Chrissy Field
Spent an hour or so at Chrissy Field yesterday. I got there kind of late and was able to witness the alpenglow-like effect around 5pm, which is not something to miss. I was expecting tons of people walking up and down the paths, but since I kept mostly to the beach instead of the walkway I had a really nice low-crowd experience.
Some kids on bikes were hitting all of the puddles, and everybody was commenting on it, very cute. This one boy kept falling off his bike in slow motion, sideways. He would manage to aim into hills and fences, though. His mom told me later that it was his first day off training wheels. I was really impressed.
I feel so lucky that I'm close to this amazing public space. The Golden Gate Bridge is shining there like a big safe ... gate... my powers of description are awful today. The Presidio shelters one side of the park so that you really feel like you're away from cars and busses and exhaust and everything. I'm very fond of marshes too, and the estuary nearby gives it a calming effect. The birds were in full flight (haha).
Warming Hut is so great. I got a mocha and a scone. I mean, it's amazing. Good food, great views, line moves fast, fun stuff to look at while in line.
Responses to Walk to Work Blog, Chinatown Fire Department, Imperial Tea House
Letters to EditorToday's post is dedicated to offline comments I've received on my blog.
"Blogs should be like yours. Focussed on things that are specific, that aren't just rambling narratives about their opinions or life." ed. Well mine are as well, and I try not to be myopic and self-navel-gazing.
"I saw something off of banane blog. It was Union Square workers repainting the Macy's windows regular white, and taking the trimmings off of the huge trea in Union Square." ed. I hope I recall this correctly!
person 1:"I taught school in California and we never had to read that Mission book."
me: "Yeah it must have been knee-jerk 70s stuff and feeling guilty about native americans, not that missions represent native americans."
person 1: "The questions are just really specific and detailed."
person 2: "I didn't get any of those questions right."
me: "...and you grew up in San Leandro!"
ed. thus disproving that Calif schooled kids knew the answers to that quiz!
Chinatown Fire DepartmentSo I have a photo somewhere I will upload later. I witnessed the fire truck backing into the fire station on Mason, around Pacific, and it was truly The Art of Driving. picture: crowded evening rush hour in Chinatown, which is usually massively packed, and a long articulated fire engine does a three point turn on one of those tiny roads, into the station door, that is narrow, without any one helping him, and he does it very quickly. Amazing. I have to say the photos don't do it justice.
Imperial Tea HouseSo I bought some tea here, and while it was completely full of howlies, I am super glad that they spoke English and I could get a lot of questions answered. I got exploding flower tea, well real name is "fortune" tea, with flowers woven together, that expands when water is added. I also got red-envelope tea, which had a strong rose/hibiscus and clove taste. The porcelain at this shop is really extensive and there are beautiful glazed cups and tepots. Note: the owner is not the woman who plays the teacher in the movie
Iron and Silk. It's said that she owns a tea house, and I thought this was it, but I was wrong.
Chinatown at Night and Treasure Hunt
Coit Tower from Lombard
Chinatown at Night & Treasure Hunt!I walked back from the W to home last night. Around 12:30am, walking through Union Square, through the Stockton Tunnel... by the way, the best dim sum tiny store behind a bus stop is "Dim Sum Good Food" on Stockton. Still don't know the cross street. This is an ongoing journey! I love it that it's a straight shot from the Metreon and home of the Caesar Pleasar (tri-tip, caeasar salad!) to my house, via sling shot and 3rd street, which turns into Kearny, but I walk diagonally for a block and get on Stockton.
The treasure hunt is coming up! The treasure hunt is coming up! Time to brag: placed 10th the one year I played, in the dumy round.
Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt, by far very fun in a competitive, local, trivial way. The team is forming. So far we have: townie #1 (me), townie #2 (becca), new-townie #3 but trivia lord (K.M), townie #2's protege who will be "bio check" person ("you need pizza, you need water, etc.).
Last time we played we thought we were flailing. We actually took an hour long pizza break, and yes, still got in 10th place. There are hundreds of people doing this hunt, I'm still gobsmacked that we placed so high.
Sordid Embellishments on Real Life Bio (inspired by JT Leroy)
Setting: Paul & Eddie's, dive bar in sleepy Silicon Valley megawealthy suburb, the old Cupertino train station and "inn". Year: 2006. Tumbleweeds blow by the Lexii.
