Happy Birthday, San Francisco!

(Okay, know that I had a really fun post and hit the wrong button and lost all my clever links and images...I meant to click "Save as Draft" and instead hit "Publish Post" in my haste and this is the second attempt at this...)

According to KALW's daily Alamanac, today is the birthday of San Francisco! San Francisco, an Aquarian town...well, that explains a lot...

Apparently in 1770, according to Wikipedia, de Portola came through and saw a plot of land and said, "Hey! Yerba Buena!". There was no record of him smoking a bowl with his homies after declaring it so.

(I had a diatribe here of how Wikipedia is the free information to those how have access to the language, technology, and leisure time of tuning into the web. It was a tongue in cheek way of saying poor people can't contribute to the freedom of the internet if they don't have access. I was writing this because I heard a report indicating that half of the world's population has yet to make a PHONE CALL, let alone have a Myspace page...crazy, huh? It was an attempt at wicked irony that I thought I cleverly wrote and then...I miss clicked a button...but let's move on, shall we?)

Yerba Buena means "good herb". Secondhandedly I have witnessed that this town and its inhabitants...from Pacific Heights to the Bay View are all about their "good herb" and I suppose though the city is now known as San Francisco, it has kept true to its roots, so to speak.

Father Juniperro Serra had a hand in it, too...and if you take a look at the dude, he represents a good chunk of the San Francisco hipsters we see today...alternative lifestyle, white guy doing the best with the hair he has left and wearing the hoodie from the roadtrip he took down to Baja that one time... He's also sporting massive bling, reppin' Jesus hella hard.

Clearly the founders envisioned a town where Carnaval, the Folsom Street Fair, Pride, the Chinese New Year Parade, and anti-war protests would abound.

The US took over in the 1800s around the Gold Rush.

"Buh-bye Spaniards! We found gold and we want not to share with you! We're a new country and this spot is MIGHTY suh-weet!"

Consequently, I think they were also kicking the Spaniards off my people's island of Puerto Rico which is why we rock the baseball and not so much the soccer, which I think is a damn shame. Couldn't we retain our Euro-roots for a little of the foot action? It's such an awesome sport AND we maintain our own Olympic teams...I think it would be cool if we maintained our own World Cup team...but I digress...

Meanwhile, the Ohlones (who are forever commemorated by the mall we know as Emeryville -- their sacred burial mounds now serve as foundations for the Emeryville Market and Bay Street)
are given a footnote somewhere...where was that link I was looking for...?

Ah, yes, the Yelamu. (I think that's a beautiful name, by the way.)

Anyway...so I was riffing...

San Francisco has been a crazy place for me to experience. My little small town, suburban self has been blown away by the snaking of freeway that creates a necklace around an ENTIRE bay, the wealth and poverty that sit side by side, the blend of people who come together and eat and drink and create in the same space, the music, the art, the nature... I have come to appreciate the Bay. The friends I have come to know and love and celebrate with...man...this is the longest I have ever stayed put in a geographic region, now. The second-most stable place was Endicott, NY during my early years.

The two places couldn't be more different...either developmentally or geographically.

San Francisco, thank you for teaching me so much about the world. I have yet to travel outside of the North American continent, but if turning each corner to find a Thai Restaurant next to a German restaurant, next to a Pakistani restaurant, next to a Salvadorean restaurant is reality? Then let it be so!

Let me celebrate by taking in Machomer right before heading into the Taiwanese place. Let me take a two-hour busride to secure an amazing spot at Stern Grove and dance with 50 of my immediate friends and 10,000 others to the music of Khaled and the Funk Brothers.

San Francisco, you have been shaken, but not stirred.

Since I am moving I'm thinking about all this place has been to me...and am flashing back to all of our time together...

Here's my birthday card to you...Thank you Huy, Mary, Saran, Michelle, Joe, Ben, Michael Paul, Phil, Jill, Mona, Scott, Gary, Ronnie, Seana, Miller, Shawna, Amy, Fumi, Diane, Ameena, Houman, Emma, Austina, Doug, Jeff, Adrienne, Lauren, Ross, Robin, Christine, Chris, Burt, Denise, Frances, Maritza, Emily, Gabrielle, Omer, Karen, Anita, Sebastian, Julian, Lisa, Koichi, Jen, Meredith, Giovanny, Mitzi, Saran, Erin, Jason, Alyson, Mike, Jamie, Megan, Sarah, Melissa, Sean, Ana, Kaila, Bessie, Pia, Sara B, Michael, Marcello, Dave, Joe, Matthew, Mark, Kimani, Zeli, Diana, Dieyana, Solomon, Sabrina, John, Bret, Bill, BAVC, Destiny Arts Center, Streetside Stories, Oakland HEROES, GirlSource, Maitri, Project GO, the Stork Club, Pakwan, (that great Vietnamese place in Oakland with all the faux meat dishes), Stern Grove Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, el Rio, Nickie's (old school Tuesdays with Cheb), Rainbow Grocery, Burning Man, the Hearts all over San Francisco campaign, Yoshi's, Culinary Institute of America (St. Helena), il Fornaio (Corte Madera only), Frijtz, Luka's, Bittersweet, Highway 1, Stacey's, Masse's Bakery, Zachary's Pizza, Pennie's Cafe, Sofrito!, the Parkway Theater, The American River, Stinson and Ocean Beaches, Dimond Canyon, Mt. Tamalpais, ...okay, now I am jonesing for a sneufleueu party with all the music and trimmings and stuff...

I know I am missing people off the list...but this birthday reminds me that this community has been amazing. Awesome...

Happy Birthday, San Francisco.