Mrs. Roper Pub Crawl

Whenever I get sick of living in San Francisco over the years, there is usually an epiphany that reminds me of why I am happy to be here.

On a whim, I joined a Hayes Valley neighborhood event on Saturday afternoon that was organized on Facebook and billed as a Mrs. Roper Pub Crawl.

Mrs. Roper was a character on the late 1970s ABC sitcom Three's Company and and its spinoff series The Ropers. She usually dressed in outrageously colorful kaftans and chunky jewelery, and attendees to the pub crawl were encouraged to wear the same.

First stop on the pub crawl was at the outdoor Biergarten on Octavia Street, and it was easy to spot the party because the regular patrons were wearing colorless clothing.

The event was organized by Tommy Netzband, a local resident who gives the Haunted Haight Walking Tour and also arranges cruises.

The two dozen Mrs. Ropers were an unusually balanced mix of male and female, gay and straight, and all oddly interesting in individual ways. It was a good reminder of San Francisco's charm.

I did not continue with the pub crawl to the next two watering holes as two hours of strong beer was enough for me. By the way, I found the psychedelic kaftan through sheer luck at a Goodwill on Geary & Fillmore, and finally have the perfect item to wear poolside in Palm Springs. As one woman said at the Biergarten, "Why wear anything else, ever?"