The immigration debate gets personal

I don't like the sound of that.

SHIG and I go to a new place. Then I write about it.

Sceney trendsters that we are, yesterday Super Hot Irish Girlfriend and I hit up Michael Mina's new Clock Bar in the St. Francis. It was neither sceney nor trendy. The drinks, however, were pretty good.

I started with a Star Daisy, which is Beefeater gin, Calvados (a brandy distilled from apple cider - no, I didn't know either), lime and grenadine. Sounds pretty good, right? I should have been tipped off by the name, but when it arrived, served up in a martini glass, you can guess what it looked like.

Great. I'm the only man in the place with a pink drink. Anyway, despite the appearance, it was really good. SHIG had the Hemingway daiquiri (rum, maraschino, grapefruit, lime, and grapefruit bitters) which, amazingly, looked manly next to my drink. I didn't think all that much of hers. The bittters threw me off, I think.

I also had an Aviation - Plymouth gin, maraschino, lemon, and creme de violette, which was also very good.

The place itself feels like a hotel bar which, I guess, makes sense, since it is a hotel bar. Looked like mostly tourist clientele. The service was outstanding, and I'm not just saying that because our waitress was a 5'10" blonde girl who looked like a model. Really, she was very attentive and good.

I can't see making a special trip there, but if you're around Union Square and you don't feel like having a conventioneer from St. Louis throw up on you at the Gold Dust, I guess it would a good alternative. Thank you very much.

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.

A partial guide to what I did this weekend, in reverse order

Why is it that every time I go to a game, the Giants lose? Seriously, I don't know if I've seen a winning game this season, and I think I've been to at least 5 or 6 games.

Naturally, with Fail pitching, the odds weren't great that they were going to win, but c'mon. It's like they weren't even trying. The worst part about this game is that it was just fucking BORING. Even with beers.

Fail warming up before the game. He's thinking "Man, I hope I don't suck as much as usual."

And so it was. The only bright spot was young Freddy Lewis, who became the first left-handed batter to go 4-for-4 against Randy Johnson. Ever. For some reason, the Hall of Fame didn't request his cleats and cap. Oh well.

Saturday night I found myself at Mission Bar with Super Hot Irish Girlfriend and some associates. I was going to take some pictures but my friend Olu loudly exclaimed that he "didn't know this was a 23-year-old girl's birthday party" and so I had to take pictures with the flash off instead. They didn't come out very well.

You know what's great about Mission Bar? I ordered an Absolut and soda and a beer and it was $7.25. Try doing that at one of your fancy, working-bathroom bars, you snob. I loves me some Mission Bar.

40 going on 28 recommends

1. Mad Men

If you didn’t watch this brilliantly-conceived series on AMC last year, you missed something. Recently thrust into the spotlight by virtue of a boatload of Emmy nominations, this stylish, if glacially-paced, series that’s facially about advertising in the early 60’s but is really about the roles we adopt to deal with each other, is not to be missed. The new season debuts Sunday night at 10 p.m.

2. Popchips

Oh, Popchips, how do you do it? How can you be so fucking delicious and have only half the fat that regular chips have? How can you be so light and crunchy with all natural ingredients? What vile sorcery created thee? I will never leave you, Popchips. Even if they start selling Munchos in my area again.

3. Trident Xtra Care Peppermint




Gum has gotten really complicated. There used to be Juicy Fruit and Doublemint and Super Bubble. Then there was Dentyne and Trident. Now choosing a gum is like picking a wine at Bacar. There’s like hundreds of choices. I was on Orbit for a while, then Eclipse. I dabbled a little with Dentyne Ice, but I still hadn’t found a suitable gum of choice. Then I found Trident Xtra Care Peppermint. Assertive mint flavor without being overbearing, and easy to chew. It comes in an attractive gum wallet that goes effortlessly from office to lounge. A good all-purpose gum.

4. Drunk History

At first I thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Then I thought, “No way I would have thought of that, but I’m glad somebody did.” The filmmakers tape a real person recounting a historical event while really drunk. They then get actors (including some fairly well-known ones) to follow the narration and film the whole thing. The results are sometimes hilarious. This is my fave. It’s almost 6 minutes long, but calm your Internet-fried mind that loses interest after 43 seconds and just watch it.

5. John Bowker

If you're looking for a Giants player to like, here's your man. Homered in his first two games as a Giant. Currently third in RBIs among NL rookies. Hustles every game. Subject of a serious crush by Super Hot Irish Girlfriend. May or may not have a girlfriend. Is not on the Valparaiso City Council. John Bowker.

Trendy Google professionals, we're on to you

(Taken at 24th & Guerrero)


Well, sure, of course "trendy Google professionals help raise housing costs." Trendy professionals who work for anyone help raise housing costs. Even un-trendy, hopelessly square professionals who watch "According to Jim" help raise housing costs. So what's your point?

In the Mission, methinks, Google is an easy target because it's so visible. Every morning and afternoon, the Google busses that ferry employees from the Mission to Google HQ can be seen trundling around the Mission, loading and unloading their (incredibly young-looking) worker drones. So even though, say, Yahoo might have more employees per capita in the Mission, they just don't have as high a profile.

Picking on Google also kinda sucks because the fact that they use busses must keep a lot of cars off the road and probably results in a huge net decrease in carbon emissions and auto accidents and all kinds of other bad stuff. Good for Google for arranging transportation like this.

What you gotta love about this stencil, though, is the amount of work involved. Check out the multicolored lettering! To do this, the artist has to tote around green, yellow, red, black, and white cans. That's commitment to your statement, even if it is maybe picking the wrong target.

Hey, what about those Giants? The last two games sure have been fun, and last night Richie Aurilia proved he can still play ball. Sure, it's only the Nationals, maybe the worst team in the National League, but the way they're playing now reminds me of that scene in Bull Durham where the team is on a losing streak and then Kevin Costner turns on the sprinklers and they slide around and then remember they're supposed to be having fun and then start winning games. They're having fun! Oh, and I can't find a picture, but did you see the stirrup socks on Geno Espineli? Awesome.

Oh yay! Vacation pictures!

When I was a kid growing up in Nashville, "Lower Broad" was shorthand for "dangerous neighborhood." It was the few blocks on Boradway leading from the river up into downtown and featured dive bars and broken men and other country-music-type stuff.


Now it's all been cleaned up and homogenized and stripped of any edge to make it safe for the tourists who waddle around and think they're getting an "experience."

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge is an iconic country music bar that's been around since forever. It used to be the kind of place where unknown country artists would get a chance to play for a half-hour or so and there'd be a few fights every night. The last time I went there, maybe 5 or 6 years ago, the musicians were only playing well-known country covers, and there weren't any fights, but it still had some of that atmosphere. That's progress for ya.

My Dad's boxer, on the other hand, has never compromised her core values.