City Sightings

We had a wonderful time skewing the demographics at the Space Gallery in San Francisco last night for the Instant Gratification show of Polaroid art. We left the revelry unfashionably early, around 10:30 p.m., but that provided two benefits: First, our departure allowed at least a couple of the people waiting in line to enter. Second, we chanced into a sighting of the San Francisco Snuggie Pub Crawl.

We had learned from the daughter that Snuggies--the As Seen on TV blankets with sleeves--have become an unlikely hit with the twentysomething set. We saw evidence of that cultural trend when we walked out of Space Gallery and saw a group of 10 or 12 people, all clad in what appeared to be royal blue monks' robes. They were headed to Vertigo, the bar across Polk St. from the gallery, and there were already at least a couple of other people in sea green Snuggies awaiting them there. According to the SFSPC Facebook page, Vertigo was even offering drink specials for Snuggie wearers only. If only we had known.

So far, according to the Snuggie Pub Crawls Web site, there is not a Snuggie Pub Crawl scheduled in Sacramento, though somehow the trend has reached Scranton, Penn., and Rapid City, S.D.

The other interesting sight came this morning, as we were walking back from our brunch at the Olea restaurant on California St. A man with a banjo slung over his shoulder came walking out of a laundromat. Had he been entertaining other patrons of the laundromat? There didn't seem to be anyone else in the building. Had his banjo playing scared all the other people away from the laundromat? Was he starting his laundry and heading off to a banjo gig nearby? We will never know.