02Jul-Photo Release – I can tell how my day is going to go on days like these by how I react to breathing your air (the vast majority of my air is filtered). Usually the air you breathe is a bitch for me. Anything can trigger a reaction. Diesel, perfume, aftershave, deodorant, solvents, cleaning materials (I can’t go down the soap aisle at Costco), smoke is the worst. Masks and Gaiters help, until I feel like I’m sucking air through a pinhole. It is what it is.
02Jul-Photo Release
Ocean Beach July 1, 2026
Today, I’ve learned to take what I can get. Yesterday, my visit to the VA was a short one, and much to my relief; I’m still alive – they tell me. I was still feeling good after the walk back to my car, so I said to myself, “F*@k the dumb shit, Popi. You’re more than half way to the ocean, you’re not coughing. You don’t even feel like coughing. GO!” So I did.
I’ve been planning a return trip to Ocean Beach forever. I’ve been close to that return but never got the cigar for that shoot. Now I can chalk this one up too. The last time I was here was in November 1993. It was when I relapsed after losing my job. The company put me through rehab, then they let me go – just before the holidays. I went straight to my dealer and the liquor store, then drove to Ocean Beach. Sat there for an hour, drank half a beer, never did finish rolling a joint, or snorting a line in the wind. Everyone and their uncle came over to mooch, of course. I finally got up dumped the five remaining beers in the trash – let the savages fight over them – and dumped the dope in the ocean, much to the dismay of several leaching denizens of the SF deep-dark. ‘No’ wasn’t a good enough answer for them when they were begging. Watching me turn the bags inside out had several in a near state of apoplexy.
Back to yesterday. I spent an hour at the world famous Sutro Baths in San Francisco. The baths were quite the thing at the turn of the century – the last century for you young’uns out there. You can click on the link above for details. Here’s an Excerpt taken from the nps.gov site:
The Ambitious & Magnificent Sutro Baths
Adolph Sutro, the self-made millionaire who designed Sutro Heights and later the second Cliff House, developed the amazing Sutro Baths in 1894. With his special interest in natural history and marine studies, he constructed an ocean pool aquarium among the rocks north of the Cliff House. Sutro then expanded his ocean front complex by constructing a massive public bathhouse that covered three acres and boasted impressive engineering and artistic details.
Sutro’s dream for the Baths was to provide a healthy, recreational and inexpensive swimming facility for thousands of San Franciscans. A classic Greek portal opened to a massive glass enclosure containing seven swimming pools at various temperatures. There were slides, trapezes, springboards and a high dive. The power of the Pacific Ocean during high tide could fill the 1.7 million gallons of water required for all the pools in just one hour. The Baths could accommodate 10,000 people at one time and offered 20,000 bathing suits and 40,000 towels for rent.Typical of Sutro’s progressive spirit, he designed the Baths to provide its visitors with educational as well as recreational opportunities. The front entrance contained natural history exhibits, galleries of sculptures, paintings, tapestries and artifacts from Mexico, China, Asia, and the Middle East, including the popular Egyptian mummies. In addition to swimming, Sutro Baths offered visitors many other attractions including band concerts, talent shows, and restaurants. With several railroads providing transportation to the area by the late 1890s, a visit to Sutro Baths crowned an all-day family excursion to the shore, including stops at Sutro Heights, the Cliff House and Ocean Beach. – nps.gov
Aside from the miles long white sand of Ocean Beach, south of Cliff House (another SF Icon), this park offers incredible coastal hiking north of the beach, with views of the Marin Headlands, on a clear day you can see Point Reyes (fog covered yesterday), the unique rock formations off the coast, and the golden Gate. All from a new perspective for me. This was invigorating and so, so very enjoyable. Why can’t my every day be like this Lord?
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