First pen show (probably)

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I was talking to a colleague the other day and was telling them how surprised I was to find the San Fran was north of LA! I had been to LA, but for some strange reason thought it was north of San Fran. My American geography was (and no doubt still is) a shocker.

The American Sourdough Breadbowl - that's the one that was mentioned to me by said colleague.

[Farmboy]

https://boudinbakery.com/location/bo...h-coast-plaza/

[Empty_of_Clouds]

And that is the place that was mentioned. My colleague speaks French and the name sounded French.

We'll have a couple of days to take in that steep winding street, City Lights bookshop, Maido (for stationery, maybe), food, Chinatown, more food, Fisherman's Wharf, even more food, and a long walk or two on the beach to get the digestive juices running. Should fill all the time we have available.

[AzJon]

And that is the place that was mentioned. My colleague speaks French and the name sounded French.

We'll have a couple of days to take in that steep winding street, City Lights bookshop, Maido (for stationery, maybe), food, Chinatown, more food, Fisherman's Wharf, even more food, and a long walk or two on the beach to get the digestive juices running. Should fill all the time we have available.

That sounds reasonable. Boudin's is pronounced BOO-DEENS by the way.

All of those things are in pretty decent walking distance. In that area is also Crissy Field which is a nice enough area. If you want to get to the beach, you'll need to take public transport. Fortunately, it's a straight-shot from downtown. Head into the underground and get on the N-Judah. Takes you all the way to Ocean Beach. Takes about an hour and there is a little cafe called the Java Street Cafe. Not bad. Good for a hot beverage if the day is cold. Four blocks south on Noriega is the Devil's Teeth Bakery that is fantastic (If you're strolling).

[ethernautrix]

Plenty of bus lines will take you to Ocean Beach. 5 Fulton, 32 Balboa, 38 Geary, probably 1 California (this one stops near the golf course where the road leads to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor (a room of Rodin sculptures is there, and other art. It's a lovely building in a lovely location.).

I'm sure much has changed since my last visit (I'm a native San Franciscan). Just heard that The Punch Line, one of my favorite comedy clubs, is closing in August. The usual reason - price hike on the lease. They're scouting for locations. I was sad when The Purple Onion closed. That was my favorite comedy club. Doc's Lab "replaced" it - and a Google inquiry shows that Doc's shut down without notice last year. Swell. (Nods to '70s SF cop Dirty Harry Callahan.)

Well... ain't that just the way. The hospital where I was born is now a Lucasfilms campus. (Pre-deleting a list of changes, haha.)

The Green Apple bookstore on Clement St (new & used books) is still there. Yay!

Writers With Drinks is a monthly literary reading at The Make Out Room in "The Mish" (the Mission district). Oh my god, the burritos! The Mish has got burritos and tacos and new, hipster restaurants that might be worth trying. My favorite burrito is from Gordo, the original location on Clement and 24th Ave. Still there!

Looks like my favorite alt-theater (cinema) is still on the same block as Gordo - Four Star. I saw foreign movies and films like REPO MAN there.

BTW, the bus lines I mentioned - those are the street names. Those streets run east-west and end (going east) at Market Street, which runs diagonally (insert map here) and begins with the Ferry Building.

I remember when the Embarcadero freeway cast its long, shadowy pall along the waterfront. The Loma Prieta earthquake (1989) convinced city planners to remove, rather than repair, it. A beautiful decision.

Oh lordy. I sound like an old.

Hahaha.

[ethernautrix]

Boudins sourdough... oh man. Lucky you.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Thanks, Lisa. We are really looking forward to seeing the city for the first time. Because of our respective work commitments there is often a year or more between spells of significant leisure time.


And you don't sound like an old. You sound like someone who is connected to her childhood roots. I feel exactly the same way about my home town.

[AzJon]

Ethernautrix,

I lived in SF from 2009 to 2014. Went back in 2016 and was shocked how much had changed in two years.

When was the last time you were back? While I was there it was simpliy "The Mission", but more commonly people would refer to intersections more than the Mission as a whole and use Mission st as the coordinate marker. 16th and Mission or 24rd and Mission. Largely because of the Bart stops there, I think.

These days, if timeliness is your goal, I would eschew the buses (unless you want to hit sights along the way, of course) because it can take absolute ages to get across the peninsula via bus. When I was there, Taking a bus from Chinatown to the Richmond/Land's End would take and hour and a half under good conditions. Then again, I lived off the Judah, so I may be a bit biased there.

