I'm almost there
Jun. 8th, 2004 08:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gordonzolaVisible while crossing Mission street are the shells of the old sausage factories. Butcher Town is a few miles away, but I guess 14th and Mission used to be Where-We-Encase-Those-Parts-of-Animals-You-Wouldn’t-Eat-If-You-Could-See-‘em Town. But not anymore.
They were active until a few years ago, despite animal rights paint bombs and the old glue in the lock trick. Walking to work in the morning I’d often see some old guy on his knees in front of the door cleaning out or changing the cylinder. Finally the one on the west side went. A few years later the east side one put up ‘For Rent" signs. I kinda miss the spicy smell. I don’t miss the nasty rotting flesh smell. You never knew which you’d get.
At the corner was a bar that always scared me. When I moved to San Francisco I wasn’t city savvy enough to tell whether it was a dangerous place or whether I was being racist, but I crossed the street to avoid it. When it closed suddenly, the new tenant found guns and drugs hidden in secret compartments throughout the bar.
You can find that tenant wearing shorts and tank tops and chain smoking outside her converted bar apartment. Don’t say hi from me, she doesn’t know who I am. She’s usually shouting into her cell phone anyway.
Down the block there’s a great café run by one of the sweetest guys in the world. That space is cursed though. Some artists used to live there until the house got bought and they were evicted. The new landlord removed all trace of them including the Freida Kahlo mural on the side of the building. It was vacant for awhile until someone moved in with the worst business plan ever; hairdresser/café. I mean, I see the idea of serving someone coffee if they have to wait for their hair appointment, but can you imagine ordering food there?
Patron: "Excuse me, there’s a hair in my soup."
Counter person: "Duh."
They also had a really nasty display where they made a pyramid out of bagels then left it there for a year uncleaned. Not yum.
After another period of vacancy, a cafe moved from Hayes Valley to that location. They were fun but also had cleanliness issues. Roaches boiled by pouring coffee over them is not appetite-whetting.
But the new guy is great, I swear.
They were active until a few years ago, despite animal rights paint bombs and the old glue in the lock trick. Walking to work in the morning I’d often see some old guy on his knees in front of the door cleaning out or changing the cylinder. Finally the one on the west side went. A few years later the east side one put up ‘For Rent" signs. I kinda miss the spicy smell. I don’t miss the nasty rotting flesh smell. You never knew which you’d get.
At the corner was a bar that always scared me. When I moved to San Francisco I wasn’t city savvy enough to tell whether it was a dangerous place or whether I was being racist, but I crossed the street to avoid it. When it closed suddenly, the new tenant found guns and drugs hidden in secret compartments throughout the bar.
You can find that tenant wearing shorts and tank tops and chain smoking outside her converted bar apartment. Don’t say hi from me, she doesn’t know who I am. She’s usually shouting into her cell phone anyway.
Down the block there’s a great café run by one of the sweetest guys in the world. That space is cursed though. Some artists used to live there until the house got bought and they were evicted. The new landlord removed all trace of them including the Freida Kahlo mural on the side of the building. It was vacant for awhile until someone moved in with the worst business plan ever; hairdresser/café. I mean, I see the idea of serving someone coffee if they have to wait for their hair appointment, but can you imagine ordering food there?
Patron: "Excuse me, there’s a hair in my soup."
Counter person: "Duh."
They also had a really nasty display where they made a pyramid out of bagels then left it there for a year uncleaned. Not yum.
After another period of vacancy, a cafe moved from Hayes Valley to that location. They were fun but also had cleanliness issues. Roaches boiled by pouring coffee over them is not appetite-whetting.
But the new guy is great, I swear.
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 09:29 am (UTC)Typically the gang members hang around 14th, 16th, 18th, and 24th.
But I love the cafes and bars around 16th and Valencia.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 09:46 am (UTC)And for the record, "when I first moved to San Francisco" refers to 1989. Living on Valencia and 16th for more than a year (mid'93-late'94) made me *hate* that area, especially on the weekends.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 10:02 am (UTC)The mission:
cantelope drinks and chocolate ice cream with cinnamon in it. the chamomile growing in the cracks of the sidewalk and you could climb up these bumpy hills that were wild and no one could build on ..and look down and see Everything.
so beautiful there.
I live in the mission a short while in 1990. my daughter went to art classes in the Precita eyes Mural center.
My friends had an awesome warehouse in the mission then, put on shows, had trees in it, a swing hanging from the rafters, Thor on a skateboard.
always good memmorys to me. a pivotal experience in my development - THE first time I went there. You see I bought a ticket for 50 dollars from a girl at A "no bussiness as usual" demo in Washington DC. I didn't even KNOw what SF was - just it was CA and the girl said if I bought the ticket I could stay at her house too.
I lived at different places all around town and it was an eye opening learning experience. squaters and vegetarianism and anarchists and Dave MDC and Flipper and Conflict coming to town and us showing them around and driving town to Santa cruz to see the Subhumans for the second night in a row.
forgive me. all this reagan talk and all has all my nostalga coming out.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 03:50 pm (UTC)*"Who are the Butthole Surfers?"
"I don't know. Some art band from Texas I think."
Wow!
Date: 2004-06-08 08:05 pm (UTC)I walked into the front door listening to the ballgame on my Walkman. Everything started shaking. I didn't realize what was going on until Chris Carlsson from Processed World ran out, yelling, "Major fucking earthquake!"
Outside the door I waited with my housemates. Eventually people came walking off the Bay Bridge offramp that was nearby. They had left their cars up there.
We didn't have power for a week. We were all paranoid, wondering about every crack in the brick whether it had been there before or not.
The landlord evicted us about Jan - Feb of 1990. Processed World moved out. The place burned down sometime later. It's not there anymore.
One of the cool things about that place is it was in the middle of a bunch of overpasses - an enclave between the Embarcadero Freeway and the Transbay Terminal bus ramps. That whole area looks very different without the Embarcadero Freeway there.
Re: Wow!
Date: 2004-06-08 08:14 pm (UTC)I was in santa cruz at that time. I will never forget that earthquake - it shook the house , I came running out not sure if I would make it.
but it all seemed cool.
then I went to look for my baby daughter who was getting babysat and was down in the mall
As I went there, this boy was running from there, crying "People have died" he informed me
My heart dropped and I was scared as shit until I located my daughter a few minutes later, she was laughing at all the commotion
a jewelry store window was busted with jewlry just laying out and about.
Yea, I stayed in the cave in 1985
GOOD to hear your story of what happened - I mean not *good* but its not like I ever heard anything more after that time of what was
Re: Wow!
Date: 2004-06-08 08:21 pm (UTC)and in my obsession with the fact that everythings connected - well this is no real big co-incidence --but I see in your journal you were recently in Gettysburg, Md.
which is where my parents live
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 10:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 03:52 pm (UTC)run by one of the sweetest guys in the world
Date: 2004-06-08 11:24 am (UTC)either he is the sweetest or he isn't the sweetest, and when I am looking in the mirror I am thinking that silly cafe owner isn't the sweetest.
Re: run by one of the sweetest guys in the world
Date: 2004-06-08 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 11:38 am (UTC)patron: excuse me, there's a hair in my kibble.
counter person: duh.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 03:54 pm (UTC)A Bar!
Date: 2004-06-08 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-08 02:05 pm (UTC)