Mel Lipman calls that football team across the bay the Oakland Faders . . . Tinker Pinsky of Saratoga, whose name is hard to resist, shopped at a thrift store run by some church ladies and found an ashtray that looked familiar. She'd made it in the 5th grade as a holiday gift for her mother. Don't phone to thank somebody for a present. Write a note.
People get too many phone calls as it is, and sometimes at inconvenient times . . .
The place has been there since the 1920s and is yet another victim of creeping Walgreenism. Its final owner, Cliff Wong, sold his clients' list to Safeway at 16th and Potrero and will work there as a pharmacist . . . On the other hand, there are a Walgreen's and a Merrill's next to each other on Market at Fourth. Wed. as a self-described blind man phoned in to say he'd gone into a dept. Hoping you are the same, Merry Christmas.