Yesterday I saw "The Princess Diaries" just to look at the SF scenes. Willie Brown makes a guest appearance. A young girl has that era's equivalent of a podcast and calls it "Shut Up and Listen."
Thursday, December 17, 2020
The San Francisco Experience on Chesa Boudin
I found Jim Herlihy's podcast on Chesa Boudin very interesting, but I have a couple of questions.
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Looking Back at Shehla's Clever Write Up of a Girls Day Out
I am so happy to let you know that the stars of Ocean's 3, the long running prequel to Ocean's 8, were recently sighted at Yerba Gardens! Fans saw them at a food heist at the Samovar in honor of one of the 3 stars, Shehla. The 3 ladies walked the concrete carpet to the Yerba Buena Gardens and had delicious tea and tidbits. Shehla was presented with lovely momentos to remember her birthday. Beth and Tina then had a private showing of the movie Ocean's 8 at a very comfortable and cozy theater nearby and all 3 were seen smiling after they left the theater. Shehla was overheard exclaiming how thrilled she was at everything that she had experienced that day and wanted to thank her lovely costars for a wonderful, memorable day! Her fans recall similar group events throughout the past years and wish all three stars a lasting friendship!!
Monday, December 14, 2020
King Tides in San Francisco
I'd read about the king tides (John King and Sam Whiting) and then this morning learned that the Cliff House was closing, so I walked 10.5 miles from home to Ocean Beach and then up to the Cliff House and Golden Gate Park . Beauty everywhere, but I'll just share the king tides in this post. I hope I've included the birds. There was also a little girl with a sand pail and a shovel scooping up foam! In some places it looked like too much detergent had been put in the wash, and in other place it looked like mashed potatoes. But in most places it just looked spectacular.
Sunday, December 13, 2020
In Search of the Groundhog on the Hidden Garden Steps
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Jim Herlihy's podcast The San Francisco Experience Now Has a Website
Here's the link for Jim Herlihy's podcast The San Francisco Experience along with my message to him, now an open letter!
Https://www.thesanfranciscoexperiencepodcast.com
Friday, December 11, 2020
Who Charlie Sava of the Charlie Sava Pool Should Be Remembered
I had the vague recollection that Charlie Sava, whose eponymous pool is across the street from me, was a coach, and I finally got around to looking this up.
He was a coach, all right, and what a coach!
https://ishof.org/charlie-sava.html
CHARLIE SAVA (USA)
1970 Honor Coach
FOR THE RECORD: Coached 10 straight US women's swimming team titles; Swimmers won 42 individual national titles and 9 relays during period of 1944-1948; His Olympic swimmer Ann Curtis won 35 national championships.
Charlie Sava was the honor coach of champion swimmers from Ann Curtis to Lynn Vidali. From 1944 through 1948, Sava's San Francisco Crystal Plunge Swim Club won 10 National AAU Women's swimming team titles in a row. During this record "splash", Charlie's girls won 42 individual national titles and 9 relays. Sava's greatest swimmer, Ann Curtis, won 35 National Championship gold medals.
Sava and his swimmers never had the money to fly or take the train. Their cross-country auto trips to national championships were rugged but fun. The swimmers' routine on these trips was two workouts a day, two restaurant meals, and all the raw vegetables you can eat. Among Sava's pupils on these trips was Marion Olsen, now Marion Olsen Kane, the reigning all-time most successful coach in synchronized swimming.
Sava attended the first Red Cross Aquatic School in 1925 with Hall of Famer Commodore Longfellow, and he helped Hall of Famer Beth Kaufman iron the kinks out of early age-group swimming with rules and practices that have required few changes.
Sava used interval training "repeats" as early as 1949 and he is generally credited with freeing the freestyle kick form the knee to the hip. He took Hall of Famer Vickie Draves to her first Nationals after helping her break a West Coast discrimination problem against Orientals.
For his total domination of women's swimming over a five-year period, as a dedicated water man for 50 years, and for helping to turn champion swimmers into champion women, the International Swimming Hall of Fame honors Charlie Sava.
Ground Hog Tile for a Too-Oft Repeated Correction
The Crosstown Trail from Glen Park to Mountain Lake, led by Karen Rhodes, took us last Christmas up and down quite a few (hundred) steps. The most intriguing story I heard about the beautiful tiles steps was that they had to correct errors in the spellings of the people they were honoring so often that they felt they were in the story of Ground Hog Day.
I wondered about that tile, which doesn't appear in any of my photos, so I asked Karen Rhodes, and this is what she said:
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Why I Love My Dentist
For my 75th birthday instead of having a super-spreader party I'm writing 75 thank you letters to people who have enriched my life. Would you believe that my dentist is one? I actually look forward to and enjoy my dental appointments even when she isn't wearing a giants smock as she was today. Shawna has retired and Uni was the new assistant, but Dr. Jee is still there. She's warm, caring, and fun to talk to--or listen to. She's compassionate not only towards her dental clients but towards the world at large. She was telling me that she thought it would be good to write thank you letters to the people who've gotten us through this pandemic.
I'll write one of my 75 to her!.
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Chinatown Murals
Erika and I met in Chinatown to see the murals and remember Juliette, her beautiful little dog no longer with her. Milou's presence was a comfort. We walked along a very deserted Grant Avenue and a not-deserted-enough Stockton, and then revisted Joice Street and Dashiell Hammett, finally coming back through Union Square. These photos show some Chinatown murals as well as deserted Grant Avenue. The first photo is my favorite!
