The neighborhood of North Beach has created a garden, from Columbus Ave to Lombard St. It’s cool. The few times I’ve walked by there’s been folks enjoying it. A woman reading a book, a guy eating his lunch, school kids sitting and eating. I heard that this was a “put it in, see if it works” experiment, between the library and the parking lot (”the triangle”) that is under development. City officials were involved, and as you can see there are new trees, greenery, stumps for sitting, etc.

The posted rules include an ominous “no food preparation that involves a health department permit” and oddly “no amplified music” but otherwise it’s a true neighborhood, scrappy endeavor.

I for one thought that right turn from Columbus, onto Mason, was one of the most dangerous corners in the city. I’ve seen a pedestrian get clipped, and always thought it was a matter of time before something really bad happened. It’s downhill for cars, after the traffic jam of downtown North Beach, so they’re racing through it. For pedestrians, it’s an uphill slog that takes a while, and the library entrance is within a few feet meaning there’s kids streaming out of there all times of day.

Day 1: Notice the sign on Embarcadero turnstile, “no bikes during commuter hours, 7-9AM” (It’s 10AM). Started this long discussion on FriendFeed. I’m sweaty and exhausted at work, and it’s worst going home- where every staircase is uphill (a quirk of going from an underground station to an overground one).

Day 2: Instead of biking up Embarcadero- which is wind tunnel every which hour or way or day- tack up the streets on the East side of Telegraph Hill. Less wind, a little more distance. I run into an old friend on BART, and I realize the social aspect of public transit cannot be overrated.

Day 3: It all goes by in a blur. It’s faster and becoming rote. I’m not as tired, it’s easier, and I start noticing the signs of approaching fall- ripening fruit on trees, the earlier darkness, and realize it’s great to be outside so much, each day, but still be able to get everything done work-wise and after-work-wise.

Back into the car Monday for the BART strike.

If you’d rather see something artsier, experimental music maven Pamela Z (pictured at left) is presenting the second in her ROOM series of performances, tonight at 8:00 pm at the Royce Gallery, 2901 Mariposa St. at Harrison.

And if you’re up for something mystical, dark and theatrical, attend one of the many Easter Vigil services held at Christian churches tonight. Classically, a congregation would meet in the “undercroft” of the church, the sub-basement where the skeletons are buried, to remind them of the tomb from which Jesus rises. Nowadays you’re more likely to find yourself in a candle-lit church basement, but the service is still great theater, with scripture readings that move from the creation to the exodus from Egypt to the passion and resurrection. Good bets are Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in North Beach, 8:00 pm; St. Gregory Nyssa Episcopal Church on Potrero Hill, 8:00 pm; Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill, 8:00 pm; or St. Francis Lutheran Church in the Castro, 7:00 pm.

$1.50 drafts at 901 Columbus, Columbus & Lombard. Watch out, it is truly mobbed come 5 PM.

“94133″ zip code specific deal at Tony Nik’s on Stockton at Columbus, Thursdays . Pilsner, $3, some well and cocktail deals too.

$3 house wine (and it’s not shabby) at Capriccio on Mason & Chestnut.

Wow. Besides the sad closures- noticed a bunch of signs on Chestnut, there are some perks. Like this sign at St. Francis Shrine: “You enter us, and we enter you.”

In my little neighborhood, there are an abundance of $2 beers.
- Chameleon on Leavenworth & Pacific
- 901 Columbus at Lombard & Columbus (pre-dates recession)
- The Guinness deal at Kennedy’s (pre-dates recession)

New happy hour deals:
- Sapore on Lombard & Taylor
- Capriccio ($3 house wines) at Mason & Chestnut

Share your happy hour deals!

Reviews have praised the novel’s beautiful prose. On Sunday the New York Times said: “Gabriel’s voice is irresistible… he’s a brilliant narrator. Vibrant and precise, his storytelling is memorable not so much for its individual phrases (though plenty are exquisite) as for its overall sense of immersion into a distinctive world.”

D’Erasmo appears at City Lights Bookstore on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.

I’ve seen your new novel “The Sky Below” described several different ways. Some describe the main character, Gabriel, as an artist; others mention only his job as an obituary writer. Some highlight his homosexuality, but other descriptions of the book make it seem unimportant. Each review seems to be describing almost a different character. What is it about this character that makes him so slippery? Am I right in thinking that he is also struggling to define himself?

Well, Gabriel is a bit of a shape-shifter. He would describe himself first as an artist, but he’s also a guy on the make, who’s willing to do many things, some of them illegal to get the beautiful life he wants. He’s also a charmer, so he can seem slightly different to different people — perhaps that’s been true of reviewers as well. I would describe him as a soul in struggle, trying to find his true place in the world.

He is concerned with transformation and metamorphosis on many levels. Because it’s sometimes said that this is a country where, because of the lack of social constraints and the possibilities of economic mobility, a person can readily take on a new identity, I’d like to ask if you consider this a particularly American theme?

Sure. The history of America is absolutely riddled with people who reinvented themselves — immigrants who changed their names when got here, Hollywood stars who basically completely made themselves up, moguls who came up from nothing. These days, people seem more interested in transformation through plastic surgery or dramatic weight loss, maybe, than identity per se, but I do think that’s very American: to think that we can metamorphose at will.

