Well, it’s come to this – L.A. style gridlock on the upper part Masonic Street in San Francisco. Why? It’s all to do with the Masonic Trader Joe’s near Geary Boulvard. Drivers seem to feel there’s no trouble at all with queuing up in their idling Toyotas, Hondas, and Subarus. So, this is what it looks like when the wait begins 600 freaking feet away from the precious parking spaces and neighboring Euclid Street starts to get blocked up.
A few of these drivers don’t realize that they’re in the official wait-to-get-into-TJ‘s line because they can’t see over the crest of the hill. Too bad. But could there be changes coming to Masonic?
Cheer up, your space is only 200 yards away. What’s your coping strategy – do you leave your car in Drive and just press down your brake pedal for 15 minutes or do you put it into Park then Drive then Park then Drive…? Each method has its charms, of course. Click to expand:
What’s the solution? Will we get another TJ’s at the old Mervyn’s space down the hill? Not likely. Should you just try to find a parking meter sort of nearby? Sure, why not. Or just line up and wait patiently like everybody else.
These are the troubles you face when your favorite store in the whole world is just too darn popular. Amuse yourself by singing along in your car:
It’s milk, it’s bread
It’s the stuff on your list
It’s the strange little snacks
you end up buying instead.
It’s booze, it’s nuts
it’s pills, it’s peas
it’s the peanut butter made of sunflower seeds
It’s a box of soup
It’s a bell from a boat
It’s yogurt made from the milk of a goat
A bottle of juice with a crazy name
ten kinds of soy milk that all taste the same
a two dollar wine that tastes like four
all your favorite stuff they don’t have anymore
It’s the cashews flavored with chili and lime
It’s the bunch of bananas you buy one at a time
It’s the stuff that’s organic and the stuff that’s not
It’s the cars that won’t fit in the parking lot
Are you still reading? More after the jump.
It’s the bottled water they keep by the door
It’s the ginger soy dressing they don’t have anymore
A snort, a sniff
a gourd, a snack
It’s the apple juice that’s addictive as crack
It’s cilantro pizza
it’s organic lox
four fuji apples in a plastic box
It’s all the new products that come and go
the exact same sample five days in a row
It’s mint flavored dog food
it’s an ear from a pig
it’s your morning coffee in a cup this big
a handle that rips on a paper sack
That checker you like
who’ll never be back
It’s the plastic grapes hanging over the wine
It’s the guy with twelve items in the ten-item line
the electronic field that stops your cart
the blackboards covered with employee art
It’s a ball of ice cream that’s covered with flour
It’s the shelves that are empty by the dinner hour
It’s the beautiful moms in their yoga clothes
It’s our favorite place, it’s that store Trader Joe’s.
It’s the cage-free eggs that aren’t free range
It’s the canned corn label that they never change
It’s the cereal shaped like a little man
It’s those great tomatoes, for just a dollar a can
It’s five different flavors of lemonade
It’s dried bull penises done up in a braid
It’s the organic sugar that just won’t pour
It’s the aged gouda cheese they don’t have anymore
It’s cylindrical salmon
It’s pills that fizz
It’s aloe chunk juice, whatever that is
It’s the information that nobody reads
It’s a small watermelon without any seeds
It’s the oldies music they always play
It’s the guy who says, “Put that camera away!”
It’s the workers who smoke in the back of the store
It’s that guy Trader Joe, who’s not there anymore
It’s the manager who asks you to go
It’s our favorite place, it’s that store Trader Joe’s
From Carl Willet of Carl’s Fine Films
Mike Bates, Harley Jessup, Eli Hollander, Enrique Coria (guitar), David Lisle (piano), McKell Smith, Craig Helmholz, Crescendo Studios, Rachel Hanson, Alessandro De Sogos, Don Smith, Scott Shell, Kacie Ratner, Susan Woolley, Libby Bass, Christina Landman, Tanya Lumbi, Joan Willat, Lucia Pastierovikova, Whitney Dobransky, Dave Thomas, Julia Ward and all other voluntary and involuntary participants.
Tags: +3, Aguas de Marco, Antonio, ave, avenure, bike plan, blvd., boulevard, Carlos, cars, geary, Jobim, lot, masonic, park, parking, San Francisco, song, tjs, trader joes, traffic, Waiting
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on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
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these people are ridiculous. i just park across from tj’s on masonic evertime, get i and out before half the cars in that line even move.
And don’t forget: if you pull your car up so that it’s blocking the sidewalk, it will make your wait that much shorter. Pedestrians? Never heard of such a thing on Masonic!
a much better solution: go to TJ’s stonestown
It’s Masonic Boulevard
Fair enough, but Google Maps and Thomas Bros. both have it down as an avenue the whole distance….