I got my first job in San Francisco nearly 40 years ago, in the Flood Building, at 870 Market Street. A chubby cheerful, uniformed lobby attendant pressed the elevator buttons for me. The lobby was marble and, oh wonderful, there was a Woolworth’s on the ground floor.
I loved to sit at the curved Formica lunch counter just like I loved the ladies who served me: bright lipstick, hairnets, and pink puffy-sleeved uniforms. I loved the Coca-Cola glasses and the grilled cheese sandwiches. I felt grown-up: part of a purposeful lunch crowd, we were all very important.
(All photos are from the San Francisco Public Library Archive.)
But best of all, I loved my walk to work from North Beach, up and down Powell Street along the cable car line, ending at the cable car turnaround and the James Flood building. I could have walked through the Broadway tunnel, but what fun is that?
I have been lucky enough to walk to work for 40 years in this city, so now as I parade through streets and avenues, my mind sees what was.
A carousel of baristas, streetcleaners, salesclerks and waiters; of flower vendors and homeless folk, of street performers and cops. All are there as I pass by.
Ghosts.
On Kearny Street I cross out the Starbucks and conjure the Jewish Deli run by an ancient couple who presided over a “bubbling, bubbling” matzoh ball soup cauldron. Their cramped, narrow 10-seat diner was always full. The steamy chicken-y fragrance floated out the door like a cartoon bubble.
Before Door Dash and Uber Eats, people lined Kearny Street sidewalk to pick up their own lunch: egg salad on rye and egg cremes.
A burly, bearded man had a flower stand at the corner of Geary and Stockton streets. He looked like Popeye’s Bluto. Gruff and tough from working outdoors in all-weather but we always shared a nod, an acknowledgment. On rare moments, he gifted me gardenias at the end of the day, always without a word.
At the cable car turnaround, I spent many minutes watching Bushman. His simple shtick: freaking out tourists as he leapt up from behind two leafy branches he brandished in each hand, a shrieking bush come to life. “You laughed, now you pay” was his cry, as he ran after the dispersing crowd, shaking his tip jar.
Some days I detoured past the Opera singer at the corner of Maiden Lane and Grant Avenue. Portly, with round cheeks and sparse brown locks, he raised his arms high, belting out Puccini arias as crowds gathered in awe.
Though many are dead, I hear them when I walk past their spots.
I had a crush on the skinny, red-haired boogie-woogie piano player who hauled his piano around on a wheeled platform, the rope over his shoulder like a Volga boatman, in the ’80s and ’90s. Skinny but strong.
An alcoholic, his face sunburnt to the color of his hair, he would lie drunk on the piano bench on most foggy days, but beautiful weather revived him and he would play his heart out at Market Street and 7th Street at the Civic Center.
I hear him too.
At the corner of Market Street and Montgomery, I offer up a prayer for the Chicago couple who played the rockingest blues: Juliette on bass and lead vocals and Bruce on guitar. She screamed so melodiously, it curled your hair. I walked all the way down Market Street on my lunch hour to hear her sing.
They were astoundingly talented, but he murdered her in 2002.
On Kearny and California streets there was a rice bowl place that sold half-price Teriyaki bowls after 5 p.m. In 1989 I got to know the young Japanese cooks and helped them with their English. They began throwing in edamame and seaweed salads too. Those were salad years.
“Teriyaki again for dinner, honey,” I would call out coming up the stairs.
Now, it seems every time I walk by there, a new café is trying its luck.
After work, I used to swim at the Bay Club, next to Il Fornaio (long gone), at Levi Plaza. Then I treated myself to a cappuccino at Il Fornaio’s takeout counter where I befriended the Peruvian baristas. I began helping them with their City College enrollment paperwork and, later, with their homework, right there over the counter. They were grateful and generous in return.
“Caprese Salad and prosciutto pasta for dinner, honey,” I would call out coming up the stairs.
When I worked at the John Adams campus of City College at Masonic and Hayes, my walk took me through Pacific Heights. From North Beach, I walked up and down Jackson Street, took a left on Van Ness Avenue, right on California, left on Masonic. A long walk in a short city, but I only had to be at work by 11 a.m.
Halfway through my walk, I would stop for a short coffee break and read the (wait for it!) newspaper. Back then in my working life, there were newspapers strewn around cafes.
The first iPhone I saw was shown off by a coworker at a staff meeting in 2007, the first day it went on sale.
And then there were no more newspapers in cafes.
A coffee shop I liked on Fillmore started as a SPINELLI’s, then became a TULLY’s, then a PEET’s.
I can’t say the coffee ever tasted any different. But I remember the colors of all the logos.
If you walk to work for 40 years in San Francisco, you pass lots of movie sets and catering trucks. So when on Vallejo Street, I see the Hulk tearing it apart as helicopters whirred and buzzed above. We lived there many years, and were paid $2,000 to vacate our top floor flat for a few nights during filming.
