San Franciscaena

One city, two worlds: As the death of the Coexistence Bagel Shop may be said to have signaled the end of the beatnik era on Grant Ave., so the closing of the Drogstore ends what little is left of the Flower Children phase of the HaightAshbury … Owners John Hadley and Pat Patterson have padlocked the place, the scene having become “entirely impossible,” but for three years, this hamburger-and-coffee hangout was headquarters for the entire hippie scene, the place where newsmen and photographers from all over the world checked in before spreading the fable of The City With Flowers In Her Hair (how innocent it all was once) … Why Drogstore? Well, it was originally a Shumate’s drugstore; in the basement, still, are yellowing prescriptions dating back to 1900. Hadley and Patterson opened it as the Drugstore — unaware that the pun would soon become painfully appropriate — till a State official warned them they could be in trouble “unless you guys know how to fill prescriptions.” They don’t. Hence, Drogstore … Meanwhile, Hadley and Pat- terson are as far from the Hashbury as they could get, sociologically. On Front, near California, they’ve opened an attractive, excellent restaurant called the Golden Eagle (Hadley, the cook, turns out what might be the best $4.95 complete dinner in town). Once they catered to hippies. Their customers now are Brooks Brothered members of the Financial Establishment.

I say, we do have a lot of odd stories today. Over at the Athenian School in Danville, Librarian Mildred Carlock was having so much trouble with her typewriter that she called a repairman. The problem: a mouse had got stuck inside and Mildred had typed it to death ... The visiting Russian newspaper editors had a lousy time at our Press Club, thank you. Miffed to find anti-Soviet pickets at the door, they absolutely flipped inside to find that among the Club’s array of clocks telling time around the world, only one — “Moscow”—was not running. Another dark, devious, capitalist plot, they were convinced … Short-Short: The fee for St. Mary’s College’s annual “Cost of Living” symposium next week has been raised from last year’s $85 to $100.

I love our crusty Little Old Ladies, and the crustiest of the lot may be Mrs. Julia Rezek, a 70-year-old widow and native San Franciscan. When Pres. Nixon vetoed the HEW bill this week, she was so outraged she phoned the White House, got a Nixon aide on the phone and snapped: “Tell the President to go COMPLETELY to hell!” A few minutes later, she got a call from one of Mother Bell’s agents who said. “We understand you used profanity over our lines, is that correct?” “I don’t know,” said Mrs. Rezek. “I told him to go to hell.” Deciding this was not a capital offense, the phone co.’s man let her off the hook, but Mrs. Rezek, beginning to worry a little, then called the FBI here to ask: “Is telling the President to go to hell the same thing as threatening his life?” “Er ... no,” decided the FBI. The Secret Service concurred. (Now that we know for sure: go to hell!)

I hope I’m not spoiling somebody’s surprise, but the SS Rosario steamed in this week with a big bronze elephant from Nairobi, to be delivered momentarily by City Transfer to a Mr. Bing Crosby of Hillsborough … A deal to move “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well” out of the Marines Memorial and into Bimbo’s 365 should be signed any minute … Nobody asked me, but I think Jess Unruh’s attempt to make a “substantive issue” of the Reagans’ house and its landlords is a real bummer … Liberace will do a five-nighter at Masonic Aud. (April 1-5) and is threatening to wear a plastic see-through outfit — Fireproofed, hopefully. I mean, all those candles on the piano … “The Boys in the Band,” a good play that should have done better, folds Feb. 8 at the Committee Playhouse … The Indian children on Alcatraz are hooked on Ch. 8’s “Sesame Street,” as who isn’t. In fact, the rocky road to their nursery school (presided over by Charles Lavender) now bears the sign “Pathway to Sesame Street.”

Sonny Barger, Pres. of the Hell’s Angels, is entering his $17,000 customized sports coupe (basically, a Corvette) in the Nat’l Roadster Show opening Feb. 20 at Oakland Coliseum. I thought the Angels were faithful to their bikes, too, but Barger shrugs, “Well, if it’s gotta be four wheels, my job is the only way to go. Yeah, man, I had a little trouble with my insurance”… George Lemont’s wistful question: “Now that the El Prado bar is closed, where does a guy go to pick up middle-aged ladies?”… Neatly clever announcement for a double bill at a Peninsula theater: “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice B. Toklas”… Kiddie korner: Up there at Tahoe, Ray Plunkett and his wife, Joy, were talking about sex education in the schools when 10-year-old Laurie, overhearing them, suddenly blurted: “Well, I don’t want it if there’s any homework!”