Friday, September 22

Another full, busy and exhausting day - just the way I like it!

I started out my day with the usual coffee and gazing out the window. But now, my gaze goes towards the city lights of downtown San Francisco and the neighbor's back yard, not the heavily wood hillsides and brushy pastures of home. A not unpleasant change - for now.

The Neighbors: 700k for the house and 300k in renovations. In Potrero - who woulda thunk it!

I worked most of the morning on selecting, sorting and editing photos for the next page and then putting the page together. When this was done I caught a 22 Fillmore bus to Potrero Street and transferred to the 9 to downtown - 10th and Market. This would put just around the corner from the Main Library and Civic Center.

I took a coupla quick grab shots before looking for a place to have some keys duplicated and a place for lunch. The above are trollies at Hyde and Grove Streets on Market.

Never having eaten in the area before I decided to play it safe and go with a hot, cheap and filling place.

I was not disappointed with my choice of "Munch Haven", home of, yep, you guessed it - the Munch Bowl.  A full rice bowl topped with lots of thinly sliced and spicy beef with broccoli and carrots.
5.95 and all I could eat!

Ahhh... what a great place for a nap! There are lots of homeless in San Fran and lots of nearly homeless ekeing out an existence in the Tenderloin. This, all next to million dollar luxury condos.

This is City Hall - directly across from my destination - the Main Public Library.

After stopping by the information desk and getting the skinny on WiFi I headed upstairs to settle in and start uploading my pages. This took me by the children's center on the second floor.

This Library is either brand spanking new or underwent one helluva renovation.

The main desk of the children's center. Lot of books, computers and other stimulating things to keep kids occupied.

This is the front desk as seen from the second floor mezzanine.

After completing my work at the Library I started the trek back to the apartment, deciding to forgo the bus. I headed down 10th Street, passing St. Joseph's Church.

An interesting message next to the freeway on-ramp.

This old Fairlane reminded me of my brother William who owned an ancient Dart for many years.

 

After a tiring walk back, made more so because I walked 5 blocks the wrong direction, I reorganized and hit the pavement again, this time to meet Steven Black, long time friend of the family and 20+ year resident of the Mission.

I had called Steven that morning and we made plans to meet at the Abandoned Planet Bookstore on Valencia between 16 and 17th. From there we were to have dinner and then on to the Victoria Theater for a coupla flicks in the SF Bike Festival event.

 

On the way up the street I saw this taped to a traffic signal pole.

San Francisco is becoming a world class cycling city and there are lots of pretty young girls on bikes here.

Before dinner Steven took me down this alley which was wall-to-wall murals.

There was an amazing variety of art thoughts represented here.

 

 

Steven mentioned there are folks who maintain the murals by removing gang tags, touching up and replacing the canvas matrix where possible.

 

Welcome to Yamo! To say this storefront is pretentious is to be kind indeed. Uninviting and funky might be a better way to describe it. But, tasty delights await!

This tiny whole-in-the-wall at 3406 18th street could certainly seat no more than a dozen people - and all at lunch counter sandwiched between the kitchen/serving area and the adjacent wall only a few feet behind the stools.

We no sooner got seated and had ordered that all the empty seats started filling up.

We ordered some pot stickers (6@3.50) for an appetizer which arrived after Steven got this meal. They were quite tasty and I had a hard time telling what was in the dipping sauce, but it had a distinct flavor.

After at first getting the wrong order I was served and ready to dig in. Another hot, cheap and filling meal awaited.
I had ordered the Yama House Noodles (5.25) and was glad I did! The delicious noodles and copious chunks of grilled and spicy chicken topped with scallions were soon being demolished.

The place was packed, hot and steamy when we left and we hit the wet sidewalk which was left by a brief and passing shower.

Soon were in line at the Victoria Theater which is San Fran's oldest operating theater.

We were there for the Bicycle Film Festival which originally started in NYC and now is in 16 cities all over the globe.

Steven, who is originally from Toronto was particularly interested in the two features at this showing, both having been filmed in his home town.

The first one - a 7 minute short, was entitled "Street Fighter" Directed by Benny Zenga & Michael Louis Johnson.
"Shot on the streets of Toronto and set to The New Kings track ‘Street Fighter’, a rock anthem about riding your bike in the city. “Two wheels and legs like steel!” "

The second 77 minute feature film was "Monkey Warfare" directed by Reginald Harkema.

"Many critics have selected this film as one of the best films without distribution of the year.

Dan and Linda are two ex-activists in Toronto who live a low-key lifestyle of selling junk online and riding their bicycles. After their pot dealer gets busted, they meet the young revolutionary Susan, forcing Dan and Linda to question their relationship and face their turbulent past. "Monkey Warfare" was well received at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival winning the Special Jury Award."

This was a hilarious and sad movie with some really clever dialog and situations. But I ain't no film critic! Try to see it yourself, it will be worth the effort.

There was "Valet Bicycle Parking" available and lots of people were taking advantage of.

Steven walked me to the bus stop which was nearby. We said our good-byes and I was home lickety split.

A really great evening in the City. Thanks, Steve!

Another full day and it was 9:00. Early to some, bedtime to me. I got comfortable, cracked a beer and saw a couple more shots waiting for my camera. And then, ZZZzzzzzz...

 

Day 3 - FINIS