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What happens at the Store?
Many have said that upon entering the best pirate supply store in San Francisco, they get a sensation of déjà vu. Others walk in and feel at once the miracle work of an unseen hand. Yet there are those whose eyes bulge and shrink simultaneously while their thoughts are so convoluted that they are unable to shout or mutter the question that most plagues them: “What is this place?”
The store log is weekly account of actual events that occur in the shop, as well as testimonials, comments and complaints from our customers.
November 24, 2005
This afternoon a photographer from Stanford Magazine came in and took pictures of several of the kids who were here for tutoring. She had them dress up like pirates, and a group of them—Carlos, Teddy, and Sergio—really got into it. They posed all over the store, put on eye patches and hats, and made the photographer laugh as they pretended to be pirates. Then the boys decided to barter for the new, shiny gold coins that are in the vat. Sergio wanted to sing me a song, and his voice was so lovely, and the lyrics of the song so sweet, that I had him write down the words for me:
“I know we’ve been friends forever and know that I’m feeling something new and after all this time I open up my eyes know I see you were always with me.”
Later, another boy, named Arkangel, found a small, wooden capital R inside the vat of lard. He picked out something black, and we wiped off the lard to see what it was. Neither of us could figure out how it had gotten inside the vat, or if it had just always been there, just waiting to be found.
— Mad Ms. Wannamaker
November 16, 2005
One November afternoon, a young German boy named Niklaus visited the store with his father; they were on a “tour of California.” His father had to translate much of what I said into German for his son, who then kept exclaiming, “Ah, wunderbar!” (I secretly felt ashamed that I suddenly couldn‘t remember any of the German that I had tried to learn in college.) Niklaus's father apparently owned a company that made espresso cups and saucers, and in particular, the set with the skull and crossbones was quite popular. They had heard about the store through a friend, and being that Niklaus and his father were fascinated with pirates, they had to pay 826 a visit. Wunderbar!
They also taught Carson how to say “You are beautiful” in Deutsch.
— Mad Ms. Wannamaker
