SoMa Literary Review

Sketchy

By Matt Simione

Sketchy. It’s what they call my neighborhood. Sketchy. It’s what they call the people in my neighborhood. The word strikes me as odd considering it’s an urban environment and, like most urban environments (and San Francisco in particular), it is markedly anti ‘suburban’.

There are homeless and low-income residents but that’s commonplace in a lot of the City’s neighborhoods. Sketchy. Obviously it has negative connotations. But, my apartment is nice and the rent is unbelievably low considering I live in what I think of as ‘the heart of the City’; only blocks away from the best attractions, museums, art galleries and restaurants.

Sketchy equals, among other things, dangerous. I suppose there is some truth to that, but what inner-city locale doesn’t have a certain degree of danger? Life in the back alleys does spill out onto the streets and certain individuals do appear scary. More than one local resident has a penchant for talking heatedly to the air beside him. It’s part of the City’s mosaic.

From my sixth floor view I get to see a number of differing views of our fair City – some good, some not so good. It’s San Francisco . It’s SOMA. It’s home.

An out of town visitor recently remarked that he didn’t think he could live in my neighborhood. “Really,” he said, “we haven’t walked two blocks and already five people tried hitting me up for money. And those two girls back there weren’t really girls, you know.”

“It’s San Francisco .” I replied.

He shook his head, obviously growing more uncomfortable as the sun set and the shadows grew longer and darker. We’d spent the day taking in the sights most out of town visitors want to see and were now heading back to ‘my place’. I turned onto 6th Street and my friend stopped.

“Where the hell are you taking me?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“I promised you the best Pizza in the City. Remember?”

He eyed each passerby suspiciously. “Where the hell are you taking me?” he repeated.

By the time we reached ‘ Chico ’s Pizza’ he was a bundle of raw nerves. Pacing nervously, he tried hard to look casual as I paid for the medium pizza. Back on the street he continued watching others as if expecting to be attacked. Only after we reached my building did he breathe a sigh of relief.

“I guess seeing the underbelly of San Francisco was just part of the tour, huh? Good pizza by the way.” He took a big bite of his third slice, washing it down with a cold beer. “Any other surprises I should know about?”

It was my turn to shake my head. I always find visitor’s perspectives of our City interesting, especially when they’re negative. San Francisco is a world class city. It’s urban, and some of what visitors see is less than picture-post-card-perfect. And, their surprise to the ‘less than perfect’ side of our City amuses me. New York , Chicago , Dallas/Ft. Worth and other major cities – just like San Francisco – have darker sides, it’s true. But, what major city doesn’t.

Full of pizza and beer we stepped out onto the balcony. The lights of the City masked the less than majestic neighborhoods we’d passed through earlier. The view was beautiful. It rivaled any travel brochure photograph of San Francisco and my guest couldn’t help but notice, and comment: “Wow! Now that’s the San Francisco I came to see.”

I had to smile. How easily we choose to see what we want to see and discard what we don’t want to see. There’s something to learn from that, I suppose, but with my belly full and the alcohol taking effect, I wasn’t in the mood to wax philosophic.

“So what’s the plan for tomorrow?” my guest asked.

“There’s a Catholic Cathedral on the other side of Market Street you should see.” I answered, adding, “In the Tenderloin.”

“Sounds good to me. ” he sighed, content.

Again, I smiled and shook my head.

I love this City.

Also by Matt Simione on SoMa Literary Review:

The Cold Streets of the City, Gross, The New Year, The Friend Theory, Perceptions & Think about it...

Matt Simione is a Bay Area writer who has completed two novels, three Screenplays, and a number of short stories.