big city envy

there's nothing like a trip to san francisco to humble an urban-oriented san diegan. from taking BART to the airport straight from our hotel on market st. to walking into chinatown for some excellent dim sum, san francisco provides a multitude of walkable resources that only a true big city can provide.

we started our trip this past weekend in marin county, where our friend david works (and lives) in the mt. tamalpais state park:




we met him for breakfast in mill valley at champagne bakery on throckmorton st and started our day with strong coffee, omelettes and curry chicken salad on flaky croissants. as we made our way through town, headed to the park, we wondered if any non-whites actually live in mill valley, or in all of marin county, for that matter. but we knew better, having visited nearby san rafael after 9 pm the night before, where nary a white person was to be seen - just all of their hispanic service workers.

apparently it was the first sunny weekend in sf in a while, because the state park and muir woods area were jam-packed with city folks. we visited david's trailer in a quiet corner of the park and then were off over the mountain for some spectacular views of the coast.





the town of fairfax is nestled at the base of mt. tam and we took a break from the windy roads. as we stood in line at fairfax scoop we looked at a wall-sized panorama of children's pictures and were bemused to see that every single child was white. but the real topper was that someone had actually included a token picture of martin luther king in amongst the sea of white.

while i may be a bit harsh on the wealthy citizens of marin, they certainly do come off as pretentious snobs. david related several stories of rich folk acting as if the laws don't apply to them, simply because they're rich. it's nice to know that the arrogance of the wealthy isn't limited to just the coronadians, la jollans, del martians, etc. of san diego.

after checking into our hotel in the city (we used credit card points for a couple of free nights at the westin on market) we had dinner at david's friend michael's place not far from union square. michael performs in drag as the popular juanita more, and appeared in a creative video for the new pornographers. so we had to go see the drag show at dive bar aunt charlie's, where trannies as old as 73 perform for the mixed crowd of art fags and tenderloin tragedies. while we're not huge fans of drag, it was a memorable experience to see these old timers doing their thing... keep an eye out for the documentary coming out soon that tells their story.

the next morning we wandered over to chinatown and had excellent dim sum at city view on the historic commercial street.



just around the corner we looked on as old men played cards and children just played in portsmouth square. from there we stopped into yerba buena gardens and the desolate metreon theaters - this new-looking retail project came off as a big flop, likely due to expensive rents. then it was on to the lair of the enemy, otherwise known as at&t park, home of the giants. lots of similarities to our petco park, but you have to hand it to the architects for incorporating free public viewing of the game from just beyond the outfield.



david picked us up just as the temperature dropped into the uncomfortably windy and cold range and we were off to the castro for coffee at cafe flore where you can check out the boys inside or on the patio. after experiencing sticker shock at a few boutiques ($55 for a t-shirt) david took us to glen park for some cheap and authentic chinese food in the working class neighborhood of glen park at hong sing, where we devoured huge portions of duck, kung pao chicken and delicious flat rice noodles.

we finished off the trip by admiring the architecture along market street, grabbing some japanese food near union square, and hitting two stores that aren't in san diego yet - h&m (coming to otay ranch in april and fashion valley later this year) and the virgin megastore, where i picked up the new hot chip and steve aoki cd's. the quick trip to sfo on bart only increased our airport wait since our southwest flight home was repeatedly delayed with little explanation. lesson learned - take the new virgin airlines service when possible. we flew this on the way up and it was far superior to southwest; you can purchase exit row seats online, and enjoy your own personal media center (including video games) and extendable headrest - for the same price as a southwest cattle call flight.

while it's always comforting to return to san diego, it's mixed with the disappointment of knowing that this city will never match the highs of our northern california neighbor. at least it only costs $40 each way to get there.