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The first and only other time I visited San Francisco was in 1974 when I got stuck on the Golden Gate Bridge for 2 hours. We were out and about our cars, making chit chat... little did I know the man I spoke to was Werner Erhard, who would later create the E.S.T. training seminars. This trip I enjoyed quality time in the City, discovering the birth place of the hippies, Haight-Ashbury, which to my great pleasure, was exactly as I imagined it to be, with radical bookstores like Bound Together and hip, wonderful boutiques like Tattoo & Peircing. Murals still adorn San Francisco on many street corners. Other funky neighborhoods have sprung up. I ate the best breakfast of my life at a restaurant called Boogaloos and discovered Aquarius Records next door where I could have spent an eternity browsing through the experimental, dark ambient and metal bins. Hotel Bijou where I stayed has switched to energy efficient lighting, saving $3000 a month on electrical bills! You have to carry a pocket full of change while walking, the homeless situation is out of control, thousands sleeping in doorways, begging for quarters. We have a country to put back to work! |
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My two guides while in San Francisco were Gar Smith and Naomi Thompson. Gar is Editor Emeritus at the Earth Island Journal. Gar introduced me to the new David Brower Center which has grouped together dozens of important environmental organizations under one roof, and to the Berkeley Ecology Center. Naomi works for a big financial firm, but can't wait to get away to become a travel writer. We had brunch by the water on the East side of the city and went sight seeing in her Prius. Naomi is an amazing model and photographer. She's now a scout for our green talent agency Celadon. She attended the soft launch of Gather, the organic bar restaurant inside the David Brower Center. I also dropped in the offices of the Rainforest Action Network to a warm reception. My fellow blogger on the Greenloop, Jenn Breckenridge is now working with Branden Barber at the organization. Check out the Square One Vodka sandblasted lampshade bottles below hanging over the bar at Gather... |
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On my last day in San Francisco I planned a return to Haight-Ashbury but never made it there... instead I found The Green Arcade totally by accident, the largest environmental bookstore I've ever seen, just a year old, and ended up spending three hours thoroughly enjoying owner Patrick Marks's company. A couple of blocks around the corner is the Friends of the San Francisco Library where development assistant Karen Mack fell in love with The Aquarium suggesting they write about it as a tourist destination for their next newsletter! Not far is Absinthe, where I waited patiently for Obsello to drip gently into the glass, giving me a warm and toasty feeling in my belly. Above is the store window of now closed Eco Citizen, a sustainable fashion boutique once owned by stylist Joslin Van Arsdale. We spent time discussing how best to improve the level of green fashion photography. |
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This must be San Francisco's new community service uniform. How amazing is this underwear by PACT featuring Oregon artist Sage Vaughn’s butterfly prints? Butterflies were the theme of this year's 5th Annual Global Green Gorgeous & Green Gala hosted by Zem Joaquim of EcoFabulous and Nadine Weil of Heart Of Green, who was also one of our Project Green Search contestant. Zem & Nadine should open a petite eco-boutique in San Francisco together. I'll let you enjoy all the happy green faces below... just pointing out Warner Philips of Lemnis Lighting and Steve Nia of eDigital Light, holding their new Pharox LED who have offered to donate samples of their bulbs to the Bridgeport Mayor's Conservation Corps in Connecticut. |
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Back to Lü magazine
Thanks to Matt Nathanson for the best Journey sing along ever!!!
Text and Photos: Remy Chevalier (A warm thanks to Diane Meyer Simon) |
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