As I mentioned here recently, a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of goofing around with Chris Christensen from the Amateur Traveler podcast.

I hadn't really known what aspect of San Francisco we were going to talk about, but the result was a spontaneous guided tour of the western and northern edges of the city -- from the Great Highway to the Marina.

It was great fun to gossip about Our Favourite City while the tape rolled (extemporaneously for a change), but the real reason I'm bringing this up again is this:

Chris has just posted a complete transcript online.

This is perfect for those of you who take stuff in through the eyes better than the ear -- drop by, have a little read, and feel free leave him a comment!

In which I am interviewed by the capable Chris Christensen of the Amateur Traveler podcast -- a wonderful show devoted to travel and travel stories from around the globe.

It was great fun, with graveyards, greasy spoons, and "houses of ill repute" somehow working their way into the conversation -- not to mention Alma Spreckels, Diego Rivera, chantey singing, Louie's Restaurant, the Wave Organ, and more ...

I pretty much just let the stream of consciousness flow, describing my usual cock-eyed plan for showing visitors around the City. The result? A loosely structured aural tour of north-western San Francisco, starting on the Great Highway, wrapping around Land's End, and running out of time somewhere in the Marina District.

I have to admit that -- given my tendency for excited babbling about my favourite subject -- I listened to the final result with some trepidation, but Chris is a very good interviewer. You can hear how well he moderates the flow with well-placed questions, comments, and (thank goodness) excellent final-cut editing.

Give it a listen here.

Apparently yours truly is the go-to source on non-conformity in historical San Francisco. That's the way the SFWeekly is leaning, in any case. An hour of phone-schmoozing with intrepid reporter Lauren Smiley resulted in the following introduction to story about modern-day San Francisco kooks and characters:

In the beginning of our city's love affair with odd ducks, there was Emperor Norton. A businessman in Gold Rush San Francisco who lost his pants on an investment in Peruvian rice, he re-emerged as a grand character of his own invention: "Emperor of These United States" and "Protector of Mexico." He waltzed about town in a secondhand military uniform while newspapers printed his official edicts without caveat and establishments honored his fake currency.

If Los Angeles lionizes its celebrities, San Francisco has always embraced, or at least tolerated, its homegrown eccentrics. "I can't imagine any other city in the world where [Emperor Norton] could have become what he became with the acceptance of the city," says Richard Miller, an armchair historian who creates podcasts on San Francisco legends for his Web site, Sparkletack. "Some say all the loose nuts rolled west ... people who hadn't made it elsewhere, or just different from the average bears."

Take a look at the rest of the SFWeekly's article, and not just because of that little quote -- Lauren hits the high spots from the Brown Twins (who refused to be interviews by the Weekly without cash on the barrelhead) to Frank Chu (who could not be contained). The premise of the story is that there's still hope for San Francisco ... and I hope she's right.