket.
One of the best parts of the SF Zoo is that it's about 3 minutes from the ocean. Nephew and I ran down there and tried to dig clams, fling seaweed around, skip stones . Good "big muscle activity" before being bored to death by sleeping, trapped animals. I like the zoo. Really.
