SAN FRANCISCO, CA (1985)

San Francisco was a port city. A hub-connector. Where East met West. A place where nineteenth century sailors clambered off their ships to gorge themselves on alcohol, opium and prostitutes.

I arrived in San Francisco in a van, on a cross country road trip with a friend. We’d both graduated from college the year before and had no plans or idea of where we wanted to live. I just got out of the van, basically. San Francisco seemed as good a place as any to start my writing career. It had an interesting literary history and seemed like a f…