Mission: Find Dolores Mission!

Freeway Flute

I had been told that San Francisco is a walkable city, and indeed it is if you don’t mind a steep hill now and again! But I must confess that despite maps and guidebooks, I spent what seemed like two hours going in a confounding, zig-zag fashion through one of the roughest parts of town in search of the historic Dolores Mission. The number of homeless persons in the shadow of City Hall paled in comparison to the incredibly colourful, impoverished street life I mingled with in the Tenderloin District of the city.

I found myself under this busy freeway, and, with talk of tearing down a portion of the Gardiner Expressway currently being hotly debated in the Toronto media, I thought I would do a short recording on the same North American Flute that I had sounded just an hour earlier under the magnificent dome of City Hall.

One small problem: the string and duct tape(!) that was holding my flute together was in need of repair, and while all of the splendour of San Francisco awaited, I found myself crouched on the median here for almost 20 minutes, stubbornly making my flute playable.

I like to think it was worth the delay.

Other posts that juxtapose flute with ambient freeway sounds include:

• Jacques Cartier Bridge, Montreal
• Somwhere, USA

And to evidence the afore-mentioned ‘heated debate’, check out this CTV Toronto discussion board which includes a San Fran reference under the heading ‘Condo Cash Machine’. Somewhere Jane Jacobs is smiling and looking on with bemusement!

Jane Jacobs, where are you now?

Photo by Cervin Robinson