Eugene Savage mural in Luau Lounge at Pier 39 (D. Hoekstra photo)
SAN FRANCISCO—The Bay Area is a great port for tiki bars.
There will always be a place in my heart for the Tonga Room, a rainy tiki paradise in the basement of the Fairmont Hotel that Anthony Bourdain called “the greatest place in the history of the world;” the newer but tragically hip Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco and Trader Vic’s in Emeryville, Ca.
Last week I visited the Bay Area to see the Oakland Raiders before they relocate to Las Vegas next season. (I doubt they will play the low rider music of War during game breaks). [...]
The Brown twins (San Francisco Chronicle photo)
Oct. 21, 2012—
Every big city has people like the Brown twins.
Marian and Vivian Brown, 85 and 85, are San Francisco icons. The twins wear matching outfits and share the same hair style. They often would greet pedestrians with hand shakes, which locals believed led to good luck. For the past 15 years the sisters have sat at the same window seat at Uncle Vito’s pizzeria in Nob Hill.
Their smiles brighten the foggiest day on “Baghdad by the Bay,” as late San Francisco columnist Herb Caen called his city.
Familiar characters like the twins give every city a small town touch.
So when humble, [...]
Dec. 11, 2011—-
The most memorable place I’ve had sex is atop Mount Tamalpais, overlooking the East Bay in Marin County, Calif.
Like all magical moments, it wasn’t supposed to happen.
The weathered coastal mountain peaks at 2,500 feet. We drove about three-quarters of the way up Mount Tam and parked at a scenic turnaround. We hiked the rest of the way.
We sat down to rest on a grassy slope. She rolled out a blue and white blanket for a picnic. The blanket matched the azure skies, a contrast to the fog we saw over San Francisco. We talked about poetry, free birds and the songs of Greg Brown. We tried to scare each other with rumors about the late [...]