I think my favorite Mission burritos were either La Cumbre or Pancho Villas, both north Mission.

Ugh... Now I'm feeling homesick. Obviously not my uralter home, but man I miss that place sometimes.

[Jon Szanto]

The city is certainly changing and it has been a handful of years since I spent any great length of time there, but I've never found a city I enjoy more than San Francisco. It can reward you in almost any direction you like.

I often used Union Square as a semi- base of operations because so much could be gotten to on foot, whether heading to SoMa or anywhere else. More than once we would head north on foot through Chinatown in the morning, taking a leisurely stroll towards North Beach. We'd get to Molinari's Deli and order a couple sandwiches and then continue, taking our lunch all the way up to Coit Tower. We'd sit on the walls, looking out over the bay and enjoy a delicious meal, then continue down to the Embarcadero. By the time the day was done we'd likely - if the line wasn't too bad - take a cable car back. Touristy, the last bit, but something one can't do in many other places, and it can give a unique view of the neighborhoods in the hills heading back into downtown.

Like Ether said, many old haunts are no longer there; I'm quite certain the belly dance clubs I checked out in the 70s in No. Beach aren't there anymore, but that was a great time of wild music and exotic environments. These days there are other things - MOMA has been a remarkable addition, and I love the farmer's market (twice a week, maybe?) at the old Ferry Terminal building.

Too much to do in that city. I hope old San Francisco can survive the ongoing tech boom, but I have faith there will always be ragged and quirky and fascinating things that last there.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I'll probably have to find a good street map. We won't be going north of the bridge nor much further south than Daly City, so it doesn't have to be a map of the whole of San Fran.

[Jon Szanto]

It may seem obvious, but Google Maps will get you a lot of info prior to your trip. I simply typed San Francisco into the search and took a screen shot. You'll see that it shows the boundaries of the city, which don't extend past the bridge or all the way to Daly City. You could plan an awful lot of your itinerary by using it, including walking/transit distances between areas you become interested in. In a way, I wish I had this decades ago, but I also feel that learning an area with a map and your feet gives a more intimate experience. Might be just me.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Yes, that is certainly a resource I have used before. Generally though, and no doubt because I'm a bit old and haven't totally adopted modern tech, I've always preferred the map and feet method.

[AzJon]

Well, Jon, the belly-dance clubs in North Beach aren't there anymore, but there still is a strip of clubs of a...uh...different nature.

[Jon Szanto]

Well, Jon, the belly-dance clubs in North Beach aren't there anymore, but there still is a strip of clubs of a...uh...different nature.

Yeah, but with Carol Doda gone, what's the point?

[ethernautrix]

I dated this musician from New Jersey who played at clubs on Broadway -- the Mabuhay Garden, for instance. Long gone but the memories. When my best friend turned 21, a group of us buddies from high school (she was the last to turn "legal") celebrated at Finocchio's. Gone.

School where I attended third grade, now a high school. Sixth grade -- now a college-prep school.

I think Louis' diner out near Land's End (close to the Cliff House overlooking Ocean Beach) is still there.

This is embarrassing, but once, when I was in high school, I took the bus at, like, four in the morning to go to Ocean Beach to watch the sunrise. I got off at 32nd or 33rd Avenue, cos I didn't want the bus driver to worry about my going to the beach. I walked the remaining 15 or so blocks, then made my way over to "my rock" (as I called it, this protruding rock from the cliffs that suggested "sit here") (it meant walking through a short tunnel with a hole in the ground where I'd usually stop and watch the ocean for a moment). Settled in on my rock, I awaited the magnificent sunrise... which occurred behind me, cos I was, of course, facing west. (California public schools!)

Anyway, the last time I visited the City was in late 2017. (My last Gordo burrito. Sigh. My last visit to SFMOMA. I still have my membership card. My last visits to The Punch Line and (down the Peninsula) Rooster T. Feathers and San Jose Improv. Sigh, sigh, sigh.) One of my friends, who lived in The Mish for 30 years (on Capp St.) was finally evicted about a year ago cos the landlord wanted to cash in on the keerazy rents. Landlord's daughter moved in, will probably move out in a year, wink, wink. Name of the game in that town, always has been. Stakes just keep rising.

