Heading out to San Francisco for the Labor Day weekend show, “Come Monday” the classic Jimmy Buffett song that I really liked before I knew who Jimmy Buffet was, it wasn’t until Cheeseburger in Paradise in 1978 that I became a Parrott head. I saw Buffett for the first time at the Greek Theater in Berkeley in 1979 then headed over to Tower Records later that week to buy the Son of a Son of a Sailor album. I was fortunate to see Buffett several times throughout my life, including one show at the Circle Star Theater when my buddy Johnny B got on stage and played a song with him. When Jimmy Buffett passed away last year, I felt like I lost a friend, he was a constant in my life for over forty years. RIP Jimmy.
I was driving across the Bay Bridge yesterday into San Francisco, when I took in the skyline, it was an absolutely beautiful springlike day, I was humming “Come Monday” (the Buffet thing) to myself and thinking how beautiful “The City” looked and how blessed I am to be right here right now. The outline of the skyscrapers, The Ferry Building, The Fairmont atop California St, Coit Tower, Alcatraz, Angel Island, The Golden Gate Bridge, The Giants Ballpark (Pacific Bell , SBC, AT&T or now Oracle Park). The container ships moored on the placid water of San Francisco Bay, a few sailboats out enjoying the day, a large cruise ship at dock and a ferry pulling in.
I have recently written disparagingly about San Francisco, the crime, the homelessness, the businesses leaving town and todays top story below also is a negative piece about home prices in San Francisco. Despite all of the troubles I still love “The City”, the sights, the sounds, the weather, the neighborhoods and I believe that it is poised for a comeback.
Number 3 Son, Cole, and I took a ride late yesterday afternoon, leaving Mom & Dad’s house in Visitacion Valley, we drove up Visitacion Ave., passed a modernized Coffman pool into McLaren Park and Gleneagles Golf Course to Mansell Avenue and its views of the Cow Palace and San Bruno Mountain. We went through the excelsior down Persia to Mission St and that was where memory lane really kicked in, although so much has changed, so much was the same, the stores and businesses, houses and apartment buildings, the hustle and bustle of people living their lives all engaged in the day to day.
We continued our tour on Mission, across Geneva Ave and Bravo Pizza (an old main stay still there) into Daly City, with a slight detour onto San Jose Ave we were back on Mission. Top of the Hill Daly City, Mathew’s TV and Sterio, long since gone, down into Colma, "it's great to be alive in Colma". Then we hit the El Camino Real in So San Francisco, "The Industrial City" stopping for some killer Burritos at El Faros. We took a slight detour on Grand Ave just to check it out, then on to Bayshore back to the valley just as evening hit, the fog rolling in, the temperature dropping and the wind picking up, ah yes, Mom’s warning when leaving the house echoes in my head, “Grab your sweater”.
Let me know what you think.