She takes a drag off of her latte.
"There were men, a world of men. My mother drove me around Cupertino bars (there are 2) trying to sell me as a white slave, cross-dressed as a poor kid, to get enough quarters to do her laundry in the Cupertino laundromats (there is 1). I quickly got hooked on glue and peanut M & Ms. Wanna hear a tape of my therapist? It's fascinating. She lost me in San Francisco where I was forced, I hate to say it, but forced, to learn Java. I was so used to being an addict Cosmos were the next thing on my landslide to homeownership. I'm on my third book about it, and I just feel the need to share my story, because there might be others out there
just like me."
Places I've lived in SF
I'm taking photos for my friend who moved, of the places she's lived in San Francisco. I also did that with my grandfather, driving around LA taking photos of all the houses he lived in. Fun exercise! I'll give you a written tour of mine.
1995: Page street, white building with red stairs. Walk up to the first floor, there's a nice white painted one bedroom Victorian. Couch surfing on Page Street, at Lyon. Upper Haight, the point of origin for many newbies to SF. Don't remember much, mostly just there on the weekends, never really even left a packed bag. Went to a lot of "Yale Parties," though I'm not from Yale.
1996: That boring beige building on Waller Street at Steiner, near some nicely renovated Victorians. Walk up three flights straight up, on corporate grey carpet, to a five room flat. This was one of (what would be) a string of slumlords. At one point his ex-wife tried to convince us, in a letter full of typos, that our rent payments should go to her. Nice try, no cigar. Guy in the flat below us was deaf and played the TV at screeching decibles. Notable roommates: annoying cleaning fetish German roommate, as well as a guy addicted to porn.
1998: See the funeral home? See that pink building next to it? Walk up two stairs with the smell of mildew, and they have carved out a closet that I called home for two years. Market St. between Noe & Sanchez. Lots of fun, lots of partying. Tiny ass studio, where I got a shadow show of gay sex almost nightly on my floor, from neighborhing apartments. Once I was playing solitaire on my computer and someone in a nearby apartment yelled "Red queen on black king!" The vicinity to Peets (across the street) meant I got an ulcer.
1999: See the big Mission Church? Across are these Victorian apartment buildings all in a row. I was moving on up, to a two bedroom in the Inner Mission (and yet only 2 blocks away). 16th street between Dolores and Church. Got to live with another foodie, so we had some amazing dinners there in our Victorian kitchen: no counter space, one sink in a pantry, and the refrigerator was the most modern convenience. 1930s era oven leaked gas. Well, needless to say the building burned down last June.
Big Tree & California Test
Big Bay Laurel TreeSan Antonio Park, county open space in Los Altos Hills. I have fond memories of this tree. Sister and I would come frequently and play tennis in the courts nearby. It is usually blindingly hot and dry during the summer, and she wasn't old enough to drive, so we would walk the railroad tracks here, with our rackets, and then play tennis to exhaustion, drink some water, sit under the tree, then walk the tracks the two miles home. That's something crazy kids do. Can you imagine waking up and saying, "Let's walk to exhaustion in 100 degree weather to play tennis and then hike back in the sun?" Knowing our vanity it was probably all about getting our hair blond and getting a tan. When she got her license, I remember coming back here with BOYS and getting donuts on the way. Oh, the follies of youth.
The hardball courts across from the tennis courts were taken out.
California QuizSo I recently inquired of someone from Long Island, what state is that in again? And I got a lot of ridicule, and I volleyed back with a series of California questions. Give yourself a point if you know these:
1. Where was the last Mission built?
2. What was the single reason so many Indians died when the missions were setup?
3. What did the Mission priests call the Indians?
4. What was the southern most point the Russians settled? What is the name of it?
5. Original name of San Francisco under Spanish rule?
6. What island in the bay is manmade? When was it made?
7. What was the capital of Alta California (Northern Mexico, containing Baja, lower California, parts of current Mexico) before it became U.S.?
0: You never read that state sponsored Mission history book we all had to read in 4th grade.
1-4: Not bad, you may even be "from" here in the U.S. sense.
5-7: Impressed! You're a history geek and a Californian! You could possibly pre-date the U.S. occupation of California!
