Friday, May 15, 2009

Pip, pip, cheerio!!



About 12 years ago I briefly dated this scientist who had a penchant for the Beatles and carried about 25 patents. We have since parted ways, but at the time weekends were spent cruising up and down the California coast in search of rare gems. Cameron's in Half Moon Bay was one of them.

This place was like nothing I had ever seen. Thousands of beer cans from all over the world covered the walls (see Pictures tab on the website). As you walked in, you immediately felt as though you'd been born there. What a home away from home.

Out back, Cameron's offers a rather unusual array of old double decker buses from London. These buses are open to the public, and you are free to enjoy a drink and/or a smoke inside these UK treasures. They are actually set up as mini diners inside with tables and seats.

Cameron's in also a bed and breakfast offering charming rooms at a reasonable price.

Clowns to the left me, jokers to the right




The Purple Onion
(thanks to Wikipedia for the 411)


The Purple Onion is a well known club in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco 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, Mort Sahl, Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, Maya Angelou, Phyllis Diller (who made her stand-up debut here), the Kingston Trio, and the Smothers Brothers (who recorded their first album, Live at the Purple Onion there) all played the club through the 1950s & 60s.

In the early 90s, owner Tom Guido made the club the center of San Francisco's garage rock scene. 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. A weekly comedy night was started that featured comedians such as Robin Williams, Paul Krassner, Jim Short and Tom Rhodes. Since then, comedians such as Greg Proops, Zach Galifianakis, Todd Barry, Dan Piraro (yes, of Bizarro fame) and Judah Friedlander have all graced the Onion's stage. Today, the club's weekly comedy nights are produced by Bay Area comedy website SF Standup.

The Purple Onion is a comedy landmark. In 2005, the San Francisco Bay Guardian voted it the "Best back-from-the-dead nightclub". Don't ya just love miracles?

Monday, May 11, 2009

Here we go again


I seem to remember a time back in the 1990s when MUNI attempted to get rid of transfers....are you laughing as hard as I am? Those sure were funny times. I think it lasted about a month and soon peace was restored on all MUNI lines. Thousands of us public transit riders breathed a sigh of relief and foolishly thought they had learned their lesson.

Not hardly.

With the City's budget out of whack, and overpaid underworked bigwigs doing everything in their power to maintain their 6 figure incomes, it's now been proposed that MUNI cut several routes and raise fares, thus you will be paying more for less. Weren't we doing that already? I was very surprised to see that the fare had jumped to $1.50 already! When was this??? Now they want to hike it up another 50 cents to $2.00?? Really?

Last month, the agency proposed to cut several lines altogether, such as the 3-Jackson, 4-Sutter, 7-Haight, 20-Columbus, 26-Valencia. The Examiner reported on May 1st that all proposed route eliminations and fare hikes (including a $60 monthly Fast Pass) were approved. Awww, come on!!

There goes another piece of the City.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Letters to our Mothers



Dear Mom:
Thank you. For all the hugs, and coffee chats, and constant support no matter how stupid my actions. Thank you for the cookies, and the Blair orders, and the slippers, and Santa goodies ever year. Thank you for listening to me no matter how upset (or drunk) I was. Thank you for never losing faith in your Pooh. Thank you for every loaf of zucchini bread. Thank you for those cookbooks you spent a whole summer putting together just for me. Thank you for listening to my piano playing over the phone and NOT cringing. Thank you for all the movie recommendations. Thank you for all the music. Thank you for sharing the funniest commercials on tv with me. Thank you for all the Twilight Zone marathons. Thank you for all the good times at Western Village. Thank you for hanging in there as long as you could. Thank you for giving me so much love and I look forward to endless Downy hugs. Thank you for getting my jokes. Thank you for laughing at my Rod Serling impressions. Thank you for always knowing what I needed and when I needed it. Thank you for sharing in my joys and achievements. Thank you for giving me a solid private school education. Thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you mom for bringing me into this world. I try to make the most of it every single day.

Miss you and love you,
Your Pooh

Happy Mother's Day to you and yours. Peace.


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