Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Street Seen

Today I will take you on a thrilling adventure.  You have all read of my endlessly fascinating DAILY BUS RIDE HOME FROM WORK.  But really, what’s the hoo-hah all about?  What do I see?  What’s out there?  What flashes past my windows, and winnows past my flashers?  I made it my business to find out: not long ago I gave up my habitual seat facing in on the left just before the articulation on the 38L, and took a seat on a single facing forward halfway back; I pulled out my writing pad and stared out the window.  I tried to write down as much of what I could see of the various physical features of each block I passed, and here’s what my notes tell me I saw:

Offices - newsstand - plaza - Baja Fresh - garage entry - plaza - Tully’s coffee - big office lobby - cellphone store

(Turn onto Market street:) Coffee - home fitness store - bank - plaza - coffee - newsstand - currency exchange

Offices - chocolate shop - bank - plaza - offices - plaza - McD’s - office building - Stacey’s Books - plaza - offices - flowers - travel agent - Commonwealth Club - Rand McNally store

Men’s Warehouse - office lobby - McD’s - Phone - Boudin Bakery cafe - ATM - offices

Fancy clothes - Palace Hotel - fancy clothes - eyeglasses - fancy clothes - Maxfield’s bar and restaurant - bakery - plaza - toys - phones - lobby of Monadnock building - cafe - Lenscrafters - vacant - phones

(Turn onto Geary street:) Washington Mutual (back of building) - back of big old building - Asian Arts gallery - lobby - cosmetics - Walgreens - kid’s clothes - currency exchange - building lobby - Guess

Swatch - cosmetics - Morrow Nut House - Neiman Marcus - some other fancy clothes store - Rotunda restaurant - Neiman Marcus with dome from City of Paris

Louis Vuitton at Macy’s - Macy’s - Salvatore Ferragamo at Macy’s - Macy’s - chandeliers - antiques - jewelry

Casual Corner*Petite Sophisticate - Lefty O’Doul’s restaurant and piano bar - Daily Grill restaurant - antiques - Handlery hotel - four art galleries - sushi - art gallery - liquor store

Cafe - hotel - two big “legit stage” theaters - clothes - mysterious hotel/club

Cafe Monaco/Grand Hotel - hair salon - Irish goods - apartments - cafe - Club Swig - tailor - manicures - clothes - two apartment buildings - taqueria - smoke shop

Cafe - laundry - viet seafood - plaza - CRDC career training agency - liquor - alley - mysterious dark storefront - two hair salons - chinese food - lobby - apartment building - phones - market - deli

Sports bar - pizza - flowers - laundry - three apartment buildings - hair salon - five apartment buildings

Massage - cheap hotel - smoke shop - apartments - coffee - apartments
- garage - Turkish restaurant - bar - hair salon - cafe - motel

Liquors - hotel - flowers - two apartment buildings - cafe - smog testers - massage - apartments - defunct drycleaners

Parking/auto repair - hotel - apartments - Mel’s Diner - hotel

Tommy’s Joint cafeteria - gallery - print shop - chiropractor - apartments
- hair salon - office building

Unitarian Church/Montessori school

St Mary’s Cathedral

Chinese Consulate

Apartment buildings (public housing?)

Office building - Blockbuster - offices - thai cafe

Check cashing - Fillmore auditorium - Post Office - vacant building - corner stripshops
with a dry cleaner and a KFC

Schoolyard - Benjamin Franklin middle school

Apartments

Kaiser Hospital/Medical center

Kaiser Hospital/Medical center, continued

Parking lot - Office Depot - Mervyn’s

Hawaiian restaurant - auto upholstery and convertable tops - auto shop - Supercuts - apartments

Pub - billiards - Bank of America - ethiopian restaurant - do-it-yourself car wash stalls

Furniture - furniture - empty store - ??? - locksmith

Cafe - cafe - cafe - gas station

Coffee - fish - manicures - food store - television store - Apple repair shop - hair salon

Furniture

Car dealership lot - service station - post office

Tower records - Mel’s Diner

Furniture - two cafes - print shop - phone shop - lobby - BevMo

Gas station - Pier 1 - futons - phones - two restaurants - Coronet (movie) theater - gas station

Phones - apartments - two restaurants - glasses - restaurant - bar - restaurant

Liquor store - Rohan Lounge - hair care - auto stereo - auto parts

Car lot - Shneerson Lubavitcher community center - produce market

Grocery store

Kaiser clinics and medical offices

Nurses uniform store - 2 restaurants - tibetan crafts - vacant - picture frames

Church - bank - credit center

By this point I’m at 6th Avenue and it’s time for me to pack up my bag and position myself next to the rear door of the bus so I can swoop out with the sudden swiftness of a raptor, if a raptor was getting off the 38L with a 20 pound messenger bag over its fletched shoulder.  I realized that the bus moved too fast sometimes for me to get a good look at what I was passing, and sometimes my notes were illegible even to me, so I went back a few weeks later and re-annotated the ride.  I’m still not sure this is everything - in fact, I’m sure it’s not.  It’s barely even something.  But it’s what I see so it’s what I thought I’d share with you.  And even with all this going on outside on the streets, you know that the real show is usually right on the bus riding along with me....

HA! think you’re so cool – you with all your high-falootin’ city sights.

check it…

grass - tree - rock - horse - tree - bush - roadkill - trailer - bush - rock - tree - fence - mailbox - tree - tree - tree - POTHOLE!

You beat me to it, sawni—I read this post earlier, and was just coming back to post the same comment you did! (Although I could also add ‘cow’ periodically.) Think we live in the same area?

I KNOW for sure that the show is on the bus with you...but it’s only because you present the show in such an interesting fashion.

Yup. The bus is where it is at.

ok, my butt is asleep. can we get out and walk a few blocks?

*sigh sigh SIGH* Oh how I want to be in SF again.

You write fast, or do you use shorthand?

Religion is still parasitic in the interstices of our knowledge which have not yet been filled. Like bed-bugs in the cracks of walls and furniture, miracles lurk in the lacunae of science. The scientist plasters up these cracks in our knowledge; the more militant Rationalist swats the bugs in the open. Both have their proper sphere and they should realize that they are allies. by empire poker