The Colorful Cast of San Francisco
Before traveling to San Francisco, I was under the impression that people from California tended to be a bit more open minded than people from the Midwest. Even though I was only there for a few weeks, my initial judgment still has some validity, but perhaps not in the way you might think. At the risk of sounding judgmental, I believe the residents of San Francisco are so open minded because they focus most of their energy on their own experiences and behaviors. In other words, I believe that the residents of San Francisco act as though they are all the protagonists of their own narrative and view the narratives of others as unrelated. People in San Francisco wear everything on their sleeve, and this blog is a love letter to all the incredible weirdos I saw on my trip.
The first step in writing any good blog post is to have an attention grabbing opener, and nothing grabs attention better than naked people. There were about four men, three elderly white men and one Black man in his 30’s, that would regularly walk down Castro Street fully nude. Thankfully, the men mostly kept to themselves, and only talked to people that approached them. I think one guy was like yelling bible verses at them or something? Guess it goes to show you, not even San Francisco is safe from bible-thumping clowns.
Anyway, men are the worst, let’s talk about a woman! More specifically, a woman I confused for a mannequin. We were in a boutique on pier 39, and I was standing next to a figure wearing a large sun hat. I wanted to examine the hat, but before I could take a look, the mannequin blinked at me! Later when we were standing in line, I complimented the woman’s hat, hoping she hadn’t noticed my look of terror as I realized the mannequin was not, in fact, a mannequin. We saw her again as we looked over the pier, and as I saw her smiling out at the ocean, I thought,”this is her protagonist moment”. With her gray hair and general demeanor, she reminded me of Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle. If my comparison is correct, then I hope she has a wonderful life with her draft-dodging wizard boyfriend.
Speaking of wizards, I feel like I briefly encountered two wizards wandering around the Castro District. I encountered the first wizard as I was leaving a film from the Castro theater. It was late at night, and I was waiting at the crosswalk to head back to the condo. Suddenly, I look to my left, and I see a man in a wheelchair wearing a full king’s regalia! Crown, robe, decked out sneakers that matched his wheelchair, the whole nine yards! The second wizard I encountered was noticeably less regal, but just as memorable as the first. My group had just finished an interview with Tez Anderson from Let’s Kick A.S.S (Lets Kick ASS AIDS Survivor Syndrome) and were discussing our plans for the day outside of a cafe. Suddenly, we hear someone loudly playing Boney M.’s Rasputin. As the music gets closer, we realize the sound is coming from a man pushing a stroller. However, when the man gets even closer, we realize that the stroller isn’t holding a baby, but a chicken! Before any of us could react, the man turns to us and says “Rocking out with my cock out” and continued down the street. I’ll probably never see either man ever again, but I can guarantee that I will forget the impression they left on me.
There were plenty of other colorful characters wandering around San Francisco: a person who only wore red, furries, a variety of street vendors all selling the exact same food, a Frameline director with a rainbow mohawk who really wanted people to notice his new Louis Vuittons, but I don’t have space to write about all of them. If you’re really that curious about the people watching scene in San Francisco, you’ll just have to go and see for yourself!