And BONUS, we made off with the Styrofoam boulders hurled by Hulk and left behind by the crew.
The last years of my working life, I walked through the Mission to my job in the Tenderloin.
Thomasa, a Cuban émigré with mental illness, lived for years on a few sidewalk squares near 15th and Mission streets. The street cleaners called her Mama Cuba. She was not a sidewalk sitter; more like a sidewalk boxer, bobbing and weaving, constantly in motion, pulling her shopping carts and diving into recycling bins. She died of an overdose, but I hear her boombox playing salsa when I pass her sidewalk squares.
At the 24th Street BART station I see the gifted Johnny Cash impersonator, Jesse, and miss him. His songs were a delight of my evening trudge home.
In her beautiful meditative book, A Field Guide to Getting Lost, (2005), the superb San Francisco writer, Rebecca Solnit, wrote about the places where one’s life is lived: “The places are what remain, are what you can possess, are what is immortal. They become the tangible landscape of memory, the places that made you, and in some way you too become them. They are what you can possess and in the end what possesses you.”
Lucky me, possessed by San Francisco for over 40 years.
About the author
‘Like a teddy bear’: Bob Lee’s friends testify to drug use, character
Two former colleagues and friends of Cash App founder Bob Lee testified today that while the homicide victim used drugs, Lee was not aggressive or erratic. The testimony countered a narrative from his alleged killer that Lee first drew the knife that killed him. Nima Momeni, the man on trial for Lee’s murder, has testified that Lee attacked him with a kitchen knife over a “bad joke,” about spending more time with his family rather than going to a strip club and that Momeni redirected the weapon toward Lee. Momeni’s defense team rested its case earlier this week. Prosecutors today called three rebuttal witnesses to testify to Lee’s character, as well as a San Francisco police captain intended to discredit a former sergeant who on Tuesday testified in support of the plausibility of Momeni’s self-defense claim. Kristina Champion, who worked with Lee when […]
Over 900 mobile home owners in Sweetwater, Florida handed move-out notices amid plans to transform park
Over 900 mobile home owners in Sweetwater, Florida handed move-out notices amid plans to transform park Residents of Li'l Abner Mobile Home Park in Sweetwater, Florida, were recently notified that they'll need to find somewhere else to live and quickly. The community of more than 900 mobile homes, together housing roughly 2,000 to 3,000 people per the mayor's estimate, will close in May 2025 to make way for new affordable and workforce housing. Mobile home owners usually own the home but rent the land it stands on. The land owner in this case, CREI Holdings, says it will provide a financial incentive of $14,000 to residents who leave by January 31, 2025. Those who leave by March 31 or April 30, will receive $7,000 and $3,000, respectively, though many tenants say it's not enough time or money, according to a […]
Judge denies motion to ease house arrest of Jon Jacobo
A San Francisco judge on Thursday denied a motion to loosen the home detention conditions forJon Jacobo, a once-rising star in San Francisco’s politics who was arrested on Aug. 5 for alleged sexual assault. “The motion is denied to the extent that it asks for relief from home detention and [ankle] monitoring,” said San Francisco Superior Court judge Kenneth Wine this morning. “It’s the seriousness of the charges that’s really driving my decision. There are a number of victims with very serious charges.”Jacobo, a longtime Mission District community leader, was first publicly accused of rape in 2021. This April, he resigned from his executive position at affordable-housing developer TODCO, soon after three women accused him of rape and abuse in a San Francisco Standard story. He was arrested on Aug. 5, 2024. Jacobo today showed up in the courtroom in casual clothes […]
Pam Bondi named as new AG pick after Gaetz drops out
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, said Thursday he is withdrawing his name for the role -- just a day after Gaetz spoke with Republican senators on Capitol Hill about the nomination process.Trump has named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, as his new pick for the role.Another controversial Cabinet pick, Pete Hegseth, is on the Hill on Thursday with Vice President-elect JD Vance to make his case for the secretary of the Department of Defense job.Meanwhile, Trump continues to announce his picks for top jobs inside his administration.Latest DevelopmentsNov 21, 6:56 PMTrump nominates Pam Bondi as new AG pickTrump has nominated Pam Bondi as his new pick for attorney general, after Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration earlier Thursday.Bondi is the former attorney general of Florida, serving from 2011 to 2019 and marking […]
Mission Local bags two Society of Professional Journalists awards
This here publication last week took home two more awards from the Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists for in-depth coverage and analysis of the sort you expect — and demand — of us. Senior editor Joe Rivano Barros and former data reporter Will Jarrett were honored in the “Explanatory Journalism” category for the mammoth effort of tracing and documenting the Russian dolls-like series of interconnected organizations funneling billionaires’ dollars into San Francisco politics. Joe Rivano Barros, who with Will Jarrett won for the Big Money SF work. Photo by Abigail Van NeelyThe series, titled “BigMoneySF,” included Rivano Barros’ profile of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the largest donor over the last several election cycles, and Jarrett’s interactive chart, a stunning accomplishment requiring months of work unearthing reams of financial data structured in a manner so as to render it […]
