Special Places #??

http://davidcoupar.com/index.html  is the link for the artist.

I was in Monterey and was finishing the second draft of a novel. The plan was to finish and then move to San Francisco. A friend, Tom Kosbab, from New Orleans was up there already, so I went up on the train and spent a weekend on his couch. Saturday morning from his bay window looked out on a street something like this, but even mellower, since there was a fog across the neighborhood. This was the place for me. He gave me a funky Naworlins style tour of the city. We played the mechanical curios out at an arcade at the Cliff House and then went for tea at the Japanese Tea Garden. It was a misty cool morning and no one was around- it made you feel like the whole city was sitting in their robes in their bay windows reading their papers. We fed the little sparrows at the Tea Gardens and drove down Lombard street. His girl friend had a sister that wrote poetry and we kibitzed a little- she was like 5'2" and I was going back to Monterey probably for another year. As it turned out, I inherited his apartment with this view when I finally did make it up there. There were still traces of his oil paint on the floor where his easel had stood. One has to have a good window to write from. 

And a good light fog to make your morning mysterious. The city will always be that unbelievably gorgeous woman that didn't want me.