Tales of the City

I was working on a friend’s film yesterday in San Francisco.

I wrapped a little early and decided I wasn’t ready to go home yet, so I became a local tourist and went looking for geocaches in the Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Mrs. Doubtfire House

I’ve lived in the Bay Area my whole life, but I never knew where this house was.

Beautiful Views

I saw a group of kids getting out of school nearby, too young to be aware of their privilege yet. It’s not their fault that their parents have given them this amazing opportunity. I wonder how old they will be when they realize what a beautiful city they live in.

I was pretty tired by then, but with the days so short and only an hour left of light, I decided to find one more geocache in one more tourist spot.

Crooked Lombard Street

Then I drove by the “Tales of the City- Barbary Lane” location in Russian Hill, but by that point it was already dark. Next time.

I decided to head back to Oakland and got stuck in traffic in the Financial District. It’s been years since I have been stuck in traffic in the Financial District. I reminisce about it in my current one-woman-show, “All the Great New Things to Come“.

“It’s 1999 and I’m working in San Francisco on the corner of First and Mission Streets. South of Market is packed with budding new businesses. It’s “dotcom” this and “dotcom” that, run by Gen Xers like me. Wait a minute, when did we become in charge? Now every day is Casual Sunday! You’re welcome.“

“And by 3:30, horns are honking as cars crawl up First Street on the way to the Bay Bridge. But I don’t have to deal with that because I take BART. Well, sometimes I take AC Transit, the C Bus will drop me off right across the street at the terminal. Occasionally I drive and park in an insanely expensive parking garage nearby…”

The dotcom bubble burst and we wondered if the city would recover. It did and then years later Covid hit and we wondered again. Well, if its recovery can be measured in traffic, San Franciso is going to be alright.

Travel Back in Time with Me

FIRST THINGS FIRST: I will be performing a NEW excerpt of my solo show, “All the Great New Things to Come” on Monday, August 18th, at the Marsh Berkeley. There will be four storytellers total (20 minutes each) and I go on second. GET TICKETS HERE.

I emphasize NEW because sometimes people think they’ve already seen my show, but the truth is, it’s always changing, as I’m constantly tweaking it. However, this upcoming performance has 90% new material. And that’s a little daunting because I don’t have muscle memory with it yet. It’s also getting to be towards the end of the piece -so trying to catch the audience up briefly with transitional language is always a challenge.

Even though I have probably written about 90 minutes of material, I want to cut it down to about 55 minutes so it’s eligible for fringe festivals, and when I say fringe festivals, I just mean the San Franciso Fringe Festival because this is a Bay Area story and I don’t know if anyone outside our borders will get it.

The fantasy though, if I dream big enough, is for it to be a television series because 55 minutes is just not enough. There are chapters and chapters of Bay Area history brewing in my brain. But will anyone care? So many television shows take place in New York City. Mine would take place in San Francisco and the East Bay. A girl can dream, can’t she?

My second cousin asked me what the topic of my show was, and I recognize that saying “it’s about me rediscovering my SF Bay Area roots as a fourth-generation native“, isn’t enough. It’s not catchy, it’s not a pitch, and it’s certainly not an angle. I don’t know how to sell it or even describe it half the time. And I loathe self-promotion on social media. The cranky Gen-Xer in me rears her ugly head.

So why am I writing it? Because one day in 2020, during the shelter in place mandate, I found a photo album my father had given me years ago that included letters written from my Great Grandma Katie about growing up in the Bay Area during the turn of the century and she used words and phrases like “horse-driven-streetcar” and “1906 earthquake” and I was whisked away.

So come to my show on August 18th in Berkeley and travel back in time with me.

Bay Area Ancestors:

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Martinez, California

This weekend my family played a version of “musical chairs” so to speak. My sister needed a cat sitter in Martinez, I needed my brother to paint my apartment in Oakland, so everyone switched locations.

I haven’t spent a weekend in my hometown of Martinez in years. I only do day visits, so revisiting the inland weather for more than a day is always an adjustment. I don’t do hot weather well, never have. When I was a small child I got a fever from the sun and my mom had to give me baby aspirin and put me to bed. It’s like, no matter how much water I drink, my body won’t cool down fast enough. It’s as if I don’t have any coolant in my system. I’ve been to Hawaii exactly twice and felt like passing out from the heat each time. No it’s not paradise when you feel dehydrated.

