This time, I arrived in San Francisco with no drama. The drive was fun and beautiful, and I was going to have someone waiting for me when I arrived. My new apartment was a ground floor flat located on the corner of 26th St. and S. Van Ness, right on the edge of the Mission District. Lance had already moved in, and when I arrived, Harry was there waiting to help me unload my car and get settled.
The flat was a 2 bedroom 1 bath place, with Lance taking the back bedroom off the kitchen, and I got the other bedroom, located in the middle of the long narrow flat. Deb would get the living room when she arrived, since it had doors that closed it off from the rest of the house. Lance was a sweet laid-back fellow with a Pooh Bear look to him; slight bulging tummy, a bit scatter-brained, but talented and kind. We shared the same birthday, Feb. 15, although I was a couple years older. What a nice coincidence! I knew we'd hit it off right away.
I got all my stuff moved into my room, and then went with Harry to get a burrito at Lighthouse Burritos right up the street. Since I didn't have a bed yet, we then went back to Harry's place. He was still living at the Maximum Rock n' Roll house, and it felt a bit awkward going back there, but Tim was welcoming, if a bit distant, and the rest of his room mates, Karen and John were friendly and welcoming as well.
The next day, I had several things I had to do, like find a job, and get a bed. I found a place that sold futon mattresses for $75, so I went and purchased one so I could finish getting my little room set up. Then I went out to familiarize myself with the neighborhood. Our upstairs neighbors, Hope and Walter, both were in the punk scene and Walter also wrote for Maximum, so I had more new friends almost immediately. I knew this time, my time in San Francisco would be a totally different experience, and I was excited and happy as I walked around the Mission, filled predominately with open air Mexican markets, burrito joints, and tons of street people. It was a bustling neighborhood, but also had a seedy quality that I would later come to realize meant I needed to be vigilant.
My bedroom was located on the side of the house, with a window that looked out onto a dirty alley way. There were alot of rough looking characters that hung out there, but I didn't think much of it. I was just excited to have a window with sunlight!
B.A.R.T and Muni, both public transportation systems consisting of buses and trains were just a couple blocks away, so I got a month pass, and headed out to go look for a job. First thing I did was head up to Haight Street to go apply at all the record stores there: Recycled Records (strictly used vinyl), Reckless Records, both new and used vinyl and CDs, and Rough Trade, the store opened by the British record label. I talked to people at all 3 shops, but Reckless seemed the most promising.
The assistant manager Michael told me to come back the following day when the managers Andy and Jude were there. He was impressed with my resume, and told me they were looking for people, especially girls to help balance out their male-heavy staff. I left feeling excited and confident, and spent the next couple of hours wandering around the infamous Haight St. neighborhood, people watching and window shopping.
I next headed to Noe Street where there were lots of restaraunts and another record store, Streetlight Records. I chatted briefly with the manager Mark, left a resume and headed out with a happy glow at how nice and friendly he had been. Directly across the street was a little NY style deli with a "help wanted" sign in the window, so I went in and asked about getting a job. I got an interview on the spot, and was promptly hired because of all my experience running the coffee shop. I had also worked in a deli while in Oregon, so they were confident I would fit in quickly.
I was put on the schedule, and came in the next day to start my training. I was shocked however when I realized the level of sanitary food handling was totally different than Oregon. The manager dropped several bagels on the floor while she was training me, and instead of throwing them away, dusted them off and put them back in the basket for sale! Whoa..... guess I wasn't in Kansas any more! Old dried tuna was scraped off the top of the tuna salad to make the batch look fresh, new potato salad was added to the container of salad that had already been there for several days, people moved freely from handling money to preparing sandwiches without washing their hands, and no one was required to have a "food handlers" license, proving they knew how to safely serve and handle food! We were allowed to have anything we wanted their to eat, but I didn't trust the food so I never tried anything, except the bagels when they came fresh out of the oven.
Thankfully, I only worked there a week. I got a call back from Reckless Records, and went in for an interview with Andy, and was hired on the spot. I gave my notice at the deli, and happily started my new job at Reckless Records a couple days later, getting full time hours right away! Michael was really sweet and handled most of my training, showing me how they priced and filed the used CDs and records behind the counter, leaving only the covers out for customers to look at. The theory was this would cut down on live product being stolen.
There was one other girl, Sue, who worked there, and we bonded quickly, both sharing a love of 60s garage music and fashion. She also helped show me the ropes, and shared many inside tidbits of information about my other co-workers; who was in what band, who had a girlfriend, where they came from, what their musical tastes were, etc.
My shifts were the closing shifts, so I had to catch a bus to get home after closing up at 10 pm. I took the buss to the station at 24th st and had to walk 2 blocks to get home. It was dark, and the streets were empty except for the homeless folks who populated the doorways of closed up shops, and the rough Mexican fellows who seemed to appear out of the shadows making kissy noises and calling to me in Spanish. I learned how to ignore these people over the next couple of weeks as I adjusted to city life and my schedule, but I knew I would never feel comfortable or safe until I got inside my little apartment.
Harry and I adjusted our schedules around each other , and soon I had some semblance of a social life between work, my room mate and Harry. Deb was set to arrive at the end of the month, and I was happy and dying to share all I had learned about the city with her.
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