Bumper Car

I don't know how long this bumper car has been sitting here in the shrubs of this West Portal home. It's a neighborhood I'm very familiar with and I walk this street quite often. Still, I've never noticed THIS before. I wonder why you'd position an old bumper car in your front garden. I don't think it's a decorative addition, it appears to be stored here. The plastic guard fence is a nice touch.

Shaw's Ice Cream and Candy

Long-time residents of the SF Peninsula will recall the name of Shaw's Ice Cream with great fondness.  The ancient Millbrae store and factory was  shuttered recently and is up for sale.  I think it's been quite a while since Shaw's made their own ice cream, but they've been hanging on for years at the El Camino Real location and on West Portal Avenue in The City. They were peddling (the very good) Mitchell's Ice Cream and someone else's chocolate last I checked.  The company was founded in 1947 and had, at one time, 50 licensed franchises, now long gone. The company's heyday was in the '50s, '60s and '70s. The original West Portal store remains in operation.  

Was a time... oh well, I have some very nice memories of sitting on their wrought iron chairs and wolfing down banana splits.  And I'll really miss that sign on El Camino.

Ode to the Manor Coffee Shop

Ah, the joys of West Portal Avenue! One of San Francisco's least self-aware neighborhoods. It's remarkably unchanged from the days of my childhood when my aunt or my grandmother would take my brother, my sister and me to lunch at the Manor Coffee Shop and then a matinee at the Empire Theatre (when it had one screen). If we were well-behaved, we might stop in at Shaw's for an ice cream or some chocolate. They're all still in place 40 years later. The Eezy Freezy still had a Green Stamps sign up until just a couple of years ago!

I wanted to make a special mention of the lovely folks at the Manor. It's a reliably wonderful place to stop for a bite and the staff is efficient and pleasant. The food is very much of a time when we weren't so obsessed with what we put in our bodies, which is not to say that it isn't tasty, it's just old-fashioned, un-fussy food. Stop by sometime and give it a try. It's a real "local" place, but the locals are friendly.