stonebender | (no subject) (Reply)

I had a really great day Saturday. Carol and Debbie and I went to San Francisco. Debbie had been talking about this "Pirate Store" she found that she was dying to show me. The store short walk from the 16th street and Mission BART station, on Vilencia. Just before we got to the Pirate Store, we came upon another retail establishment called Paxton Gate. In fact it's right next door to the "Pirate Store".

Paxton Gate is ostensibly a gardening store, but calling it that would be misleading. It sells all kinds of odd things, many I have never seen before and others, I had never seen being sold in one place. It's impossible to tell you everything that is sold there, but here are some highlights that caught my attention: real stuffed mice dressed like angels, bugs manufactured from wire, fossils, fake animal eyes, crocodile heads, various kinds of insects mounted in frames to hang on walls. Along with the odder merchandise, Paxton Gate sells truly beautiful garden accessories: benches, yard art, arbors etc. I ended up buying a 65 million-year-old fossil for 9 dollars. Carol bought a few colorful bugs and I lusted after the skeleton of a bat. I plan on going back to get it.

We really could have spent the entire afternoon in that store, but Debbie was determined to show off the "Pirate Store". If Paxton Gate was difficult to describe, this place is impossible. You simply must go there sometime. You can get a taste at their web site, Pirate Store. I guess the actual name of the store is: The Store at 826 Valencia. It is a fund-raising proposition for the 826 Valencia Writing Project, which offers writers workshops, tutoring, and scholarships to two and four-year colleges. The store is kind of like stepping into an alternate universe entrepreneurial pirate store. Their major competition is Pirate Rick who is widely known to sell defective lard! Visit Karl who is king and will not kneel. Buy an eye patch and beware of being mopped! I love the place.

My companions' feet were becoming sore, so Deb suggested we go to a French pastry place that she was fond of called Tartine Bakery on Guerrero for coffee and desert before dinner. We picked three pastries and shared, so everyone got a taste. We had to try an éclair (well, I had to try an éclair :-). We also tried some chocolate pudding and I think it was called a metro cake. It consisted of very very thin layers of chocolate frosting, chocolate cake and a layer of toffee. It was much prettier than it tasted. The éclair was wonderful but my favorite was the chocolate pudding. I had a latte served in a bowl rather than a cup. Debbie tells me that's how they do it in France.

After desert we headed for dinner. By this time, I was getting pretty tired and was having trouble driving my chair. So I asked that we try for dinner near the theater, which was our ultimate goal. By default, we ended up at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese place. The food there was good and plentiful. We probably over ordered, but fortunately Debbie's partner Alan (who was originally going to meet us at the theater) dropped by 10 minutes before showtime and inhaled the leftovers.

After dinner we went to the theater, which was actually the office/headquarters for the Democratic Socialist party. A foot and a half tall box that was about six feet wide was the stage. The stage was lighted by two utility lights, the kind that clip-on to a bar or table. It was a lesson in how cheaply a stage can be built. The house was maybe 10 to 15 people, which concerned me. I spent about four years studying improvisational theater about 15 years ago. In my experience, comedy, especially improvisational comedy doesn't do well with small audiences. The comedy troupe was a portion of Too Many Larry’s. I had never heard of them. One of the members was a co-worker of Debbie’s which is why we were there that night.

I am a bit of the theater geek. It was my major at UC Berkeley and improvisational theater is something close to my heart. I'm afraid I wasn't a great audience participant at least from the reactions of Too Many Larry's. My goal that evening was to come up with "unusual" suggestions when I had the chance. To be fair, I tried to give other audience members as many opportunities to make suggestions as I could. I only made suggestions after there had been a long pause after asking for the suggestion. They handled themselves pretty well. My favorite suggestion was during the concluding emotional symphony. Where suggestions for emotional states are asked from the audience and a little concert is given using those emotional states. Along with sadness and anger etc., I suggested existential angst. The actor who got my suggestion did very well.

Anyway I had a great Saturday