Rubberbands, Racecars & the Future

Imagine our excitement as we approached the Pride Suprette in San Francisco’s Mission District--the home of what’s purported to be the World’s Largest Rubber Band Ball.  Well, OK, finding a parking place was really hard... and then Nabil, one of the two brothers who owns the place (and the ball) got a little testy about whether he oughta show it or not.  I think “a million dollars” was mentioned at one point.  But eventually, fast talking TV Weasel Mike convinced him to put aside his hatred of the Chiefs (like we care) and give us a look before “his crabby brother” Salim got to work. 

What can we say?  It was magnificent, sitting there in its top secret location (not far from the chips) and even better when paired with our own World Record holding ball o’ tape.  Granted, it’s nowhere near as large as theirs, but we do still haul ours around in a van, so throw us a bone here, OK?

Our escape from dense urban lands took us down 101 to Millbrae, just south of the airport.  Stephen Powers lives there, not terribly far from where he grew up as a baby boomer immersed in the magical world of TV and technology.  His early artistic pursuits fell prey to the need to make a living, but eventually he started painting again--bright, colorful works that imagine buildings and potential inventions that the future may yet bring. Some are fairly apocalyptic, some harken back to “Lost In Space” and Spielbergiana.  Stephen also likes slot cars, which he gleefully raced for awhile with Mike--quite fitting since Mr. Murphy never gets to drive the real thing! 

A tasty Vietnamese lunch set the scene for our final stop of the day, or what was supposed to be, anyway--Axel Erlandon’s Circus Trees at Bonfante Gardens.  Only when we got there, the wheels of PR ground to a halt.  Nobody could be found who would say we were theme park certified.  At least, Don did get to try out their facilities, and reports they’re just fine.  No pictures, please.

Which left us scrambling for one last gasp before daylight was completely done--the last Mammoth Orange stand, a fabled big round orange burgerteria near Chowchilla. We beat sundown by about forty seconds, said approximately six witty things about Orange Julius, and decided we’d had enough.  Viewers are almost sure to agree.

Music in the Van-”Magic Time” Van Morrison, “Failer” Kathleen Edwards, the most recent Rolling Stones (it’s late and I can’t remember the name)

Making the Kansas Connection in SF

On the left, Shawnee Mission East ’69 graduate Don the Camera Guy Mayberger, on the right SM West ‘71’s Ron Hengelaar.  We came to see Ron’s incredible collection of San Francisco memorabilia at his giant old Victorian home on Fulton Avenue.  He lives at the top of it, with a stunning “round room” view of the city, which as he pointed out, was where you could have watched it all burn back in 1906.

Debris from the quake, old bricks and chains, and countless pieces of settlements dating back to the Gold Rush and Civil War days somehow find their way into Ron’s collection.  Then he puts them on his walls in assemblages, onto a huge tower in the yard, or in many cases, into the hundreds of one gallon olive and maraschino cherry jars that he brings home from his job as a waiter.  He makes headdresses for those jars, and then they take up residence in the attic or wherever he can find a place to store them.  Wow!

Ron’s an incredible fount of knowledge about this place (he has 3400 books on the city) and a fine photographer too.  We reminisced about his KU days and concerts in Volcker Park, then tried to leave without one of our tripods.  Ron may have been tempted to “preserve” it, but his good midwestern manners won out, and we left with all the gear we brought in.

After a few navigational mishaps, we found our way to Cayuga Park, a small greenspace on the city’s southern edge.  The BART  runs above one corner of it, and in the rest, a city worker named Demi Braceros has fashioned a whole ‘nother world of lush plantings, whimsical carvings he makes from downed trees, and jungle-like nature trails that wind in and around the perimeter.  He wanted to show people that good things can happen, and took it upon himself to make the park a showplace.  It shows!  We only wish that whatever strange electrical impulses were flying around down there would take a rest.  Our mikes were fritzing right and left, but Demi was a good sport, and let us try every trick we knew.  Finally, we decided that the pictures tell the tale pretty well.  Cayuga is a very cool place.