Monday, June 22, 2009

The Marina

I see two pairs of seagulls near Van Ness, with a pair on the sidewalk and a pair atop on a green recycling bin. They do an odd mating dance that I have never witnessed before. Their wings are raised and they take turns opening their mouths while the other gulls insert their beaks, then the other gulls do the same. An odd avian tango to be sure.

Then I mull this over and I realize that the very same thing happens some blocks away in the Marina District. The women, also known as "Marina Chicks," try to ply the affluent males with their wiles. The interplay can often be just as mysterious or elaborate, though the gulls certainly don't wear makeup, or have to play phone or email tag.

The result of all of them will eventually be the same; there will be plenty of posturing by both sexes, seafood will be consumed, there will be plenty of squawking by both sexes, and eventually the males will simply refuse to call upon the females.

11 comments:

Rosaria Williams said...

Wow, this rocks with plenty of allegory. Van Ness? Are you in L. A.? Was that a reference to the Marina women of Manhattan Beach who are cheerleaders the minute they get their first push-up bras?

SkylersDad said...

In the human world of courtship dancing, my moves are less than impressive.

Cormac Brown said...

Rosaria,

No, like the blog header says, I'm in the City of Saint Francis...a.k.a. "The City." Because we're pretentious enough to think that we're the only city on the West Coast that matters (I just believe that we're more cultured than most of the San Francisco Bay Area, which really isn't saying anything).

Van Ness will get you basically from Downtown to Ghiradelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf. The Urban Dictionary's definition of a Marina Chick will get you in the ballpark and former San Francisco Chronicle columnist Laurel Wellman's list of You Know You're A Marina Chick from 2002 will shed further light on them.

Sky Dad,

I've seen the pictures of your wife from the Anniversary photos, remember? Those photos suggest that your moves are more impressive than most men.

Pyzahn said...

I'm confused...are you saying the "men" are walking away BEFORE sex? Never happens.

Cormac Brown said...

Pyzahn,

That's not exactly what I said, all kinds of things can happen in regards to "squawking."

Paul D Brazill said...

Almost missed that. Smooth, in a Steely Dan way.

Cormac Brown said...

Paulie Decibels,

Thank you, sir.

Shelley Jaffe said...

If you look verrrry closely, you will notice small wristwatches on the male gulls. It is with these that they know to wait the mandatory 96 hours to call the females.

And then, the squawking.

Shelley Jaffe said...

Oh, and "we're pretentious enough to think that we're the only city on the West Coast that matters"?

Well said.

Because you know very well that WE are the only city on the West Coast that matter.

So nyah nyah.

David Cranmer said...

The odd avian tango of which you speak sounds as strange as some of our odd human tangos I've witnessed in bars around closing time.

Cormac Brown said...

Baroness,

"If you look verrrry closely, you will notice small wristwatches on the male gulls."

And here, I thought it was just some odd molting...

"Because you know very well that WE are the only city on the West Coast that matter."

Only if you are Hollywood and you are trying to simulate San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, or New York ; )

David,

The inspiration came from the fact that the PDAS were not dissimilar, of course there was an absence of alcohol. Oddly enough, yesterday there was only one gull remaining, though the same recycling bin was there.