In Light Of Absence

Berkeley Bowl West

Allen Ginsberg, circa 1955

I've been long absent, readers, as summer, court, and the dramas of their shadows have kept me hidden, perhaps even to myself. Because when the air hits pinks in warmness and finally, we can venture into dusky streets in slippers and gauzy fare, adventures are to be had; in perfect readiness. One of the things I love about this City is that it is timeless in many ways, dated even, in the residential life it presents. The soggy grey cement buildings, adorned in gargoyle or emerald green rust, paved in years before our birth- and nothing attests to the outdated manner than the small supermarkets along the East side. They come with the boldness of being born in an era when the supermarket was novel; replaced everywhere else in America by Jumbo supermarkets, they exist solely because of the curious lifestyle in this city- complete impracticality charging frenetically high prices. They only exist because we still frequent their little aisles, pitter-patter over the peeling linoleum floors, eyeing eachother in our gym gear as we wait in line under neon lighting from the '80s. Caught daydreaming as Carole King sings "So Far Away," I love that the cashiers wear little uniforms; I love that old ladies robotically maneuver through the aisles as though they could do so blindfolded, still buying spam, 6-egg cartons, and ritz crackers as though they were still twenty and freshly graduated from Barnard or Wesleyan. We don't have to age in this City; we can live as if we were students into perpetuity, because everyone is forced into modesty here, if at the very least, modesty of space.
And then, I was home the other week, and visited the all0new "Berkeley Bowl-west," coined appropriately by my father as "truly a 21st-century supermarket." The outside looks more lik REI than a Jumbo market where you can buy anything from shoe wax to imported Japanese ginger candy. About the size of a Costco, Berkeley Bowl carries most of Whole Foods' natural and organic foods, combined with conventional and all-American mass market such as Folgiers, jiffy, and of course, Ritz crackers. Adjoining the new market is a restaurant that makes fresh French onion soup and bison burgers, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Berkeley hills. The bulk produce section alone is the size of a Manhattan "Food Emporium" or "Gristedes." Best of all, its cheap, and the tireless parade of hippies, yuppies, and everything-in-between attests to its "universal" approach. the Whole Foods on Ashby seems more barren since its' arrival. and still, walking through the magnanimousness of it, i'm still thinking of that Ginsberg Poem: A Supermarket in California. "Oh the peaches and the penumbras..."

Island of a Dream

There are very few places in this great country of ours, that elicit feelings of coastal Europe; that breathe exoticism while still being refreshingly familiar; that are naturally resplendent. As I wonder, where to next? I am always circling back to Sausalito/Tiburon, where as a child I would teeter cliffside and puppy-chase along its pristine shores. It is a place I still recall as magical; dusky; perpetually sunlit.

And yes, there are minor annoyances; the seaside

burger joints serve $200 wine in paper cups; the

seagulls are very aggressive and walk around like they own the place; and there are endless "art" galleries and clothing boutiques that all seem to sell the same thing: Glass sculptures of naked people making out, and flowy hemp outfits. One and all. But...outside of Capri, Italy, you will never find a place like it. There is an understated luxury and beauty that is so modest, perhaps emanating from the 60's when it truly was an esoteric Artist's colony. Sam's Restaurant makes the best burger ever, and the homemade Ice Cream stand turns breezy sundays into heavenly vacations. The best part, I think, is that every time I visit I feel I am somewhere new, and somewhere entirely unfamiliar to strip malls, chain establishments, and homogeneity. But there is a Starbucks on Main Street- and its a lovely place to sit and read a book.