Neil San Francisco 1981 Jo-Jo’s

Neil spends nights at The Vamp and days discovering the city, Huck on his shoulder. He roams from the Bay beside the forested Presidio, through the coffee houses of North Beach, into the dirty, noisy streets of Chinatown. Here the streets are crowded with tourists, jammed with shops selling cheap, colorful, useless items, easily bought, broken and forgotten. Huck swoops down snatching greasy bits of Dim Sum from the sidewalk.

Suddenly, Huck flies into a small alleyway. Even though the day is bright and clear, buildings and awnings shade the alley, maintaining a perpetual twilight. Stairways lead below the street, some to the cellars of restaurants, some to basement apartments and a few into underground shops or restaurants. “Chic Pretty Mod Hair Salon” reads one doorway. It features a black line drawing of two very round-eyed white people with brilliant crimson lips and 50’s style hair-dos.