A “Throwdown” to Daisy at The Thrillist –
39 ways you know you grew up in San Francisco from a 4th generation native. Daisy’s article:http://bit.ly/1mDalhW
- The answer to the first question you ask someone is” Washington, Lowell, Galileo, Hamlin or Burkes”.
- You never flaunt being a native – it’s like a private club, but we accept transplants with open arms.
- You went to or had a birthday party at Blums on Union Square or Polk Street and had a coffiesta birthday cake.
- You explored the Tactile Dome with your class at The Exploratorium.
- Your first drinking experience was an Irish Coffee with your parents after the football game at Kezar.
- Everyone went to a single-sex elementary school, unless you went to Madison on Sacramento Street, which was the best elementary school in the city. Did you have Miss Burdette for 3rd grade and Mr. Ellison for 5th grade?
- Your family has had season tickets to the games for 60 years and you walked to and from Kezar when you were a kid.
- It was never called duck and cover – it was get under your desk.
- You didn’t buy up – you raided your parents liquor cabinet (sorry Mom and Dad)
- You went to shows at Winterland and Fillmore and saved the handbills.
- You smoked cigarettes in the bushes in the Presidio while watching your Mom play tennis with her mothers’ group (sorry Mom).
- You longed for the September and October Indian Summer days when you could play kickball in the street after school.
- Pier 39 wasn’t around, but you loved Playland at the Beach – especially the long wooden slide.
- You bought your its-its after you had your burger at Bill’s on Clement Street.
- You took swimming lessons from Mrs. Lee at the YWCA in Chinatown.
- You went ice-skating in the Sunset at the skating rink – no one under 30 went bowling.
- You came home smelling like a bonfire from Baker’s Beach.
- You threw pennies at the alligators in the entryway at the Academy of Sciences, then went for tea at the Japanese Tea Garden (we only went for the almond cookies and coconut candy).
- Your older brother made your surfboard in the basement of your parent’s house – the family was almost asphyxiated from the fiberglass.
- After you suffered through Mid-Weeklies, you suffered through the Junior Assemblies.
- You paid 10 cents to ride the bus – what’s a fast pass?
- What’s a pager? Your mother could “yell” around the corner (sorry Mom).
- The best sandwich in the city is from Marina Subs.
- You think the Wrongway Run at Kezar was unbelievable (google it).
- Your parents took you to the De Young Museum, and the officer’s club at Fort Mason on Saturday nights for dinner.
- You ate at The Hippo (we didn’t call it Hippo Burger) at 3 AM after the Junior Assemblies.
- You saw Jimmy Hendrix at Winterland with your older brother when you were 13.
- No one called them “layers” – it was just how you dressed.
- Yes. Right on both counts.
- You loved Willie Mays.
- You partied at the swings at JK.
- You smoked pot in high school (sorry again Mom and Dad).
- We didn’t eat burritos – we ate at La Rondala where it was Christmas all year long.
- You drove around in the squad car when your best friend’s brother was on duty in North Beach (he’s now a judge – we will let you figure it out).
- Your parents avoided driving down Broadway.
- You broke the streetlight in front of your house during kickball games so many times that you had to pick up trash at the local stationhouse.
- You were from San Francisco, or the City.
- Who said Hella?
- You bought your wedge shoes and fringe leather jackets on Haight Street and wore them year round.