Greeted by an unusually lovely San Francisco day, we perused the aisles of handmade “indie” goods on the block that runs next to Thee Parkside. Although most of the booths were heavy on feather hair clips/ leather cuffs/ silk screened t-shirts we did manage to find many-a-treasure! I saw some adorably simple cards that I fell in love with from paper pastries. I got this one for the boytoy…

and another (that doesn’t seem to be up on the site yet) that says “8>1″ for my brother. Hanukkah shopping already!! Sarah found a sweet-as-can-be BEE necklace (teehee I couldn’t resist) that went perfectly with her outfit and a lovely feather hair clip to be worn for upcoming birthday festivities. And we were both mesmerized by the Gangs of San Francisco booth which makes shirts with old advertisements of long gone San Francisco attractions, gangs, and neighborhoods. All their shirts are really skillfully printed and come with amazing stories. These days it’s hard to imagine SF as a sleepy, industrial town with room for outlandish attractions. Some of my favorite shirts/stories are:

The Sutro Baths:

“Built in 1896 by former San Francisco Mayor, Adolph Sutro, Sutro Baths was a gargantuan glass and steel structure that housed seven swimming pools of various temperatures. The pools held 1.7 million gallons of water and could be filled in one hour by the oceans high tides. Sutro Baths also boasted an amphitheater seating up to 3,700 people, and three restaurants that could accommodate over 1,000 guests. The baths also contained a natural history museum exhibiting sculptures, paintings, tapestries and artifacts from Mexico, China, Asia, and the Middle East, including Egyptian mummies. The ruins of Sutro Baths can still be seen today at the edge of Ocean Beach in the Outer Richmond district.” -Gangs of San Francisco

The Ohlone Chiefs:

“The Ohlone

Indians inhabited the region of what is now the Mission District for over 2,000 years. Spanish Missionaries arrived in the area during the late 18th century and found the Ohlone living peacefully at the edge of a lagoon. It was there that a Spanish priest named father Palau founded Mission San Francisco de Asis on June 29, 1776. This marked the beginning of the end for the Ohlone culture.” -Gangs of San Francisco

We also managed to take the silliest/most awkward photo booth pictures in FilmCycle’s Photo booth using an array of props including: a white feather boa, cat eye plastic glasses, clown glasses (think Bar Mitzvah give away), a plastic rose, an over-sized polka dot bow tie, and a straw hat. What a successful day!

There were so many cool ones it was hard to choose!! I think I especially love these because just seeing the Hungarian language in print (even thought I don’t have any clue what it means!) reminds me of the semester I spent studying abroad in Budapest. The city is incredibly beautiful, but it’s unpleasant and war torn political history are still physcially visible in bullet holes, bomb craters, a huge but empty Jewish temple, and leftover communist statues and signs around unexpected corners. On the first day of classes, the first words out of my history teacher’s mouth was, “The history of Hungary is the history of losers”. That may be true politically, but the charm of these posters really seem to speak otherwise!