Neptune Landing

Life has been skipping along in San Francisco. Where do I start? First, let me make a note about literary presumption. Armistead Maupin starting penning the wonderful "Tales of the City" series as a serial in The San Francisco Chronicle in 1976, 200 years after San Francisco was founded. He is one of my heroes and is one of many reasons for my pilgrimage. TOTC is a collection of 8 books that span thirty-five years, starting in the heady, libertine 1970's focusing on a mish-mash cast of characters and their ways of surviving in this aquatic town. Throughout his warm dialogue, he weaves in sub-plots of mystery and suspense but his signature technique is placing together two very different characters in an oddball San Francisco setting and seeing what happens. The result is often magic. The reason I bring this up is that I've assumed my readers know all of this already. Do me a favor and pick up the collection. You won't regret it. I'm big on synchronicity.

“When Fortuna spins you downward, go out to a movie and get more out of life.” ― John Kennedy Toole , A Confederacy of Dunces    "or visit Japantown." -- Thomas Kilduff This town is marked by intense bouts of joy followed by reversals in fortune, vice versa and around and around. Let's start with my newest curiosity: food. I don't plan on ballooning in SF but it's hard not to become a foodie. Consciously, I am savoring each bite because I truly want to gobble all that's set before me. It's a rare meal that will disappoint in Fog City. Take today's $7 compilation of super-veggie-burrito, side o' chips and bottle of water at "El Castillito" on Church Street in Duboce Triangle - once again we savor the holy trinity of low price, fresh ingredients and ample portions. Thus far, Vietnamese and Mexican seem to be the cheapest options but I've barely scratched the dinner table on this quirky peninsula.

Brrr. Has the hair started to fall off my chest? It's 56 degrees Fahrenheit, windy and spitting rain yet it feels colder. What happened to my New England flinty constitution? Or did it ever exist in the first place? Good news first. I took a tourist day by riding the F (the historic streetcar) to Pier 39 where I got to cavort with the sea lions. Since the 89 earthquake, they've been congregating on the K dock (we're big into single letters here). They are a mostly male bunch exuding noise and cuteness. It's nice that sentient beings were able to get closer after something as horrific as 89's Loma Prieta. The rest of Pier 39 resembles Faneuil Hall. Just add a carousel.  For lunch, I had a mouth-watering, large bowl of seafood jumbalaya at the San Francisco Fish Company. Heavens, my! For a reasonable $10.50 I was treated to both quality and quantity with a medley of shrimp, spices and rice. This, of course, was at the creamy blue/grey ferry building, sort of t

      We spent the day in Muir Woods about 30 minutes north of The City in a lush, upscale region known as Marin County. The Coastal Redwoods are the gatekeepers to a time before industrial exploitation. It was raining lightly and reminded me of the Pacific Northwest where I attended college. Many of the trees on the peninsula have actually been introduced by folks like William Hammond Hall and (supposedly) John Muir in the creation of Golden Gate Park. The blessed Eucalyptus with its lemon-scent is actually more of an invasive species. The two prominent trees native to Northern California are the Coastal Redwoods and the Monterrey Cypress.      On the other end of the recreational spectrum, we hit the Gaultier exhibit at the deYoung Museum. Subtlety was not his forte but it was wonderful to witness the close friendship that developed between him and Madonna (at least according to the quotes and Polaroid pictures). His style is postmodern baroque; there's no group that he

Such productive business on my first day in Fog City. I'm a bit sleepy so I'm going to chop up my narrative into bullet points. FOOD: Eating out is surprisingly reasonable and the food is not only mouth-watering but is served in large portions. For a late lunch, I hoofed it to Little Saigon near the Tenderloin. At a place called Mangosteen, I had garlic noodles with fried tofu and steamed vegetables. Totally delish and it only set me back $12.80 including tip. The Safeway in Hayes Valley (the gay Safeway) was a bit on the pricy side and I forgot to pick up my tuna. I do have full confidence that the freshness and quality will make up for their steep prices. But in terms of value, the Market Basket on Somerville Ave runs blocks around its western competition. PEOPLE: I'll have to be patient with this one but I feel like there's very few manners. Nobody says thank you to the bus driver. Everyone is either very hip or very homeless. I attended a spirituality discussion

Welcome to my blog. Its purpose is to give Bostonians a tour guide of the *other* city by the Bay: San Francisco. I made the decision to move here at the turn of 2012 after a number of mystical crises pricked my fragile life. That and the fact that I had a dear friend, Eric Whitney, who has been rooting for me to live in San Francisco with him and his partner, Richard Bae. In the course of my life, I have had three discrete dreams about being in San Francisco but at the time I could not put my finger on the place, mistaking it for Los Angeles or Cape Cod. But now I know I was supposed to end up here all along. Does that ever happen to you? Soon enough I will purchase a digital camera with a video camera component to truly show you this blessed city. The flight on Virgin America was fabulous. Each charter has this wonderful pink and purple mood lighting and everything is customized. The selection of radio stations was a riot: 'Atmospheres' for mood music and nature sounds, &