People on streets
Feb. 6th, 2010 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twirlgrrlhttp://www.tomstonegallery.com/photography/default.aspx?id=faith
I got this link from babyslime's LJ. This guy takes pictures of people on the streets of San Francisco and writes a little narrative with each one. I looked at every single picture and I found only one person I recognize: Esther, #54. I can't believe she is still out there. Click on this link to see her:
http://www.tomstonegallery.com/photography/large.aspx?id=standout
I'm not so eloquent and I have nothing profound to say, but that link sparked some memories to share.
Esther was always a striking figure. Very tall, shaved head, facial piercings back in the early 90's, tall boots and a leather jacket. She looked strong and regal I was afraid to talk to her. She lived in a little alley between two Victorians on Clayton; one of the Victorians was owned by Ed, who was a friend of my friend Dave's. Esther had built a shower stall on the first floor of Ed's place, by the garage. It was beautiful--cement walls interlaid with countless pieces of colored glass and tile. (Reminds me of yours, Mo.)
The rest of the people I used to know living on Haight Street are gone, I think. I saw Fast Eddy (Esther's former boyfriend) at a show sometime in the past year, looking very rough, but I haven't seen Max in 3 or 4 years, and I know many are dead.
Here's a picture of Fast Eddy in 1991. I didn't know him yet, just happened to dig his jacket and asked him if I could snap a picture at a bus-painting event in Golden Gate Park.
One awesome thing about Fast Eddy is that if you do a Google image search for "hippie" he comes up on the first page. It's been that way for years. He's a really cool guy and has been around forever, obviously. He was the president of Alkie camp at the one and only rainbow gathering I ever attended. I saw him at countless Dead shows and we are neighbors in our own universe. I look forward to running into him again.
Liza was killed by a car in the Haight & Ashbury intersection on Valentine's Day, maybe 2003 or 2004. She had just hit the street when I first met her. I probably spent more time with Liza and Max than anyone else on the street. I wanted to make a movie about her and the other people I met there. Liza was really vulnerable and got hurt a lot in a lot of ways out there. She used to make big peace signs out of coins on the sidewalk at the corner of Haight and Ashbury, catacorner from my apartment. She once took a shower in my apartment and I helped comb giant lice out of her hair. I learned a lot about what it's like to live on the street from Liza.
(That's Liza with Mouse, not Max.)
Vernon and Marlene OD'd on heroin. Here's a pic of Vernon with some other guy whose name I don't remember. Vernon was from Louisiana. He was very sweet and loving, and very very wasted most of the time. I could barely understand him but he was just so nice. He was the one who came and told me right away when my bus got towed for the first time. He was always looking out for his friends.
Larry had been set on fire in the street and had been fighting prostate cancer, but in the end he was taken out to the desert and shot over meth. He was the sweetest person. I wish I had a picture of him, and of his "brother" Max. Max played guitar endlessly and was also very sweet but manipulative as hell. He had giant puppydog eyes and two daughters in another state. He got clean and became some sort of preacher, but came back to visit Haight Street once in a while for many years. He was the one who told me what happened to Liza.
Clifton died of "aspiration" (choking on vomit) in the park. He was my first street friend and the first person I knew to die in the park. His cousin was a janitor in the hospital where I worked. Clifton was a lot of fun and an incorrigible alcoholic. I was devastated when he died; his other friends acted like it was no big deal. It was an eye-opening experience.
Here's one with me in it! From left to right, Clifton, me, Vernon, and some other guy.
See, when I first moved to San Francisco and realized I was a hippie, I used to spend a good chunk of time hanging out on Haight Street, blowing bubbles and getting to know my neighbors. (You can see my red bubble bear in my hand in that last picture!) Back then there were a lot of old-timers; Clifton was actually from the neighborhood but wasn't spending much time indoors with his family by the time I got there. He remembered watching Jefferson Airplane rehearse in their garage and the Dead playing the Panhandle in the 60's. Now the Haight Street scene is mostly tough kids from out of town muscling in on each other's space. I haven't taken the time to hang out there in many years.
