Serving Bread

A couple days ago, Rhoda and I excitedly went up to “The City” (San Francisco for all of you non-Northern California folk) to visit the FAO Schwartz store by Union Square. This is an exciting time to be in San Francisco, as the square is transformed to host the holiday spirit. We walked around the square looking for the toy store, which we recalled to be off one of its corners.

After walking the perimeter once and having not seen it, we asked someone for directions, only to be told that the store has been shut down for two years. That depressed me more than having had to pay $14 for 3 hours of parking. When I got home, I did a little research, and found out that the toy store (made famous in the Tom Hanks classic movie ‘Big’) has been sold and bankrupt (twice in 2003). There are two stores still open–New York and Las Vegas.

The store used to have everything a kid would want. It was a fantastic place to play (of course, the floor piano would always be a staple of a visit). So we settled for dinner in the city, and then made our way to a popular suburban chain toy store that pales in comparison.