Thursday, November 17, 2011

November 17, 2011 – The Ubiquitous Victorian












As the current phase of the 2011 Project is winding down I realized I have not done a piece about Victorians in San Francisco and I have not used the word ubiquitous as well. One should manage to use ubiquitous in a sentence once a year. And what’s more ubiquitous in San Francisco than Victorians? If you’d believe television and the movies you might assume we all live in one. And when we pull up in our cars there is always a parking space waiting for us as a cable car clangs by.

I don’t live in a Victorian, but they are all around my neighborhood living just two blocks from Alamo Square. And yes, when they’re all dolled up, Victorians look pretty good. It’s easy to live here and take them for granted. Unless you live in a hot one like the one I painted today. Every tour bus makes a slow down so the world can gawk at your home. And, if you live right on Alamo Square, you can recite the tour bus spiel from memory. I always am bemused when tourists take photos of even the rather dull ones in need of a new paint job. And one of these days, some unfortunate eurotourist is going to get run over standing in the middle of Steiner Street with a camera. The house might be charming, but our streets are not quiet alleyways of some old city in Europe. Watch where you’re going!

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