I Left My Heart…

Today was a trip back through time for me. My family lived in San Francisco for about 2 years before we moved to Friday Harbor in 1971. So many memories came alive as we toured around a few of the places I remembered.

First of all, the Golden Gate Bridge. Who could forget that?

But what about Spreckles Lake in Golden Gate Park? I was 7 or 8 years old and my older brother and I would take turns collecting Blue Chip Stamps every time my folks would fill the car up with gas. Once I had enough saved up, I sent away the mail-in form for the “Unsinkable Sail Boat” (that’s honestly what it was called). When it finally arrived, off we went to Spreckles Lake. Just me, my brother and our two friends Tom and David. (we went all over that city on the street cars and cable cars, just us kids).

On its maiden voyage the wind died when it was halfway across the lake. We threw stones out trying to make waves to push it to the shore but nothing worked. There it sat, out in the middle of the lake until at one point we noticed the mast was leaning a bit. Then a bit more. And before long, the “unsinkable sail boat” sank.  It’s etched in my memory to this day. And I’m pretty sure that boat is resting at the bottom of Spreckles Lake now – almost 50 years later.

But they wouldn’t drain the lake for me today so off we went to see the house we lived in. On the way there, we crossed more memories: Judah Street – we would ride the “N Judah” street car out to an ice skating rink out near the beach. Taraval Street – don’t know why, but the “L Taraval” street car came to mind. Sloat Boulevard – that’s where the department store “Get” was located, the source of many toys and plastic models.

And finally, Portola Drive – the road back to our house on Juanita Way.

It was a cute house with castle like turrets on the front. I was amazed at how narrow and claustrophobic the street was. It used to be a larger area when I was a kid. The garage door was open and someone was inside banging away on a project of some sort. I almost went up and knocked but decided to let him be.

Next we went up to the park at Mt. Davidson, just a few streets away. This was where we would play in the wooded trails and look out over the views of the city to the northeast and south up at the top where the cross is still standing.

It was a fun morning reliving old memories from so long ago and I’m surprised at how many new memories popped up as we drove around the city.

Here are a few more photos from today and last night…