Images of San Francisco, all taken today...
Amazing tiles at the corner of Hill and Valencia.
La Taqueria, the best taqueria in the world.
Graffiti on 22nd between Bartlett and Valencia.
Decoration at Lehr's German Specialties on Church at 28th.
Just a few weeks old, Room 4 on Valencia at 20th Street is a strikingly affordable vintage shop, with a great selection of clothes and home furnishings. I spied a big, beautiful Cudahy's Rex Pure Lard tin—empty of course—and flipped the tag over cautiously, sure that it would be priced in the $50 range. But no! The classic piece of Americana was mine for just $24.95.
My new big red tin.
The shirt selection was also really good, and again prices were considerably cheaper than those I've become used to over the last few years in various outposts of cool around the world. My shopping mate Ryan snapped up several shirts.
It's exciting to see a vintage shop with reasonably priced items in the heart of Valencia Street, a stretch of commercial territory that has continued to gentrify since I left San Francisco in 2003.
For those curious about Cudahy's Rex brand, there's some information here.
It's been almost exactly five years since Matt and I left San Francisco. Since leaving, I've spent about 16 hours in the city. I returned for several hours to attend my godfather's memorial service in late 2003. The following December, I spent a night and a few bookended hours en route to Sonoma County to see my mother. And that's it. The feeling of returning to a city I loved so much after such a long break is simultaneously fascinating and unreal.
Yesterday we took the N-Judah to the beach and back and then walked through Duboce Triangle, the Castro, and the Mission back to our gorgeous sublet on Natoma between 6th and 7th. It's all a happy, familiar blur. In some ways the city seems as if it hasn't changed a whit; in other ways it seems altered and unfamiliar.
Five years is a long time.
Meanwhile, a song from London is on high rotation: "Dance Wiv Me" by Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris ft. Chrome. I think it might just be the best song ever recorded.
