ONLY IN SAN FRANCISCO

Twenty two years of writing a column about a city could be a frightful bore-but not when that city is San Francisco. Herb Caen has captured its magic- and held it for all to see. And through his pieces, selected from those columns, he has given back to all who put San Francisco first among cities, the old city, and the new. It is nostalgic, but in the right way, as he shares his memories of bits that characterize the quality, the essential flavor that is San Francisco. As he tells stories of fabulous characters, and of the chance incidents that could only happen there. Some of it is funny, some of it is sad, some of it is intensely human, and only very occasionally does he fail to spark. Let's hope the 20 line cuts live up to the sustained quality of the text. ...Again a book for pickup reading.