As I was walking down Second Street this morning, I looked at it in a new way. I was thinking to myself, what would someone who had never seen this street think of it? I forced myself to look at the street with fresh eyes, and notice the things that get lost in my day to day walk due to familiarity.
Second street is peculiar. Along each side of the street are old storefronts, with a new sign every twenty feet at a different height, a different shape, and a different color. This street houses the reject stores and businesses from other, nicer streets. The sidewalk itself is old brick, which is quickly interrupted by newer concrete. The street seems to be an old, run down relic of what San Francisco was thirty years ago. The oldness and smallness of this street is out of place next to the newer, fancier, taller streets just a block in either direction.
Amongst what seems to be an old, worn down street are pockets of newness. A starbucks hides at the corner of an alley, the round green sign is almost lost amongst all of the visual clutter that lines this street. New restaurants and new bars line this street, but the newness is hidden by the old facades that front them.
MAC went to DaDa tonight, one of these new places hidden amongst the drab clutter of this street. MAC is the Monday Adventure Crew, a biweekly social outing to a new happy hour bar. It gives us a chance to try new places and find new deals, so that we can make a better, more informed decision about happy hour when it matters.
DaDa is a long, narrow room, soaked in red light and red paint. The bar extends down the length of the room on the left, while a long booth seat runs along the length of the right side. The wall behind the bar is painted red, and is accented with red lights that run along the back edge of the shelves that are staggered along the wall. These shelves are covered with bottles of whiskeys, vodkas, and pint glasses, all of which glow red from the light just beyond them.
The red lights color everything, from specks of red light on the wood of the bar, to the overly sized, novelty alcohol bottles that sit high up on the highest shelves. The red light also shines from above from old, worn out chandeliers with red light bulbs in the sockets, half of them burnt out.
The wall opposite the bar seems to be in an entirely different room. Bright white lights shine down on the white wall, highlighting the black and white paintings. Below that is the polyester vinyl cushion of the raised bench seat that extends along the length of the wall. Small, raised circular tables are placed every few feet, making this side of the bar look like a cross between a retro-chic lounge, and a cafeteria.
Unmemorable, mellow music plays in the background, loud enough to be heard, but bland enough not to matter.
The crowd was thin, as is regular for a Monday, which allowed us to stand at the bar for a while before setting up shop along the opposite wall, at one of the tall tables set against the raised bench seating. The drink deals extend only to the wine and “specialty martini” menu, which I didn’t take the time to examine, even though it was propped up in a clear plastic stand in the center of the table.
As I announced this morning when I sent out the email soliciting this outing, it is good to go out on Monday, when the week has just begun. It reminds me that I am not just a cog in the machine, and it reminds me that spending time with people is one of the better parts of having to go to work every day.
This MAC consisted of: Sean, Patrick, David, Julia, and Zac.