Mecca Found in the Castro
Cliff's Variety Store: easily the tidiest, most refined, utterly hip hardware store on this planet. Need a pepper grinder? Which one of the 28? Wastebasket? No ugly or unstylish need apply...wastebaskets, I mean. Windor pans, art supplies, mardi gras beads by the yard, nose hair clippers, cusinarts, plumbing snakes... and of course the rainbow colored floating candles. Plus I love a neighborhood filled with spas with handsome men all over their advertising. Oh, tidy men. Tidy, tidy. We went to the 1:00 PM show of Sing-A-Long Sound of Music at the Castro Theater: it was marvelous. There were lots of kids and noisemakers and a bit of rowdiness. It was lovely. When Captain von Trapp kissed Maria everyone set off their party poppers and none of the music could be heard over the gunpowder blast and the screen was temporarily blurred by the streamers. Now that is a good day. Steven wants to know how the dictator of Cuba got his own theater. In San Francisco, anything is possible, my ange...