The December 9th Meeting of the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee to Postpoine Closing Homeless Hotels
Here's the info on Facebook:
The Board of Supervisors budget committee will be holding a hearing on legislation, sponsored by Supervisor Haney, that will mandate that the hotels stay open and remain housing people until an adequate plan with real housing options is developed.
1 (415) 655-0001 / Meeting ID: 146 622 0460 # #
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Police Contracts and Police Reform in San Francisco
I like the tone of this letter. My response follows it.
Please do not approve the Police Officers Association contract without requiring real departmental reform as a condition of its acceptance. As of March of this year the SFPD has only implemented 40 of the 272 reforms outlined by the Department of Justice.
We urge you to consult with legal counsel in the City Attorney's office regarding the role and responsibility of the Board of Supervisors in the Collective Bargaining process. We also urge you to review the successes of other municipal governments in this country that have negotiated significant Police Reform through Collective Bargaining.
We believe Collective Bargaining is one of the pillars of economic democracy and workers rights, and we support the right of police officers and other public-sector employees to be represented by unions (or associations) that negotiate fair and equitable wages and benefits, hours and work schedules, and safe, healthy working conditions.
As the governing body of our city, the Board of Supervisors has a moral and fiduciary role to play in Collective Bargaining. We support police officers and related personnel--like other public-sector employees--receiving collectively bargained fair and equitable wages and having reasonable working hours and safe, healthy working conditions. We believe the Board of Supervisors has a moral responsibility and the authority under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA) and pertinent statutes to effect significant Police Reform through the Collective Bargaining process. And the people demand justice.
We believe additional reform will result from legislative and court victories--and millions of people in the streets demanding police accountability and an end to systemic racism. The time is now to demand reform. Too many lives are at stake for us to pass on this opportunity.
Respectfully,
Peter Miller, SFTWA
Frank Martin Del Campo, SF LCLAA
Rodger Scott, AFT 2121
Ruach Graffis, SFTWA
Barry Taranto, SFTWA
Allan Fisher, AFT 2121
Karl Kramer, SF LCLAA
Edward Escobar, AIW
Alice Lindstrom
Sunday, November 22, 2020
More Parklets
I'm so impressed by how restaurant workers manage in this pandemic, so I always over-tip. (Let's give them $20 bills instead of adding it to the tab so we can be sure they get it!) Once again we have that parking meter but table and food where cars used to be. I was especially happy to have Jonathan at the table--masked and unmasked!
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Parklets in San Francisco
Signs of the Times! I celebrated with Vilma in the morning and Beth and Shehla in the early evening--both at parklets. The first place, Brenda's on Divisadero, did everything by scanning--no touching of menus. Beth, Shehla, and I had a parking meter at our table, but we didn't have to feed it--just ourselves! Delicious food, wonderful friends both places--and very brave people doing their best to stay in business during these hard times.
Saturday, November 14, 2020
Stern Grove after 4:00 PM
During this pandemic period, I've walked through Stern Grove to and around Pine Lake several times, at different times of day.
Thursday, we limited our walk to an hour so I could attend a Zoom meeting for Voices of Public Transportation at 5:00.
Here's how Stern Grove looked--and there were even people doing the salsa on stage--not professionals but people who just wanted to dance and had found the perfect open space outdoors--couples keeping their social distance from other couples!
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Following Portals of the Past to Caselli and Douglas: Nobby Clarke Mansion
Tuesday morning Maxine and I had a beautiful walk to the 45-room Nobby Clarke Mansion that Gary Kamiya wrote about in Portals of the Past. There's a fascinating story behind this house, and the route from Noe and 26th to Douglas and Caselli is a beautiful one. I'm so grateful that my house is much less grand. Imagine cleaning that place! On the other hand, it would have ample space for all my clutter!
https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/It-s-one-of-S-F-s-strangest-houses-Its-15689883.php
Sunday, November 8, 2020
A French Friend Asks for Feed Back from Us Bay Area Folks
After hearing the good news that Biden was the predicted winner of the presidential race, a good French friend, Annie, sent a message to three of us Americans and two French friends living in the Bay Area, where Annie and her family lived between 1999 and 2003 or so. Here's her message and my response:
Finally!!!
> I want to share your relief and rejoice with you, mostly for your new gorgeous vice president!!
> 😉👍😍🙏😀💐😊💕😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘
>
Saturday, November 7, 2020
How Jim Herlihy's novel "Deceit and Dirty Money" Relates to My Son's Change of Jobs and Cities
I miss my every other day workouts at the Stonestown YMCA--the people as well as the exercise! I was lucky to have two good conversationalists --Jerry on my left, Jim on my right.
"He had a lot to do before leaving...First the run: one last time through Central Park...."
I used to visit my son in NYC in September, so I couldn't resist writing a reference to this in the book over the sentences describing May as "one of the few times of the year New York's climate is pleasant."
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Hoping for a Positive Outcome Peaceful Election
This morning I got a message all the way from Germany, where my penpal from 1963 lives. She and her husband were concerned about our election and expressed
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hope that the Democrats "may come to the White House without dangerous protestations in the street."
I told her that that was our hope too.
Ready, Get Set, Go!
As an editorial in this Monday's SF Chronicle pointed out, "Our election preparations have become considerably less distinguishable from our disaster preparation."
There's an open letter that, for some reason, we're supposed to keep confidential, so I'm not identifying it, but it's asking our city, county, and state leaders what they plan to do to assure a fair election if the Trump people turn violent. I pointed out that it's not just the Trump people.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Punches-thrown-as-left-wing-protesters-show-up-at-15655621.php#photo-20124414
My comment: Please add my name.
I don't think this is the kind of community-provided bench the SF Chronicle was talking about today in its article https://www.sfchronic...

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