Street Performers, Fisherman’s Wharf

We work as a team here on Fisherman’s Wharf. We just stand out here for a $1 a photo and we meet people from all over the world. We terrorize the tourists by welcoming them warmly as they come into our city and we give them information if they ask for it. Generally we’re just here to inspire smiles from people.

This has gone on about for the two years that we’ve been at this location. We had been working separately in different locations and we joined together about two years ago.

We work just weekends, about four hours a day. It’s all part-time for us but it’s enough to support an alternative lifestyle here in the City. We enjoy it. This is our sole occupation.

We get TV stations that come in from all over the world - Brazil, BBC, Irish TV. They’re looking for the reactions we get from tourists from places like China. Of course, when I start talking it dawns on them that I’m really a man dressed like a woman and they start screaming. About 98% of the people we see welcome us warmly and very affectionately and want to have their photo taken with us. There’s a small percentage that feel hate. It’s usually on a verbal level. Now occasionally, there have been physical attempts toward us but it usually stays on the verbal level.

We get along with the other performers working down here just fine. As long as we have a space between each other and if anybody gets any closer than that, we have to spank them. We’re territorial, and so are they.

Almost everyone we perform for is a tourist, but there are a small percentage of residents that tend to be tourists for the day. But they don’t tip.

Levee Maintainer, Dredge Barge

David Talley

I’m Captain and Head Leverman of the Mallard, a sidedraft clamshell dredge used to maintain the levees that enclose the salt ponds of San Francisco Bay.

I came here in 1988. The 200 miles of levees I’m responsible for run, starting in the East Bay, from the San Mateo Bridge all the way around the South Bay and back up to Redwood City.

My shift starts Tuesday morning and goes through Friday night. I drive down from Corning where I live, 210 miles and 3 ¼ hours away. I’m 41 years old and can retire with full benefits at 55, but I probably won’t.

The Mallard has no propulsion system whatsoever. I maneuver it by using the dredging bucket to pull me where I need to go. It’s like casting a fishing reel. The Mallard is the last wooden hull sidedraft dredge on the Bay.

My work is important for many reasons, one big one being the need to keep the salt water in the ponds from getting into the Bay. There never has been a breech, or break in the levee since I have been on board, and I mean to keep it that way.

I have to be careful of the high power lines that cross the Bay bringing Hetch Hetchy power into San Francisco. My biggest concern is the endangered wildlife I see out here. The Salt Marsh mouse lives in the pickleweed. The Clapper Rail is a chicken-like bird, the Snowy Plover looks like a bit of white foam and the Least Tern teaches their young to fish in the salt ponds. I also watch out for the harbor seal, and report what I see to Cargill management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

I live on the Mallard during the work week. It’s just the birds and me. It’s so quiet at night that I can hear the waves lapping and the boat creaking. During the day I go from pond to pond to top the levees, chopping my way through where I need to and closing up the levee behind me once I’m in.

Harbormaster, Pier 38 Marina Recreation Center

Jason Milton

I’m Harbormaster at the Pier 38 Maritime Recreation Center in San Francisco, on the Southern waterfront, between the Bay Bridge and Pac Bell Park. We’re a full-service boat storage, rental, sales and repair marina. Our goal is to be a place where people can get whatever they need to enjoy the experience of boating on San Francisco Bay, whether or not they own a boat already or even have boating experience. We’ll rent boats and offer lessons, whatever people need.

This job is a natural evolution for me. I arrived in San Francisco after an around the world cruise. I left Minnesota when I was 20. Along the way I earned my Captain’s license and started my own online yacht chartering and brokerage, www.comesailing.com.

I do whatever it takes to keep the Center operating smoothly. I’m in charge of the docks, launching equipment and all the other facilities.