Max Kiesler - Web Design, SOMA San Franciso

From Under the Homeless Sky

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Monday, August 15, 2005

When I first moved to the heart of the web world in SOMA a year ago today I wasn't really thinking too much about the boom and the bust that had gone on out a few years ago. I was fresh from freelancing in New York, and as an independent had not suffered the bust. I had several contracts with bigger firms and the work just kept coming.

From my eleventh floor perch I can see Organic, Six Apart, Adaptive Path and Frog Design out my live/work loft window. When I walk outside it’s a different world. My neighborhood and most of San Francisco has a very large population of homeless. There are over 14,000 on any given day, so it’s a very common occurrence to run into a lot of homeless on a daily basis.

On my first morning in my new place I walked across the street to Lee’s Deli to grab a cup of coffee. There is a small square there with fountains, trees and places to sit. At ten in the morning the sun hits the square perfectly between the buildings, so it’s a great place for a morning cup of love.

As I was sitting there that first morning in San Francisco I noticed many cool, normal and unusual people walking past me on their morning routine. One guy really caught my eye though. As he scurried by me in his classic geek outfit, complete with: oversized brown plastic glasses; a blue blazer which didn’t match his shirt; pocket protector; and a laptop bag, he made a bee line to the building’s public ashtray. As he put on the brakes from his mad scurry, he quickly reached down into the ashtray and start filling up his laptop bag. I thought to myself, “whoa dude, watch the hardware”. Then I started to notice the context clues and realized he too was homeless. Wow a homeless geek right in the heart of SOMA.

I’ve spent most of my adult life around homeless people, and have risen from a similar place myself, but this was a new sight to me. That’s when I really realized the havoc that the bust must have been.

Over the course of the next few months I would see this guy all of the time. Checking phone booths for change, emptying the ashtrays and sleeping in the sun by the SBC building. Always a stark reminder of what could be right around the corner for any of us.

He never panhandled or spoke. This guy was on a daily mission, going from one location to the other. He was always on the same route and would check the same newspaper stands and phone booths sequentially.

One day about a month ago he disappeared, and I haven’t seen him since however, he’s never too far from my mind. I hope he’s back in the work force and I run into him at a client meeting one day.

Comments on this post

Escorts New Man  on  11/10  at  07:04 PM

Good wish. Hope he’s luckier.

:o]

Escorts New Man  on  11/10  at  07:05 PM

I mean, hope he’s luckier by now.