Saturday Trip To San Francisco

Left: The North Concord/Martinez Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stop.


I wanted to see Chloe Condon play 'Kira' in "Xanadu" at New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) in San Francisco, particularly before the holidays started in earnest, so on Thursday I decided Saturday was the day. A few single seats were still available, and I managed to wedge myself into the front row for the show. (My impressions of the show here.)

Chloe appeared in only two shows at DMTC (As 'July', in "Annie" in March 2005, and as 'Anybodys' in "West Side Story" in September 2006). Nevertheless, Chloe represented the best of young Sacramento theater talent. She had already appeared all over the Sacramento area in a variety of theatrical productions, having essentially grown up in the theater. Her father, Frank Condon, had been Artistic Director at Cosumnes River College's 'River Stage' for 16 years, and her mom, Kim, had been Costume Designer for a number of those shows. I found it exciting that Chloe was going to play Kira: 1980's film "Xanadu" was a favorite of mine.

Still, I didn't want to take my car. It would be hard to find parking in the heart of SF (and I don't have much experience parking in SF) and I was by myself for this trip, so I decided to drive to the North Concord/Martinez Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stop, park my car there, and ride the rest of the way in. Easy in; easy out.

There were a number of posters on the BART station walls promoting theatrical shows. This poster is for a biographical show for an indispensable person that I've never heard of before.

Here comes the train!

I remember first riding BART in 1974. I was so excited! It was the cutting edge of the future.

Once again, on this day, I'm riding BART. It's still the cutting edge of a Jetson-like future that never seems to arrive. Travel to the stars was supposed to be here by the 1980's. What happened?

The carpet was stained by surreptitious coffee spills, but otherwise the trip was appropriately, futuristically comfy. With minor delays. A sort of glitchy, not-quite-perfect 'Star Wars' kind of future.

Civic Center Station. Attractive, futuristic people down here under the streets of San Francisco.

A disorienting emergence from the tubes onto Market Street on a San Francisco Saturday night. People seem less attractive here. Like an inverted "Time Machine" world, where the attractive Eloi are down below and the scary Morlochs are up above.

New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC).

Unique facilities at NCTC

NCTC Lobby

Since there was plenty of time before the show, I started wandering around San Francisco's theatre district, looking at the sights. Here is Marion Davies Symphony Hall.

Eager ballet fans were flooding in to see the San Francisco Ballet's "Nutcracker".

Convincing "Nutcracker" evidence.

A pensive Abraham Lincoln, San Francisco style, with Santa cap and tinselly lei.

Sara Bareilles was performing on the night of December 10th at the Bill Graham Auditorium. Her fans were lined up right around the block. Strangely-enough, I have barely heard of her at all. I think I heard 'King Of Anything' for the first time on the radio just this week. It is clear my music tastes are out-of-date.

Everything in San Francisco seems curiously inverted. At first, I thought this was pure whimsy on the part of the City, but it turns out they just want to keep derelicts out of the Civic Center playground.

City Hall.

Thoroughly plowed under by champagne after seeing "Xanadu", it was time for the long, glitchy BART trip back to North Concord with the sleepy Saturday-night party people.