Answers:
1. Sonoma: San Francisco Solano
History of Missions website2. disease, likely smallpox, flu, measles
Destruction of the California Indians3. neophytes
California History Collection: Missions4. Fort Ross
Russian Presence in America5. Yerba Buena
Spanish Place Names6. Treasure Island, 1936-39
History of Treasure Island7. Monterey (not to be confussed with the town, Monterrey)
California Capitals until 1849
Power OutageI just experienced an 8 minute power outage. I wonder if it's the construction up Chestnut Street. Hmmm. My building slams doors, probably because the alarms are reset or it's some weird fire precaution. Large hallway doors. I feel like I'm on a submarine and I'm on the wrong side of a sealed door.
JT LeroyI kind of hate fake tell-alls because they are feeding on the sensationalist leanings of everyone, and yet also making us seem like chumps for being sympathetic. Nobody likes to be made fun of. So I pity the real folks that have had rough lives, who now have to contend with a lot of tests for authenticity. Here is my plug: a really good movie about a woman who struggled, writes well, and can tell a good story. The actress from
Sideways, Sandra Oh in
The Diary of Evelyn Lau. For each time someone talks to me about JT Leroy or others, I will help the hype of real tell-alls.
Chocolatiers & Dim Sum
John Street, Chinatown, check out the kids playing soccer. Friday right after work.
Life is too short not to enjoy little drops of happiness (my translation of dim sum, dian xi, or dot and heart) and CHOCOLATE, which, if dark and eaten in small amounts, is good for you. So my resolution this year: more good chocolate and more dim sum.
The chocolate companies in San Francisco, a very subjective, opinionated guide:
-
Ghirardelli (geer-ar-deli) 150 years old, wow. Also in beautiful building. I used to be a snob, then I discovered that they have some great marketing and packaging, which is half the battle with small happinesses called bon-bons. They have tiny little travel-sized mint patties. Individually wrapped. Brought a box to Minnesota and it helped me endure a funeral.
- (adopted from Berkeley)
Scharffen Berger. Recently bought by Nestle. My favorite taste-wise, and has a great tour. Real foodies started this company.
- Joseph Schmidt. Soft spot for this tiny little place in the Mission/Castro neighborhood, because that's my great grandfather's name!Once, they burned something in their kitchen and we got tons of free chocolate. That's like, better than any snow day. At Noe and 16th Street.
- Alfred Schilling. I think they closed! Will research. Used to be near Flax on Market.
-
San Francisco Chocolate Factory-
XOX, on Columbus. They have some trippy truffles, Earl Grey, for example. I'm still frustrated that you can't get a sampler, though.
-
See's. Tried and true! Ole grandma See's. I brought a box to China. I really approve of the free sample they give you, and the service is amazing. Old school, old as time, old as Ghirardelli (gear-ar-deli, not Jeer...)
Dim SumBig restaurants:
- New Asia: on Pacific at Stockton. Great for huge groups, there's always seating. Super cheap.
- Yi Bin (one tree) up on Pacific, left hand side walking up the hill before Powell. Cheaper than New Asia
- CityView on Commercial Street. More high rent and someplace you can respectfully take your parents without them thinking you're too cheap. All of the food was completely fabulous, and very nice selection, rivals Yank Sing entirely. More authentic, though. Big round tables, cloth tableclothes (dining is theater, etc.)
Small takeout:
- the place on Stockton at Jackson, the southeast corner. I got two of each: siu mai, 1 pork bun (fabulous), spinach turnover steamed, very good. Have to remember the names of these places. This lasted for 2 meals, and was 1.25!!!
- the place on Stockton, right hand side, the second to the last bus stop before the tunnel. Further proves the theory that bus stop dim sum places are the best.
Retail Workers in Fisherman's Wharf
There's a sub culture a few blocks away from me that is vibrant and happening. It's the kids from TGIF who pound weird absinthe-colored shots after the doors have closed. It's the white shirted starbucks employee grabbing five In & Out burgers for their housemates back in the Haight. It's the Borders employees giving Cost Plus employees discounts on Sudoku books. It's the Walgreens girls getting dim sum for the office before showing up. The workers of the world (in Fisherman's Wharf tourism) unite!
