The Valencia Street corridor

We went out to dinner with friends tonight and saw Amy Sedaris promote her new book at Herbst Theater as part of the City Arts & Lectures series. (Very entertaining.)

I decided to walk to the theater. Here are some pictures I took along Valencia Street. I lived in this neighborhood for five years but I rarely go there anymore even though it's just a short walk from my house. I don't miss it at all. The hipster quotient is painful and the in-your-face misanthropy of it all bores the frack out of me. Still, there are some nice visuals.

And I've wanted some pictures of this gigantic Ficus elastica (Rubber Tree) planted next to St. Luke's Hospital for a long time.





Someone must have thought he was very clever wheatpasting this all over the place.



The woman running for Congress sued the San Francisco Ballet School when they wouldn't admit her daughter because she was too short and fat to be a ballerina. Or whatever. Link if you care.











Clarion Alley:











Crossing Market Street...



At dinner a woman seated at the table next to us dropped her fork. When I reached down to pick it up, she said, "Just leave it. I took one from the empty table next to me." How rude is that to leave your fork on the floor? I was stupefied and didn't know what to say. People in San Francisco think they're so progressive and benevolent, but they can be just as trashy and rude as the people they think they're superior to. Ruder.