In and around San Francisco Bay are the remnants of forts and bunkers built to secure the area from foreign invaders.
In recent decades, these facilities have been returned to the public and now are parks and recreational areas. One is Fort Baker, nestled under the Golden Gate Bridge on the northern side of the channel connecting the Bay with the Pacific Ocean, just around the corner from Sausalito.
One chilly night recently we went there to set traps for crabs along the pier. As a large moon rose in the east, we caught quite a few. Many were Dungeness crabs, which you cannot keep at this location, so we released them.
But others were browns and reds, and those large enough to fit the legal limit (four inches wide) went straight into the pail we later carried home.
Like many places around Northern California, Fort Baker contains memories for me. In the early 1990's it was one of the venues for the movie "Jack the Bear," starring Danny DeVito. My older three kids and I were extras in that movie, and I remember the shoot at this location vividly.
There was a lone public phone booth at the former fort, and when I needed to use it (this was before cellphones), I had to wait in line behind one person who seemed to talk on and on.
As he finished and I was proceeding to the booth, I suddenly recognized him -- Bruce Gilbert, the Hollywood producer of the movie I'd helped create a decade earlier for Jane Fonda called "Rollover."
We exchanged pleasantries; he went his way and I went mine, and I've never seen him since. And the phone booth is no longer there.
But the kids enjoyed being part of a feature film set on that occasion, with costumes, makeup, lights, and actors like DeVito (who was friendly) whom they recognized from other shows.
Since the kids were underaged workers, I had to secure work permits from the City of San Francisco, which probably cost more than the "wages" they earned that day, but who cared.
The West Coast is home to many unique experiences. Hollywood sets are one of them -- common enough that they rarely cause you to turn your head. But they also are a reminder that all life can be seen as a movie and we're all actors in our own dramas.
I often encourage younger people to keep journals. They usually say "Why? I know what I'm doing and I remember everything up to now very clearly."
The key phrase there is "up to now." There will be a lot more time in the future before they get to the point where there are others who may be interested in what they did where, when and how way back now.
Then it will be for them what that recent night at Fort Baker was for me, shivering from the breeze whipping in through the Golden Gate, hearing the fog horns blaring, seeing the container ships leaving for Asia and the harvest moon lighting the scene, as I told this particular memory to my grandchildren while they rushed trap to trap to pull up and empty out the next load of crabs.
***
On to the news.
* The president’s refusal to concede has entered a more dangerous phase as he blocks his successor’s transition, withholding intelligence briefings, pandemic information and access to the government. (NYT)
* Covid deaths are far below the rate of the spring, when as many as 2,200 people were dying every day, but experts warn they are rising fast. (NYT)
* The European Commission announced an effort to strengthen the rights of L.G.B.T.Q. people in response to a wave of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. discrimination, especially by right-wing governments in Hungary and Poland. (Reuters)
* Israel, at behest of U.S., killed al-Qaeda’s deputy in a drive-by attack in Iran. (WashPo)
* Biden Plan to Forgive Student Debt Hinges on Democratic Control of Senate (WSJ)
* With the recovery slowing and coronavirus cases surging, Democrats must decide whether quick action on federal aid is more important than its scale. (NYT)
* "They (Americans) don't like to be told what to do." (Dr. (Anthony Fauci/CNN)
* Biden administration will seek to restore stability at Pentagon, analysts say. (WashPo)
* "I can’t remember a time when batshit paranoid fantasies like QAnon could infect the minds of so many people, including a member of Congress. Or when far-right militiamen took guns to state capitols and planned to kidnap and murder a governor." (The Nation)
***
From Wikipedia:
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. It was recorded by Redding twice in 1967, including once just days before his death in a plane crash. The song was released on Stax Records' Volt label in 1968,[2] becoming the first posthumous single to top the charts in the US.[3] Redding started writing the lyrics to the song in August 1967, while sitting on a rented houseboat in Sausalito, California. He completed the song in Memphis with the help of Cropper, who was a Stax producer and the guitarist for Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes
Watchin' the ships roll in
Then I watch 'em roll away again
Watchin' the tide, roll away
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time
And I headed for the Frisco Bay
'Cause I've got nothin' to live for
Looks like nothin's gonna come my way, so
Watchin' the tide roll away
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay, wastin' time
Everything seems to stay the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same
-- Otis Redding
-30-
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