Crazy things happen on full-moon nights--there are more births,
more deaths, more accidents, more crimes--weird things happen.
The police, the bartenders, the doctors, they'll all tell you
stories of the craziness on full moons. In fact, on this Saturday
night in February on Chinese New Year, Gail and I were racing
around chasing the moon through Chinatown, literally running up
and down those hills with all the camera gear, a hell of a workout.
We came to the intersection, Powell & Clay. The parade was
happening a few blocks down, and here was this huge moon over
what I call the "syringe" building, 505 Montgomery,
and it was lining up right above it. Gail was waving her arms,
screaming "Rigler, Rigler look at this, get down here,"
trying to get me to hurry up. Well, there were four cable cars
backed up. One had stopped right in the middle of this intersection,
and rushing to a fire was one of those long fire trucks which
had jackknifed there as well. So, you have the cable car, the
fire truck, the cars and parade-goes trying to get through the
intersection. And here's this full moon pierced by the "syringe"
building. Gail loves to point out the street sign on the corner
that says "Don't Block the Intersection."