No More A West Coast Virgin...

Ok, now it's really bad. It's a serious offense at this point. Really. It is. It's been almost TWO YEARS since I blogged! OH MY GOD! What is WRONG with me? Why can't I keep a daily or at least weekly journal of what I am up to? Am I that ADD that I can't even put my thoughts/adventures (yawn) down in a blog for all to see on a semi-regular basis?

Well, maybe I haven't had that much to share--but now--aha--my dear Dustyphiles, I do!

Here's the news: Just 2 weeks ago, for the first time in my young (ahem) life I visited the land of TALES OF THE CITY! I visited that mecca of all things gay--San Francisco!

Yes, the City by the Bay, the City that We Built on Rock and Roll (as Grace Slick would have us believe), finally, opened it's Golden Gate and let me pass through.

And pass through I did my friends--with much elan! It was so much better than I ever thought it would be! I wasn't even very interested in going at first, weary as I am of the horrors of modern day air travel, but once I had landed safely and actually set foot on the West Coast, I was changed forever!

I can't think of another U.S. city that carries with it so many expectations for tourists visiting for the first time. I mean, despite having never been there, I knew so much about it--all the lore--all the legends, from the Transamerica Pyramid to the Haight-Ashbury to Ghirardelli chocolates...I've never felt like I knew a city I really didn't know more than this one.

And the amazing thing--despite all the heightened, virtually impossible to match expectations that I had---I actually found San Francisco to be MUCH BETTER than even my wildest dreams had imagined!

I don't have enough space (or maybe I do, heck, after all I haven't Blogged in almost 2 years), to enumerate all the wonderful places I saw and all the great food I ate and the drink I embibed, but I'll try.

Upon arrival, I was picked up at the airport by my wonderfully serene Uruguayan cousin Leticia, currently a graduate student pursuing her PhD in BioChemistry at Stanford. Excuuuuse me! Anyway, she and her life partner (LOL-it's SF, we have to be PC!), Roy, live in Marina, a beautifully cozy neighborhood just close to water, which actually reminded me a lot of Carrasco, a similar cozy neighborhood in my Mother's hometown of Montevideo, Uruguay.

She quickly whisked me away to the heart of downtown San Francisco and started giving me the best car tour of the city.

That evening, we met up with Roy for an amazing pre-dinner cocktail at the Carnelian Room with a nighttime view of the city that was simply breathtaking!

From there we proceeded to Market Street to a wonderful dinner at 2223 Market Street one of SF's newest hot spots. Actually, it's not that new, as it was known for years as the "No Name" restaurant, until finally a few years ago they caved and decided to just name it after its official address. We had a deliciously inventive pizza and then headed out for a night time stroll to aid digestion.

Since we were on Market St., of course we had to walk thru The Castro at night. I have to say it was not what I thought it would be. Of course it's wonderful to be in "ground zero" of gay life in this country, but I have to say I was rather underwhelmed by the neighborhood at first. I found it sort of quiet and sad. But then again, it was a mid-February evening, and very cold, even by SF standards, and perhaps folks just decided to stay home that evening rather than brave the elements.

But more on The Castro later. And no, while there, I did not run into Michael "Mouse" Tolliver or Mary Ann Singleton. Not yet at least, that would come later.

The next morning, Leticia and Roy, took me to a little place in their neighborhood that they believed had the best breakfast and atmosphere,and boy were they right! The Grove Cafe was so much fun, and so yummy! I particularly enjoyed how artful the barista ladies were with the foamy milk designs on my cappucino! And the ommelette was to die for!


Then, after a late brunch and lots of conversation, we said goodbye to Roy (for after all, it was a weekday, and he has a job!) and Leticia and I went on alone to enjoy our Friday in San Francisco.

Leticia, disheartened that I had not been sufficiently blown over by The Castro, decided to give me another amazing whirl in her car through various part of the city, Haight-Ashbury being one of the highlights, and landing once again in "my people's" neighborhood, this time during the lunch hour, to see if things had picked up a bit, and indeed they had.

Not satisfied with just walking me around, Leticia was determined to get us inside Harvey's, a corner bistro right smack in the center of the neighborhood, named after, of course, the Mayor of Castro Street himself, Mr. Harvey Milk.


Being the nice young (ahem) gay man that I am, I know to respect my ancestors, particularly those who have fought hard for my rights. I know that if I am able to be openly gay today, I have Harvey to thank, and so I said a little prayer right before entering this fun establishment! The lunch was great and Leticia and I had a ball gossiping about all the old time Bears that entered and exited this center of social life.

I guess more than anything, that's what surprised me about The Castro. I expected an LA like procession of good looking, young and healthy gay boys cruising each other to their hearts content--and instead what I discovered was something a lot more encouraging actually..a lot less superficial and vacuous...I discovered a true gay neighborhood that was not about looks or pedigree or social standing. It was perhaps the most democratic and diverse gay ghetto I'd ever been in. Men of all ages, walks of life, social classes and physical attributes mingling together in a very friendly, non-cruisey atmosphere. Clearly I had lived in DC for too long!



So my friends, at this point of my trip, I had to say goodbye to my dear cousin, Leticia and meet up with my dear friend, Luciana, who would be my chaperone for the 2nd half of my San Francisco trip. So more of that in Part 2 of my San Francisco stories, which I PROMISE I will write very soon and no, it won't take me 2 more years! :)