![\"Gate21\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Gate21.jpg?resize=300%2C225\")
I am writing this blog post from SFO airport departure gate 21, using the airport’s free wifi. As I am seated here, I am wearing comfortable leather jeans, dress cowboy boots, and a dress shirt.<\/p>\nI am writing this blog post from SFO airport departure gate 21, using the airport’s free wifi. As I am seated here, I am wearing comfortable leather jeans, dress cowboy boots, and a dress shirt.<\/p>\n
Why this combination and how did I get here?
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\nLet me back up… I flew to San Francisco on Sunday, five days ago. When I have to travel three or more time zones west, I try to get there at least one day before I have to do something — in this case, work. I need time to adjust to the time difference, and being the very early-bird that I am, it is very hard for me to travel east to west. It seems like if I arrive in the early afternoon, my body thinks it is dinner time and soon after, time for bed, even though the clock says it is only 1730 whilst my usual bedtime is 2030.<\/p>\n
So I arrived in the City By the Bay a day early. I took BART into the city from the airport — a convenient ride and less expensive than a taxi or shuttle. I found my room in a hotel right on Market Street. Got a great rate that this historic hotel property.<\/p>\n
Took a nap for an hour, but not wanting to mess up my ability to sleep through the night, I got dressed and headed out for a walk.<\/p>\n
It was sunny and very mild — quite unusual weather for San Francisco in January. <\/p>\n
I wandered into Mr. S Leather, just to browse. I’ll tell ‘ya later that I didn’t just browse, but that’s a future post.<\/p>\n
I think back to my younger days where as a man in his mid-30s, walking into a store like Mr. S Leather was scary. The images around the store portraying sex acts with unmentionable devices would strike nerves and some fear into this gay guy who wasn’t into kink then, and not know.<\/p>\n
These days, I realize that what they display and how they treat customers are different. The guys working the counter could not have been more pleasant. They saw what I was looking at, and what I was *not* looking at, and probably spotted the ring on my left ring finger as well as assessed my age. They figured rather appropriately that I was not interested in that kinky, BDSM stuff.<\/p>\n
We had a nice chat about leather garments that they make these days, hides used, their care, and construction. One of their tailors came over and joined the conversation. It was great to sit back, relax, and “talk leather” in a real, honest-to-goodness, leather store — one of the oldest and most established in the business (at least in San Francisco, if not the world. I don’t know.)<\/p>\n
I ended up buying a pair of simple black leather jeans that conveniently happened to be my waist size. I tried them on, and one of the staff measured the legs to have them hemmed to fit. He did a great job marking the measurements, and as soon as I paid, the jeans were sent off with the tailor for hemming.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, I walked two blocks over to 10th Street, the home of Stompers Boots. Booted Harleydude couldn’t visit San Francisco and not visit Stompers!<\/p>\n
Ken, the owner, was expecting me. We had a nice visit, but brief. After all, he was trying to work and we were going to have dinner together later anyway.<\/p>\n
After my short visit with Ken, I returned to Mr. S and picked up the leather jeans since the hemming was completed quickly. I pulled on the jeans, put my denim jeans that I was wearing into a bag, and walked out, thanking the guys I met for their cordial hospitality.<\/p>\n
I continued my stroll down the back streets of SOMA (South of Market) district of San Francisco, which has a history “back in the day” of stuff I don’t want to mention on this G-rated blog. <\/p>\n
It was interesting to see the mix of people on the street nowadays. Some street punks with dyed spikes in their hair, a lot of homeless people, some random gay guys strolling along holding hands, and a bunch of kids who are referred to by the locals as “tweeties.” (These are highly-paid 20-somethings who work for Twitter, whose headquarters are a few blocks away.)<\/p>\n
Many old buildings in SOMA had been demolished and replaced with brand new very expensive condos for these tweeties and the regentrification-types to move into.<\/p>\n
No one even glanced at the leather jeans I had on. I tell ya, especially in San Francisco, wearing leather is as “no big deal” as it comes. No one notices (usually, but in a later post, I’ll tell you about Mr. head-to-boot-leather at a restaurant…:-))<\/p>\n
By the way, the photo here was taken with my webcam on my computer. Here I am wearing leather jeans at the airport gate departure area. But again, this is for a future post when I get to writing about the end of my trip instead of the beginning.<\/p>\n
In summary, many things have changed since I worked in SFO for five years from ’89 to ’94, and some things have not. I’ll explain all that when I can.<\/p>\n
For now, I have rambled enough. More posts from my visit and work “on the peninsula” will follow.<\/p>\n
Life is short: enjoy returning to a city you have always loved to visit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am writing this blog post from SFO airport departure gate 21, using the airport’s free wifi. As I am seated here, I am wearing comfortable leather jeans, dress cowboy boots, and a dress shirt. Why this combination and how … Continue reading