“Mellow as the month of May”

“Mellow as the month of May”

Carole King could have been in San Francisco on a day like yesterday when she wrote that line. I spend more time in San Francisco during the month of May than any other month.  In May, the weather in San Francisco is always “mellow”, (except, when it isn’t). On Friday I took a springtime walk around Nob Hill, North Beach, and Fisherman’s Wharf. May is a good time to fall in love in San Francisco and I fell in love with every girl who smiled at me when I passed by, and even those who didn’t.

California Street looking toward Chinatown and Old St. Mary’s in the early 1950’s: You have to get a little farther out in the street to see the Bay Bridge from this spot now. (opensfhistory.org)

The International Settlement in North Beach in 1955: This was where all of the bawdy nightclubs and their “fallen angels” use to be located. (opensfhistory.org)

North Beach in the early 1970’s: They’re always protesting something in San Francisco. What do they have against Fresno? Pause for laughter…….. Still waiting. (Bolditalic)

Grant Avenue and Green Street in North Beach in the early 1970’s: I used to hang out a lot at Grant & Green in the 80’s and 90’s; they had some great bands playing here. (Bolditalic)

Writer Richard Brautigan and his ten year old daughter, Ianthe, on Telegraph Hill at Filbert Street in 1970: Brautigan killed himself in 1984; Ianthe is now a writer and poet, as well. (Vernon Merritt)

“Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away.” This was the spot where Joe DiMaggio’s Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant, seen here in 1954, was located. Joe opened the restaurant in 1937. (bcx.news)

DiMaggio’s Restaurant from the Fisherman’s Wharf Boat Lagoon in a snapshot my teenage mom took in the summer of 1939: You can still see four of the buildings that were in my mom’s photo.