80 ft Christmas Tree & Cash Registers Light Up…Despite Strikers Chants
The sales driven scramble that occurs annually the day after Thanksgiving has become as much a part of the holiday ritual as the turkey stuffing & football games the day before. No where in SF is this more evident than the consumer corridor built up along Union Square.
By midday Friday the sidewalks were so saturated with shoppers nary a Scientologist nor persistent panhandler alike could hold a prime piece of pandering real estate. Despite a few dozen striking Local 39 engineers taunting Macy’s shoppers with calls of “Shame On You!!”, the annual tree lighting, a fundraiser for UCSF’s Children’s Hospital went off a round 6:15 pm last night. A demographically diverse but tightly packed crowd had gathered gleefully around an 80 ft fir tree awaiting a ceremonial flick of the switch after an assortment of entertainers & emissaries of the merchant & mayoral species finished their respective shticks…
A few musical warm up acts strived to entertain the restless swarm as they ceaselessly streamed into Union Square. While black clad production staff scurried about & relayed the details on their radios, the final preparations for the annual pageant were made onstage.
Reps from Macy’s took donations of jackets, and exchanged warm cookie coupons for each warm coat dropped off for The St. Anthony’s Foundation at the little red barn set up across from the tree. Started in 1992 by a San Franciscan who wanted to donate her single warm coat to a person in need, last year the charity handled over 100,000 coats across 40 states. For more info see OneWarmCoat.org
An inspiring gospel choir from 
The Lorraine Hansbury Theater’s production of Black Nativity opened up. Their show runs through the holidays at the theeater located at 620 Sutter Street and from the short bit I saw, looks like a fully festive and soulfully spiritual production.
Next up were cast members from “Jersey Boys”, a Tony Award winning musical that opens on Dec 1st at the Curran theater on geary based around the music & story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. The cast seemed so saccharine square & clean cut that there’s nary a trace of any nasty New Joisy nasality in their voices. While likely proficient at the art of tribute act Broadway blither, somehow I doubt they can truly deliver on the greasy glory of those 1960′s falsetto Frankie faves.
Soon, it was time for special guests Santa & Snoopy to emerge from the green room, and join fellow imaginary cartoon character Willie Brown onstage. Yes, the illustrious politico/lobbyist/lawyer was brought in as “more than a substitute” mayor acccording to Macy’s West Coast CEO Bob Mettler. They talked up the UCSF Children’s Hospital charity effort & then Willie was allowed to light the tree since the Gavin was unavailable. Perhaps the pompodoured one was taking some last minute Tagalog lessons for his Phillipine sister city junket leaving today. Apparently none of the current board of supervisors would do as a sub, since they all lack considerable Christmas charisma & have a dubious loyalty to the downtown merchant classes.
Brought up alongside da “substitute” mayor were embattled Police Chief Heather Fong and her chiefly fire department counterpart Joanne Hayes White. White also brought her kids, it now being well past White’s 2005 domestic “pint glass” incident and shame of the subsequent 911 call made by her husband claiming he was bonked on the head & feared for the children.
The tree was resplendent as usual, an 80 foot fir specmen brought from the base of Mt. Shasta in Trinity County. Another 40 ft tree was positioned above Macy’s doorway, both representing Macy’s “commitment to community” according to the CEO on the mic. The annual lighting festivities ends up raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity through the sale of $10 commemorative pins & lights. As soon as the tree was lit, most of the thousands of spectators, assembled chiefs & holiday honchos etc all magically dispersed into local hotels, restaurants, shops and taxis…
Undeterred by all the hub bub , a loud picket featuring members of the local 39 Stationary Engineers attempted to drown out the local children’s choir who sang carols after the tree was lit. The picketers were at all the doors of Macy’s , blowing whistles, chanting shame at shoppers and wagging signs. These strikers are from a union that represents 71 workers who maintain Macy’s heating & cooling equipment and while attempting to be disruptive, seemed to do little more than inconvienence the throngs of what a Macy’s spokesperson called in the Chronicle “true shoppers”.
I retired to a small office party held above the square at a local ad agency, and enjoyed a glittering view of a city alive with lights, jingling cash registers & clinking glasses toasting itself…
All in all… it was a festive eve…
From SF Examiner : An estimated 5,000 spectators were on hand at Union Square to watch the annual lighting of The City’s Christmas tree.