I arrived Friday evening and strolled the downtown area for a quick meal at Market and Main. As I ate my fish and chips, I overheard a crowd cheering and I saw a man get on bended knee to propose to his girlfriend. They’ll probably be married forever.

Man, how Downtown Martinez has changed from when I was growing up. There are so many more restaurants and coffee shops. Back in the day, I only remember Main Street having antique shops, Franco’s and Crenshaw’s Flowers, Hilson’s Department Store and a McDonald’s. The locals didn’t want fast food in the downtown area, but it was put in for those serving jury duty at the courthouse. Martinez being the County Seat and all.

Saturday morning, I walked over to Starbucks (I can’t believe they have a Starbucks now!) and then headed off to look for some geocaches within walking distance.

I found one at the bottom of Snake Road, I mean, “Carquinez Scenic Drive”, over by the cemetery. We used to party on that road which explains these new signs:

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! The cops were always chasing us. I wonder where the kids party now.

Then I walked over to Rankin Park. I hadn’t been there in years.

DEER!!

We used to have Pop Warner cheer practice there. And the football players practiced there as well. I have a very specific memory of walking up to practice and noticing the girls were no longer cuffing their Jordache Jeans anymore and I quickly followed suit.

Speaking of, – check this out – Pac Sun is selling the exact jeans we wore in Junior High, for 80.00:

On my way to grab dinner that evening, I walked past Del Cielo Brewery, which was closed for a private party. I peeked my head in and there was a wedding going on. Inside the brewery. Is there something in the Martinez Marina water?

This morning I grabbed another Starbucks coffee in search of a geocache near a place that used to be “Pounders Peak” – another place where kids would party. I never did party at Pounders though. If memory serves, the class of ’85 was probably the last class to party there, but I remember hearing about it. Anyway, it was too far of walk so I turned back.

Later on, I got in my car and headed over to the Mount Wanda Trail to look for another geocache:

I confess in all my years in Martinez, CA, I have never been on this trail until today:

It was very pretty, but too warm for me, so I quickly found the cache and headed back down the trail. I got in my car and drove to an air-conditioned movie theater where I watched Ben Affleck play a role he was not born to play, and I left before the movie was over, during the final scene where everyone was shooting each other. By then the weather had cooled off significantly. Thank God for the Bay breeze.

Martinez is such a cute town with a lot of character, but it’s just too hot and too far away from the ocean for a girl who has no inner coolant.

Sunday, May 18th, 2025:

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Location, Location, Location.

Today I read through the script of my story that I will be performing next month. There are many different versions of it, and I keep changing my mind on which parts I want to tell. Something I am noticing is that even though I am a fourth-generation SF Bay native, so many of my family members have moved out of the original area.

As I look through old census records and phone book listings of all the San Francisco /Oakland/Berkeley addresses my ancestors used to live in – I just think- what happened? How come we don’t live there anymore? I do have a few distant cousins in San Leandro and San Lorenzo, but they’re like the last holdouts. I wish I could l wave a magic wand a buy back all the old houses of my past relatives:

2595 21st Street – Great Grandma Katie’s Cousins lived here

(I mapped that address and it’s pretty close to the Marsh Theatre in San Francisco- a venue I have performed at many times. I guess I will have to make the trek over there soon.)

180 Valley Street, San Francisco -Great Grand Uncle Richard’s Family Lived here

535 1/2 Myrtle Street – Between 5th and 7th, Oakland – Mom’s Family Lived there. It no longer exists.

They demolished it- to make room for the freeway.

Don’t get me started on the freeway! However, if you do want to hear me rant about the freeway, come check out my show next month, February 25th, at the Marsh Berkeley!

Monday, January 20, 2025:

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Petition for Naturalization

So my mom texted me this today:

So, my mom is asking if my Great Grandma Lupe ever got U.S. citizenship. I haven’t found a record for her, only her husband, my Great Grandpa Florencio, which by the way, includes another Oakland address that my ancestors once lived at in the 1950’s. I did drive by their old house one day while ago, when cat sitting for a friend who lived nearby:

6227 Bromley Avenue, Oakland

When I semi-retire, I would like to hide geocaches near all the Bay Area addresses my family used to live at. Geocaches are like little hidden treasures that are planted all over the world for others to find. Some have historical significance, and some are just random. Speaking of which, I found two geocaches in Moraga today. Beautiful view.

Saturday, January 18, 2025:

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