Oh San Fran,
a friend of mine visited you the other day
and reminded me of our time well spent together Christmas Day.
I remember being in a coffee shop alone, one of the only ones open, that seemed to be as narrow as a crack and filled with belongings of a home;
an old man was behind the counter, who had seemed to live there.
He questioned what I was reading, Catcher in the Rye that is; my all time favorite around this time.
He said things like, I see you stayed home this year; until I informed him San Francisco was no home to me until that moment.
Los Angeles is where I lived yet he wouldn’t have thought twice me being from up north.
It was the loneliest Christmas I had ever spent and I had never felt more fulfilled.
San Francisco is a very lonely city with almost no one around at night, especially during the holidays.
Lonelier than I’ve experienced LA to be. Lonelier than I’ve experienced New York to be.
I remember riding my bike around NYC late at night; through SoHo and the East Village; even after late, a few scurried the streets next to our city rats and I rode in the middle as if I owned it all. Lonely I felt, yet at home.
Los Angeles is a bit similar; downtown I mean.
Except I get more of the feeling of having to watch my back here than I ever had in NY. Odd that is, however if you’ve ever lived in both, you’d get what I mean.
These cities, all said to have the highest population in the US, still empty for the night; and even those who live there eventually sleep.
No matter what city I visit or live between them, I’ll always feel the most alone, the most home, when roaming their empty streets.
Until next time~
-N.