^^ We have a story we made up about these tintypes: Sly is the Hawaiian sugar cane plantation worker and I’m the daughter of the owner of the sugarcane plantation. We met and secretly fell in love against the wishes of my family. We have overly active and elaborate imaginations. But fitting, right?
To view larger images of the tintypes, click here and here.
Hot and tired on an uncharacteristically warm SF day, we were also for some reason upset with one another. Maybe it was because after a hot summer on the East Coast we were hoping for our beloved fog instead of a San Francisco Summer. Maybe because we tried for hours to tie the bow tie I bought Sly but still couldn’t quite get it right. Maybe it was because for someone who rarely brushes her hair, I was trying on this day of all days to figure out how recreate an elaborate vintage updo I had seen recently on Pinterest. (I never did figure it out.)
We drove to the Mission upset at each other the entire time and finally composed ourselves long enough to storm into Photo Booth Tintype Studio to have our portraits taken. Perhaps noticing the tension, or maybe because he was just being a damn cool dude, the guy at the front desk offered us a cold PBR. We had to ask him to repeat it twice. Excuse me you want to offer us a beer? Like the kind with alcohol? We looked at each other bemusedly, anger slowly melting away and simultaneously thought, only in SF.
Not being ones for traditional anniversary gifts, we had these tintypes taken as gifts to one another to remember our second anniversary. A fleeting moment in time — a mixture of so many emotions and feelings — now preserved forever.
Plus, we’re just a little obsessed with the wild West.
We drank beers and talked about how San Francisco had changed in the past couple of years. Tech jobs were booming once again and rent had doubled or tripled in just the two years since we left pushing many of my artist friends out of the city. I asked Cool Beer Guy and our photographer if they had noticed the change, if the Mission had been overcome with upscale brunch eateries and modern lofts. Our photographer replied “yes, it’s changed a lot, but you know, it’s still San Francisco.” And I thought to myself, of course, yes, why didn’t I think of that? It was such a simple and obvious statement but it made me realize that change has always been part of SF. The people, the industry, the skyline, the physical places I used to know — those things would come and go but my SF would be forever mine.
Later in the evening, when the weather had finally cooled, we picked up our good friend Judy at her house outside the city and ate at one of our favorite restaurants: Sushi Sams. Judy is the connoisseur of Sushi Sams. If you ever go, make sure you go with her because even though we have eaten at Sushi Sams a million times, whenever we go with Judy, we always discover something new. Keeping with tradition we ate and ate and ate until we ran out of things to try. And then I forced dessert on everyone. Always a good time with Judy. It had been too long.
more
Back to SF // Part 1: In-n-Out + Union Square
Back to SF // Part 2: Glen Park + Our Old Home
Souvenirs from SF
