Streets (Bums) of San Francisco

[OldAgePensioner]

I've given up the "Eating My Way Thru China Town " book and am now in the process of renegotiation with the publisher for a " Street Bums of San Francisco" coffee table book.

Within the 2 blocks by 40 blocks of Market St and the Tenderloin are over 1000 bums. I am endeavoring to capture there visages, comments, and any life tidbits they will share.

I will be creating a blog first and then see if it can be published.

Any ideas from you guys on what would be of interest?

 

[HFWR]

Yeah... Bums... Good idea... 

 

[OldAgePensioner]

HFWR,
yah don see many of dem of da streets. But I like the that view point. Maybe a new book would be better suited to my interestests. HMMMMM

Young Asian street bums. Hmmmmm. I smell a winner.

 

[haha]

Yeah... Bums... Good idea... 

You Da Man!!

Ha

 

[laurence]

Both beat #25 on that other thread...

What, am I the only one at work and not drinking?

 

[OldAgePensioner]

At the age of 56, I can't even bend that low to get those shots. Ok, it back to the book on "Ederly Priest Violated Nuns of SF:. You guys ruined a great book.

 

[ladelfina]

I remember a great book called "Duplex Planet" where a guy interviewed some long-time nursing home residents. The home wasn't a place for the really sick, more just a boarding home for old-timers. It was really a hoot! Asked serious and non-serious questions and got some answers that were touching and others that were complete non sequiturs..

"What did George Washington's voice sound like?"

-- "Like Jimmy Durante. Who can prove it? Can you prove it? No one can. Let it go. Jimmy Durante. Ever hear him talk? He didn't sound too bad. You don't want him to sound like Tarzan, do you?"
--"It was very outstanding and everyone liked to listen to his voice. He had a real cultured voice. And also, David, he done very little complaining; he was always jolly and cheerful to everyone."
--"It sounded like a dollar bill."

When they talked about things that happened in their history, it was intruiging.. WWI, jobs they had.. just very average working-class people.

As far as bums go, didn't Howard Stern have a bit where someone went around interrogating bums like Jay Leno does with LA airheads..? "How many is a dozen?"--"157"... "Who's the president of the United States?"--"Arnold Schwarzenegger." Funny but kinda cruel.

 

[Rustic23]

I worked on California street at one of the big banks. There was a guy who was on the corner every morning. At first I felt sorry for the guy, then I realized he was a pro. I saw him with a dog, a cat, left leg in a brace on Monday, right leg on Tuesday, in a wheel chair, at 5:30 he got out of the wheel chair (in the alley) and put it into the trunk of a Lexus. Needless to say no more money for the “bum”. Also there was an article in the paper about beggars taking the train in from Orinda to the city because they made more money in a morning of begging than working full time. One lived in a $400,000 house, of course that was a shanty in San Francisco.

 

[astromeria]

Hee...one of the Sherlock Holmes cases was about a businessman turned bum much as you describe.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Rustic23, yesterday I ate Chinese at a little dive on Clay St down at the bottom end of China town. I walked over to California and gave the leftovers (more than I had eaten) to a pro bum. He was jovial and looked fit and tan. He was polite.

astromeria, I seriously considered trying to be a bum for a week. I bet I could haul in some cash. I'd get some of those fake bad teeth, go to the pound and get a real sad looking mutt. And have a sign saying I was hungry.

But, my real draw would be having an old styrofoam plate of food that looked really bad. Like I had got it out of a trash can.

 

[poboy]

 

[REWahoo]

poboy, somehow I don't really think OAP is in the market for a "lady", at least not in the traditional definition of the word.

"A well-mannered and considerate woman with high standards of proper behavior; a woman regarded as proper and virtuous."