• an article talking about the closing of the Skin Zone, where my very favorite transsexual works. Skin Zone had the best soaps and shampoos around AND it blew bubbles outside on the sidewalk. It's the former site of Harvey Milk's camera store. (Harvey Milk was an openly gay member of the city council in the 1970s. He was assassinated.)
• my favorite modern furniture store, where we got a cool Danish wall unit is closing its doors, too. Den was located right across from San Francisco's only Independent Pirate Supply Store (which is right next door to Paxton Gate and all its fun taxidermy).
• Comic Relief, a skinny store where I sometimes go and spent too much money on DC's "Infinite Crisis" series, is also closing.

Furthermore, today Gus told me that the Hawaiian restaurant around the corner from us (Tita's) has closed. That's where I once went to pick up take-out only to have Gus find me dancing in an impromptu luau with Hawaiians and ancient white people in blue floral dresses.

When we went to go get some fish tacos for lunch we also saw that the Nancy Boy store had closed (though really it moved to Hayes Valley). Nancy Boy has been a great supporter of my water polo team. They make shampoos and soaps. Their motto is "tested on boyfriends, not animals".

The deal with the rash of closings is that it's a new year and leases are up. It was time for places to choose to close or to be forced to move. Still, I wish this sort of thing were delivered less all-at-oncely. Though if they trickled away it might be even more depressing.