I have been doing a lot of "odd" jobs lately. Tonight I was an extra in a show filmed in San Francisco. I was cast to play a Chinese man. I went to an address on Broadway St. in San Francisco to check in. I walked in the doorway which seemed familiar. In the first room on the right were the production assistants who were checking in the extras. I handed a production assistant my passport and he started writing information on the I-9 paperwork. Next to him another production assistant was highlighting various lines on a form with a fluorescent yellow/green marker. They were complaining to each other about how many extras there were. I was handed one of the forms and proceeded to fill in the highlighted areas. I was told to hang on to it till the end of the shoot. While I was writing my name on one of the lines a costume woman asked to see my outfit which were my street clothes. I told her I also brought mustard jeans, a Pendleton shirt which boasted fall colors, and a down vest. She told me to wear the Pendleton with my grey Levi's Trucker jacket.
In the adjacent space was a craft service table and what appeared to be the remains of a crew meal. There were long tables set up with chairs and the other Chinese extras were sitting at the tables. I heard someone say to the costume woman something about "Murder in the First" to which she replied "I didn't work on that." Most of them had worked on recent films like "San Andreas", and"Steve Jobs"
I scanned the crowd and it looked like they were mostly Chinese faces. I wondered what they thought of me. A fellow Asian yet not Chinese. I had been observing Chinese people on Clement street and groups of Chinese who play card games all day in Portsmouth Square. I knew I probably couldn't clear my throat and spit but thinking about it now, maybe I should have done it. The sound editor could have edited it out if he wanted.
I scanned the room again and suddenly I realized I was in the old Mabuhay Gardens. In front of me was the stage and behind it I could see a bare wall. I had come here many times in the late 70's to see punk shows. I tried to remember the bands I saw but all I could think of was SVT and my friend Joe's band. It didn't look like there were any more rock shows held here. Now it looked like it was a big space you could rent out for parties and receptions.
An assistant told us to line up against the stage in groups of four so she could take our picture with her i phone. She was probably sending the photos to another assistant "something". One of the non Asians was given a different jacket to wear. It was in the Member's Only vein but nothing fancy on the shoulders and there were two stripes of brown and tan running down the sleeves. One of the extras who I had seen earlier eating a hot dog said "You should keep it!"
A production assistant told us to take all of our belongings because we would not be coming back here as we were going to a new holding area closer to the location. We were all stuffed in a big black van and driven to an unused restaurant space next to Portsmouth Square. I was starting to get a migraine. After all of the extras had sat down at round tables with lazy susans we were given instructions as to what we were to do. It was going to be easy.
We all walked up the street to the location near two popular bars. A second assistant director had us all line up again so he could see us and place us where he thought it looked best. I have found a lighter color will get you placed better because most people wear black jackets. I was told to stand "here" on the sidewalk which was about twenty feet from the corner of the street. A Chinese woman was placed next to me and I was supposed to use my phone as a prop. A group of about six young people gathered next to me. I realized they have must have been the stars. I have never watched the show. I thought hey looked like a bunch of random people who might have worked at an art house movie theatre. I stood there for about and hour, texted, and slyly tried to take pictures of the actors. We were sent back to the holding area again which was about a block away. When we got to the corner there was a woman holding a tray of empenadas. Some of the extras were taking them so I took one too. It was a nice warm treat after being on Grant Street.
When I got back inside of the holding area I saw on two round tables were long white boxes of empenadas. "Beef, chicken, cheese, lamb, pork..." said the hot dog eater as he read what each box held. He made his way around the table taking one of each. It was at this point a frazzled production assistant yelled "ONLY TAKE ONE!" He put some of the empendadas back and grabbed a bag of Cheetohs as he made his way back to the table.
After our break was over we went back out on Grant street "single file" and were placed again. The actors were to walk down the street away from the bar. About an hour later we were done and told to get a lunch on our way out. I turned in my paper work and went to get some food. There were roast beef, veggie, BLT, and tuna sandwiches left. They were enclosed in stackable plastic containers which I personally hate. Next to the sandwich in its own compartment was a small serving of corkscrew pasta salad. I decided to take the veggie to go. It had avocado and cheese on it.
I walked down Grant and headed toward Union Square. I passed a guy who was sleeping in a refrigerator box. It was in the doorway of an upscale shop. I put the sandwich next to a cup of water at the opening of the box. I continued walking and passed the ice rink in Union Square and then to Geary where I didn't see a bus coming so I kept walking. I wondered if my friend was bar tending tonight on Geary. At exactly the same moment as I was thinking about one friend, I saw another friend who works at the same bar walking towards me. I told him what I had been doing and then he said he may need me to buy him something at the liquor store. I was confused. He didn't have his license because he had renewed it but it hadn't been sent to him. We walked down the block to a liquor store. He grabbed a bottle of Martini Sweet Vermouth and gave me $10 to pay for it. He told me to keep the change. Once when I was in New York a teenager asked me to buy him some beer. At that time the drinking age was 19. The dude gave me the money, I went in and got the beer and a fudgesicle for myself. I gave him the beer and when he saw that I had bought a fudgesicle with the change I told him it was my payment.
As I looked down Geary I could see a bus approaching. I said goodbye to my friend and got on the bus. About fifteen minutes later I got off the bus near my house and went into the closest and most expensive market and bought a Strawberry It's It with the change from the vermouth.
