It was a simpler time

Whilst going through some old files on a 3 1/2" disc (!) recently, I came across the vintage shot of yours truly:


This was taken in 1991, I believe, on Angel Island. I'm wearing a shirt that appears to be tie-dyed in some fashion, which is worrying. But give me a break; it was a different time.

At that point, I was living in this building in North Beach.

I had a studio. The rent was $685 a month. At the time, that seemed like a lot of money. I made friends with the building manager, though, and she let me park my car in the building's garage for free. Free parking! In North Beach! I think they charged $100 a month back then for parking, so it was kind of a steal.

That year, I watched them dismantle the Embarcadero Freeway. For those of you who don't know, there used to be a big ugly freeway structure that ran along the Embarcadero and cut off the waterfront from the city. It was damaged in the Loma Prieta quake in 1989 and was torn down. That turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to SF, as it opened up the Embarcadero and made it part of the city again. Here' s a picture from around that time:


Hideous, right? This pic doesn't even really do it justice. It ran directly in front of the Ferry Building, so if you looked down Market, all you could see was the big hulking mass of freeway. Ugh.

The other thing I remember from that year is waking up one Sunday morning in October and noticing the sky was a weird color. We walked up Union Street over the crest of Telegraph Hill and could see the Oakland hills on fire. I remember ash and little bits of burned paper falling on Telegraph Hill later that day.

ANYWAY, there's no real point to any of this. Seeing the picture of that 23-year-old kid at the top just made me think.

Better, more current content tomorrow, I promise.