“How bout this day huh?”

“Yeah, it’s gorgeous.”

“I don’t know if it was just me, but when I came outside today it seemed especially beautiful.”

“San Francisco can take your breath away sometimes.”

“You live in this neighborhood?”

“Yeah, for about 5 years, San Francisco in general since 1974. Fell in love with it. Came here for a family trip and had some fresh crab in Lake Tahoe and it was like ‘Ahhh, I’ve gotta be in this city’. So once I was in that in between stage between college and making a life, I packed up and came here.”

“Where are you from?”

“Denver, Co. When I first moved here I was in Russian Hill…beautiful place. Every place I’ve been in since then has gone downhill, but now I’m in a pretty good place.”

“Is that because of the way San Francisco is changing?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it go through a lot of changes and I escaped a lot because I managed to hang on to the same apartment for 25 years. Garden apartment…with A GARDEN…all to myself in the Castro. But like everyone else, especially when we get older, I got kicked out of the employment environment and couldn’t fight my way back in. 4 years ago I got evicted from the Sheriff’s dept. and was out on the streets.”

“Like homeless?”

“Yep, and then at the psych ward at general.”

“Wow, how long were you there?”

“2 weeks. Then they put me in a rehab place where I wasn’t qualified because unfortunately I don’t have any drug or alcohol problems. And then for 2 years I was in the basement of the Zen center here staying for free by cleaning their toilets. Then got to know a gentleman up the street that invited me to a unique environment that was created in the 70’s. When health activists and the republicans got together under Reagan they closed all the crazy houses. So it’s a different kind of rehab place.”

“What’s it called?”

“The Odyssey house. I was able to squeak in there because people took pity on me,  and now I’m living with schizophrenic people.”

“Are you schizophrenic?”

“No. I have depression problems and anxiety because of the experience of being evicted from my apartment but that’s it. A new roommate just moved into my room, we have to share a bedroom, so I’m taking a few hours out here.”

“That’s a lot. With all you’ve been through in the past few years, what makes you want to stay in San Francisco?”

“This is my life. Now even more because I’m dependent on the mental health services, I’ve got free health care, free meds, a cheap place to live. Now I have time on my hands so I enrolled in a web development school, and a graphic arts program. If I go anywhere else I’d have to pay more rent, and I couldn’t afford my health care services.”

“Thank you for sharing that, tell me your name again.”

“Toni…Parks. I’m the great niece of Gordon Parks.”