By Hannah Brown

ABOUT THE PIECE

The first time I visited Kate in San Francisco, we spent our evenings in bars filled with 70s kitsch and broken photobooths. My affinity was instant. I fell hard and fast for the wild pulse of this city. But the visits I treasure most are the softer ones spent we spent in the Sunset, spilling sunlight and coffee over breakfast. Walking towards the ocean at her last address in the Bay. A season between adolescence and adulthood that I'll always love deeply.

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I took the N line to Ocean Beach, thinking of the days we spent on Judah Street.

Light filtering through the window.
Eggs and bacon in your kitchen.
Taking Polaroids.
Green silk around your neck.
Wind whipping across sand and skin.
Thrash or die.
Giggling in front of a blue potato bush.

My god we were and are so young.

Revisiting the Sunset always feels like reading a love letter to our twenties. A place we cured heartache with ramen, over-ordered sushi for delivery and told secrets in the attic by twinkle lights.

We fell asleep to Spanish comedies and marked time with middle school anthems. Nothing could ever be as wonderful as the first taste of beer brewed with yarrow and honey. Favorite days, for always.

The Sunset is a memory home for our friendship that burns so bright through so many seasons. Across so many state lines.

I can’t wait to see where it burns brightest next.

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ARTIST:

HANNAH BROWN

Hannah Brown is a writer, artist and romantic based in Portland, Oregon. Often lost in a daydream, her childhood was spent baking scones from the Secret Garden Cookbook, stitching quilt blocks in vintage trailers, and burying her thoughts in a series of dramatic but earnest journals.

A big dreamer, she feels most alive in the desert. Watching the sun dance over the valley floor. Smelling creosote after a heavy rain. Seeing the earth crack, only to watch blooms thrive and push their way upward. You’ll often find her traveling south with her soul sister, laughing with gratitude for a life rich in friendship.