RIP Al Saracevic

Only 52. Geez. Served the Examiner an Chronicle in news and sports.

 

Gosh, that’s awful. Very sad. I always enjoyed reading him.

 

He was a buddy from my town (I got to coach his boy in LL and we became friends). Talk about shocking, he was way too young. I'm gonna miss you Al. May you RIP.

 

I put the Examiner's obit in my original post, figuring the Chronicle's might be paywalled. Here's the best story from the Chronicle's.

 

The City is such a unique place. Tourists only see the attractions. Commuters only see the financial district or SOMA. But there's this insular set of sub-communities within the city limits that define San Francisco as so different than almost any other big American city. Mark Twain and Herb Caen figured it out, in different eras. Obviously Al Saracevic did, too, even if he lived in the suburbs.

To be a real San Franciscan requires more than just a knowledge of how to get from Market Street to Junipero Serra Boulevard without using a freeway. It's knowing all the little hidden places where the locals eat, drink, shop and meet -- and even more importantly, what's on their minds at any given time. San Francisco never stops reinventing itself, and you either embrace it or it doesn't appeal to you.

It's charming and sophisticated or full of weirdos. Or both. It's definitely not for everyone.

I'm certain the same could be said of New York, Boston and Chicago. But they're huge in comparison, both in area and population. San Francisco is 875,000 people occupying all of 231 hilly, foggy square miles on a peninsula, not even enough room for a cemetery (that's why there's Colma).

RIP, Al. You lived a short but interesting life. A true storyteller.

 

I wasn’t his closest friend for sure but Al was fun to hang with and exchange stories.

You captured SF well.

 

Mark Twain said, "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

 

Except he never said that.
That's What He Said: Quoting Mark Twain

 

God that's a great description of a place. Makes me recall two of my favorite cities.

 

I remember watching Barry Bonds chase the career hr record. It was August in San Francisco and people were bundled up like it was fall in New England.

 

I was told that July generally is the coldest month in SF and October the warmest. True?

I was there for the '89 World Series, just after the big quake. It was shirtsleeves in October then.

 

You get fog rolling in during the late afternoon and evening and it generally burns off by the afternoon. It's not the coldest month, but if its 80 in the East Bay and you went to a game at the Stick in shorts, you'd be regretting it by the late innings. You'd see the fog rolling down the hills toward the stadium and think....