What did you have to research or learn about, that you weren’t already familiar with, in the writing of this book?

I had to go to Mexico, up into mountains to a town like the one Gabriel goes to; the trip was actually revelatory in terms of what he might see there, and how he would actually feel, being there. Those towns are beautiful, poor, and ancient — they have a very powerful atmosphere.

You’re both a novelist and a teacher of writing. Do your students express concern about getting published in the current economic climate? Do you feel any anxiety about the future of American publishing?

Yes, my students do express concern about getting published right now, and I have to say, it’s not the usual anxiety about getting published that they’re facing. Publishing itself is obviously not just in a slump, but in a state of metamorphosis. No one knows exactly what publishing will look like in five years, two years, six months. It’s a very uncertain time.

I don’t think, however, that people are less interested in reading, or that writers are less interested in writing; I just think the form of how we get texts is changing, possibly in quite a radical way.

Bill O’Reilly Smear from Huffington Post.

Great quotes that have been getting attention on some discussion groups:

“You wouldn’t go to the Presidio at night, I wouldn’t” – Bill
“Every city has a tenderloin, and North Beach is San Francisco’s” – Bill
“Lots of dopes everywhere. Those clinics are everywhere.” – Bill

So it was an odd Supervisor race- I didn’t pay attention to the politics, just tried to stick to the platforms & issues. The weird thing about District 3 is that it’s basically 1/2 of downtown, long and skinny. Lower Polk, Financial District, North Waterfront, ritzy Russian Hill & Telegraph Hill, and North Beach. As a North Beacher, you have some issues but you can’t hog the limelight. So I went for the well-rounded candidate (see: Cheat Sheet for more details) I worked on election day so I didn’t have to sit at home on my hands in front of CNN.

The best part was meeting neighbors. Some of the cool people I met on the beat:
- A very overwhelmed college student/election worker, who was in a tough position but she tried really hard to do her work in less than ideal circumstances, as it was hard to even to get a bathroom break.
- Alioto’s wife, who I stood with for about 2 hours and chewed the cud. Official congratulations on your new baby!
- Aaron Peskin, who chauffered me around the Hill and otherwise was a super supportive worker
- Matthew, campaign worker who killed an hour with me talking about his problems moving to SF, a topic that brought up all kinds of nostalgia for me
- Sorry to all the absentee voters- I have no idea why the election office didn’t know you had voted yet (and that fact kinda scared me, to be honest).
- Young woman who does Chinatown alleyways, volunteer-run.
- The guys from the DNC who stood on my corner and helped out a ton
- The teacher’s union guys who showed us the defunct dot-com office in your headquarters. I am *so* going to write about that.

My favorite local charity: North Beach Citizens. What’s yours?

This post was inspired by Blog Action Day, if you’re a blogger please contribute by writing about poverty.

• Crime: escalating homicides, and the ongoing Broadway Corridor issues.
• Development: everyone’s abuzz with the plywood-ing of North Beach, and general development efforts (letting in chains, not letting in chains, spot zoning, etc.).
• Transportation: The Central Freeway is coming! And, well, the usual suckiness of the 30-Stockton crowded scene on Grant St. any given day, and oh, the rudeness of drivers… cycling hostility, I could go on.
• Rental Protection: Whether you’re for it or against it, it’s an expensive city and people get elbowed out- like our firemen & teachers, and rising rental rates mean less interesting mom & pop stores.

The chart reflects my notes made from the candidates’ web sites and not any other journalistic writeup, observations, conversations or gossip (that’s at the end!).

Candidate Sites:
- Lynn Jefferson (LJ)
- Wilma Pang (WP)
- Joe Alioto, Jr. (JA)
- Claudine Cheng (CC)
- David Chiu (DC)
- Tony Gantner (TG)
- Mike DeNunzio (MD)

More reading:
Extra! ‘Culture of fear’ stalks Grant Avenue! by Tony Long

Joe Aliot, Jr. Enters SF Sentinel

District 3 – S.F.’s hottest supervisorial race Wyatt Buchanan of SF Gate

Opinion & Hearsay
So, I know someone who knows someone in the David Chiu campaign, and he sounds neat. I met Lynn at a fundraiser, and she was nice and eager to fix things. I walk by the Alioto headquarters every day. I haven’t really noticed my favorite shops endorsing one candidate or another. I’m mostly concerned, personally, with transportation and the plywood issue. I’m impressed with Connie’s Angel Island experience, that’s a really interesting bipartisan, historical and cultural level. Wilma has some energy and interest, and I like the global perspective that the Chinatown candidates have.

The issue with this race is that the 3 major areas- North Beach, Downtown & Chinatown – require someone who doesn’t have a real core bias, and can manage the peripheral, but also important areas- North Waterfront, Russian Hill & Telegraph Hill. If you get someone really entrenched with the residential communities like Lynn or Alioto, you miss out on the other areas- same with a Chinatown vote, as well as city-wide concerns (as transit is important across the city of course). So I looked at the more well-rounded candidates, that seem to target and address the issues that I’m mostly concerned with, and ended up with… drumroll please… David Chiu. Note: subject to change.