willhines.net

Friday, Eliza and I hoofed around The Mission and The Castro. Highlights here included a store called 826 Valencia, which was ostensibly a Pirate Supply store, but it felt more like a headquarters for McSweeney’s. I think McSweeney’s is published out in SF, right? There were very funny lists posted around the place — things like “How Ned Lost His Eye” and “What To Do If You Are Being Mopped.” And everything had an old-timey McSweeny’s-ish typeface, and they sold most of the back issues. I refuse to conduct the very small amount of research necessary to answer this question.

We also saw a sci-fi/horror bookstore that featured a hairless cat. It was creepy and adorable.

By the way, I was [...]

7 Comments | Tags: eliza, san francisco

The hoofing around on Monday injured my aged, tender calves so we did our road trip to Santa Cruz on Tuesday. That way much of the day was spent driving. We went to the boardwalk at Santa Cruz. It was cleaner and friendlier then my trips to Coney Island had led to me expect. It’s a pretty extensive boardwalk! Two big roller coasters, a haunted mansion, huge beach, enormous arcade. At 5pm it became “1907 night” which meant they rolled back the prices on everything: hot dogs, sodas and all rides cost just 65 cents. Eliza declared that if she lived in that town, she’d go every Monday night. I do not believe her, but it was a fun trip.

Then [...]

2 Comments | Tags: eliza, san francisco

Today we walked all day, from our hotel at the gates of Chinatown up through North Beach then across and south through JapanTown and along Haight St. That’s a ton of walking, people. But it’s the kind of walking that makes you feel proud, as if you are a hard-working person, and not someone who is spending the day thinking about what to put on his blog.

A famous bookstore, Cody’s Books, closed its flagship store in Berkely today. A woman in a used bookshop on Haight St. was complaining about how on-line booksellers are putting regular book stores out of business. “They have VOWED to put every book store out of business. And they’re gonna do it,” she said. Shrewdly, [...]

4 Comments | Tags: eliza, san francisco

Eliza and I are visiting San Francisco. We’re staying the Hotel Des Arts — a cheapish place (for San Fran) where local artists were each assigned a room to decorate. Ours is decorated by Scatha G. Allison. Were I Mitch Magee, I would upload photos and make this post interesting. The hotel is less expensive than most because there is a shared bathroom on the floor. It makes us feel bohemnian and I love it.

Changing cities always makes me feel adventurous in useless ways. Today, I got my shoes shined. “I’m that kind of guy,” I told myself. It cost $17 and the guy painted my previous black and burgandy shoes jet black. I blame myself!

Sketch Cram went great! Thank [...]

3 Comments | Tags: eliza, san francisco