Parkside Tavern
San Francisco, CA
After a long sunny day on the Port of Oakland for a friends birthday, we find ourselves back in the Sunset, and my local Irish bar and restaurant.
So many great memories here. Giants playoffs, hangover curing brunches, graduation dinners. It's a throwback to the traditional local pub, and my little slice of neighboorhood heaven.
We started off our day with bloody marys on the ferry. It's only fitting that we order more.
Think it's weird to order a bloody at night?
Shut up, you don't tell me what to do.
After a hazy reccolection of the days events over spicy wings and fish n chips, it was time to head home.
The walls of the pub (like any self respecting Irish drinkin establishment) are lined with old photos, knick knacks, beer ads and mirrors to make the place look larger than it is.
This particular archival photo struck me as interesting. A shot of Playland in 1972 musters a familiar cultural attraction specifically charactaristic to California.
The California dream of "fun in the sun" was on everyones mind during the time. The warm weather of Southern California set the standard for how the rest of the nation percieved the entire state. So of COURSE there should be a carnival styled beach boardwalk on the freezing coast of Ocean Beach!
I'll be honest, although it is an interesting and romatnic blip in San Francisco's history, I'm glad its now just a photo on a wall.
I like the coast as it is. The fog on the marine layer gives the scene a hazy sepia tone. A wonderful testiment to the goregous California coast.
Besides, if I wanted a boardwalk I'd go to Santa Cruz.
At least it would be warmer.
It seems you have a very cynical yet observative
ReplyDeleteeye. That voice works very well for these writings, I dig it. You should try writing one of these with a buzz on. On second thought, I'm going to guess that you might have done that already. What about writing it solely in the bar? That would be rad. I dig the color scheme too, although left justified text would be easier to read. Nice work.
Your writing gave me a sense of being at the bar. Very descriptive and thoughtful. I very much enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have always driven past Parkside Tavern, thought it looked classy, and driven past. Although you mentioned very little about the drinks, I am kinda interested in going there now? Not going to lie, If it weren't for my girlfriend living in the outer sunset, I would try to stay away from the sunset completely. Call me a hater. Its interesting to me that the only real thing to come out of Playland's decades-long existence is the Its It ice cream bar. For a cold city, we sure do love to pretend its warm out.
ReplyDeleteReally like your writing style here. I'm getting a restaurant review without actually reading a restaurant review. Your train of thoughts are fun to follow; from starting off your personal experiences, to a review and then wraps up with a little bit of history and a nice tribute to the CA coast. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I thought of when I saw the Parkside Tavern was I confused it with Thee Parkside in the Potrero/SoMa area. Then again this photo would be out of place at a dive like Thee Parkside. It's funny how people always mention the fog in reference to the Bay Area. Well, that, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Beatniks. I wonder what people will remember about the Bay 50 years from now...
ReplyDelete-Arica
Love this post! I felt like I was there with you. Love how you described the summer sun and California weather. It made me think back to grabbing breakfast and mimosas at the ferry building just last weekend!
ReplyDeleteI love how you use descriptive language in this blog post. It makes me feel like I'm there and I think about all the memories that come up when I read certain key phrases or words. I also liked how you touched on a variety of places in such a short post. The post was concise but it had so much information packed into few paragraphs. It also made me realize how lucky I am to live in a place like California.
ReplyDelete-Gayle