San Pablo

Gambling Mecca

San Pablo used to be a kind of wide-open gambling area. It wasn’t a “town” but an unincorporated area in Contra Costa County. San Pablo Avenue running north between El Cerrito and the bottom of the old Tank Farm Hill was lined with drinking establishments and each establishment had it’s room in the back, ususlly for poker.

Rehab and Other Tales From the Grave

First we had Ruby Tourk entering rehab and then Gavie Guy gave it a shot. Now, we have a doctor in Florida checking himself in. Seems he attended a gathering in a local bar dressed as Captain America with a burrito stuffed in his tight tights where his male equipment is situated.

That was only the beginning. He wandered around the bar asking females habitués if they wanted a snack. Someone called the cops and they hauled him off to the station where he was caught on camera flushing a joint down the toilet. After his release, he entered rehab.

I wonder if this guy is a San Francisco transplant. Even if he isn’t, he ought to set up shop here. His persona and originality would bring him approbation and a talk radio show about the beneficial worth of burritos as a replacement for Cialis.

If he decides to remain in Florida, maybe he will have learned a valuable moral lesson: Don’t stick your burrito in someone’s face when Tex-Mex isn’t on the menu.

The Newsom-Tourk Enigma

The Newsom Tourk Enigma hasn’t received much coverage since the SF city attorney released his “final” report, absolving Newsom and everyone connected to the Newsom administration except Ruby Rippey-Tourk. The report neither outright absolved nor outright accused her of any wrong doing. The report was merely written in a way to strongly suggest that Ruby and her husband are guilty of something because both refused to cooperate with the city attorney.

The resulting media coverage just came flat out and said things like “Newsom cleared,” when in fact the whole charade was an investigation of Ruby Tourk and not of Newsom or his administration. Newsom himself wasn’t interviewed. In fact, very few of the many employees of the City and County of San Francisco were mentioned. A lot of questions remain unasked and probably never will be asked unless an outside agency such as a special investigator or the California Attorney General’s office becomes involved..

Of course all of the participants in this matter want it to go away. Who can blame them? But we still have the matter of public funds disbursed without a proper authorization. To argue that it is okay for any old body to sign timesheets, or even for them to be unsigned because there were no city policies that specified who must approve funds disbursements is to argue that anyone can do anything unless a law says specifically they can’t do it. Gee, I need some extra cash. The law doesn’t say I can’t do it so I’ll just disburse myself a few bucks right now to pay off my bar tab. It’s a wonderful system, but it doesn’t do anything to benefit the residents of SF. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens in SF is apparntly broadcast around the globe.

International Settlement 1943

Taken in the International Settlement in 1943. This is my mother and her first cousin. He was in the Army and waiting to be sent to the South Pacific. My mother worked as a waitress in a restaurant on 7th Street between Market and Mission. At the time, we were living on Mission in Daly City near the old Mission Bell Motel.

Kezar Stadium

How many of you remember Kezar Stadium when the Niners Played there? You actually felt like you were sitting on top of the players. You could clearly see their faces and hear the quarterback as he counted down. The quarterback when I used to walk there from 7th and Market (lots of energy in those days) was Frankie Albert, who always jumped in the air to throw his passes. The guy was fantastic. Frankie was a Stanford grad and made at least one Hollywood movie.

Good Blogs

SFist and SFBG are a couple of good sites. Both are all-inclusive, but SFBG’s Politics blog is quite good. A couple of others are Fog City Journal and Beyond Chron. Very good sites.