Bus Report #63
Last night I took the 19 Polk, because I was meeting the Teacher's Pet for a book signing at A Clean Well Lighted Place For Books. Sarah Vowell, of NPR fame, was reading from her new book, Assassination Vacation. (Fun fact! Sarah also provided the voice for Violet in The Incredibles, which is a super cute movie!)
The bus came on time and there were only a couple of creepy people on it, which is unusual for the 19 Polk. We flew down the street until we hit Mission, where there was a full-on protest. I think it was a protest against the Bush judicial picks. I gave the protesters a thumbs up, until someone stood up and got in the way of my view.
We passed United Nations Plaza, which is looking really awful these days. In the name of redesigning the plaza to be more people friendly, they are ripping some stuff up and a lot of the plaza is surrounded by temporary fencing.
The homeless flea market was at full swing, and there were people milling around in front of the Art Institute and the Library.
The big red dinosaur is still out front the Asian Art Museum. He's in a red cage, both are shiny.
The dome at City Hall reflected the light like crazy and I had to cover my eyes.
I got out of the bus at O'Farrell and walked past the Great American, where a show was setting up.
The bookstore was already crowded when I got there but I managed to pick up a couple of books and snag some seats. The Teacher's Pet showed up with time to spare and we were treated to a fun and funny reading.
During the question and answer part, someone asked Sarah if there were any famous assassination sites in San Francisco (Her book is on presidential assassinations) and the audience got kind of quiet. She mentioned a failed attempt on Ford and then about a third of the audience said, "City Hall," referring to the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone.
It was the only somber moment of the night.
The bus came on time and there were only a couple of creepy people on it, which is unusual for the 19 Polk. We flew down the street until we hit Mission, where there was a full-on protest. I think it was a protest against the Bush judicial picks. I gave the protesters a thumbs up, until someone stood up and got in the way of my view.
We passed United Nations Plaza, which is looking really awful these days. In the name of redesigning the plaza to be more people friendly, they are ripping some stuff up and a lot of the plaza is surrounded by temporary fencing.
The homeless flea market was at full swing, and there were people milling around in front of the Art Institute and the Library.
The big red dinosaur is still out front the Asian Art Museum. He's in a red cage, both are shiny.
The dome at City Hall reflected the light like crazy and I had to cover my eyes.
I got out of the bus at O'Farrell and walked past the Great American, where a show was setting up.
The bookstore was already crowded when I got there but I managed to pick up a couple of books and snag some seats. The Teacher's Pet showed up with time to spare and we were treated to a fun and funny reading.
During the question and answer part, someone asked Sarah if there were any famous assassination sites in San Francisco (Her book is on presidential assassinations) and the audience got kind of quiet. She mentioned a failed attempt on Ford and then about a third of the audience said, "City Hall," referring to the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone.
It was the only somber moment of the night.
posted by Rachel at 12:12 PM
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