Thursday, February 25, 2016

This is Quintessential San Francisco



THIS IS QUINTESSENTIAL SAN FRANCISCO.

Not the urban mush that is today. Not the TV/Radio permanent dark cloud that hovers over Sutro Tower; not the crap they call news people; not the rank amateur "reporters" who troll the Chronicle looking for stories and do not dare walk into City Hall and question the mayor; not the lightweight anchors who pretend to be extraordinary TV News journalists but are nothing more than extraordinarily ordinary news readers; I'm beginning to set a tone.

This city has quickly lost its soul. Its rigor, its presence, its magic, if it had any anyway; if it did, it was back in the 70's when real restaurants existed; real people and real places were evident. The bad boys wore suit and ties and ate at some of the finest Italian restaurants in town; you know the places? Where you walked into the joint and it was dank and dark with a beautiful dame and sat at the bar with a fat guy bartender dressed in a white shirt with a black bow tie and Sinatra was singing on the jukebox and a whiff of spaghetti and meatballs permeated the room.

Those were the days my friend. Not today's leftover canned sardines run by the poser crowd like I've talked about before.

Now, back to your goddamned latte.

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15 comments:

  1. Richard HatchFebruary 25, 2016 at 1:38 PM

    I wish Karl Malden was here to take care of the tent city on Division St.; he'd plow right into them with his Ford Gran Torino!! KA-POW!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2016 at 3:28 PM

    Ah, the 70's, SF was a great place. The Symbionese Liberation Army, the Zebra Killings, two rival Chinese gangs have a shoot out at a restaurant killing 6, Fleishacker Pool closes, bath houses where HIV spreads like wildfire, American Indians occupy Alcatraz, the Black Panthers are accused of killing an SF cop, ex-cop Dan White murders Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk, Larry Baer graduates from Lowell, Lincoln High School lost accreditation, the feds stepped in and turned the SFUSD upside down, the Giants trade Bobby Bonds,Willie Mays,Willie McCovey and Gaylord Perry.
    Ah-great times!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2016 at 4:03 PM

      Nice trip down memory lane,this time hindsight is truly 20/20.Reality check for a lot of people.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2016 at 4:57 PM

      The Zodiak killer? I seem to recall that was in the 1970s.

      Delete
    3. UnknownFebruary 25, 2016 at 10:30 PM

      Sure beats what the city is today.

      I moved to the Peninsula in January 1975. Visiting the city was always fun, lots to do. We never zero'ed in on the boogeymen. Anyway, crime rate continues; it's part of all major cities.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2016 at 3:52 PM

    I miss going to the Gold Spike and having their garlic bread(the best!)and a cold beer. The good old days.

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2016 at 10:12 PM

    STREETS!

    It was a sad day when they took down the Carol Doda blinking nipples sign in front of the Condor Club!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2016 at 11:19 PM

    Someone told me CBS is remaking The Streets of SF but this time Michael Douglas will play Karl Malden - But apparently Michael is now too old for the part.

    Like you I miss old San Francisco, sometimes I catch a whiff of it in back of an old alley in North Beach. Many of the people who made it great are no longer with us many others replaced by hipsters with earphones and no souls who know better than us what SF should be...

    But let's face it Classic SF is now something to be seen in the movies...

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2016 at 12:20 AM

    The 1970's, your a bunch of newbies. Galileo high school, 1962, played on the varsity baseball team. On the junior varsity baseball team was a young kid, about to become World famous!! Someone who had everything the World had to offer at his beckon call, and threw it all away, O.J. Simpson. The city was a great place to live back then, have many great memories! "Those Were The Days"

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  7. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2016 at 8:32 AM

    My dad worked at 101 California St. It was the tallest building int he city for awhile.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 88MilesPerHrFebruary 26, 2016 at 1:13 PM

    I would buy the DVD collection... up until "Steve" was off the series.

    Love all the shots of SF...especially of areas that no longer exist.

    These guys were 'The Sh¡t'!

    They don't make cop series' like this anymore.

    Thanks for the nostalgia, Rich!

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2016 at 2:27 PM

    Yes, missed the old Italian haunts---Vanessi's, Fior d'Italia, but I don't miss the crime and downright dangerous areas of the '70s. Let's see, you did not want to walk in any of these places: Tenderloin, South of Market, Mission, Hayes Valley, Fillmore, Excelsior, Visitation Valley, Hunters Point. Today, with the exception of Hunter's Point, you can safely walk around any of these areas. Sure gentrification takes away some things, but crime reduction is not one of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2016 at 4:40 PM

      Exactly. Add Bernal Heights to the areas to avoid in the 70's to your list.
      //Gino and Carlo's hasn't changed much. Miss the old juke box there, replaced with one of those internet ones.

      Delete
  10. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2016 at 9:02 PM

    My dad was SFPD 1958-1983. He LIVED the Streets of San Francisco. Man, did he have some great stories. I wish he were still around so I could hear them again.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dawn KoreleeoneeFebruary 29, 2016 at 5:27 AM

    The Streets of San Francisco: THE GREATEST SHOW EVER MADE!!!! Period. End of discussion. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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