Higher Ground Cafe, Glen Park

Diamond and Chenery, SF - 2:30 pm
I lingered at home until about 12 pm, maybe 11:30, then made my mind to get to two bookstores today that both specialize in poetry: Books and Bookshelves in the Duboce Triangle then off to Bird and Beckett in Glen Park.

After taking out a very wet bag of compost downstairs, I mailed Josh's Camp registration at the Post Office on the way to the N Judah Muni stop at Cole and Carl. It was a beautiful day in the mid-70s, bright and sunny.

After jumping off the N-Judah one stop away at Noe, I walked to Books and Bookshelves. Since we lived in the Duboce Triangle, almost 20 years ago, Janine and I have always driven by this storefront thinking it was just a bookcase and cabinetry store with a pithy name. I have walked by on occasion as well, but have never bothered to walk in to look at what I thought was various arrays of bookshelves. As the Google search revealed this morning, this store also sells poetry books, exclusively poetry, mostly new small press selections. Once I walked in, I was not disappointed, and happy to learn that this space had always been a bookstore until the owner decided to move into the bookshelf business originally as an aside for some extra money in the late 80s. Since then, B&B has sold small press poetry, perhaps the largest selection I have ever seen in one place, including Harvard, UCLA, Berkeley and SFSU bookstores, as well as a better selection of small press editions than City Lights in North Beach sells.

Books and Bookshelves, San Francisco

I emailed my poetry workshop teacher, Julie Bruck, and asked if she was aware of this place, which I sure she must be. I bought a book she recommended to me in class last week in response to my poem about hammers: Hammer by Mark Turpin. Typically, she recommends books to different class members, and I always have looked for the recommendations, and have been hard pressed to find them anywhere most of the time, unless I found the small press online or at City Lights.

After the ride on the J, I arrived in Glen Park and walked to Bird and Beckett Records and Books which had jazz filling the space off a visible turntable behind the counter and not a half bad poetry section, filled with about half used books. Compared to Green Apple, on Clement near 7th, which has the best used selection of poetry in the City, this was a good showing, while no store in the City could beat City Lights for new volumes of contemporary poetry.

While there, I bumped in Claire Hawkins, an old compatriot, that I used to work with at Alta Loma Middle School in the South San Francisco USD. She works through Adult Ed exclusively, initially following Bruce Grantham, my favorite principal to work with of all time, when he was transferred to Adult Ed in 2000. She is happy there. We talked about Alta Loma for a while, commiserating about old times. She also caught me up about her partner, Marilyn, the leader of the band Shrubbery that I was in sometime around 1998 or 1999. Lastly, Claire shared that she was almost finished with her novel, I imagine the same one that she has been working on for all these years.

Higher Ground Coffee House, San Francisco

Claire recommended Higher Ground Cafe, at the corner as she had to go take care of her laundry. She said it was the only place to drink coffee in the neighborhood, and that I should look up at the ceiling. I walked over to the small corner cafe, which seemed to have been many things, but always a breakfast hash place for some time, the counter and the tight spaced grill part of the same work line. There are about 16 - 20 seats inside, benches lining the walls with tables and two tables outsides in front of each side of the entrance. The menu centers around crepes and coffee. I ordered a chicken pesto crepe which was truly exceptional. The accompanying potatoes were crisp, yet bland, requiring some spices during the cooking process. The double macchiato was served in a small coffee cup and was pretty good. The outside seats were a real bonus on this warm day.

Sitting out here gave me a clear view of the locals. This is neighborhood of the City, as opposed to a destination. people seem very laid back, if not suburban. I am sure tourists would not invade this place. Granted it is very slow on a Monday, not a fair comparison to make against a busy weekend in the Haight.