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Twenty years ago it all began and for the last four
years SantaCon has been a H.E.A.D. tradition. With talk of a large
demonstration focusing on Market Street and Union Square, the H.E.A.D. advance
team (Liz and I) headed straight for North Beach. We parked across the street
from a police station (seemed like a good idea) and moved off to grab some bar
stools at San Francisco’s 2nd oldest bar, the Saloon.
We arrived just after 11am and to our surprise, it was
locked up tight. It seems the Saloon doesn’t open until noon – a respectable
hour but a little late for a world-class dive bar. Didn’t we do the same thing
last year?
Quick change of plans and a flurry of text messages
found us ordering a round at Gino and Carlo. This place is a North Beach
classic. It’s family-owned, opened in 1942 and, as they say, Italian and proud
of it!
They’ve also been voted the best place to watch a
Giants’ game when they’re on the road. We can
Gino and Carlo opens at 6am so we had no problem
ordering our first round and the H.E.A.D. trip was off to a good start.
Last summer, while attending the Giants’ WineFest at
AT&T Park, we learned a very valuable lesson. Eat before you drink. Simple
and straightforward it’s a rule to live by.
Having learned our lesson well, I went next store to
Golden Boy Pizza. A true hole-in-the-wall that pumps out amazing Sicilian-style
pizza. The squares, not slices, are huge. Soon I was back in Gino and Carlo
with a feast of vegetarian pizza to go with my Spaten (on draft).
Over the next little while, other H.E.A.D. Trippers
arrived; Jim, Denise, Tory, Cricket, Emily (of Bloody Mary fame), Bradley and
Amy. Everyone took turns visiting Golden Boy for Sicilian sustenance. We ate and
drank. Did I mention that Gino and Carlo has 12 tasty beers on tap?
Fortified and refreshed we moved out onto Green Street
and right into a sea of red and white. Santas here. Santas there. Santas
everywhere. It is one of the coolest features of SantaCon to see city streets
choked with hundreds, no thousands of happy revelers dressed like old St. Nick.
Granted there are a few reindeer, gingerbread cookies and Christmas trees thrown
in for good measure. There’s even a dreidel to two. Mrs. Claus is always well
represented.
Up Green Street, a quick left on Grant Avenue (not the
Chinatown part) and there we were at the now open Saloon. There was a Harley
parked outside. It was the bartender’s. This place is all class. Need proof?
PBR on tap. Need I say more?
After our whistles were re-wetted it was time for some
wandering. Back to Columbus Avenue. Columbus is one of only 4 major diagonal streets
in San Francisco. The street was built between 1873 and 1874. It was designed
to provide a less-hilly connection to North Beach for horse teams pulling heavy
loads up from Market Street. It was originally called Montgomery Street but
renamed in 1909.
Out on the street we joined the masses of Santas. At
the corner of Vallejo we wandered into the
National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi. Who knew? We’d been past
that corner many, many time and never noticed this little oasis of peace, quiet, serenity, and
refreshment to the thirsty spirit. It was amazing. A tiny recreation of St.
Francis’ chapel in Italy.
The shrine is built within the walls of the original Saint Francis of Assisi Church. Saint Francis was canonized
in 1228 and in June 1849, the Saint Francis Parish was established in San
Francisco. The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed the interior of the church
but the outside brick walls together with its badly scorched towers, remained
entirely intact.
Next time you’re passing by, stop in. You’ll be glad
you did.
A little more strolling with our Santa brethren took
us to Stella Pastry, home of Sacripantina.
For those who’ve never had the
pleasure (and I do mean pleasure), Sacripantina is a multilayered vanilla
sponge cake filled with zabaione (a delicate egg yolk and butter custard). Liberal
amounts of marsala and sherry wine soak the sponge. Add some cream and rum and
there you are, a culinary organism.
Sweet tooth satisfied, our group was
craving coffee. A little backtracking brought us to Café Trieste, the first Espresso
coffee house on the West Coast. Since 1956 they’ve been brewing coffee for poets,
writers, composers, artists and now H.E.A.D. Trippers. A little coffee, a
little opera and some wonderful memories (especially for Jim).
Enough coffee. It
was time for another beer! Things were getting pretty crowded so we decided to
head down to Mr. Bing’s. As we passed Vesuvio Café, Jack Kerouac Alley was
filled with dancing Santas and a Santa marching brass band. We joined the fun.
Mr. Bing’s was
wall-to-wall Santas. Really, no room at the inn (or the bar). After a brief
discussion, we decided Kell’s Irish might be far enough off the SantaCon Trail
to allow us access. Boy were we wrong! There was a half block line waiting to
get in. Denied!
Chinatown. There
must be bars in Chinatown. Across Columbus, up Jackson and there it was, Red’s
Place just a half block short of Grant Avenue. Not really Chinese but a classic
dive. It was here that a drunk Santa was convinced that I was Tony Bennett. He
was so sure that he started introducing me to his friends as “Mr. Bennett, the
guy who sings that cable car song.” There was also a
reindeer who spent 30 minutes fixing her antlers in the bar’s mirror. Dasher?
Dancer? Comet? No, I think she was Plastered.
As the sun set,
our merry band scattered as members headed home. The last four of us ducked
into the Comstock for a snack and a drink. The food was pretty good. Santa and
Ms. Claus were doing the He-She Dance of Love at the bar and our waiter shared
an odd story about free bread costing $18,000 a year. Needless to say, there
wasn’t any free bread.
Another SantaCon
is in the books. Mark your calendar for the second Saturday in December 2015.
We’ll be back.
Want to see more SantaCon photos? Check out Tory’s
album. She’s the official H.E.A.D. Photographer.
