Mike’s Real Estate Show

 My mother grew up on Lombard Street in San Francisco. 2nd generation Sicilian in NorthBeach. She actually “skated” down Lombard street much to my grandfather’s dismay! She played baseball with the DiMaggio brothers. Joe, Dom and he other guy. She learned to save money at an early age as the founder of  The Bank of Italy-later Bank of America- would come into her classroom and take the students pennies and nickels and enter them into each of the students savings books!  My earliest memories are wandering through the NorthBeach food stores/restaurant supply/deli’s and seeing the  scores of strange cooking tools (ravioli roller, cheese grater box, polenta pots) hanging from the ceilign while smelling the heady aroma of salami, mortedella,aged cheeses, olive oil and hearing my mother speak Sicilian and flirt with the tellers. The square in North Beach is dominated by the cathedrahl where My Aunt Marie was marriedL St. Peter and Pauls. I was in the wedding party. I was 8 years old and the ring bearer. I held this silk pillow with the two rings tied in nice bows on the pillow.  My cousin Ricky fed me a bad hamburger the night before.  I kept telling my Mom I didn’ t feel very well. She told me basically to suck it up and hang in there. In  front of a packed house in the church at my Aunt Marie’s big day, I heaved all over the lovely silk pillow and the rings!!  When I got married I walked past my Aunt and she muttered, “I don’t feel too good!”. they celebrated 50 years of marriage last summer. Armand and Marie!! Excuse me for rambling but just thinking of NorthBeach brings back a flood of great memories. Remind me to share with you my Italian grandfather’s “cooking room” he had in is Lombard Street flats. A gorgeous Mural of the fisherman of San Francisco on the wall!! He fished his entire life. He’d sit around with an old Ruffiano bottle with a glass straw extending from the cork stopper on the bottle. He hold the bottle up and squirt the wine down his throat and then say something in Sicilian!