Tale of a New City

Throwback Thursday Post Time.

I haven't done one of these on the blog in awhile, so I thought I'd do it for a change of pace from all the heavy stuff as of late. 

Open at 6 a.m. Hmmm...

Throwback to that time in 2011 I vacationed in San Diego but had to go join my family in San Francisco. They checked out a day before my flight was to leave, so this left me with one day free in San Francisco. For some reason (specifically Gay Pride Weekend) all the hotels in the city were booked so I had to find a hotel in the outskirts, someplace called San Bruno. 

The first night was just okay. It was so cold and boring. San Bruno is not known for its city life. The hotel Villa Montes was fabulous though, very upscale, posh living quarters with a spa, sauna and a airport pickup. Knowing that there's not that much entertainment in the area, the hotel room becomes your solace. It was nicer than all the old hotels in San Fran that were two times it's nightly rate. 

The next day, a Saturday, was my checkout day. I checked out of the room but hung around the area, my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until about 6pm. I was on my way to browse the local shops at the historic downtown San Bruno area when I got a call from my bank that my account had experienced some "fraudulent activity". Some thief had gone on a shopping spree with my money shopping at Walgreens and Wal-Mart, racking up a huge bill, just as well as the day before was my payday. The caller advised me to go to the nearest banking center to request a new card and that my money would be returned within 48 hours, in the meantime I couldn't use my card. This was my very first ever fraudulent activity. I was just stunned. I could hardly move. I looked around and there were quite a few banks in the area, luckily for me, my bank was open on a Saturday! I walked in and did as advised. It lasted about an hour and half. What a way to end the vacation. 

Still visibly stunned from the events, I just needed to rest somewhere. I found something to eat but the food didn't make that much difference, I was still shaking. That was when I came across this sign, Newell's Cocktail time, Open at 6am. I walked into this dive bar not thinking much, I just needed a bar that was open that early in the day that would serve me something strong to soothe my nerves. The bar was filled with men, big burly men, older factory worker looking type of men, all of the Caucasian kind. They all stared as I walked in through the door. The only female was the bartender, with her cut off sleeves revealing her multiple tattoos I could tell she fit right in. The place stunk of a pungent mixture of cheap cigarettes, stale armpits, and undiluted alcohol, and everyone looked rather comfortable with this somewhat refreshing aroma. I decided to ask the only female where the restroom was so I could collect my thoughts. She pointed it out and smirked, probably thinking, that explains why she's in here. 

As I stood in the restroom visibly shaken I debated for about a millisecond towards walking out of there and trying another place. But then, they would have beat me. Life beat me earlier by using my money, and now again, my location. I sucked it up and made my way out of there. The bartender offered me a seat at one of the booths but I agreed to sit at the bar, preferably a seat near the door for some fresh air. To my surprise, a few gentlemen quickly got up from their seats to make way for me to sit down. One of those gentlemen turned out to be the owner of the bar. 

I sat there talking and drinking with them for about 3 hours. My flight ended up being delayed and as I sat there I got the alert from Virgin America advising me of the new flight time. As soon as I told them it just encouraged them to invite me to sit some more. We ended up having a very witty, lively and endearing conversation. I told them about my credit card fraud event and they consoled me throughly, secretly glad it had brought me to meeting them. They told me how the bar got its name, and the ungodly hours, it was due to the workers from the factory nearby closing their nightly shift in the wee hours of the morning and needed a place to drink before they head home.  I wondered who would want to drink at 7 in the morning. They finally got the nerve to tell me that I must have some huge balls to walk in here alone, when they saw me head to the restroom they were sure I wouldn't sit down to drink with them. I laughed, you know I almost didn't. 

People often ask me what do I gain from my solo life. I gain life experience, stories you can share with your grandchildren. The courage to experience people from all walks of life and to get to know what makes them tick, what similarities do we have. We're all people, we just look different but we all want to be a part of something. They wanted to chat with a black girl from Africa vacationing in San Bruno, I wanted to just meet them. Till date, it's one of the best endings to a vacation I've had in a long time, and I'm glad I got to experience it. 

Anita Writes - experiencing the Fabulous Solo Life one city at a time. 

The Hotel Room