A Journey to Haight

Sunday was nice and sunny, so my girlfriend and I went to Haight street for a little late morning shopping and breakfast. I heard a few weeks ago that the Gap on Haight had closed after a number of years in business on the corner of Haight and Ashbury, and I took a few pictures of the now nameless building with all of the windows covered in brown paper. Now, I always felt that the Gap was out of place on Haight, yes the company started in the 1960's in San Francisco and even used a "Peace Love and Gap" commercial during the holidays this year, but it seems to me that the Gap stands more for main stream commercialism and stock value than for anything in the vain of grassroots humanism that Haight-Ashbury stands for, or at least use to stand for. It certainly has a different vibe than Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Aardvarks thrift store, and a souvenir shop with tie-dye shirts and 60's memorabilia that it shared the Haight-Ashbury intersection with. I admit that the Haight district of today has changed a lot from what I know of it in the 60's when Janis Joplin and Jimmie Hendrix lived there. For example, today Haight has several corporate businesses including Wells Fargo, and many upscale boutiques with expensive wares and $180 jeans. However homeless teens and free spirited vagrants still flock to the area in hopes of reconnecting with the nostalgia of the 60's. And marijuana culture, another 60's staple is thriving on Haight where you can buy a pipe or bong or Bob Marley tee shirt on practically every block of the Haight Ashbury district. So, in my mind Gap is out of place, and I think many people feel that way as there are always many shoppers on Haight, yet never any in the Gap. Walking past it's big display windows on busy Saturday afternoons in the past I have looked in to see the store empty, or perhaps occupied by a few people, all as awkwardly out of place as the store its self.

I'm curious to see what business will jump up to rent this great and unique piece of commercial property, and I'll post it right here at my blog as soon as I find out.