Monday, July 16, 2012

San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me.

I spent the last week of June in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it just wasn't long enough!  I'm always greedy with my time in SF, but this trip genuinely didn't offer enough chances to catch up with all the friends who I wanted to see, go to all the places I wanted to go, and eat at all the places I wanted to eat!


The time that I did spend in San Francisco, however, was wonderful.  Tony Bennett sings: "when I come home to you, San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me" and it sure did!  We had lovely weather (even though it was chilly in the evenings, as per usual) and spent a lot of our time outdoors.


One afternoon loverboy and I went to Mr Pickles and bought a sandwich to take to Dolores Park, like we always used to.  It was just as good as I remembered....and just as messy!  Damn that dutch crunch bread is perfect for sandwiches - too bad half of the pesto sauce ended up on my dress...


I was really glad that we got to see our friends The B-Stars play while we were in town.  Their show was outdoors in Union Square as part of the Swing in the Square summer dance and concert series.  DJ Tanoa Samoa Boy spun records before and after the band too, and we did a lot of dancing.  As I've posted, many times before, The B-Stars are one top-notch country band, who are super fun to dance to, and I never get tired of seeing them play!


After The B-Stars, we headed over to Le Colonial for the weekly free gig by the Cosmo Alleycats, who were joined by Pam Brandon on vocals that night.  We stayed for a little while, before obeying the call of hunger and going for a burrito...my one and only burrito for the whole trip!


Whilst on the subject of late night Mexican food and dancing, we went along to Tuesday Night Jump at the Verdi Club, where Stompy Jones were playing, and tamales were being sold.  Of course, we had a couple of tamales (it would have been rude not to) as well as flexing our muscles....


Since I was last in San Francisco, a friend of mine opened up a new vintage shop on Haight Street, called Relic Vintage.  Previously the long-time manager of vintage favourite La Rosa, Oran has created a beautiful shop with only the best, carefully-selected pieces.


I am so pleased that he has embarked on this new exciting venture, as he is a top-class proprietor and his shop is a veritable treasure trove of vintage gems - even the fitting rooms are fabulous.  Of course, I happily let Oran pick out a few outfits for me to play dress-up....


We also ventured to downtown San Francisco institution, the Gold Dust Lounge, which I had heard was due to close down, with many petitioning to save this historic watering hole which opened in 1933.  Well, the Gold Dust has in fact bitten the dust, as we discovered when we arrived outside.  Sad face.


Providing live music seven nights a week, the Gold Dust Lounge and it's amazing drink specials will be missed, although it did mean that we went to the bar next door, where the waiter didn't charge me for my drink!


Our 2012 American adventure culminated in a night of truckin' at Cafe Du Nord, but I will tell you more about that in my next post....

3 comments:

  1. You were so lucky to have this amazing sunny weather... I always was in SF with rain and cold even in summer....
    I was in RELIC vintage on march the first week your friend opened it!!!! I found a nice 50's suit!!!

    http://lostin1950.blogspot.fr/

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    1. Oh I know! It can get really cold, windy and foggy in SF! I have found that the best time there, weather-wise, tends to be September-October.

      There is so much amazing stuff in Relic! Glad you found a nice suit! :) Your outfits always look so stylish and well put-together. xx

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  2. I love San Francisco!! I would've been e's roomie had I not met my man. It would have been fun. I am very happy where I, but I definitely need to visit more!!

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