The old Oasis Spa location has a new tenant: A Taste of Leather. This is apparently the same store as the one at 1285 Folsom Street. I haven't been inside yet so don't have anything to report, but I just love that this is right next door to the world's largest Pottery Barn.
Last year's theme for the Castro decorations was blue and bronze, with big blue ribbons on the palms down Market Street, and the community tree done up in blue and bronze decorations. It was unusual and dramatic, and definitely bore the imprint of a gay, urban sensibility.
It's like when your midwestern Mom sees your silver and black tree, or Tibetan-themed creche, or origami peace crane garland, and says, "It's really lovely honey -- I feel like I'm in a museum!"
This year, the decorations are a much more traditional red. Red ribbons encircle the trees on Market, and candy-cane up each parking meter. The community tree (returned to its traditional location at the Bank of America ATM plaza) is covered in red balls and topped with a huge red bow.
It's certainly nice to see the neighborhood prettied up like this, and I believe that the decorations are thanks to the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC), so many thanks to them! But I have to admit that I miss the drama of last year's blue and bronze.
I'm guessing that it is much easier for stores to join the decorating scheme this year, so that's a point in this red's favor. Have you tried to buy blue and bronze ribbons and decorations lately? Not so easy.
Anyway, that's just nitpicking. The 'hood looks great, and I'm sure the procrastinating gays (also known as "all gays") will be out in force this weekend. Enjoy the season and happy holidays all!
OK, it's not quite John Stewart's The Daily Show, but hopefully this video can tide you over a little until the writer's strike is over:
You think that San Franciscans are too jaded to be surprised anymore? Well, shove a lamp through the skull of a life-size horse statue and you'll see otherwise.
I was excited to show the horse lamp off to my partner the next morning, but it was already gone by then. Had it been snapped up by a discerning buyer who knows a conversation piece when he sees it? Or was it already pre-sold to a design client, and was only resting its electrified haunches here for the night? Or did the staff at Hepworth & Howard have a moment of clarity once the intoxicating mixture of highlighter fumes and grain alcohol wore off and then quickly shipped the horse off to its metaphorical glue factory (i.e. Goodwill)?
We'll never know for sure.
As I've mentioned before, I'm writing the "Business Briefs" column in the Bay Area Reporter now. My predecessor wrote it every two weeks, but I'm currently on a monthly schedule, coming out the second Thursday of each month, which means that my current column is in those attractive green newspaper boxes right now!
This month my column was mostly that journalistic cliche: the holiday gift guide. I was given the guidance to feature a wide assortment of items at a range of prices from a variety of local stores, in particular ones which hadn't been mentioned in the column recently. It was a pretty fun piece to research and write, but I've also realized that for each additional person I need to speak with in person the time required for the column goes up and my hourly rate drops to levels roughly equivalent to what a Wal-Mart Christmas-ornament-decorating elf earns.
Now before you think I'm getting all high on my own "hottness" with this journalism thing, just know that there's always a shopkeeper to bring me back down to humble earth. I'm repeatedly amazed that so many of the shop owners just brush me off or won't return calls or generally treat me like a sidewalk cookie. And it's not that I think that they should fall on their knees and fellate me there in the middle of their holiday display, it's just that I'm actually giving their shops a little bit of free advertising, in exchange for a story or two and a photo, and if I were a small businessperson I would jump at the chance for a little free promotion. I don't understand some people's attitude.
I'm on your side, people!
But having said that, those standoffish people are in the minority. I've met some really cool, interesting, inspirational people doing this gig, and I have huge respect for anyone who steps out and chases their dream to open their own business. People will say that about entrepreneurs who start their own ridiculous internet start-ups, but I feel much more respect for the people who open retail outlets. The kids setting up the latest web-2.0-social-networking-community-leveraged-investment-draining start-up have this delusion of being the next smug git on the cover of Time in a tight black t-shirt. But if you are opening a donut shop or tanning salon or Tibetan handicraft store, you have no pretensions about becoming an overnight squillionaire. You're in it to make a living and to be your own boss, and hopefully you can beat the odds and make a long-term go of it.
So anyway, that's a long way of saying, basically, please support our local small business owners. Forecasters say it's going to be an economically iffy season this year, so each of these locally-owned shops can definitely use your business right now.
OK, enough sincerity. I promise the next post I'll be back to bad puns and cynicism.
This photo is actually from a recent business trip I took to Copenhagen, and I have no idea what the store was selling. If there are any Danes out there, please enlighten us. I was running down the cobblestones, late for a meeting, dodging bicyclists, when this sign brought me to a screeching halt. Even halfway around the world, I have the soul of a retailer, wrapped around the sense of humor of a 13 year-old boy. (Slutspurt! Hee hee!)
The photo is partly a peace offering to the kind readers whom I've disappointed by ignoring this blog, and partly an explanation of why I've been away from the blog so long -- too busy at work, traveling here and there, and also more than a little lazy. I have been continuing the column in the Bay Area Reporter as well, and that has been taking up more time than I'd expected. But I'm intent on putting on my writer's helmet again and getting back into the Castro retailing game. I have a backlog of photos and stories, as well as a video or two.
So thanks to the approximately two readers who still visit my blog -- some guy whom I suspect is Chris Hansen, and another guy. I hope to make this forum interesting and relevant again.
And failing that, I'll try to include some more "slutspurt" jokes.
