San Francisco - #2


Today we headed upto Haight-Ashbury which is where the 60's hippie counter-culture scene was centred. The place has changed somewhat since we last went there 8 years ago - it's better! Bigger, a little more polished and more vibrant ... plus there's families around.

We enjoyed a hearty breakfast at our fave place -- All You Knead, complete with a couple of Mimosa's (hey, it's a tradition for us) before heading out for a walk through Golden Gate park to the ocean. En-route we stop by the Red Victorian where we've stayed in the past, to pick up some great soap they make.

After a long walk through the historical park we arrive at the ocean, and settle down watching the surfers, waves crashing and before you know it ... I was asleep. After a nice toasting in the sun we continued along the beach for a few miles, collecting sand-dollars (dried-sea-creatures) for our deck. We headed up a headland, walking along the pine trees to find an epic view of the Golden-Gate bridge and Marin County. Lovely place.

Heading back to Frisco Kids, we stop of at Trader Joes (good Californian supermarket) for snacks & supplies. Back at Frisco Kids we enjoy the sunset before heading out for dinner and music.

The original plan was to goto the Boom-Boom Room on Fillmore and watch a show. The band was a super no namer for $25 a ticket ... mmm ... seems overpriced so we switched plans and caught the bus downtown and headed to our fave Blues bar - The Saloon, surely we'd catch a good show there. 1st up was dinner, yummy Thai Food.

The Saloon - A hole in the wall locals place, it's been there for over 120 years, survived the devastating earthquake of 1906 and features great blues. I originally found the place 15 years ago when I was first in San Francisco, M and I have been in there numerous times over the years. It's a great tiny place.

We were not dissapointed. Those hairy freaks down in the bay-area can wail.The place was filled with bona-fide cool dudes, middle-aged guys in sports jackets guys grinning insesently as their re-assuring wifes encouraged them to dance. Inevitably this lead to some far-out moves exceeding anything a experimental dance-group could muster. Locals, muso's, freaks .. the lot. We met, and and had a bunch of laughs with some locals ... easy talking, cool people.

The 2nd band - Johnny Nitro was amazing. He's was a fantastic player, his band rocking and his side-kick a female saxophonist was incrediable. She was the show-person ... climbing up on the bar, rolling around the floor ... just candy compared to her unbelievable raw talent. M and I chatted with her and decided to tell our single guy friends about her, because she was kool - head down there and check her out. Striker! You'll be down there soon - go!

We met a French kid in there who was heading out to Ocean Beach area so we all decided to catch the bus together. Chatting along the way, a home-less guy fell, hit the deck and had a fit in front of us. We sorted him out, called 911 - and had him taken care off. M was really sweet, she had the guy laughing and cheered up. He ended up showing off his Black Sabbath tattoo to her. We missed the bus, so caught a cab ... wished our French friend goodbye and good-luck.