Feeling nostalgic I walk down to where I used to live on Post and Larkin, in the Tenderloin. At first I don't recognise my building but the garage and valeting service that was across the road is still there. One of our favourite pastimes was to sit out on the fire escape and watch the transsexuals entertain themselves and their customers in the shady corner of the garage. The Mother Lode bar at the end of the road is now Annie's Cleaners. All the shops have changed but the area is the same.
I walk further into the Tenderloin. Between Turk and Eddy it's rough, full of red-eyed vagrants missing teeth, and limbs and pushing trolleys full of their belongings. I don't know if it's become worse or if I've just forgotten but I don't remember being this afraid. It seems there are more homeless than I remember, several on every block. I remember when I lived here wondering why there seemed to be more homeless people here than anywhere else. Someone said San Francisco tolerates the homeless and doesn't try to move them on.
(Photo - view from Coit Tower)
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