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Growing up in San Francisco in the 50’s, I lived for a time in the upper Castro District, where my house had a tremendous view of the city. I would sit for hours on the back porch, night after night, watching the lights of the city. The most memorable of all (other than Sputnik), were the Castro theater sign (left arrow), and the glass of beer on the top of the Hamm's Brewery (right arrow).




The theater’s sign would begin a sequence with a “C”, followed by “A”, “S”, “T”, “R”, and an “O”. It would then go dark, and then the full name “CASTRO”, would light up. Then it would go dark, and the sequence would begin again. Whenever I think of that theater and those days long ago, I hear a voice in my head that says: C-A-S-T-R-O......CASTRO.

I know the theater still exists, but I doubt its customers even romotely resemble the audience of those days, such as the one that filled the theater when I attended the showing of Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock” in ’57.




The Hamm’s Brewery sign was fascinating. From the darkness, a huge glass on top of the building would slowly fill with amber “beer” (with small bubbles and foam at the top) , remain lit for a few moments of enjoyment, and then go dark. I wonder how many times I watched that glass fill?







I found this painting of the sign atop the brewery---I’m glad somebody managed to catch the flavor of that wonderful work of art.

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