SF, the city Republicans smear most, reveals itself to be not so bad
Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, was trying to think of something bad to say about the Democratic candidate for vice president. “Kamala Harris,” he said, “wants to turn the entire United States into San Francisco.” Wow, I thought, things must be pretty terrible when a politico from Bakersfield can talk that way about my hometown. I’d better take a look.
I imagine McCarthy was talking about politics, but I don’t know any more about city politics than he does. All I know about the city is what I get from walking around. So that’s what I did.
There were two long walks through the city; not all of San Francisco, but through the heart of things. I skipped the Tenderloin and the homeless encampments on the theory everyone knows that side of the San Francisco story.
We’re all working at home these virtual days so I began and ended at home in Bernal Heights, so it was all downhill to start.
I decided to head downtown by way of the Mission District by a street less taken — Shotwell Street from Cesar Chavez to about 14th. Shotwell was a bit of a surprise. In my younger days, Shotwell and Capp, the next street west, had a tough edge. Now Shotwell has street trees and the houses, many of them over a hundred years old, have been fixed up. At 24th and Shotwell, there is a Jewish deli on one corner and a beautiful new mural about life in the Mission on the other.
Maybe this is gentrification, which is bad. Or it is urban renewal, which often is good. Take a walk on Shotwell yourself and decide.
I cut over to South Van Ness Avenue, which turns into Howard Street, through South of Market. Howard would never win any prizes for beauty. It could be anywhere, even Bakersfield.
At Fifth Street, I turned left. Fifth Street runs past The Chronicle world headquarters at the corner of Mission Street. I’ve walked that block on Fifth to Market for years and years and never seen it so empty as it was last week.
I crossed Market, headed up Powell Street, past the famous corner where the cable cars turn. No cable cars, no lines. Nobody. The same thing up Powell and in Union Square. It looked as if the city had been abandoned.
Only last month, the Jos. H. Bank men’s store at Sutter and Stockton streets was open for business. But now there was a padlock on the door, the store was empty except for two naked male mannequins in the window, their bare butts facing Sutter Street. The economics of the pandemic got them.
On through the Stockton Tunnel into Chinatown. It was a shopping day. About half the usual crowds were there, all locals. But that was too many people for me in these social distancing times, so I walked quickly to North Beach.
Not that long ago, North Beach looked pretty grim, especially on a foggy, gray day. Business was terrible, everybody said. A lot of places were closed, boarded up.
But last week, along Columbus Avenue, on Green Street and at Original Joe’s on Washington Square, outdoor tables and heaters had been set up, the sun had come out and people were having lunch. It looked pleasant, a bit like Europe. I would have asked a European tourist if that were so, but there weren’t any tourists. We have the city all to ourselves.
A few days later, I got a ride to the Ferry Building and decided to walk home, south along the Embarcadero and stopped at Red’s Java House, a ramshackle joint that is one of the last survivors of the old waterfront. It was late morning so I had a traditional dockworker’s breakfast — a cheeseburger and a beer.
I saw two things: a sea lion in the murky bay waters next to Red’s and a line of cars in the pier next door with people waiting to get tested for the coronavirus.
Onward again, past the baseball park, over the drawbridge, into Mission Bay, the heart of the new San Francisco. Past Chase Center, past Thrive City, right on 16th Street, through new San Francisco into the older one.
At 16th and Bryant, people sat outside at sidewalk tables for an early lunch at the famous old Double Play Bar and Grill. Back through the Mission, where there are few other outdoor coffee places. At about 20th and Shotwell, I saw a young woman sitting in a swing someone had rigged in a tree. She was reading a book to a little girl.
We are in the middle of a pandemic and tougher times are ahead, but though it has changed, San Francisco is still San Francisco. That’s not so bad.