W-a-a-a-y back at the beginning of October, I received an email from my dear friend Macy Chadwick of In Cahoots Press. “Hey Jennie,” she wrote, “there’s a cool event happening in SF this weekend. It seems like your sort of thing — rubber stamps and passports and all.” Once I’d caught an eyeful of the SF Arts Commission website, I could say she knows me pretty well. “Passport” is a yearly event which takes participants into different neighborhoods of SF, with the common goal of filling one’s passport with artist designed stampings.
I purchased my passport on a Friday afternoon, in preparation for Sunday’s adventure. As I flipped thru the empty pages, I wondered what kind of rubber stamps would soon fill it. Then I thought about my official customs-issued US passport: both little books were approximately the same size, and the same heft when held in my hand. Both passports inspired a feeling of want within me — I had an urge to fill up every single page, whether it was with rubber stamps or travel visas. I pledged that I’d start on Sunday, with the rubber stamps part.
I had deemed Sunday “passport day”, and the weather was glorious. Herr Baron graciously agreed to take part in the shenanigans, ferrying me hither and yon via motorcycle. While most of the event’s “stamping locations” took place in central Hayes Valley, there were a few remote locales. We mapped out a plan of action, and zoomed off.
Rooky Ricardo’s Records in the lower Haight was one of my favorite stops. From the outside, this storefront is fairly unassuming; once you get inside, it’s a wonderland of vintage soul/blues vinyl. “Listening stations” are comprised of record players, headphones, and comfy chairs to sit in. It smelled like childhood to me — cardboard record sleeves and my pop’s garage. In the back was artist Jason Jagel, waiting to stamp our passport…
Mission accomplished, and on to our next destination! We checked in with artists Lordy Rodriguez (Orbit Room), Ruth Laskey (Green Arcade), and Ricardo Richey (African American Art and Culture Center) fairly quickly; it was starting to get a bit warm and we were working up a thirst! “Outerlands” taken care of, we headed back into the heart of Hayes Valley. Parking the motorbike, we hoofed it for the rest of our journey.
I’ve seen Deth Sun’s work around town for awhile now, mostly at the likes of SF Zine Fest and APE. I really love this particular image, and he seems to use that cat-without-eyes character quite a bit (which I love). The Baron and I waited in line diligently, while Seth did his thing. Oddly enough, we ran into someone who remembered us from a Christmas party in 2008 — proving yet again, SF is a city where “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” is alive and well. This would not be the first time this happened to us, throughout the course of Passport Sunday.
Over at the MAC (Modern Apparel Clothing) store, Nigel Poor had a line of people waiting to get a rubber stamped impression of Gavin Newsom’s fingerprint. Nigel’s been on my radar ever since she was artist-in-residence at the SF Center for the Book; her projects are always eloquent, beautiful, and thought-provoking.
Passport stamped! On the way to our next destination, we saw a woman with a portable, make-it-while-you-wait ice cream machine — awesome!!! (and yes, she had dry ice hidden in there somewhere!)
By this time, there were crowds of people walking through Hayes Valley; the neighborhood had turned into a street party. As mentioned, the weather was gorgeous, so that added to the festive mood. Isotope Comics kept the carnival going, with an amazing rubber stamp from Jamaica Dyer, the always-charming owner of Isotope James Sime, and a foxy 1940s-esque bartendress pouring adult bevs. Music spilled out onto the sidewalk.
Our last stop of the day was Patricia’s Green a.k.a “that little park where they always have some sort of sculpture from Burning Man”. The dapper Travis Somerville not only stamped my passport, but thumbprinted the page with inky clay he had made himself, as well as embossed the whole thing with an anti-slavery seal. Travis is my kind of people, and I made sure to tell him so.
At the end of the day, to thank the Baron for his service in the line of duty, I suggested refreshments from this fine establishment. Of course he agreed! (how could he not?)
We discussed amongst ourselves: which stamps were our favorites, which artists had made the most out of the passport concept. Would we do it again next year? (definitely.) How would we approach it differently as participants? (things went pretty smoothly!) I thought about all the people we had met and talked with throughout the day, the sights we had seen, the fact that the two of us had experienced the city in a wholly new way. All in all, I can say that the final destination of “satisfaction” was reached — I can hardly wait for next year.
–JH
11.03.10: edit — lovely reader Emilie asked me to post some images of the actual stamps in my passport — why didn’t I think of that?! D’oh. Anyway, here you go! Four of my faves-of-the-day (out of 16 total…):
This looks like it was a lot of fun. Actually it is beyond fun. 🙂 Have you heard about letterboxing? I was looking to do geocaching since I live near a park that has about 8 of them and one of them is a letterbox – you stamp their book and use their stamp to stamp your book.
http://www.letterboxing.org/
It might be old news to you so maybe I am just getting on the boat now.
Miss A. —
I -do- know about letterboxing! 🙂 It’s great fun, although I don’t do much of it anymore. There were ( and probably still are) tons of cool boxes hidden in many of the historic SF spots; I found one out at the wave organ, believe it or not!
Maybe the next time your in SF, we’ll do a picnic in the park, and hunt around for a couple boxes — who knows what kind of treasure we’d find? (Look out Emperor Norton!)
–JH
Hello,
I would love to see some more photos of the actual stamps that you got in your passport if that is possible. This looks like so much fun! What a wonderful idea. Have you ever heard about this happening in other cities?
Thanks for sharing!
Miss Emilie — that is such a great idea! I took your advice to heart and went ahead and posted some photos of the rubber stamps — take a look!
–JH
How did I miss this?????
Miss Pamela–
You know, I wouldn’t have known anything about it, if I hadn’t heard about the event via word-of-mouth. I didn’t see posters around town or hear about it at the Academy — not sure where or how one would get “in the loop” for next year. Oddly enough, I did hear about the event last year — 2009’s neighborhood was the Mission. I think I was feeling a little cash-poor (you pay 25.00 for a passport) and that was part of the reason why I talked myself out of the 2009 Passport. But I have to say, spending the money this year was totally worth it!
–JH
Man, I am going to be sure keep an ear cocked next year. Sounds great and the stamp pix you posted look great. (I am off to the PO to mail you a card now…). I will have to check out the letterboxing Catwrangler mentioned above. I am going on long walks on these beautiful SF days and photographing mail boxes and will be posting them on my blog…Miss P
Miss P. —
Sent you a postcard the other day mentioning a photo…I’m going to email you the photo itself -right now-!
(procrastination in action, and you benefit!) 🙂
–JH
I am trying again to get my photo on here….so bare? bear? with me??
Oh fun–I got the postcard you sent and hope to hear more about the piece you wrote. I posted your pc on my blog. Loved it.
Miss Jennie–Love that shot of you! Thanks for sharing. Love the red lipstick too. I am off to Tom Marioni’s tonight (maybe you know him). John Held often goes. That’s where I met him. i think we should have a postal salon ourselves…..
Ah! Marioni’s! I sometimes go, when John is bartending or storytelling…however, the next time around, we should meet up there! 🙂
–JH
PS: glad you like the pic — I’ll be posting more over here, in the near future…
I had no idea that was going on!! What a great idea. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Miss Tina — it was great good fun…perhaps next year we travel in a pack? I’ll warn you though: I’m a dedicated obtainer of the rubber stampings! Distraction (Absinthe) is allowed only after the goal has been reached. A treat-based reward system… 🙂
–JH
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Mr. James —
Thank you Isotope — you guys were fantastic hosts! It was awesome to drop by and bask in the glow of all the awesome… 🙂
–JH
This looks amazing Jennie! I went to the site and couldn’t work out if it was happening again this year. I’d love to go to this!