San Francisco Dish: Walking Wreck in Potrero Hill

Aching with hunger pangs and snubbed by a homeless person, I miss out on a lunch with 'The Screen Savers' crew that's left behind.

By Roman Loyola
May 11, 2001

While "The Screen Savers" A-team descended on Austin, Texas and got "fat with margaritas and chimichangas," those of us who didn't get to go to Austin (including Megan, Josette, Ginnie, David, and Mark) decided to descend on the Potereo Brewing Company for a lunchtime get-together.

Fifteen minutes before noon, we decided to gather and take the shuttle to TechTV's studios, which happen to be a hop, skip, and jump from the PBC. Problem was, the shuttle was jam-packed, and since I'm a big fellow who's also claustrophobic, I decided to wait for the next shuttle, by myself.

The next shuttle came, and I hopped in with another TechTV'er who I've never met. When I got to the studio and the shuttle drove away, I suddenly realized that I had no clue as to the location of the PBC relative to the studio. No big deal, I thought. I'll just go into the studio and ask around.

Clad in faded jeans, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap worn backwards, I walked into the TechTV studios, and asked the security guard if he knew where the PBC was. He had no clue. No big deal, I thought. I'll just go into the studio and check on the Web.

Begging and pleading

As I approached the doors to go into the studio, I realized that I forgot to bring my TechTV ID card with me. When I asked the guard to let me in, he asked for my ID. I did my best begging and pleading, but to no avail. That figures -- the one time that I look like a frat boy wanting to go to a brewery in the middle of the day is the same day that I forget my work ID and the guard actually asks for it.

OK, I thought, I'll just call Mark on my cell phone. Except I left my cell phone in my car.

Suddenly, this was becoming a big deal.

I've driven by the PBC a few dozens times, but I've never actually thought about where it is in relation to the studio. I decided that the restaurant was this way instead of that way, and I thought I'd ask people along the way for directions.

The first person I asked said he never heard of the place.

The second person was a homeless person who looked at me like I wanted to hurt him, like a Don out of "The Sopranos."

The third person ignored me.

The fourth person thought I was talking about a different restaurant.

Heading back

After about 30 minutes, I decided to head back to the studio and take the shuttle back to the office (the shuttle guy never asks for ID).

On my work phone, there was a message. It was Megan. "I hope you didn't get lost," she said.

I sat at my desk and laughed at myself. A flood of ideas about how I could have reached the restaurant popped into my head; if only I'd been thinking that clearly when I was ambling around earlier. Turns out that I missed out on a good time that, as Megan puts it, "easily rivals" that of the crew in Austin.

Now it's time to get back to work. Megan's getting ready to host a chat, Mark's doing content research, Darci is looking for a missing CD-R drive, and I'm trying to figure out who on the Web team is doing what.

By the way, while the Mexican food in Austin is pretty good (from what I've heard), you can find some mighty tasty Mexican treats in San Francisco's Mission district.

And you don't have to worry about executive Web producers jumping out of the darkness.

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