Friday March 28th
Get up as early as possible as head up to San Fran.
We get up there around 3 or 4 and its already cold and rainy and we've gotten lost once so far, on to the hotel...
Marina Motel
U.S. Route 101/Lombard Street is a boulevard that bisects the southern edge of the Marina District. The street is dotted with motels built in celebration of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge and a collection of retail, fast food, and residential units. On a typical afternoon the street is a strange mix of tourists searching for Ghirardelli Square and the Golden Gate Bridge, residents of the Marina/Cow Hollow area, and children walking towards Marina Middle School. Lombard Street runs between Cow Hollow to the south and the Marina, sometimes referred to as NoLo [North of Lombard], to the north.
Get in the hotel which is like a one bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a parking garage underneath the unit which sounds convenient but is literally only about 2 inches bigger than the car so almost impossible to park in.
We leave the hotel once to go to Fisherman's Wharf...
...since we're hungry and thats the easiest place to find, its still cold and raining so this proved to be an uninspired choice of direction and we end up coming back to the hotel before 10.
The bar - Friday
Went to a a place on Lombard and Pierce, small place but really cool music, pool and random memorabilia on the wall (up behind the register there's a guitar signed by everyone in the Grateful Dead, even Garcia and there are random pictures of people who had been there over the years). Can't remember the name but it was one block off the corner of Pierce and Lombard and it only accepts cash.
Saturday March 29th
Cafe Trieste
From wiki
Caffe Trieste
Caffé Trieste is a chain of five Italian-themed coffeehouse plus one retail store in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
The cafe was founded in 1956 by Giovanni Giotta (or "Papa Gianni" as he came to be known), who hailed from the small fishing town of Rovigno, Italy (now part of Croatia). Giotta immigrated with his family to America in the early 1950s, settling in San Francisco. Remembering the espresso houses of Trieste, Italy, Giotta opened Caffe Trieste—said to be the first espresso house on the west coast.
The first location, which still survives, is in San Francisco's North Beach. It quickly became popular among the neighborhood's primarily Italian residents. "It was all Italian people," Giotta said, "But I got the American people to like cappuccino." [1]
The cafe also became popular among the many young Beat writers and artists who lived in North Beach in the 1950s and 1960s. The caffe was meeting-place for Jack Kerouac, Bob Kaufman, Gregory Corso, Michael McClure and Kenneth Rexroth, among others. [2] It was featured in several movies, and was where Francis Ford Coppola wrote much of the screenplay for The Godfather. It remains a favorite destination for writers, artists, hipsters, neighborhood residents and tourists.
Caffe Trieste opened a Sausalito branch in 1982. Since 2003, the caffe has become a chain, with a branch in Berkeley and two more in San Francisco, one on Market Street (at Gough) and one on New Montgomery Street (at Howard).
Caffe Trieste celebrated its 50th anniversary in April, 2006.
So we went to the original location and got some delicious coffee (Laura) and Pizza (me) and Cherry Italian Soda (me) and quietly waited while the musicians for the Saturday showcase set up. The pizza was one of the most amazing pieces I've ever had the sauce has a very distinct almost spicy (but not, almost) flavor and the Cherry soda was pretty much like any other flavored soda but it was a nice atmosphere to drink it in.
Also they have site
http://www.caffetrieste.com/
Cafe Zoetrope
American Zoetrope - The company's headquarters is in the historic Sentinel Building in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. In the building lobby Coppola operates a popular small Italian café featuring Rubicon Estate wine (also naturally the Coppola brand) and memorabilia from his films.
Had some delicious steak and potatoes here as well as the best Tiramisu I've ever had , took home a bottle of the Pinot Noir 'Director's Cut' and a Zoetrope pen.
The Purple Onion
Just had to stop here since its a famous spot, wasn't open though.
The Purple Onion is a celebrated cellar club in the North Beach area of San Francisco, California located at 140 Columbus (between Jackson and Pacific). The club offers an intimate, 80-person setting and was a popular influence in local music and entertainment during the Beat era. Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Maya Angelou, Phyllis Diller, the Kingston Trio, and the Smothers Brothers (who recorded their first album, Live at the Purple Onion there) all played the club in the 1950s and 1960s. Richard Pryor has also performed at The Purple Onion.
In the early 1990s, owner Tom Guido made the club the center of San Francisco's garage rock scene, featuring such bands as The Trashwomen, The Phantom Surfers, The 5.6.7.8's, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Groovie Ghoulies, The Go-Nuts, Guitar Wolf and many others. Although almost always packed, Guido's mismanagement and penchant for giving away free beer doomed the future of the club.
In 2004, the club returned to its comedy roots. Photographer and booker Dan Dion started a weekly comedy night that featured comedians such as Robin Williams, Paul Krassner, Jim Short and Tom Rhodes. David Owen presented the Purple Onion debut of Mort Sahl in June of 2005 as well as engagements by Greg Proops, Zach Galifianakis, Todd Barry, Dan Piraro and Judah Friedlander. Currently, the club's weekly comedy nights are produced by Bay Area comedy legend Doug Ferrari, who produces shows featuring other local veterans such as Will Durst, Mark Pitta and Johnny Steele, with the periodic drop-in spots by Robin Williams and Dana Carvey.
Chinatown
I have more Chinatown video than I do have pictures but after Trieste and Zoetrope we walked around Chinatown since North Beach (I suppose thats the right term to refer to this area) and Chinatown and swallowing each other up. In Chinatown I got a cheap flute and a VCD of 'I'm a Cyborg but thats okay'
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (싸이보그지만 괜찮아 Ssaibogeujiman Gwaenchanha) is a 2006 South Korean romantic comedy directed by Park Chan-wook.
that isn't available on dvd here, they also had My Blueberry Night's which I believe was just theatrically release about 2 weeks ago, interesting. Also Laura got a very nice Jade bracelet.
Sam Wo's
Sunday March 30th
Fisherman's Warf
Eating AlcatrazThe way home
