Well, I made it to San Francisco. Before arriving in SF last Wednesday, however, I left San Diego for a quick trip through rush hour traffic to Los Angeles to visit an old friend. I walked along the beach in Santa Monica and did some much needed outdoor shopping along the 3rd St. Promenade. Once my friend got off work, we hit up MAO’s - a BYOB Chinese food restaurant in Venice Beach. After dinner, I scooted down to Long Beach to stay at a friend’s penthouse apartment in attempts to avoid morning L.A. traffic patterns and be a little closer to San Diego. I arrived in Long Beach around 10:30 PM and was hoping to hit up a Latin Salsa bar, but the surf city had already gone to bed. Instead, I spent the evening with my friend playing “F*ck the Dealer” and drinking 100-year-old aged tequila from the Patrón Agave Farm in Mexico. This would be the second, out of three nights that I got to know the lovely taste of the Agave plant a little too well. Please, if you see me, do not offer me a lime, salt, or anything resembling the liquor - I might vomit.
I left Long Beach at a painfully early hour (7:30 am) and drove back to San Diego in my brother’s beat up SUV that had a malfunctioning gas gage and tended to shake a little if you turned a corner too quickly. When I finally arrived back in SD, I grabbed my bags and heading to the airport. I arrived in San Francisco that afternoon and I have been enjoying my lovely hometown for the past five days. In true absurdity fashion, I decided to share some thoughts about this crazy city by the bay:
#1: Weirdos, weirdos, everywhere. I swear SF is home to some of the strangest, but often coolest people I have ever met. Everyone is in their own crazy world - and we, the “normal” ones are just supposed to sit back and be amused with it all. More often than not, I really enjoy the hilarious and random interactions with SF folk - it always keeps things interesting. Today, for example, I was wandering through this Cambodian Buddhist shop on Haight St. This really tall dude, with a long gnarly beard and thick black framed sunglasses and a bowling hat was following the Cambodian shop keeper around and asking if he could translate things from English into Cambodian for them (why would he ask her that?). Once she politely said “No, honey,” he then said, “Gosh, I really love the music in here,” and started bouncing his heels and singing along to the music which resembled some kind of Buddhist chant. The dude was peaceful and chill - but seemed totally lost in life. He just kept wandering in circles around the store. I wondered what he would do after he had completely annoyed the cute Cambodian shop ladies (and then also how many different drugs he was on).
#2 - The produce is amazing. People used to ask me what I missed most about California - and I always said, “the produce.” Not my family, not my friends, but the freaking tomatoes and avocados and yummy greens that are so readily accessible everywhere you go. This was also when I was still a vegetarian, so maybe it was a weird survival thing. But in general, the food in SF is superb. This past week I swear I’ve gained five pounds because of constant consumption of everything delicious. I really think that between the excellent Asian, Mexican and healthy California cuisine - the food on the West Coast just beats the East Coast plate in every single capacity. Oh, except for New York pizza - SF can’t beat that.
#3 Creativity Rules. One thing I do miss about living in SF is how freaking creative and cool the people, things, and places are. Everywhere you go there is a diversity of fashion - punks, tattoos, red hair, purple hair, dread locks, mohawks, converse sneakers, stripper heels, wild earrings, etc. People in SF are a unique breed and at least in my neighborhood, the Haight-Ashbury, there isn’t a duplicate person in sight. Throughout the city there are also beautiful murals, buildings, shops, bars and random acts of art. One building downtown has all the furniture bolted to the outside. One restaurant, Cafe Gratitude, is a raw food joint where their menu options are presented as affirmations such as the “I am Beautiful! (Sandwich).” The waiters then serve you your meal and say, “You are beautiful!” I’ve also already shared on Absurdities! my appreciation for the fabulous pirate store at 826 Valencia - another SF gem - and the pillow fight on Valentines Day. Additionally, the Bay to Breakers just occurred about a week ago and some of the stories made me wish I had planned my trip West a little earlier. A few of my male friends created a “Mustache Ride” for the race where they all grew foo manchu mustaches, wore tiny cut off jean shorts with no shirts and then roped themselves together for the 7 mile run. If only I had been there to witness it - and potentially run alongside with some other sort of atrocious outfit on. (Or, in true Bay to Breakers fashion, no outfit at all).
Sadly, I leave tonight to go back to the East Coast and continue my absurdity observations from the 202 area code. It has certainly been fun to switch it up and report on the fun traveling adventures over the past week from the West Coast. Cheers!
