Sushi Deli Too

The original Sushi Deli has been turned into a parking lot as a friend and I walked through old San Diego Downtown neighborhoods that have been over gentrified since living on these streets a few decades ago, even the homeless seem happier than back in the late 80's. There was many a day back then when my ex wife and yours truly would stumble out of the plasma clinic in mid daylight still hung over from the night before, broke, with our only option at the moment being our weekly trip down to the plasma donation center. Don't really remember whose idea it was to begin with, but nevertheless this ritual became part of a pattern of flight which circled the Salvation Army food depot, sperm donor medical office, and the local hipster bars where the two of us practiced freeloading off of the San Diego art crowd, intellectual high brows, and wealthy children who shuttled away into the night with their parents brand new luxury sedan, but before then all stood in awe of our ridiculous adventures throughout the city that turned into a ghost town once the 5pm friday bell struck, avenues became personal playgrounds, no one bothered us as we walked down for cigarettes and wine before the last of the local markets closed for the evening.

The trolley was about as sophisticated in the travel department as we got, in fact there was no car to speak of, I had to travel twenty miles inland to a job in the hellhole of a suburban poverty stricken, meth distributing, and whirlpool of misery outpost where most of my high school classmates made plans to either get knocked up, find a going nowhere job, or reside to cruising the main drag on the weekends trolling for underage girls whom they could tempt with wine coolers and mini truck dreams. The only food we had came from the whatever fit inside an apple box left out in the back of the grocery store I worked at back then. The idea of waiting for the bus with an enormous apple box did not feel out of the ordinary, no one ever questioned me in the hundreds of times I rode home with such a box, ocassionally a few steaks, frozen seafood and other expensive items found their way into my possession, so we ate pretty well.

But being in love, such as young lover will do, they cannot live being apart for very long which prompted me to cut my hours in half in order to spend more time in bed laying around wondering what the future had in store for the two of us.

Most of the money from the plasma center and various other endeavors gave me and the ex a bit of spending cash which we did not hesitate to apply to large meals at the Sushi Deli, drinking after donating plasma is a short cut to total anihilation, a couple drinks equalled a twelve pack after having my blood filter through a few times, the ex had to be carried home once and a while in the late afternoon, what a couple we were, falling asleep at 3:30 pm, best to get some rest if I had to work the next day or rest up for the even run at the bars down the street. Walking these San Diego downtown streets tonight brings back so many memories, every block, turn, and building is part of the story of the years the ex and myself lived here. As for the Sushi Deli Too, this place has become the new or possibly old hip hangout for twenty somethings, tourists, and the relics like myself who have had increasing trouble finding anymore of the old San Diego to roam around in, as it has been replaced with all the convenient, obvious, and unchallenging restuarants, shops, and nightclubs now dominating the regional landscape. Out of towners own this town during the summer and with good reason, the weather is much better than in most other places in the western hemisphere, which over the past decade has generated a revitalization of formerly burnt out hotels, abandoned banks, and vacant skyscrapers into a semi cosmopolitan hotbed of fun, so downtown San Diego is back, much safer to walk the streets today than decades ago, as the homeless continue to arrive by the train loads looking for their private square block to call home.

The Sushi Deli Too has a waiting list of about fourty people at the moment, a large crowd hanging outside while I head inside to get some drinks, where the alcohol of choice is sake and most of the cocktails revolve classic concoctions made with a sake twist, of course all the bartender had to do was tell me it was happy hour. Six large sake bottles and a quick tour of the cocktail menu at least twice later, I vaguely remember eating, much happier though, sort of snuck into the bar area cutting in line but tipping the bartender well has its advantages. Japanese cheers and the will to push things further led to more sake, while watching a couple of the off the menu sake based cocktails pass by, only inspired me to convince my friend to have a few more, more sushi, and the place is cheaper than anywhere else.

By this time, standing has become optional, yet their is still so much of the downtown to see, luckily it is Sunday, most of the crowds have left, no long pointless lines or dress codes or bouncers with private agendas, nothing but the streets, the panhandlers, and the nearby 7-11 which no doubt will be the last stop of the evening to acquiring binge drinking snacks and sandwhiches to send my heart into a partial stroke paralysis sometime when I sober up the next morning, until then all we need is a bar and a bit of luck.