Comments on Tales from the Coast: The Apartment

It's a deal, Bruce.

2009-10-02T11:19:25.947-07:00

It's a deal, Bruce.

There's still some interesting stuff in good old S...

2009-10-01T15:53:33.207-07:00

There's still some interesting stuff in good old San Francisco. Next time you're up north, get in touch and I'll take you out for a drink or two at Elks Lodge No. 3 near Union Square. Almost makes up for the loss of, say, the York cinema.

--
Bruce T.

Boomer, You didn't mention the Gorilla Grotto. Y...

2009-10-01T11:07:59.406-07:00

Boomer,

You didn't mention the Gorilla Grotto. You'll have to do an entry on that one of these days. Inquiring minds definitely want to know.

Donna: Yeah, it was. It was an interesting time,...

2009-09-30T21:04:08.028-07:00

Donna:

Yeah, it was. It was an interesting time, between the time when old-school middle-class San Francisco sorta went away and new flashy luxury-condo San Francisco arrived. It wasn't cheap, but there was room for all sortsa countercultural experiments in all the underused or abandoned places: the Red Vic, the Mabuhay Gardens, all those strange little comedy clubs and theater companies that came and went. Survival Research Labs and those (really dangerous) robot/flamethrower shows they used to put on down by Folsom Street. And big cheap burritos at La Cumbre and El Farolito, cool Muni driver, Green Monster streetcars, the Gay Pride parades down Market Street, pre-AIDS -- outrageous beyond belief. Going down to that old theater on Silver Avenue that played silent movies and had a Mighty Wurlitzer, or catching the late (11:30) movie at the Regency and heading over afterwards to one of those all-night restaurants (good ones, not Zim's) where everybody on Polk Street headed after the bars closed. Wotta floorshow.

And on, and on, and on.

Hi! "Met"you on Calculated Risk and enjoy your co...

2009-09-30T18:45:00.900-07:00

Hi!

"Met"you on Calculated Risk and enjoy your comments. I lived in SF during the same time as you (actually, a little earlier, even, I hate to say!). Your blog brought back so many great memories. It was a wonderful place to be young in, wasn't it??

Parking, what's that? -- Bruce T., who remembers ...

2009-09-30T11:20:13.932-07:00

Parking, what's that?

--
Bruce T., who remembers when MUNI Fast Passes had these cute little drawings on them, a new one each month

Rich: I'm sure you're right. And even "low" rent...

2009-09-30T08:50:50.230-07:00

Rich:

I'm sure you're right. And even "low" rent-controlled rents in SF aren't necessarily low any more by any other standards than the city's.

Good stories, Boomer. I don't know that the type ...

2009-09-29T20:27:52.744-07:00

Good stories, Boomer. I don't know that the type of low budget low stress lifestyle you describe is still possible in San Francisco unless you've been there for decades under rent control.

Rich

LK, yes, parking was tough. By the time Bruce mov...

2009-09-29T18:53:46.329-07:00

LK, yes, parking was tough. By the time Bruce moved into the building they were discouraging people with cars from applying to live there. Another "in" for Bruce.

Bruce, I only "heard" there were women there. Don't hold me to it.

I was also going to write about all the interesting things that happened in the apartment, but there weren't very many so I dropped that. My only good anecdote the time Anton LaVey, High Priest of the Church of Satan, came over to buy pulps and paperbacks with bondage covers. He was amazingly normal-looking, in a doesn't-get-out-much book collector sort of way. But he drove away in a Gremlin, I kid you not.

Hey Boomer, Wasn't there a Guess Who song called ...

2009-09-29T15:33:23.780-07:00

Hey Boomer,

Wasn't there a Guess Who song called "Unitarian Woman"? :) Or something like that...

CC and I enjoyed visiting you in that neighborhood, except for the parking. Parking around there was tough. Later when Bruce moved in it felt a little weird to be visiting him at your old place. And over the years the parking didn't improve. We used to find parking on the other side of Van Ness up the hill in the rich neighborhood, strangely enough. Anyway, we hardly ever get over to the City these days to visit Bruce or anyone else. All our old friends have moved away from the City, except for Bruce.

All those years I've lived in that apartment and I...

2009-09-29T13:35:00.672-07:00

All those years I've lived in that apartment and I didn't know there was a Unitarian church in the nabe and *now* you tell me there are Unitarian *women* there too. Dang!

Thanks for another great post to your great blog, Boomer.

--
Bruce T.