Art Nouveau Stern Grove

Mission Street Signs

I just looked through this blog and saw all these comments I failed to reply to, and was surprised this blog had any comments at all! Neither Simone or I are currently living in SF, so Lilttle SF really stalled. I feel very homesick for San Francisco, though. And sorry for not replying!

I love handpainted signs so much. It's part of the problem with very modern signs and chain stores, the slick boring signs. I love the jumbled look of streets like Mission, with its old vintage signs or awesome hand-done ones like those above.

Half Moon Bay

We went here over the holiday seasons, and it was appropriately cold, windy and foggy. The Northern California coast tends to be rocky, windy, and treacherous. Because it's in California, San Francisco is often associated with sunshine, surfing and palm trees, when in fact the weather is characterized by dense, low-lying fog and gusts of wind, and if it's sunny it is a brisk sunshine, not a pleasant, warm, lazy one.

But all this, combined with all its hills, contributes to San Francisco's airiness, which I guess isn't so refreshing when you want to go out at night during the summer and have to wear several jackets, but contributes to a light, crisp sort of feel, which east coast cities are definitely lacking. They always feel as if they are broiling under the pavement during the summer, but San Francisco seems to be perched atop a cool breezy hill. It never feels stuffy. Sometimes when I go back I think stuff like, "This is the air I was meant to breathe!" Plus we have no bugs.

Being in this environment, among native Northern California plants and trees (and non-native ones which we have adopted as our own, like eucalyptus) really takes me back to my childhood- I have many photos of me in preschool on nature walks on the coast, all of us huddled together in sweatshirts.

Alemany Flea Market

Thumbs up all the way for the Alemany Flea Market!!!

People in Motion/People in Mooottttiiioooonnnn!!!!*

Oh, Dolores Park. Am I wrong or are there far fewer Speedo-clad gays than there once was? Still, it's fun to get a treat from Tartine/a High Life with a paper bag around it and people-watch on a warm day. Note the view of beautiful Mission High and downtown.

These photos are worth clicking on.

*This is the crescendo part of If You're Going to San Francisco (Make Sure You Wear some Flowers in Your Hair)

Twin Peaks Properties

Now that Streetlight Records is closed (along with a lifetime of angsty teenage memories of buying CDs that CHANGED MY LIFE), there is no reason to go to Noe Valley (except to visit the city's best consignment store, Mary's Exchange!!!!); all the little neighborhood-y things that made it semi-charming get more and more swept away by dog pedicure places and $18,000 custom bike-eries very day. However, despite the death of the owner, realty office Twin Peaks Properties and its idiosyncratic window displays are still there. Noe Valley is obviously politically liberal (in a "I paid a million dollars for my two bedroom home to live here but I am just middle class and not, like fancy or anything,"/Gavin Newsom type way) and owner Harry Aleo was a real holdover from the area's working class roots, what with his pro-Reagan propaganda and "English Spoken Here" signs and whatnot.

While I don't agree with his views, I appreciate the effort he put into making these windows and the way he used them to further his own viewpoint and celebrate San Franciso's history- you can see old property prices, a Tonga Room menu, a 30's era photo showing a movie theater with a "NOE" marquee, and so much more. It's sad to think of this storefront being replaced. Also, check out the adorable old-school Noe Valley Merchant Assoosication logo! Way cuter than the new round one seen to the lower right.

PS: The Peaks Tavern, home to perhaps the best bar sign in the city, is another old school Noe Valley holdout at odds with the rest of the ultra-yuppie neighborhood. While I can't say I find the drunk 49-ers hatted men leering at me outside the bar at 4pm all that charming, it's certainly preferable to whatever it could turn into, like a wine bar or something. Anyway, I forgot to take photos of that. Also, remember oxygen bars? Hahahaha.

PPs; I stole this photo of The Peak's sign off flickr: It's a Tyrolean dog! Or something!

It's Tops & Grooves

Like Stow Lake, these two businesses next to each other look super-charming.