north_beach ever dumbening Sort of the San Francisco of San Francisco. I can almost hear Tony Bennett layin' it down from my rooftop, my new temporary home. The thick, angled ribbon of Columbus, with its streetside consumption of pasta and passersby, heads north to ever increasing concentrations of tourists at the Wharf (Fisherman's) and the Square (Ghiradelli) and the Pier (39), heads south past Broadway and the strippers, down into the belly of where all the beautiful people push money around the world, the men in their pressed and starched cotton shirts, the women their heels pointing up toned legs to white wool pea coats topped with smart $200 haircuts. The parrots, now documented and famous, take off in bunches—noisy like the Chinese teenagers spilling down Stockton street—flashing green with the right angle of eye/flock/sun. Another soul or two will occasionally ascend stairs, a few buildings away, joining me as rooftop conquerors if only for a minute. 071009 what's it to you? who go blather from