The City Awakens

It’s been some time since I spent any amount of time living downtown in a major urban area. There is an energy that permeates the central core of a city that you do not find elsewhere. It’s the constant rumble of noise in the background, the loud clatters, bangs, bus engines and people shouting in the foreground. Laughter or music in the distance, the screech of brakes just outside the window.
Because our hotel has no air conditioning we are sleeping with the windows open at night to cool down our rooms and the city sounds are taking some getting used to. Our first night here there were no less than four occasions when fire trucks, with sirens screaming, roared up Sutter beneath our open windows. And around 2:00 am the next night there was what sounded like someone pounding on a dumpster with a sledge hammer. That went on for about 20 minutes. Interestingly I seem to already have developed the ability to tune most of the sounds out.
The sun is just coming up over San Francisco. The sky is morphing from black to indigo. Soon the sun will be hitting the tops of the tall buildings and casting shadows across the urban landscape. People and vehicles are beginning to move along the canyons between the buildings. The background roar is increasing in volume. Cabs prowl the streets looking for early morning fares. The peddlers and panhandlers are shaking off the night and preparing for another day full of rejection.
Looking out my window on the eighth floor of the Cartwright Hotel I can see trucks double parked delivering supplies to the stores. One fellow is industriously washing the windows of his storefront. An especially loud bus just roared up the street and turned left. More taxis now and even more pedestrians. It’s 6:25am and the city is yawning and stretching.
Sutter Street is one way heading west. Along the street are hotels, a 7-Eleven, a tailor shop, several restaurants, a shabby second-hand store, and more. I reckon there is a place nearby to fulfill almost any need that a resident might have. The Walgreens on the corner sells everything from fresh food to souvenirs and even prescription drugs. Sutter is a major bus route as well as a favorite of the local emergency vehicles.
San Francisco features a wide variety of public transportation. There are the iconic Cable Cars of course which are a hoot to ride. Then there are lots of different types of busses. You have the standard bus that can haul about 50 passengers. Then there are the larger articulated busses that bend in the middle. Some busses are fully electric and are tied to overhead electric lines. Other busses are strictly for the tourist trade and range from Cable Car like open seating to huge double decker tour busses to Darth Vader like black limousine busses.
Then there are the trolleys and street cars. According to one fellow passenger, some time back the head of the local transportation board was in Switzerland attending a conference and had the occasion to purchase a street car for $5,000. He did so and spent another five grand shipping it back to the city. He donated the street car to the city with the caveat that the already existing street car rails be reutilized. They declined his offer, he sued the city and won. Today there are trolleys and street cars from all over the world running around on San Franciscan streets. Many of the cars required modifications to make them fit the rails, but they are now a beloved feature of the city. And like the Cable Cars, they are both fun to ride and a super tourist attraction.
At the other end of the spectrum are the pedestrians on skate boards, Segways, bicycles, in-line skates, and one intrepid fellow who was scooting around on a self-propelled wheel with nothing but foot rests. He was really moving too! Motorcycles are not that prevalent although they do make an appearance. There are the smart cars, and we’ve seen a couple of dual passenger tricycles called Go-Cars. They are really nothing more than a plastic body covering a couple of seats and a small engine. The Go-Cars look like fun to drive though.
It’s getting brighter out. Lights are coming on in the windows of the office buildings looming over the neighborhood. There are more people about on the streets. The cars seem to be moving a bit faster. I can actually see the scene out my hotel window getting brighter as I watch.
Most people out and about are obviously walking to their jobs. A few are jogging, some seem to be meandering aimlessly and still others are neighbors chatting with each other or going about their business. A homeless person lies asleep in a doorway and everyone ignores him.
Vicky will return soon with coffee and egg sandwiches from the ubiquitous Starbucks down the block on the corner. Today is the first real day of our NatGeo Photo workshop and I am anxious to get going.