Tales of San Fran, Part III

Third book of the series centring on twenty eight Barbary lane. Cataloging the lives of the friends, lovers, and neighbours of the apartment block.

“Like a lot of his friends, he made a ritual of bad-mouthing Los Angeles behind her back- her tacky sprawl, her clotted freeways, her wretched refuse yearning to breathe free….
But at times like this, on nights like this, when everyone in town seemed to own a convertible, and the warm, thick jasmine-scented air made itself felt like a hand creeping up his thigh, Michael could abandon the obvious and believe again”

“Michael moved to the edge of the dance floor and watched couples shuffling along shoulder to shoulder as they did the Cotton-Eyed Joe. There was genuine joy in this room, he realised- an exhilaration born of the unexpected. Queers doing cowboy dancing. Who would’ve thunk it? Kids who grew up in Gavelston and Tuscon and Modesto, performing the folk dances of their homeland finally, finally with the partner of their choice.
It didn’t matter, somehow, that teenagers out on the highway were screaming “faggot” at the new arrivals. Here inside, there was easily enough brotherhood to ward off the devil”.

[BGW247] 1982