This is another of Dart’s poetic letters, describing in luscious detail his tour of San Francisco by night. But first, a brief political announcement.
Dart proposed that they agree to drop any and all talk of politics in their letters. They know how the other one thinks, and it’s unfortunate that they disagree on such important things, but no good can come of writing their arguments. Dart admits to being overly sensitive and easily offended, and he fears he may say things to Dot that would hurt her feelings, too. “Letters are hardly the place to iron out such differences.”
And now, on to his liberty. He and a buddy from Case, Bob La Tourette, took in the town in perfect tourist style. They waited an hour for dinner in the popular “Omar Khayyam” restaurant, followed by a stroll through Chinatown. Dart describes it as very picturesque but not what he’d imagined. After taking in as much of the sights there as they wanted, they walked a distance to the top of California St. There, at the corner of California and Mason Streets, stands an impressive hotel called the Mark Hopkins. The glass-enclosed bar on the 18th floor is a “must-see” for tourists, so they decided to check it out. Dart had to get permission from the shore patrol to enter because he is not yet 21. Under the eagle eyes of their shore patrol “guardians,” Dart and Bob took in the sights. His description fills three pages and would whet the appetite of even the most experienced travelers. Here’s a snippet to whet yours. “Never again can there be such a perfect night in which to stargaze and moongaze from high above San Francisco (Unless you were there…). The sky was clear and so was the air, for the fog lifts after dark and the wind dies down. The net effect was a beautiful expanse of glassy water, highlighted by a wide path of silvery moonbeams which seemed to reach right up there to the big round satellite, so near we could have touched it, had the glass not been in the way.
Across the silver water stretched a graceful black spiderweb with tiny points of light in a flowing arch from blackness to blackness. …Behind the web lay a destroyer, seemingly at peace with the whole world, for what can be more peaceful than a dark boat on still water in a gentle swath of moonlight?”
He describes the twinkling cities encircling the bay with their backdrop of dark mountains. He was obviously enchanted by what he saw.
The guys went to see “Dragon Seed” and arrived back at Treasure Island in the wee hours. How he wishes Dot had been with him. Everything he saw made him wish she could be enjoying it, too.
In his PS he mentions that her airmail letters have never arrived. He wonders how many other letters have been lost. Maybe that explains some of the gaps we’ve noticed in the letters to date, since Mom asserts that she and Dad never removed any from the collection.
