AN IMAGINARY WORLD

While wandering around the top of the hill with my pipe, after a cup of coffee, it struck me that San Francisco does not have enough Dutchmen. That is to say Dutch-speaking citizens of the modern world with a few bad habits, like smoking, swilling hot beverages, sneering at rightwing putzes, and being voracious readers. With deep and broad knowledge of geography and history. Jovial sorts, but not really extroverted.
As well as very Cathollic culinary tastes.

Well, the rest of the world doesn't have that either, but that's their problem.

At one place it struck me that that location would be perfect for an Amsterdammish cafe, at another that a typical Dutch Indonesian restaurant would be perfect there. An antiquarian bookstore beside a shop with curiosities. And a "lees-cafe" next door, meaning a place that sold hot beverages, some soft drinks, a small selection of distilled products, with one or two very long well lit-tables, back issues of periodicals and scientific journals, and a wall of filled bookshelves. Also another place with tables and rattan chairs out back under an awning, with ashtrays, sheltered from prying eyes and the wind, where one could smoke one's pipe while reading the daily feuilleton.

Yes, women allowed too, of course, not just grumpy Dutchmen. But absolutely no public flirting. How couples are formed and the process that goes into that should be private.
We're not Anglos, for heaven's sake. No snogging!

Naturaly one or two small well-stocked grocery stores where one could purchase all the essentials for civilized living. Good bread. Real cheeses. A selection of sambals, atjars, and mustards. Kewpie mayonnaise (good on your frites). Chocolate milk that tastes Dutch, not chemical. A variety of bottled fruit juices, European cured meat products, jams, jellies, preserves, and totally baffling pickles. And good chocolate and marzipan.
Also pastries and Genever.

A small dense neighborhood, with the population to sustain it.


Very close to Chinatown, so we could get fresh seafood, meats, fruits, and vegetables, plus a number of other supplies. Where there are also banks, doctors offices, barber shops, and hardware stores. Also near the Italian part of town, for somethings more adventurous.

The dominant tongue would be English, of course, because we are good with languages, unlike most of the other people in this country. And we like showing off our linguistic skill.
Plus it's good for business. We're a mercantile people.



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