An Afternoon in San Francisco

I flew into San Francisco this morning about eleven o'clock. I'm staying at the Hotel Des Art in the middle of everything. My room wasn't ready until three, so I went down to the wharf to hang out. The short version: I got a haircut, went down to the Buena Vista for lunch, saw some art and listened to some music.

First, the haircut. I was a little flattered when my new barber told me I had a great shaped head. Who knew! My parents have often told me that they turned me over every six hours just like the doctor said to make sure I didn't wind up with a lopsided head. Finally, we all have the proof that it actually worked! Next, my barber commented that I have a lot of hair. Cool, I guess where I still have it at all, there is quite a bit of it.

All of this was well and fine until about the fifth time he told me the same things. I hadn't been paying attention. I looked up and realized that apparently he had taken it as his personal mission to display my 'well-shaped' head to the world by getting rid of a 'lot of hair'. I'm happy to report that I got him stopped without incident. I'll be able to save quite a bit of time brushing my hair for the next weeks. There's just not enough left to bother with at the moment.

Next, it was off to the Buena Vista for my traditional Irish Coffee and breakfast. That's where I met Lea my waitress and Andy a weekend regular seated at the bar next to me. Lea recently did a voice over for a children's story book where she played nineteen different characters! Andy has lived in the San Francisco area since 1958. He had lots of great stories, but the best by far had to do with the advent of Go-Go dancers at the Condor club, hydraulically lifted pianos and the dangers of mixing extra-marital sex with the same.

Well fed, I headed a few doors down to my favorite art gallery to check out their new additions.

Finally, a little more artistically educated I headed for home. On the way, I walked by Adventure Coffee on Columbus. As I passed the open door I heard a beautiful voice, looked inside and saw it's owner playing guitar. I wandered up the sidewalk a few more doors, had a gut feeling I should have stopped and headed back.

Rogin Galante Singer/Songwriter

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