Ode To Clement Street

I'm not sure exactly why I've always been so fond of Clement Street. Located in the Inner Richmond, Clement is almost always chilly and foggy, even by San Francisco standards. Maybe it's because it's one of the areas of the City I got to know first; my mom interned as a therapist at a place over there after she finished her master's and I used to sometimes go with her and hang out at The Blue Danube Coffee House while she worked. Maybe it's because the street still holds some of the more positive memories I have of my ex-husband; we went there everytime he visited when we still in the long distance relationship way before we got married. We would spend an hour browsing in Green Apple Books, then pick up fried noodles with Satay sauce at Java Restaurant and sesame balls at one of the dim sum places (Clement Street is sort of a second, unofficial and non-touristy San Francisco Chinatown) which we would eat later at the Sutro Baths near Ocean Beach.

I went there with my family a couple of weeks ago and, yes, it was chilly and foggy but we had a nice time anyway. Thankfully Green Apple was still there, which is not what can be said for Black Oak Books in Berkeley or Pegasus Books in Noe Valley. Independent bookstores seem to be fading away which is truly sad because it's not likely they will ever be replaced....