US airline flight crews confident and angry as unions seek richer contracts
By Rajesh Kumar Singh CHICAGO (Reuters) - Alaska Airlines flight attendant Rebecca Owens works 10 hours a day but only gets paid for half that time - a legacy of a common U.S. airline policy to pay cabin crew members only when planes are in motion. Owens, and thousands of cabin crew like her, wants that to change. In August, 68% of Alaska flight attendants in a ratification vote rejected a contract that would have increased average pay by 32% over three years. It was also the first labor agreement that would have legally required airlines to start the clock for paying flight attendants when passengers are boarding, not when the flight starts to taxi down the runway. Delta Air Lines, the only major U.S. airline whose flight attendants are not in a union, instituted boarding pay for its flight […]
Related
‘Like a teddy bear’: Bob Lee’s friends testify to drug use, character
Two former colleagues and friends of Cash App founder Bob Lee testified today that while the homicide victim used drugs, Lee was not aggressive or erratic. The testimony countered a narrative from his alleged killer that Lee first drew the knife that killed him. Nima Momeni, the man on trial for Lee’s murder, has testified that Lee attacked him with a kitchen knife over a “bad joke,” about spending more time with his family rather than going to a strip club and that Momeni redirected the weapon toward Lee. Momeni’s defense team rested its case earlier this week. Prosecutors today called three rebuttal witnesses to testify to Lee’s character, as well as a San Francisco police captain intended to discredit a former sergeant who on Tuesday testified in support of the plausibility of Momeni’s self-defense claim. Kristina Champion, who worked with Lee when […]
Judge denies motion to ease house arrest of Jon Jacobo
A San Francisco judge on Thursday denied a motion to loosen the home detention conditions forJon Jacobo, a once-rising star in San Francisco’s politics who was arrested on Aug. 5 for alleged sexual assault. “The motion is denied to the extent that it asks for relief from home detention and [ankle] monitoring,” said San Francisco Superior Court judge Kenneth Wine this morning. “It’s the seriousness of the charges that’s really driving my decision. There are a number of victims with very serious charges.”Jacobo, a longtime Mission District community leader, was first publicly accused of rape in 2021. This April, he resigned from his executive position at affordable-housing developer TODCO, soon after three women accused him of rape and abuse in a San Francisco Standard story. He was arrested on Aug. 5, 2024. Jacobo today showed up in the courtroom in casual clothes […]
Mission Local bags two Society of Professional Journalists awards
This here publication last week took home two more awards from the Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists for in-depth coverage and analysis of the sort you expect — and demand — of us. Senior editor Joe Rivano Barros and former data reporter Will Jarrett were honored in the “Explanatory Journalism” category for the mammoth effort of tracing and documenting the Russian dolls-like series of interconnected organizations funneling billionaires’ dollars into San Francisco politics. Joe Rivano Barros, who with Will Jarrett won for the Big Money SF work. Photo by Abigail Van NeelyThe series, titled “BigMoneySF,” included Rivano Barros’ profile of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the largest donor over the last several election cycles, and Jarrett’s interactive chart, a stunning accomplishment requiring months of work unearthing reams of financial data structured in a manner so as to render it […]
‘Slow Streets, Fast Friends’ mural comes to 20th St. in the Mission
Sign up below to get Mission Local’s free newsletter, a daily digest of news you won’t find elsewhere. Josue Rojas hovers in the air above the ground, gingerly balancing his stomach on a stool while holding his paintbrush in one hand, face towards the asphalt. He says it’s better than being on all fours. “It’s particularly brutal work,” says Rojas. “I’m on my knees six to eight hours a day and, now that I’m in my mid-40s, it’s not that easy to bear.” Rojas has spent the past week working between bursts of rain to create a street mural on 20th and Florida streets for the “Slow Streets, Fast Friends” project of the SF Parks Alliance nonprofit, which commissions murals on slow streets throughout the city.The mural was finished this past weekend, and now adorns the block where Atlas Cafe, the Southern […]
SFMTA board approves new Valencia bikeway—but few are happy
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board unanimously approved the new curbside Valencia Street bike lane on Tuesday, and admitted that the transit agency should have been more cautious with experiments in merchant corridors.That experiment — a bike lane running up the center of the street — had pitted transit advocates against shopkeepers. Now cyclists and the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association were finally on the same page: Neither were fans of the new design.“The [merchants association] cannot officially support the side-running bike lane,” said Manny Yekutiel, president of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association, which has fought the old design. Yekutiel was one of dozens who spoke up in the three-hour-long meeting held at City Hall.Yekutiel, echoing long-held concerns from merchants against streetscape changes, said the new design will get rid of a lot of the parking spots on Valencia Street. […]
Banderas flags
Banderas flags Source: missionlocal.org