I got this link from babyslime's LJ. This guy takes pictures of people on the streets of San Francisco and writes a little narrative with each one. I looked at every single picture and I found only one person I recognize: Esther, #54. I can't believe she is still out there. Click on this link to see her:
http://www.tomstonegallery.com/photography/large.aspx?id=standout
I'm not so eloquent and I have nothing profound to say, but that link sparked some memories to share.
Esther was always a striking figure. Very tall, shaved head, facial piercings back in the early 90's, tall boots and a leather jacket. She looked strong and regal I was afraid to talk to her. She lived in a little alley between two Victorians on Clayton; one of the Victorians was owned by Ed, who was a friend of my friend Dave's. Esther had built a shower stall on the first floor of Ed's place, by the garage. It was beautiful--cement walls interlaid with countless pieces of colored glass and tile. (Reminds me of yours, Mo.)
The rest of the people I used to know living on Haight Street are gone, I think. I saw Fast Eddy (Esther's former boyfriend) at a show sometime in the past year, looking very rough, but I haven't seen Max in 3 or 4 years, and I know many are dead.
Here's a picture of Fast Eddy in 1991. I didn't know him yet, just happened to dig his jacket and asked him if I could snap a picture at a bus-painting event in Golden Gate Park.
One awesome thing about Fast Eddy is that if you do a Google image search for "hippie" he comes up on the first page. It's been that way for years. He's a really cool guy and has been around forever, obviously. He was the president of Alkie camp at the one and only rainbow gathering I ever attended. I saw him at countless Dead shows and we are neighbors in our own universe. I look forward to running into him again.
Liza was killed by a car in the Haight & Ashbury intersection on Valentine's Day, maybe 2003 or 2004. She had just hit the street when I first met her. I probably spent more time with Liza and Max than anyone else on the street. I wanted to make a movie about her and the other people I met there. Liza was really vulnerable and got hurt a lot in a lot of ways out there. She used to make big peace signs out of coins on the sidewalk at the corner of Haight and Ashbury, catacorner from my apartment. She once took a shower in my apartment and I helped comb giant lice out of her hair. I learned a lot about what it's like to live on the street from Liza.
(That's Liza with Mouse, not Max.)
Vernon and Marlene OD'd on heroin. Here's a pic of Vernon with some other guy whose name I don't remember. Vernon was from Louisiana. He was very sweet and loving, and very very wasted most of the time. I could barely understand him but he was just so nice. He was the one who came and told me right away when my bus got towed for the first time. He was always looking out for his friends.
Larry had been set on fire in the street and had been fighting prostate cancer, but in the end he was taken out to the desert and shot over meth. He was the sweetest person. I wish I had a picture of him, and of his "brother" Max. Max played guitar endlessly and was also very sweet but manipulative as hell. He had giant puppydog eyes and two daughters in another state. He got clean and became some sort of preacher, but came back to visit Haight Street once in a while for many years. He was the one who told me what happened to Liza.
Clifton died of "aspiration" (choking on vomit) in the park. He was my first street friend and the first person I knew to die in the park. His cousin was a janitor in the hospital where I worked. Clifton was a lot of fun and an incorrigible alcoholic. I was devastated when he died; his other friends acted like it was no big deal. It was an eye-opening experience.
Here's one with me in it! From left to right, Clifton, me, Vernon, and some other guy.
See, when I first moved to San Francisco and realized I was a hippie, I used to spend a good chunk of time hanging out on Haight Street, blowing bubbles and getting to know my neighbors. (You can see my red bubble bear in my hand in that last picture!) Back then there were a lot of old-timers; Clifton was actually from the neighborhood but wasn't spending much time indoors with his family by the time I got there. He remembered watching Jefferson Airplane rehearse in their garage and the Dead playing the Panhandle in the 60's. Now the Haight Street scene is mostly tough kids from out of town muscling in on each other's space. I haven't taken the time to hang out there in many years.
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 11:35 pm (UTC)You and I have occupied the same universe for so long. I always felt that about you from the first moment I met you in the flesh.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 11:42 pm (UTC)