If You’re Going to San Francisco

Another lovely day in San Francisco.  This time we rode the Cable Car from Ghirdelli Square to China Town. 

We were  accompanied by my dad Jim and his twin brother Jay, both fourth generation San Franciscans.  I wanted to holler to all those tourists on the trolley

“Hey!  You’re sitting next to a piece of San Francisco history!  Heard of hippies in the sixties? Here they are.  Want to know about the Haight in it’s Height?  They were there!  Talk with someone who watched Mickey Mantle play and knows where he lived?  Learn where It’s It’s came from?  Chat with someone who heard from a first hand witness about the 1906 earthquake?  Jim and Jay, they ran this town!”

But I didn’t.

I am grateful that they’ve told all their stories to me and written them down.  Even though I wasn’t born there, I feel like I’m raising the sixth generation to be San Franciscans, if not in Birth Certificates, at least in knowing the City.