Postcard from San Francisco

How often have I written of San Francisco in this blog? Many times, I am sure. I can’t help it…The City was where I was born and raised. My father was also born and raised here. But, it was my Grandmother who showed me the real City. I was her first grandchild…thereby her favorite.

For many years, she ran a woman’s boarding house up on Jackson Street. But, no matter how many women lived there, I always had my own room when I came for a visit. When I would stay with her, I helped out in the morning with the chores. I remember opening the old-style refrigerator for the man who climbed the back stairs carrying a large block of ice on his back. The iceman cometh…almost every day.

When the chores were done, we would go out on excursions into the City. If it were a Sunday, we would start with Mass at Old St. Mary’s Church, right on the edge of Chinatown. Then we would wander through Chinatown, often on a side street like this one…stopping to have lunch in one of the many little restaurants that dot the Chinatown landscape.

On other occasions, we would ride the Powell Street cable car up to Nob Hill, often stopping at either the Mark Hopkins or the Fairmont for an ice cream sundae. Back then, the cable cars were for getting to and from places…not the big tourist attraction they are today.

Sometimes we would ride the cable car all the way down to Fisherman’s Wharf, also not the great tourist attraction (or should I tourist trap) it is today. She taught me which were the best restaurants on the wharf and which ones for tourists. Too bad I didn’t like fish. But I do remember the giant crab pots always boiling on the wharf. They are gone now.

My Grandmother was a great and special woman. She sang in the San Francisco Opera Chorus and her circle of friends included the legendary conductor Arthur Fiedler. She was class personified. How could she not be with a maiden name like Winifred Rose Callahan.

So when I describe myself as a San Franciscan in absentia, it is only because she taught me the ways of one of the greatest cities on this earth. I will love and remember her always.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.