Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Which big American city has the best (i.e., polite, non-aggressive, mentally normal but down on their luck) panhandlers? I say Chicago, but I don't have a lot of nationwide street experience.

A few years ago, a mentally ill homeless man in Houston attacked an attorney on the street near the courthouses and stole his briefcase. A local judge was waved down by the attorney, and he ended up chasing (going the wrong way on a one way street) the panhandler and shooting him three times when the panhandler attacked the judge after being asked to surrender the briefcase. The homeless man died. There were no indictments in the case.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by NotFromHere
You mean this guy?

frank

The one and only. I was hoping the article would cast some light on what "zegnatronic" means. The document does not, as it were, speak for itself. I'll have to continue to assume that it's a kind of house music.

[c2ed]

Originally posted by NotFromHere
You mean this guy?

frank

Edited to add, he's not homeless, he's just street people.

I was wondering who he was. About 3 weeks ago he was walking on the Embarcardero (and had slightly changed his sign again) and demanding of passers-by whether they were involved in the dermagoglical invasion of television and the minds of the young milognolauts. I declined to reply to his query, as I didn't have a fucking clue as to what he meant and have enough wackjobs in my life to deal with already.

A street guy came up to me yesterday when I was stopped at a traffic light (on my bicycle) and told me with great sincerity that I looked exactly like the redhead in Sex and the City.

Don't know if he was hitting me up or just wanted a buck, and I have never seen the show so I couldn't tell if it was a compliment . . . .

Thanked him anyway. It was the nicest panhandle I have ever received.

Originally posted by Threads
A street guy came up to me yesterday when I was stopped at a traffic light (on my bicycle) and told me with great sincerity that I looked exactly like the redhead in Sex and the City.

Don't know if he was hitting me up or just wanted a buck, and I have never seen the show so I couldn't tell if it was a compliment . . . .

Thanked him anyway. It was the nicest panhandle I have ever received.

Except that it wasnt a compliment.

Originally posted by paigowprincess
Except that it wasnt a compliment.

Good thing I didn't part with any cash, then.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Austintatious
My fair city has a famous panhandler, Leslie Cochran, who works a corner at Sixth & Congress in a thong bikini and heels. He easily has the best legs in town, and runs for mayor from time to time.

We have a Killer* Transvestite that used to do fairly well in the internal Democratic Party elections. She and her mother left the party in a huff in 2000 or so citing "family values." I do not think that they're doing as well in the GOP.


*I think it's only fair to Ms. Perez nee Mr. Ashley to clarify that the murder and subsequent pardon happened before the sex-change operation.

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Which big American city has the best (i.e., polite, non-aggressive, mentally normal but down on their luck) panhandlers? I say Chicago, but I don't have a lot of nationwide street experience.

Not to be a homer, because this is not exactly a proud title for a city to have, but in my travels I would agree that Chicago has some of the most docile and creative street folk. We have our share of the aggressive types, but it seems the city takes a more "No nonsense" approach here... They still try to get them help, but won't put up with aggressive behavior.

While I encounter maybe 3-5 a day here around the Loop, I do have to say I was shocked at the scope of the problem in certain cities in more moderate climates, like San Francisco, where I'd see more than that on one block... Philosophical differences on how to deal with the problem probably accounts for a lot of that. Being more charitable sometimes causes more problems than it worth, I guess.

Two of my favorites here are the guy who wears a sandwich board claiming Hart Schaffner and Marx (HQ'd here) did something to him in some vast global conspiracy. He's very punctual as I seem to pass him getting of the L at the same station at the same time most mornings on his way to his post outside HSM...

The other is the Hi Guy. Not sure if he falls into the "homeless" category, but he basically walks around the downtown area with a propeller beanie on his head carrying a sign that says "Hi". That's it. Doesn't hit anybody up for anything, as far as I know.

[Who's Your Puft Daddy?]

Honesty and/or creativity ought to count for something. If a homeless guy standing outside a liquor store asks for a buck to help him buy his next quart of Colt 45, I'm good with that. And every once in a while there's a good story.

But the woman who needs money for the bus home (despite working the same block forever) and the street kids who aren't really grungy enough to be for-sure homeless and who have nothing better than "spare some change?" or "gimme some change", they get nada.

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
The one and only. I was hoping the article would cast some light on what "zegnatronic" means. The document does not, as it were, speak for itself. I'll have to continue to assume that it's a kind of house music.

Or something to do with the venerable fashion family??

www.zegna.com

There's a guy in downtown Houston who spends a lot of time in the county buildings handing out little cards that say (in detail) that he is the real president of the US and his rightful position has been taken from him by a great conspiracy, etc. Can't remember what he calls himself, but it's something like His Highness, President Jones. Haven't seen him in a while, though, but I know he bathes in the county library men's room because I know someone who walked in on the guy standing there buck nekkid (The President, not the friend - that would be different).

The homeless problem here is pretty bad and no one really seems to care. I have given food to people who look like they needed it and they took it with gratitude. I don't give money out as a rule, especially to people giving me the "I need $5.00 for gas/bus fare to get home" bit - except once when the woman appeared to be in labor. If she wasn't, they deserved the money for the show.

And while we're talking about begging - there is an awful lot of people sending their middle-class kids out (sports teams, church clubs, etc) out in heavy traffic begging for money to go on a trip (or whatever). You know what? If you want my money, you better learn to wash a car or sell some baked goods to earn it, because begging isn't cutting it, baby.

-TL

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
The one and only. I was hoping the article would cast some light on what "zegnatronic" means. The document does not, as it were, speak for itself. I'll have to continue to assume that it's a kind of house music.

Does he still have Rasputin Music ad on the back of his sign?

Seattle has a "no aggressive pan handling" law that was enacted a few years ago when the economy was previously in the tank and tourists (and locals) bitched that the panhandlers were not only asking for $, but being obnoxious about it. You can arrest those people. There is also a "no loitering" law, so if you want to panhandle, you gotta be standing. If you're sitting or laying down, that'll get you tossed into the city facility. Reason for that was that people were using puppies and kitties to help their cause (which was cruel to the animals forced to live without food while their caretaker drank thunderbird). It allowed the city to put the animals into adoptive homes.

So, if you're in Seattle, you won't find anyone sitting down on the job. Unlike SF, where most of those guys are sitting at the top of the steps of the Bart.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by TexLex
There's a guy in downtown Houston who spends a lot of time in the county buildings handing out little cards that say (in detail) that he is the real president of the US and his rightful position has been taken from him by a great conspiracy, etc.

When did Al Gore lose his house and move to Houston?

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Aloha Mr. Learned Hand
Or something to do with the venerable fashion family??

www.zegna.com

Based on the distinctly Jos. A. Bank quality of his haberdashery, I would suppose not. But my guess was an even more distant possibility --- that it was a misspelling of zeugma. His use of big, made up words caused me think he might have been a rhetoric major at Cal.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Aloha Mr. Learned Hand

Two of my favorites here are the guy who wears a sandwich board claiming Hart Schaffner and Marx (HQ'd here) did something to him in some vast global conspiracy.

Did his sandwich board previously say something about Al Gore being abducted by aliens and replaced by a robot? I LOVE that guy.