Joy of Shopping

The only thing left to do was to make sure that people from the Marina would actually come. So on a recent Friday night, Al -- wearing a tie and dress shirt for the occasion -- and six of his best friends climbed into a Volkswagen Westfalia bus (piloted, of course, by a designated driver) and chugged four miles across town to spread the word. With cans of Lone Star malt beverage in one hand, Al and friends offered flyers to a variety of Marina bar hoppers and passersby with the other, many of whom seemed puzzled. "Here, literate people, come check this out," Al said. "Everyone likes to drink."

"No!" a pony-tailed blonde said emphatically. "No, I don't want any propaganda!"

She skimmed the proffered flyer, anyway. "Oh, I totally pre-judged," she muttered.

Nearby, a well-coifed man with a cigar and leather coat was entirely unintimidated. "Aw, man, Marina people can out-drink you guys any day," he sneered. "Dude, we drink seven nights a week, and we get up for work. Hey, there aren't going to be any homeless people there, are there? I can't stand homeless people."

Pit stops were made at bars. Flyers were distributed. Drink was imbibed. At a sports establishment, Al's sister, P.K., was challenged to an arm-wrestling match, which she won. Jillian (Al's roommate's ex-girlfriend) mooned the crowd at a bar too cool to have an outdoor sign. The Mission crew took over a nightclub with messy, arm-flailing dance moves that forced the Marina crowd to the sidelines.

After several hours, the group returned to familiar grounds -- the hipster bars on Sixth Street, where Al drank jangle with some homeless guys on the curb.

"In the Mission, there's a lot of people who are considered 'open-minded,' but they won't talk to Marina people," Al says, suddenly waxing philosophical. "And that's just as close-minded as Marina people can be. I just want to make our neighborhoods get together for once. Because it's not our city, and it's not their city; it's [all] our city.

"I'm sure I sound like some Communist hippie, but we got to get along somehow."

-- Bernice Yeung

The 2002 San Francisco Drinking Games take place on July 13, 2002, from 1 to 7 p.m. at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park.