I See Dead People

San Francisco Columbarium, Loraine Street

Date: May 16, 2009
Neighborhoods Covered: Hayes Valley, NoPa, Lone Mountain, Upper Haight, Lower Haight
Streets Completed: Grove, Parsons, Willard North, Edward, Almaden, Loraine, Rossi, Beaumont, Lone Mountain, Oak

One of the things I've enjoyed most about this whole insane venture is coming across parts of the city I not only haven't seen before, but in fact did not know existed. Westwood was a prime example of that, and I experienced a similar frisson of excitement when I came across the tiny streets of Lone Mountain and the shrine to dead people therein.

You may know that, due to its relatively minuscule size, and to the fact that land values are freakin' sky high, the deceased are no longer buried in San Francisco, but are rather interred in Colma, the for-all-intents-and-purposes necropolis just south of the city. (OK, I just exceeded my quota of big words for this post, so henceforth--dammit, I mean from now on--I'll attempt to stick to nothing more than two syllables.) The only visitable cemetary I know of within the City and County of San Francisco is the one in the Presidio, which is reserved for veterans and which, I believe, is full. (As always, you are encouraged not to take my word as the last one on this or any other matters of official San Francisco history. But in this case, I might be at least kind of right.)

Anyway, here I was tooling around Lone Mountain (not, evidently, to be confused with either the Inner Richmond, USF, or Laurel Heights) when I noticed a dome poking out from the end of one of the tiny, single-block streets. I assumed at first that said dome belonged to the Greek church I'd passed while doing the Terra Vista loop a while back, but no. It turned out to be the San Francisco Columbarium--which, it turns out, is a place for the ashes of those who choose to be cremated. Who knew? (Clearly I didn't.)

Though I didn't go inside either of the buidings on the premises, I did spend some time walking around outside, which left me feeling ever-so-slightly creeped out (because, hey, death is death) but mostly pretty peaceful. It's a nice spot, though there's some sort of large-scale construction happening behind it, so who knows how long that'll last. For now, though, it seems a much more preferable option, should you happen to kick in SF, than burial in Colma. No offense, Colma.

I left after a while and kept walking, past baseball games in the nearby park, past a baffling number of classic cars (not gathered in a car show-kind of way, just intermittently parked), up and down the staircases and hills that justify the neighborhood's name. By the time I finally dragged myself to Oak Street to head home, I was exhausted, and the slog up (and down, and up, &c) Oak was, if I may, a pain in the ass.

But still. I thought about the walk, thought about what I'd seen, and remembered why this craziness still seems like a good idea: because sometimes, when I least expect it, I find a columbarium.

Peaks and a Valley

Stanyan Street

Day 112
Neighborhoods Covered: a sliver of the Inner Sunset, Cole Valley, Upper Haight
Streets Completed: Carl, Grattan, Alma, Rivoli, Downey

On Thursday, after a quick trip to a client at the very beginning of Irving Street, I braved the insane wind and walked east. Carl Street I know well, but much of the rest of Cole Valley is uncharted territory. In fact, beyond Carl and Cole streets, it's sort of terra incongita. So I took myself down a few of the little slips of streets that weave between Stanyan and Belvedere to begin to remedy that.

Cole Valley sits beneath several tall things: Mount Sutro, Twin Peaks, and Buena Vista. If you cannot see Sutro Tower looming above you, chances are you're not actually in Cole Valley. And yet, and yet: from the little neighborhood park between Rivoli and Alma, I could see, to my surprise, a good deal of the city stretching out below. To the north I could pick out USF, Lone Mountain, and a swath of the Richmond; to the east, downtown. But how come? I couldn't recall having walked uphill to any significant degree, and, especially from the edge of the park, could almost feel Mt. Sutro hulking behind me. My sense of altitude was skewed, to say the least.

I suppose the city's Valleys--Cole, Hayes, Noe (am I forgetting one?)--share some similarities: a strong neighborhood-y feel, lots of babies in strollers, sweet little main drags. But somehow, perhaps by dint of being nestled between hills high enough to actually make it feel like a valley, Cole Valley seems different. Quieter, perhaps. Cozier. Greener.

Leaving Cole Street for another day, I finished off Carl and took Stanyan a few blocks to Waller in order to complete the western stretch of the street. I veered off at one point onto Downey, on which I was conscious of going uphill--and then back down again. By the time I hit Waller and Scott, I was ready to hop on the 71, so oddly tired and draggy was I. But although I actually managed to pass a bus stop at the same time a bus was arriving, I goaded myself on (because, really, it's a matter of blocks), and walked my weary self home to my own valley.

West and Back

Haight Street at Steiner

Day 11
Neighborhoods Covered: Well, none
Streets Completed: See above

Yesterday saw me in Walnut Creek in the morning, then back to the city in the afternoon and straight to my client's apartment, with a paltry quarter-block of Jackson street covered. By the time I left at 6, I was so exhausted and so desirous of getting home that even taking a tiny detour to hit Bromley (off of Webster) was out of the question. So it was another day of walking to and from my garage, with little else in between.

I tried to make up for that today.

Day 12
Neighborhoods Covered: Lower Haight, Upper Haight, sliver of Hayes Valley
Streets Completed: Page, Belcher

The business cards Jenn ordered for me from 4x6 have been languishing at their pickup spot (a Mailboxes Etc.-type place on Haight and Masonic) for weeks now. Since it was a fairly spectacular day and I had the morning free, I decided I'd go fetch them.

I headed west on Page and stuck with it to the end, then walked one block south on Stanyan and headed back down Haight.

Here's the thing about Haight Street: it is, of course, one of San Francisco's most famous and iconic streets, and it's undoubtedly colorful and lively and all of that, but I really, wildly don't love it. I'm not trying to make some hackneyed pun there (I don't love Haight, yuk yuk yuk); it's just not a street I'm inclined to spend a lot of time on.

Granted, it's not as bad during the day as it is at night, when the crowd is an all-too-perfect blend of street kids and bar-going kids, and walking it today wasn't actively unpleasant. But still. It's grimy and often odoriferous, and the watered-down and oddly materialistic hippie thing tires me.

I accomplished the card-fetching goal, though, and even had the baffling but delightful experience of being in the store at the same time a trio of parents (viva San Francisco) were getting their six-day-old daughter's passport photo taken and application completed. I've never before seen a baby so tiny or so red. She was 14 inches long.

At Fillmore I went south toward Safeway (needing to replenish my TP supply before the one roll I had at home ran out), taking a detour down Belcher before hitting the behemoth. I love sweet little Belcher Street, which I used to walk down daily when I lived in the Castro and had to take the N to get to China Basin for work. I was happy to see that it's the same as I remembered it.

On my way home, laden with TP, I finished off my final block of Page Street (between Laguna and Octavia), making it the first actual 5+ block street I've finished. A few more blocks of Haight tomorrow and I can add that to the list, too.