City Notes: San Francisco, Paris, Shanghai by Louis Martin

Cave a Jazz, Paris

San Francisco—January 31, 2008 ... It was Friday. I got off BART at Powell & Market and walked a block up to Ellis, then over to Les Joulins Jazz Bistro. At the far end of the long bar stood Reuben, the manager. He looked exhausted. The cause? Alfie Javier Almonza, his son, born October 9, 2007. The kid is doing well but exhausting both the parents. I told Reuben there was hope: In just a year or two he and his wife would be sleeping again. I knew; I had been through it. Between sets I had a quick conversation with musicians Charles and Valencia, then split for Le Central. I had too many places I wanted to go tonight and was rushing. Why the rush? Maybe I was making up for lost time, lost sleep; too many babes, too many babies....

San Francisco—December 9, 2007 ... So much for Treasure Island RV Park, I decided. I would "camp out" in San Francisco for a week or two and see how it went. It was Friday night and first I hit Les Joulins Jazz Bistro, Cafe Claude, Cafe Bastille, and Enrico's. I must have had the feeling that I was going out of circulation for awhile to hit all those places. Then I headed down to Ocean Beach, which I thought might be a safe starter. Past the Cliff House I wandered down the hill to the big parking lots below. pulled into the second of the two lots, the bigger one. I turned off the engine and just sat for awhile in the dark. There were other vehicles in the lot and a couple of blazing fires out on the beach. I could see figures illuminated by the flames....

South San Francisco—Nobember 28, 2007 ... So it was I said good-bye to Paris for awhile. A few days later, on Halloween, I found myself headed back to San Francisco, or more precisely, South San Francisco. I had given up my apartment in The City when I went to Paris, so was planning to stay in South San Francisco until I found another place or went back to Paris. Since I have an RV that I have practically never used, I thought this would be a good opportunity to put it to use. I rented space in Treasure Island RV Park, not on Treasure Island, which might have been interesting, but in South San Francisco....

Paris—October 26, 2007 "How was Paris?" I could hear Jen's question even before I'm off the plane in San Francisco. She's was picking me up at the airport. I probably should have refused her offer but hadn't. "Paris is Paris," I would say, delaying the answer for awhile. But I can hear the response to that: "Paris is Paris? That's all you've got to say?" "It is a mixture of all the species," I would then say, hoping to delay things, "it is a chaos, a throng where everybody hunts for pleasure and hardly anybody finds it, at least so far as I could see." ...

Paris—October 7 , 2007 I may have eaten the worst meal in my life the other day but I'll get back to that. On Wednesday last week I decided to go visit a couple of those famous Paris restaurants. I was tired of reading about them or having people tell me about them and having to say, "No, I've never been there." I'd rather say, "Oh, yeah, I know that place. Overrated, in my opinion. Now let me tell you about a little place no one knows about on Rue Saint ..."

Paris—September 20, 2007 Le Royal Custine. It's on the corner of rues Custine, Ramey, and Labat. It's one of those wedge-shaped bars in Paris. Such corners challenge architects and builders. In Paris the results are gems. In San Francisco there is only one that I know of that qualifies as a gem. It is the Coppola Building in North Beach. Know that green-tinged building in need of polish? It was once the home of Caesar's Grill and the Hungry i....

San Francisco—July 1, 2007 Cafe Bastille. I strike up a conversation but there seems to be no real interest. Words are spoken but elicit no exchange. I let it drop. The smell of food, the noise of the kitchen, the colors of the bottles in back of the bar, the polished glasses; on the walls, Piccasso, Toulouse Latrec ... Fullness of the senses but not a word of expression. The void in the middle of the feast. Or the appearance of the feast. Communion withheld....

San Francisco—June 24, 2007 Ya gotta wonder how interested the Homicide Section of the San Francisco Police Department is in solving some of its cases. As I reported a couple of weeks ago, I ran into an execution-style homicide down at Donut World on Market and 6th streets. Donut World is where al the dealers stop at least once a night to get their "fix" of coffee and pastry. As I've said before, make coffee and donuts illegal and they would be the hottest illegal substances sold in the Tenderloin....

San Francisco—June 10, 2007 Friday was a day of stress. It starts with driving over to Balboa High School for the graduation and looking for a parking place. Then waiting with a lot of parents to get into the auditorium. It is cold out. A foggy wind from the ocean chills to the bone. Those who have dressed warmly are okay. The young with hot blood are okay. But those who dressed to show off their bodies are very uncomfortable. A black woman in a silky thin dress is distressed about being kept out. She is muttering to the crowd at large. Then we are let in....

San Francisco—June 1 , 2007 My friend from Paris asked me to pick her up a pack of cigarettes. It was Friday and I was headed downtown. By downtown I mean the Tenderloin, not the financial district. Gazebo Smoke Shop came to my mind. "What brand you want?" I asked. "Gaulois," she said. "Unfiltered."Katrine is not exactly into her health. Truth to tell, she's more into her body and sensations. At least that is the way I read her behavior. Gaulois is that big fat French cigarette that smells like a cigar....

San Francisco—April 12 to May 26, 2007 It is Saturday night and there is not much to do so I drop by Aunt Charlie's down in the Tenderloin for the Saturday night show. It starts about 10 but I usually wait until 11 or so when things have warmed up. It is a drag show that attracts a lot of people, some gay, others, like myself, straight. Everyone is welcome. You can't go to Aunt Charlie's and watch the show without shedding a tear or so for Fennochio's in North Beach, which closed in 1999 after 53 years....

Paris—May 16, 2007 Sarkozy est dedans, Chirac est dehors. Sarkozy is in, Chirac is out. I did not ask the politicos what they thought; I asked musicians. They, after all, are the ones who count. From Christine Flowers, a New York singer living in Paris: "Eeeks ...Sarko!!!! Hmmmm, I wouldn't have voted for him, and as an artist I'm terrified at our prospects, culturally; but like the song goes, 'I Will Survive!'" ...

San Francisco—May 5, 2007 A week ago I passed it by and did not think to shoot a photo. It was a little wilted now but I shot anyway. "It" was a shrine for "Skateboard," the black guy without legs who got hit by a mail truck down in the Tenderloin. I didn't know him but I used to see him occasionally. Now that he was dead, the full story came out. He lost his legs at age 6 in an accident in Oakland. He adapted to a life without legs via the skateboard....