Talked to two happenin' representatives last night at Borders. I had procraastinated doing endless fun tasks (taxes, plot formations) by counting a jar of change. More than 40$! Like a kid with their first dollar, I decided to spend it on lattes and books at my nearest non-independent, Borders. City Lights does not satisfy if you want something decadent and frothy you're going to send to your Mom. While waiting to count out seven dollars in dimes, she asked me, "where did you get that awesome purse" (aw shucks- seat belt purses online, and Therapy in the Mission). We talked more about change, which is best, which has good denominations, how useful it is, and how her register would be the heaviest tonight. In the cafe, they were closing down, scraping the heavy solidified cream off of the steamer nozzle (totally disgusting.) No discussion on cream, more on what you inheret from your grandparents, and how time seems to be going very slowly lately in the long dark hours.
Looking towards summer
china cove, summer of 2005
So looking through photos I took last summer, I realized I really want it to be summer again! Also planning trip to Sweden and thinking of the best time of the year to visit. Today it's alarmingly bright out, that I forget that it's been raining constantly for a week. Walked up to the village and back, doing errands, and everyone was wearing t-shirts and little jackets. Some tourists were wearing scarves and big coats. Super bright outside, and people were filling the sunny side of the street. Restaurants could finally put their chairs and tables out. I haven't tried the new Italian restaurant "Pellogrino" but the menu looks great. Got an excellent schwerma from Columbus Cafe, corner of Columbus and Lombard (not the bar on Green St.). I mean, really great. Artfully presented, nicely cubed chicken, levash bread, great spread, spicey sauce, fresh veggies, comes with a little salad and that tart yoghurt.
So summer! Fun times! Hangin' at the beach, sitting in the sun, random street fairs, beer in the afternoon on the sidewalk, oysters in the park, camping trips on the weekend, ferry trips... oh the joys.
favorite old timey SF stories & PHB
credit to
herePost Holiday Blues In my world this is manifested by a video-athon. Three years ago it was
Flambards, the pretty much unknown British TV series from the 80s, depicting a young heiress' life in late victorian to modern period. She was into horses. Then, two years ago it was the DVD comedy series my sister in law gave me, compounded by lots of pie and champagne. Last year I was renting nameless Chinese and Black and White movies from the public library. This year, I'm succumbing to my craving for well-dressed factoid pundits, namely, West Wing. Also reacting aversely to New Year's resolutions and my eating habits have gone to pot: toast, toast, and more toast.
Old Timey Stories of SF
Based on the super positive response to the Buried Ships post, I thought I'd share other old timey stories.
Now I just have to think of them.
Oh, right. One reason why the oldest neighborhood, Jackson Square, exists to this day and wasn't razed by fires-- as every neighborhood was in the early days-- is that the private fire departments were Irish. Jackson Square consisted of warehouse upon warehouse of whiskey and beer. ta-da. Chuckles la la.
Learned from my sis who has taken real tours that after the '06, New Jersey contributed bricks, that were yellow, so many of the fronts of buildings are done in New Jersey brick. Chinatown got most of them, I forget why.
The most Chinese looking architecture in Chinatown was done by a white, American developer, who was leveraging it for its tourist potential. Thanks for that factoid to my Mom, who also knows what the word is for the side of the building where it interlocks with the other side of the building, in brickwork. I think her dad was a brick layer. Heritage lost on me, as I can't remember what she told me.
In a racist legislative act by California in the 1800s (will look up date and re-post), Chinese were limited to owning property in a one-mile square, which is Chinatown. Despite being the largest ethnic percentage of workers building the trans-pacific railroad, which put California on the map for many economic reasons, The Chinese couldn't own property. So lame. In reading about this found
banana, a history of evil things California did to those of Chinese descent. Far more comprehensive than I could hope to write here. The ban on owning property is further extended to a ban on getting naturalized as a citizen, and aliens not being allowed to buy property, dating back very far into SF history.
There were fake tours in the early 1900s in the "labyrinths" of chinatown, which didn't exist. There's a funny Vincent Price movie about this.
Tales of an Opium Eater.
One street, Gold Street, was where miners could have their gold assessed and cashed in. There was another street, Balance, which leads to Gold, where the gold was weighed. Gold Street was also a notorious place to spend your cash. The city came down hard on Gold Street, making it illegal to sell vice things there, so they picked up and moved to Broadway, which remains today the vice district.
A fact I knew but hadn't sunk in until I moved here and then visited Beijing. The old Chinese name for SF is "jiu4 jin` shan1" old gold mountain, kind of revered ancient place where you can find fortune.