I started saying "the Mish," cos that's how my friend refers to it, maybe ironically cos "the Mish" sounds hipster. Maybe it's just between us.

I always loved riding the bus. I'd walk down to, say, Montgomery at Market so I'd have a longer ride to watch the people on the street and look at the buildings. Right now, I can see City Hall and the War Memorial Opera House (not on Market, but seen from the 5 Fulton after the turn) (I saw Baryshnikov dance there, SRO, a couple of times -- in his prime! Stood outside the backstage entrance with my best friend to get his autograph (I handed him my copy of the Turning Point (paperback), I think I kept only the cover with his signature in ballpoint. I kept that ballpoint -- a Bic (white with blue cap) for years. Tossed it during one of numerous pre-move paring-downs, along with ballpoints used by Robin Williams, Andy Gibb, Rex Smith (ask Google), and so on.)). Also, handed him a letter... and his assistant replied that Mr.Baryshnikov thanked me very much, so, you know. he and I are still married, in my inner squealing 14- or 15-year-old's heart.).

But, yes, I have noticed the many changes in "my" City. When I first returned to California (after some years on the east coast), I noticed that I could not afford to live there. Hahaha. It's even further out of reach now. It's like New York when I lived in San Francisco -- New York was unattainable, unimaginable, far too expensive. Well, congratulations, San Francisco, you have attained New Yorkhood. (And yet, I managed to live in New York for about three years--even started a business, with an ex-con. But that's a different city, different story.)

San Francisco is a walker's paradise (as long as that walker loves cities). I used to work at a radio station downtown, and I'd walked from there along the Embarcadero through Fisherman's Wharf to Fort Mason, where I'd catch the bus home to "the Avenues." I'd pick movies by the theater's location -- The Cannery? Sign me up! Then I'd walk all the way home. Cos I just loved... that city. And night.

And, for contrast, there are the mentally ill and the addicts, the homeless and the bums. Still. When I lived on the east coast and returned for visits, I noticed the stench of urine in the FInancial district and wondered, was it always like that? I didn't think so. I'm mentioning this so you, EoC, won't be surprised. Someone might say to you in passing, "When it's night, I'm gonna put an axe in your head." Don't even respond. Don't look. Definitely don't look. Just keep walking. (That was circa 1986. No one put an axe in my head, at night, any night, that I noticed.) Probably wasn't even talking to me. I'm pretty sure I was among the first to make the observation that Bluetooth would make it hard to distinguish the mentally ill from those talking on their cellphones. Feels like a hundred years ago. Or the one bum, lying in presumably his own urine on the sidewalk,
who offered my then-husband a blow job for a dollar. My ex said, "Okay! But not with that mouth!" Bum laughed. We just kept walking. And, okay, yeah, the homeless guy in North Beach who would wave me over to the parking spot I already was heading towards (on my way to The Purple Onion)... yeah, I'd give him a coupla bucks. You know... comme-see comme-sah.

The City has it all. Opera? Check. Live music? Yep. (Saw so many greats and favorites: Warren Zevon, Richard Thompson, Randy Newman (he broke a piano string at the Warfield!), Gogol Bordello, U2, and bands playing at smaller clubs and so on.) Comedy? Yeah, of course. Theatre (as opposed to theater, and plenty of that, too). Libraries and book readings and museums. All the stuff I took for granted po angielsku that I can't really enjoy po polsku (cos this Polish language is a CODE!).

I don't know how much I've gone on and on, cos phone screen is small. So I'll just stop -- and come back with a link to a song.

[ethernautrix]

https://youtu.be/iP8_Dbvpi-A



I won tickets to the album release party held at Wolfgang's (now Cobb's Comedy Club) and saw the members of Journey (got their autographs on the album that I no longer have, cos so many moves). I was scandalized that they were drunk! (Laughing, cos it was probably so much more than alcohol.)

[ethernautrix]

Oh yeah, and sports. San Francisco has sports. Candlestick Park -- gone. But the stadium within the city limits -- don't know if it's still AT&T. Corporate names tend to change without notice.

[Chemyst]

I lived in SF from 2009 to 2014. Went back in 2016...

[Empty_of_Clouds]

A quick question.

Is Mai Do the best of the stationery / pen stores in the SF downtown area?


If there are others worth a visit I would appreciate a heads-up.

[Farmboy]

Check with Ricky but I believe he has the best of the best coming from Japan to the SF Show.