Yesterday’s lunch honoring an 80-something-year-old friend from church was good small-town San Francisco, another reminder of why living here feels so right for us.
Our friend Bernice received the annual Eleanor Roosevelt Award from the local Democratic Women’s Forum, and the banquet room of Castagnola’s on Fisherman’s Wharf was a perfect place for the homily flawed, home-town celebration.
The class tourist views during yesterday’s sun fest were straight from the Chamber of Commerce brochure. The plate-glass windows gave each speaker a backdrop of Coit Tower or other spectacular landmark.
Among the 100 or so people who showed up were two members of the California Assembly (Mark Leno and Fiona Ma), 
Quite a haul!
Both redozdachs and I got off on the casual retail politics going on all around us. Seeing Sheriff Hennessey warm up and grin like a kid at being recognized by our friend — she worked in his first campaign — more than made up for the banquet-quality chicken dinner.
It’s difficult to feel estranged from the community when the elected leaders are so accessible and human.