Going the Speed Limit & Buried Ships
credit to about.com
(I'm not) Breakin' the LawTried an experiment with my sis-in-law and mom: going the speed limit. It is actually quite relaxing. Can I say though the number of big trucks that tailgated me? It's like they're in their own la-la-land and finally realize they're inches away from the bumper of a 10 year old Honda. Time to turn down the Limbaugh, my friend, and concentrate on the road.
Buried ShipsI led a bunch of people on a wild goose chase New Year's Day... trying to find the plaque in the sidewalk that shows a dozen or so buried ships, along Embarcadero road. I had to return to the scene twice, after tons of research on the internet, which has given me a permanent ache behind my shoulder blade, to find the d*** f*** plaque. It's on Embarcadero at Front. We were about 2 feet from it and missed it!!!
Buried ships are cool. They bring out the treasure hunter in all of us. (warning, attempt to sound like tour guide) From the Gold Rush until the EarthQuake, SF offered "water lots" to residents along the wharf. They could own the water-logged little square between docks (now city blocks) and fill them up with whatever they could find. One guy sold his ship for 5,000$ (in 1850s economy) to one of these water lot owners. They had the ship towed into the "block," then intentionally sunk. If there was anything above water they turned it into saloons, warehouses, "places of ill repute" and in one case, a source of a well that provided fresh water for years. (end tour guide). When I was working in Jackson Square, the location of most of these ships, from 1997-99, they were working on construction on Sansome and found one of these ship hulls. We could peer in through the gates and see the hull the ground. I guess they find alot of champagne in these ships. Why our pioneer predecessors would stupidly bury a ship full of champagne is beyond me. I'll add links to this post as I find them during the day. The building on Sansome & Clay, northwestern corner, is the site of the Niantic, and the inlaid sidewalk has a nice representation of the outline of the hull, nails embedded in concrete, and deck wooden boards. Nicely done! I think it's 424 Sansome.
>
About.com's take, as usual authoritative but very little info>
random article on one excavation site>
Chronicle article on same excavation as above, during a condo building project>
Love this site, but frequently breaks FireFox: diggin', a bottle treasure hunter>
Walking Guide- this is where I finally found concrete (haha) evidence that the plaque was in the sidewalk and I wasn't, as my brother in law was threatening, "on something" when I saw it.
Two Hills, NYE, 2006
credit to
john curleyTwo Hills
In the super festive pre-NYE revelry, I was hanging out in several establishments on Van Ness and Polk corridor, near Sutter street.
Hemlock,
Cav,
Route 101... and decided, despite the rain and the fact that my umbrella was broken beyond repair, to walk home. So the walk from that neighborhood is fun, especially at 2:30AM. The roads are totally empty except for a renegade taxi speeding, and the streets were shining in the slick rain. It's like a noir! But you're in it! I've also figured out a "squiggle"- a way to walk over the two hills, Russian and Nob, without doing too intense a hill climb. Walked up Larkin, over to Leavenworth, then caught Pacific to Mason. Pacific is the least steep straddle between the two hills. Anyone who thinks different, please post a comment, as the search is ongoing. I bought a topographical map of SF but it doesn't show the level of detail I need for walking.
NYE
I volunteered as a designated driver
of sorts since I was hosting a big dim sum thing the next day and was still slightly hungover from the above Van Ness fun the night before. Another night at Cav, a nice wine bar and small plates place on Market street next to Zuni Cafe. I know the owner through a friend, and the atmosphere is great, and the people who work there, even before they knew I knew the owner, were very nice and friendly. Very well-informed staff on wine. Unfortunately won't be going to Cav a lot in the future as I've blown the 20-dollar glass of wine budget (that I didn't have). So I drove my friends around different neighborhoods trying to find just the right place to usher in the New Year. Lower Haight was dead beyond recognition. We drove to Fillmore and saw some posh red ropes in front of our only real option,
Harry's Bar. Then over to Divisadero and Western Addition where
Fly awaited. I dropped them off and went home to an early night. Probably the best un-festive NYE I've ever had.
2006One year I decided to "watch more basketball." I'm super into self-improvement, but not so into yearly resolutions. My sister decided one year to "go to the beach 6 times." I think I'll try the following. Actually got a month's start on them already:
- do breathing exercises
- go to the gym 2X a week
- write at night (not just during day)
- watch more basketball
haha. Write yours if you feel inclined!
