An Ancient Birthday Ritual

Yep, so tomorrow's my birthday. Forty two. And I'd like to celebrate this day by sharing a memory of the ritual I once honored each year on my birthday when I lived in San Francisco.

My first year in The City, a friend of mine asked to take me out on my birthday. We did three things which became the annual pilgramage for my birthday during my years in the Bay Area. They were simple things. Nothing to write home about. But each one was special to me and each year I ventured out on November 13 to do the following... sometimes by myself... sometimes with a friend... join me this year on a little journey back...

(By the way, you can click on any image to see it larger or view a slide show... now that I'm 42, my eyesight's starting to go and some of us need a little help focusing on things.)

First, I would visit Green Apple Books - if you didn't know, I can read. I do read. And this place is like a little slice of heaven for me. San Francisco is full of bookstores - both new & used - and I often ventured out in search of new fodder. But I never went to Green Apple on a sunny day in June. Or a cloudy day in February. Nope. Only on this day. Could be because I usually left with two or three bags full of new reading material!

Then, I headed out to "Land's End." I think I may have blogged about it before. Or maybe not. There's a little photo essay of it in my self-published photo book though in which I wrote the following:

"There's a place in San Francisco which early settlers named "Land's End." In the late 1800's, a man built a public bathhouse here and city dwellers could leave their worries for a day and, for a mere nickel, relax and bathe their cares away. The Sutro Baths burned down in the 1960's but the ruins remain today. During the six years I lived in San Francisco, I came here each birthday to celebrate life. Now, I visit often to recharge and collect the energy left in this sacred place by decades of recreationalists."

Here's a little video on the history of the Sutro Baths along with some historical photos and some photos of my own...

I'll stop there because I have hundreds of photos of the Sutro ruins from my many, many visits over the years. I still go three or four times a year... every time I visit San Francisco now.

Finally, the last stop on my birthday trek.... right next door to the ruins. Another piece of San Francisco history, the Cliff House. I've been in two of the buildings - first in 2000 and then in the new one which was completed a few years later. But there have been many buildings on this site - and even those have gone through many changes (the blue facade in the '70's was maybe the worst of them!). Of course, a couple of them have burned down - the most significant of which was the Victorian one from the late 1800's. Anyway, I would close out my birthday here by having a drink or dinner at the Cliff House and watching the sun set over the Pacific. Here's another little video, historic photos and one of my own...

Yeah, that's my pic of the Cliff House off in the distance in that last photo. Looking to the south from the Sutro ruins. Haven't really taken many other photos of it. Miss the old building I first visited - it had some charm & character, run down as it was. This new one is big and open and full of hard surfaces that bounce sound and make it very noisy. But I still visit because it will always remain a special place.

I haven't been to visit the Sutro Bath ruins since March. Haven't eaten at the Cliff House since last year. Probably been that long since I've purchased a novel or cookbook from Green Apple Books too. I don't miss these places - I have dozens of memories of them that I carry with me every day. And I always know I'll visit them again soon.

So if you're ever in San Francisco, think about spending a day like this. And think of the history, and the life, and the laughter and the joy that each of these sites have brought to the thousands of visitors they've hosted for nearly 150 years. Trust me, even if it's your birthday and you're feeling anxious about being a year older, you'll soon forget all that and catch yourself with a little smile... a little thought of happiness.... and in touch with a peace inside yourself. That feeling, well, I think it's just passed on from someone who many years ago had the chance to spend a day relaxing at the hotel, perusing the rows and rows of shelves at the bookstore or bathing in the warm ocean water at the baths. Someone who left that feeling of bliss there just for you to take away for yourself.