The Panhandle

Letter from San Francisco:
It was one of those very rare April mornings in San Francisco–clear and warm, the city just begging to be walked. So up through The Panhandle I wandered, towards Golden Gate Park. And here’s what surprised me: The odd shoes and hats along Fell Street, abandoned on the sidewalk as if their owners had simply stepped out of them and continued on barefoot. Not trash shoes or shoes that had been thrown away, mind you, but glittering silver pumps and near-new black Nike running shoes and even a pair of well-polished Italian loafers. Just sitting on the sidewalk like abandoned puppies. Where did they come from?