The Saloon, in North Beach, is regularly touted as San Francisco’s oldest bar, dating back to 1861. While other bars were started sooner, their original buildings were destroyed during the 1906 earthquake and fire. The Saloon miraculously survived thanks to the firefighters and sailors that stretched a hose from the

The Spike (Begin at the beginning of the story here) A titch later we’re drying off by a burn barrel, pretty high up on the cliff face, and the Seertlekimmie is telling me about the harvests. The rays and octopus are coming in more and more, but landin’ a whale’s

It’s opening night for the latest exhibit at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  Under-, over-, and well-dressed people of every age and persuasion are chatting in drink lines and dancing in the pink-tinged darkness of the Center’s theater. In short order the DJ will blast a snarky, sugary

Part Five Jump the Shark (Begin at the beginning here) The next day I go to see the Seertlekimmie. He’s up and about, putzing around the dock and even though he ain’t lookin’ so hot he seems in good spirits. We stroll around the docks, a sprawling maze of rickety

Part Five Jump the Shark (Begin at the beginning here) The next day I go to see the Seertlekimmie. He’s up and about, putzing around the dock and even though he ain’t lookin’ so hot he seems in good spirits. We stroll around the docks, a sprawling maze of rickety

The room is dominated by a chromed-out, cream-colored bullet on four wheels. The streamlined 1937 Cord Phaeton convertible is breathtakingly flawless. It is flanked by other sculpted pieces of shimmering metal. They could be called Art Deco, Arte Moderne, or even Streamlined Moderne, but what ties them all together is

Part Four Fancy Pants So I go up to Deska’s house. As a council member she gets to live in one of the old houses. It’s not made from scraps of cloth, driftwood, and piled stone, not like most of the city. It’s real timber with real windows, not just