What do Willie Brown and Brian Wilson have in common? Orange shoes. It's how you'll identify him at the ballpark, Willie explains in this week's Sunday Column. And the only thing Da Mayor seems to like more than a Giants win is "leaving the ballpark after a win." Sure, that feeling of riding high as you shuffle out is great, but apparently the preferred exit route of local taxi drivers rubs his wallet the wrong way: everybody takes the route marred by the Central Subway where "the only thing moving is the cab's meter." Just think, Mr. Brown if there was a subway there you'd only be paying two bucks for the privilege of waiting around to get across town.
Speaking of places you can take a subway to: Willie also spent some time in Oakland this week. First, he toasted to their "neighborhood-friendly marathon" which he says is exactly like Bay to Breakers, "except no one lingered around getting loaded." Well, not one but Willie himself, actually - while in the East Bay, Da Mayorpartook in some "pan-American drinks" at Bocanova. He seemed to like it, but the waterfront restaurant lacked the luster of the big city because it was missing that one key ingredient: Famous people. He didn't even see anyone recognizable. (The horror!) So in case you were wondering what it takes to get Willie Brown's approval on your restaurant (aside from tablecloths): it helps to have someone there who is at least equally famous as he is. And now, for the rest of the year, Willie vows to only dine at establishments that made Bauer's top 100.
Back in the city, Willie says there couldn't be a more San Francisco event than Joey Alioto's funeral. He called "an Italian Fat Tuesday" which must mean the ladies were getting their gnocchis out. The service in North Beach was so crowded that he briefly worried the Fire Marshall would shut it down as people spilled out of the church and in to Washington Square. Except most of the SFFD was actually inside. In his review of the event, he also gets the chance to explain why he finds fine dining to be so much more agreeable than city government these days: "A great restaurant like Alioto's always does its best to make sure every customer gets great service and good value for their dollar," he explained to another attendee, "You can't say that about City Hall."
In film this week, Willie saw Kill the Irishman - a mobster flick about Cleveland. We know Willie has a special place in his heart for Ohio, but he doesn't recommend taking the kids to this movie, "or anybody younger than 18" for that matter, "and definitely no females." Does that mean there's a lot of nudity? We hope it means there's a lot of nudity. Thanks for the porny tip, Mr. Mayor.
Finally, as he has been doing lately, Willie dishes out a couple self-congratulatory shout-outs: While responding to SFO Airport Director John Martin's note about the new Terminal 2 being $3 million under budget, Da Mayor thinks he's figured out how the airport managed to save so much money: "Wow, you must be keeping the books like I did!" - that might be accurate actually, since there's a strong chance Richard Branson and Virgin America actually paid off the whole thing.
