One of our main reasons for moving back to Oakland was to be near our two sons. Our older son, Justin, lives in San Francisco. Last night he and Zina showed a little of their work at Space Gallery on Polk Street. Zina had two paintings in the show and Justin had a video, called “portrait of a young woman on the beach making waves.” (Featuring Zina.) Space is an ironic name for the gallery. There were probably about 80 people smashed into the rooms on two floors. The show featured about a dozen artists, including a few of J & Z’s friends. We met Maja and David. Their work is wonderful. All the work in this show was pretty engaging. The pieces by Julie Okahara were interesting.
We hung around for a while and then decided to go get a bite to eat with Zina and Justin to celebrate Zina’s birthday. Pie sounded good and since Mission Pies was closed we decided to trek over to Orphan Andy’s on 17th St. near Market and Castro for a snack. We shared Zina’s turkey sandwich and onion rings and also had apple pie, pecan pie, and a brownie. The onion rings were among the best I’ve ever had, made with big thick slices of onion.
It was fun walking around the Castro. We ran into some guy who was totally naked except for a knit stocking cap. He wandered into Hot Cookies. The city has blocked off traffic from Market or Castro onto 17th Street and put some trees in the mini plaza that they’ve created. There are some tables and chairs creating a kind of European street cafe aesthetic which, combined with the effervescent attitude of the people in neighborhood, made it fun to hang around. Anna noticed a place for rent on Castro near 16th Street and we talked about what it would be like to live over there. We agree that it’s a fun place to visit but that we are perfectly happy in our Adams Point neighborhood. We have the benefit of a slightly more accessible neighborhood with easy access to the more colorful neighborhoods of San Francisco when we’re interested in a little more excitement. We still have to visit some of the newer nightspots in our own neighborhood. Who knows, maybe we don’t even need to cross the bay!
