The Haight

Haight-Ashbury

 

Chris and I have been in San Francisco for over 6 months now and although we try to make a conscious effort to experience the city there’s still so much that we haven’t seen.  On Saturday we spent a few hours walking around a neighborhood called The Haight which is the hippiest area in SF.  I’m sure it’s nowhere near what it was back in the 60′s and 70′s but you can probably still get a contact high from walking down Haight St. One thing that struck me about The Haight was the sheer number of young homeless kids on the street.  Being a resident of SF I’m used to homeless people but usually they’re either decrepit or mentally insane.  It was strange seeing teenagers begging for change.  Out of respect for them I didn’t snap any pictures but that’s just a quick description of what I experienced during the walk.

In addition to the shops that sell your expected touristy gear there was some decent shopping.  The Haight seemed to have an abundance of skaters so a lot of the stores were geared toward that style of skinny jeans sagged below the ass with a metal studded black belt and Vans Chukkas.  Not exactly my style but one sneaker store caught my eye with this L.A. Gear display in the front window.  I remember having a pair when I was in like 2nd grade and thought they were sick.  Known for the gills on the side and dual laces of different colors (this pair doesn’t have them, sad) they were pretty popular when I was a kid growing up in Chicago.  

Beverly

Beverly profile shot

Beverly is the most beautiful pitbull I’ve ever seen.  She was tied up outside of the restaurant that we ate at and I had to snap a few quick pics of her.  She’s a 10 month old half blue nose, half brindle pitbull and she’s absolutely calm and gentle.  Her owner was saying how pitbulls naturally aren’t aggressive dogs but they’re so loyal that they’ll do whatever the owner tells them to do, which is why they make such good fighting dogs.  That and being pure ripped muscle helps too.

Wife

We had lunch at a place called Magnolia’s that had the best burger I’ve had since I moved out west.  They also brew their own beer downstairs and had some excellent homemade mustard.  Definitely worth checking out. 

Hippies vs. Hipsters

During our meal I looked up and saw Beverly’s owner outside brawling with a homeless hippy guy.  We never found out what exactly happened but I like to think the homeless guy tried to hurt Bev and the dude just started swinging to protect his pitbull.  Probably not but the hippy ended up getting arrested.

Graf Poem

I didn’t read this until I got home and blew it up on my computer but it says:

“When you die where you gonna go, Heaven or Hell?  Time will tell, that’s why I gotta yell from the city streets to the rooftops.  Like it or not revelation’s comin non stop, take hede to this thought cause you might not make it on through.  Many are the called, chosen are the few.  Choose this day, which one are (you) can gain the whole world and lose your soul, is that really what you want to do?  Jesus speaks in dreams.”

Legs

Street pole artwork

Mural

High contrast BW

24 hour town

Those are the rest of the shots that I managed to process, enjoy.