Around the avenue
Twenty years over here and I don't know anyone yet. Getting to know them is the point. Starting with you.
There was a band in the bandshell at Bancroft Park every Tuesday this summer at 5:30, June 2 through September 29, Dizzy Charlie's and the blues society and whoever else felt like it, and this is the stuff I see everyone else doing. I enjoy seeing them do it. And here's my confession: twenty years over here and I don't know anything or anyone yet. That's not a complaint. Getting to know them is the point of this life, and it's the point of this paper, so I'm going to stop pretending I know things I don't and start asking - out loud, in print, where it's embarrassing.
Here's what I've got so far, which isn't much. First Friday, when the galleries stay open till eight, is November 6. The car show closes the avenue from 23rd to 27th one Sunday every August and the whole Westside stands around looking at chrome. I fully endorse this. And I've heard about three places opening or moving on the avenue and have an address for exactly none of them, and our own rule says no rumor without a block, so none are named until you send me the name and the block, at which point it runs next week with a thank-you.
If you've never been, your first assignment is the History Center at 1 South 24th, a block off the avenue. It's free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 4 in summer and 11 to 2 in winter, and call before you drive. Tell them the paper sent you, then come tell me what they told you. We are going to introduce the world to the Westside... and it turns out step one is introducing me.