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San Francisco
literary figure Herb Gold can barely contain his anguish as he
surveys the newly renovated Union Square
on its opening day, July 25, 2002. Gold's reaction to the industrial design
stands in contrast to the sensibilities of his father. As depicted in
Gold's 1967 novel "Fathers," Sam Gold comes to San Francisco from Cleveland
to visit his son on Russian Hill. The elder Gold stands before an extraordinary
view of rooftops, Telegraph Hill, and the bay but he longs for the smokestacks
of his own hometown. Evidently, Mr. Gold had left his heart in Cleveland,
which Herb has described as "the Paris of Northeastern Ohio." Gold has
seen San Francisco shed its skin a dozen times since he came here in 1960.
His 1990 book of essays, "Travels in San Francisco" is superb. In 1993's
Bohemia, Gold says our own vie de Bohème is gone. However,
Gold writes, "Bohemia still exists for those who are possessed of the
need to seize the day or plan the future or regret the past, all stubbornly
devoted to demonstrating that life really is what good sense tells us
it is not." Gold is prolific and always has several titles in print
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