Out and About in San Francisco

Aside from more old history (think Europe) and less (fewer? well I guess I'm considering a hill as a continuous thing, so less hills could mean less steep hills) hills, San Francisco is shaping up to have just about anything I could want from a major city-great food, friendly people, cleanliness, throwbacks to the 50s, really nicely done tourist traps, liberals, prisses, and crazies running around in unusual garb (I guess I wasn't looking for that, but it's nice to know that there are people comfortable enough with themselves to do that).

Did I mention how much I love the 50s? San Francisco has awesome working streetcars (basically really old green line trains) that are a decent ride around, and always fun to watch driving by. Actually, the transit system, a network of Muni Buses, Muni Underground (a subway), the BART (another subway), the Streetcars and Trolleys can be daunting and rather confusing. At Fisherman's Wharf, the presence of the early 20th century lives on at the Musee Mechanique, probably my favourite site in the city, a collection of old arcade games. You know, where not everything was just another video screen, but a physically unique device.

I just bought a hardcover copy of The House of the Seven Gables (I love Hawthorne) from 1935 in a bookstore with handwritten labels on the bookshelves and little nooks and crannies with books stacked on the floor and all the good stuff for people who like to pretend once in a while that that sort of thing is actually appealing (which it is, in small doses), it's just not very efficient or effective, but sometimes that's not what one wants. This was a bookstore to explore. Actually, that's how I once found a book signed by Jimmy Carter for $1 back in Rockport. Such shops have such a feel of organic growth, in the way Boston's streets are much more enjoyable to wander than New York's.

Last Wednesday, I was on my way home from work and heard the cheerful sounds of salsa music drifting across the street. Turns out each Wednesday evening there is a free concert in Union Square. This particular concert was well attended, as multiple couples young and old danced uninhibited in the middle of the square.

This past weekend was the North Beach festival, a large two-day event filled with food, vendors, and publicly allowed drinking. While I had hoped for something really fun, this event turned out to be surprisingly disappointing, with more of shopping character than a fair or festival. Some bands were playing, but ultimately...I wouldn't recommend it unless you want to just people watch (which can be fun ;) ).

And now I'm off, to find some park or cafe to sit and read in. With weather in the mid-60s everyday, I can afford to walk around all day.