San Francisco is My Home

13
Sep

Where the lions sleep

Author: kris, Category: Landmarks

The most horrifying gathering of tourists and chain stores in San Francisco has to be in the Pier 39/Fisherman’s Wharf area. My dad still remembers when Fisherman’s Wharf had credibility, in the form of actual salty-dog sailors who would gather, eat, drink and occasionally fight, as sailors do. No longer. Now this is the place where you can mass with several million of your fellow visitors to purchase SF-themed schlock and mass-produced clam chowder in a bread bowl. In short, this is where you come to buy the stuff that proves you’ve been here to buy the stuff.

Guilty secret? Many of the locals also love it here. I hop a bus down to Fisherman’s Wharf two or three times a year. I like hanging over the railing and watching our huge colony of sea lions barking and flipping over one another out in the water. I like buying overpriced fudge from the store in Pier 39, and occasionally hitting the arcade. I even like the tourists, because most of them look happy to be here in this city I love, even if the area bears little resemblance to the rest of town.

And sometimes, yes, I am tempted to buy a t-shirt, or a shot glass that says “I heart SF.” But then I remember I can get such things for much cheaper at any Walgreen’s in my neighborhood, and I restrain myself.