Vesuvio's Bar - San Francisco - Friend of Sincerity (FOS) Post

The following evaluation of sincerity was sent to us by Rich Mattiello and is posted here exactly as written. 

 

If one were searching for sincerity in San Francisco, one could do worse than a visit to Vesuvio’s, a bar in North Beach on Columbus, near the grand intersection with Broadway.

Vesuvio’s is a time portal, unchanged since at least the late 1960s. The walls are packed with all sorts of hippie and beatnik kitsch, intricate dreamy murals and framed art posters. An ancient Kodak slide projector shows Victorian postcards on a screen over the bar. The street level has the bar, tables in mahogany booths, and is usually populated by locals, making it an authentic neighborhood bar. Not being a local, I always go upstairs to the loft where there are more tables, and sit in the front near the big windows that look out over Columbus and Broadway, or along the side overlooking the Mexican ‘Paz’ mural across Kerouac Alley on the wall of City Lights Bookstore, itself a most sincere bookstore, long-owned by famed beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and where Allen Ginsburg ‘Howled’.

From your perch in Vesuvio’s you can people-watch the endless parade of characters, locals, tourists and ‘what is THEIR story?’s bustling by.  Diagonally across the intersection you see Carol Doda’s, which I supposed is sincere in a tawdry kind of way, or at least sincerely tawdry. It is a tourist trap, but so original and quaint that you could say it is a sincere tourist trap. It’s claim to fame, emblazoned all over the front, is that it is ‘the place where it all began’, meaning strippers taking their tops off. At one time of course this was quite scandalous but the world has moved on and Doda’s hasn’t, so it now seems a quaint relic from a more innocent past.

On the corner to the left is a four story building, the top three of which are a MAGNIFICENT mural of jazz musicians that dominates the area. You can almost hear them playing over the cacophony of traffic.

The corner to the right holds a solid, sober bank building, built back when banks were built to last. The bank of course is long gone, and for years there was, sadly, a Carl’s Junior there. It seemed out of place inside a bank building, and even more out of place at that particular intersection, because it made North Beach seem like another Disney attraction, like Fisherman’s Wharf. Today, however there is a fine expensive Italian restaurant that seems more fitting.

You can take this all in, as well as a terrific view of downtown SF with the TransAmerica Pyramid towering over it, while sitting by the windows at Vesuvio’s, ideally with a pitcher of Anchor Steam on the intricately tiled table before you, next to a book of poetry from City Lights. If you are really lucky it will be a typical San Francisco summer day, cold and foggy, and the under-dressed tourists will be shivering.

Evaluation: Extraordinarily sincere!

 

vesuvio.com
Vesuvio

255 Columbus Ave
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 362-3370

Astor Bake Shop

Yes, I admit it, going in we wanted this place to be sincere. It is, after all, around the corner from our house, and it's the only thing like it in the entire neighborhood. Georgina, it must be said, had already gone in with a friend of hers a day or so before, and was already over-the-top about the place. Let me put it this way, she was bringing along a fresh tomato from our garden for the owner. Does that tell you anything? I insisted that the tomato not be given until after we had eaten lunch and paid, so that there would be no undue service or sincerity given in thanks for such a valuable gift. Given all that, I went in with a show-me attitude, and I can only say at this point that I was indeed shown.

There was one very friendly guy behind the counter (which sported in-house baked goods that continuously called out to me in siren voices throughout our lunch). I had coffee, which was very good, and we both opted for the "Slow Baked Chicken Sandwich." It was a good thing that we both ordered that, otherwise there might have been an altercation of epic proportions over who was going to eat it. Fantastic is the only adjective that comes to mind when describing that sandwich...juicy, smokey slabs of chicken, caramelized onions, avocado and Swiss cheese, on hot, house-baked Portuguese rolls...God almighty. The owner, George, came by to say hello to Georgina, (he remembered her from the other day) and to introduce himself to me. He's very easy going, and immediately made me feel welcome. The decor is beautiful, simple and clean. Bottom line on this one is that no matter where you live, a journey to the Astor Bake Shop is a must. Oh, and did I mention that Chicken Sandwich?

(One more thing about the cakes etc. in the display counter - if only there were one or two things that were sweetened with unrefined sugar or fruit juice, Georgina and I would be at this very moment slapping on a couple of pounds and feeling inspired to head off to the park to work them off. Just sayin'...)

Evaluation: Extraordinarily sincere! 

12-23 Astoria Blvd

On one corner of the 5 point intersection

joining 14th St, 28th  and Astoria Blvd

Astoria, NY 11102

Phone 718.606.8439

Fax 718.679.9360

www.astor-bakeshop.com

Welling Court - neighborhood

So you might well be asking yourself, "what the hell? Isn't that the street you live on?" The answer is, yes it is. Yes! We're giving ourselves a well deserved pat on the back.

This is indeed the street we live on, and I can say without reservation that it is quite possibly the most sincere neighborhood in NYC if not the entire USA. How do I arrive as such a bold statement? How about this: a few weeks ago we held a block party in celebration of the 40+ internationally recognized artists who came to paint the walls of the neighborhood. The artists came because they were invited by our wonderful  corroborators in this effort Ad Hoc Art Gallery, and permission had been obtained from all the owners of all the wall spaces. The community came because this is were we live together, people of all ethnicity and all backgrounds celebrating our neighborhood. But it was more than that: when the artists began to arrive, individual neighbors from all up and down this small street began to bring them juice and food and ice. They offered paint and donated whatever they could to support the transformation. They stood and watched the progress of individual works. they were inspired. This was a community of people with a uniting common interest: a better more beautiful place to live, and that interest was coming alive right before their eyes.

The artists were moved. The people were moved. The residents of this formerly somewhat forgotten and obscure little neighborhood helped each other to grow that day. The artists came together in that growth as well. Ask any of them.

Everyone here stands just a little taller now, and when we speak of home - that home is not located on a grungy little street tagged with gang-graffiti anymore. It is located on the best street in Astoria, New York. Welling Court.

Evaluation: Extraordinarily sincere! (What else?)
 


Check it out - search the net, "Welling Court Mural Project."