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Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection
Over the years I have enjoyed the stories written about San Francisco by Project Read learners for the Project Read Newsletter. So, I have decided to share a little story about my childhood in San Francisco during the early part of the 50s. For those of you who don’t know, I am a native San Franciscan, born at San Francisco General Hospital. Until I was five years old, my family stayed up on the hill in the Bayview Hunters Point area of city. Back then, my whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma) lived within miles of each other. For a long time, I thought all families lived that close to one another like we did. It was a good childhood with all my family around me.
My earliest memories of the city are riding the Muni buses around San Francisco with my little brother in tow. Back in those days while the grown-ups were at work, the older kids were supposed to baby-sit the younger kids like me and my little brother. That meant they had to take us with them wherever they went during the day. My older cousin Parker, who was about ten years old at the time, was assigned to look after me and my little brother. He hated it. The last thing Parker wanted to do on a sunny summer day was to baby-sit his two little cousins. So Parker did what a lot of boys his age did when stuck baby-sitting the family kids under them; he put them on Muni for a bus ride across San Francisco, while they played ball with their friends. After my cousin was finished playing with his friends, he would wait at the bus stop for our return.
Now that might sound a little dangerous, putting two little kids on Muni to ride most of the day by themselves, but back then it was not. Kids were a lot safer back then and most of the bus lines running out of the Bayview were driven by Black drivers who had kids in the area, too. Also, the people who rode Muni were very nice to kids, too. So when bus drivers saw kids riding by themselves, they would sit the kids right behind the driver’s seat and look after them during the ride. My brother and I were regulars on two bus lines, one that ran out to the beach, the other to Fisherman’s Wharf. Can you imagine what it was like for a little kid like me, riding around San Francisco, experiencing all the sights, smells, and sounds of the diverse neighborhoods that made up San Francisco?
San Francisco was a different place back then. People may have had their differences, but when it came to kids, just about everybody looked after kids in need of some help. It kind of became fun and a big adventure for me after a few times of riding around the city on a Muni bus. My brother and I never had to worry or ask for anything. All a bus driver had to do was stop at a local market, hotdog stand, or donut shop and tell the owners that he had two little kids on his bus by themselves that had not eaten all morning, and the owners would always feed the kids. And boy did we eat some great food that summer!
Some of the owners would bring the food themselves to the bus for us. I think they liked watching my little brother and I eat. After a long morning of riding Muni across San Francisco, my little brother and I had developed huge appetites. It must have been amusing and heartwarming to those owners, watching these two little kids devour two huge Italian sandwiches or a big bowl of shrimp fried rice. I think my little brother and I must have eaten all kind of different foods that summer.
A few times, my cousin almost got in trouble because my little brother and I had eaten so much that when it was time for dinner, we were not very hungry, and the grown-ups wanted to know where we had eaten that day. I will always remember those Muni rides around the city. I got an early lesson in life about people. If there is one thing from those early rides that has stuck with me throughout my life, it’s a love for huge Italian sandwiches and big bowls of shrimp fried rice.
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