The Mission District

So we're kind of cruising along, me and America. Everyone's out of work, everyone's living in their parents' bedrooms, everyone's going to happy hour and skipping Friday night. No idea when this whole 'recession' thing is going to end. Peter Donohue, economist extraordinaire, tells me it's getting worse before it gets any better. Things are a little... up in the air, you might say.

Erik and I spent today with Caleb, his eight-year old be-mohawked cousin, cruising the Mission District 'cuz we had nothin' better goin' on. So for those of you that don't live in San Francisco (I know you're out there), the Mission is where you want to be. And what I mean to say by that is, it's where Caitlin wants to be.

The neighborhood was first settled by Whitey back in 1776, when the Spainards came to town(they built San Francisco de Assi, after which the neighborhood was named). It morphed into a blue collar community with the gradual addition of the German and Irish who Gold Rushed over from the motherlands. It even benifited from Central Americans workers, who moved in after finishing out their terms with Californian companies building the Panama Canal down south. The 'hood has always had a card up it's sleeve because when the rest of the city is lost in fog, it will sometimes poke it's head through into a sunny spot.

Today, the Mission rocks. By the 1950's, Chicanos and other Latinos had become the area's predominant ethnic group, blessing us with a taqueria on every corner and organic mangos four for a buck up in the grocery stores, even the year of our lord 2009. And other, Caitlin-friendly species have become endemic as well, such as the urban hipster. You wouldn't believe the bike shops down here- oh, the colored frames, oh, the wheel walls.

I actually feel compelled to give you my top 5 Mission District hit parade.

1. Paxton Gate, 824 Valencia Street
a taxidermy/florist shop brought to you by the most florid, twisted, pretty fever dreams. Sample goods include a stuffed cat wearing a prom dress and caniverous plants, both ready to be taken home and become your best friend! They just opened up a kid's store down the block, heady.

2. 826 Valencia Street, 826 Valencia Street
author Dave Eggers (he of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the best titled book ever), has created this string of kid's writing workshops across the country. They all have business fronts to raise money for the childrens. 826 Valencia is a pirate shop. If you go, you must dig on the small theater whose screen has been filled by a big old fish tank. Original stories about the tank's inhabitants have been framed on the wall and I like them.

3. Amnesia Bar, 853 Valencia Street
lots of obscure beers, free bluegrass Mondays. Stand near the front so you can see the barefoot, hillbilly dancers get down.

4. the Precita Eyes Mural Project, here there and everywhere
around the Mission, you'll find narrow alleyways covered street to street with bursts of hot art that make late night bar cruisers stop and stare. Precita Eyes gives kids and other Missionites the power to make their neighborhood colorful, and the resulting wall coverings give us all reason to be proud.

5. Mariachi's, 508 Valencia Street
this taqueria on Valencia Street beat out Thrift Town, the mega-used clothing store not only on the basis of it's delicious Mazatlan fish burrito but also because all their bottled beer is the same price. Bud Light? $2.99. Pacifico? $2.99. Anchor Steam? $2.99. Only in San Francisco...

So... how did I get on that track? Oh yeah, being broke and stuff. Well, if I had a job, I wouldn't have had the time to bomb around down here and formulate a top 5 hit parade for you all. I wouldn't be in this awesome coffee shop with Erik and Caleb drinking beers in the middle of the day and enjoying the freaks and hippies wandering by the plate glass windows. I guess the main thing is the uncertainty involved in not having a gig to fill your time. A grid on which to plan your day.

But seriously when did I, she of the ever diminishing bank balance, get uncomfortable with unemployment? Since when was the freedom to wander a bad thing?

Silver lining not so hard to find here,

Love,

Cait