I bought a used book and found a business card inside, as follows:
Ye Rose & ThistleA. "Crash" Colman, M.D.
Clarinet & Sex
1624 California Street
I am a great believer in the serendipity of used books. People stick all kinds of things in there and forget about them. Over the years I've found impassioned letters, dried flowers, ticket stubs from foreign transit systems, obscure notes scrawled in the margins. A book that's been around the block carries a story apart from its text. It's the reason Barnes & Noble feels like a nursery, while the annual library sale feels like a retirement home.
With this business card (clarinet and SEX?), my book has offered me a white rabbit of a story. A challenge.
A. "Crash" Colman.
My search begins.
So 1624 California was the Bohemia Bar and Club or Bohemia Bar and Bistro for at least the last 9 years.
It's closed now.
Here's it's storefront
It may have been open since as far back as 1995 since that's when the current owner bought it.
The building was built in 1915.
A quick googling of "Colman M.D. San Francisco" leads to this interesting character:
http://www.arthurcolman.com/
He appears to teach currently at UCSF (or at least have a practice in Sausalito). You should have Carolyn try to find out if he has office hours.
He appears to have lived in the area since the early seventies, so it's possible that Ye Rose & Thistle was at that address back before the internets.
I was a regular at Ye Rose & Thistle 1966-1969 when it was very popular. Tossed a lot of darts & drank a lot of beer!
For more info email: johnfd2@att.net
John in Atlanta