Has anyone else around Midtown encountered Chainman? A.K.A. Chainguy? A.K.A. Chaindude (I hear he is called that around the Beach Hut Deli)?
For those of you whom have not had the pleasure, Chainman is a fairly normal looking guy, although his style is a little Venice Beach for Sacto. Normal, except for the two chains wrapped around his fists. He prefers chains with thin torus-shaped links and a stainless-steel veneer. They each appear to be 6 feet in length. I wonder what his deal is with those chains.
He jangles as he walks. Usually, before seeing Chainman, you hear him. Down the street. Around the corner. Tonight, it was a few aisles over at Safeway. I was getting some Kefir and heard the distinctive chink-chink-chink somewhere near the “lunch” aisle. Spooky. (Sidenote – Is anyone else bugged by the crappy reorganize of the S Street Safeway?)
I was a little spooked. Then I giggled. Then, I hoped I didn’t have an encounter with Chainman while giggling, for that would be tough to explain, so I got spooked again.
Keep an ear out for Chainman.
The Sac Rag 
ah yes, josh (or as he usually prefers chucky). Good guy. When I first saw him around the neighborhood I wasnt sure what to think, but he’s a good guy. The neighbors call him the ghost of christmas past lol. And I believe he’s around cause his dad lives in the neighborhood as well.
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I see him around all the time. I’m all in favor of more Venice Beach in Midtown. We used to have more central city characters, but over the years many of them have been lost: William the guy with wire/tinfoil art stuck all over his bicycle and an ever-present Army helmet, the inimitable and incomprehensible Bobby Burns, Crazy Mary, the advice guy who used to live in Maydestone, and so on.
We’ve still got a few: I still see the opera lady strolling majestically through Midtown, Downtown James Brown, the hardest-working man on J Street, still struts his stuff near the Fox & Goose on weekends, and so on.
While some might be unnerved by the chain guy, (or josh, or chucky) I’m glad to have occasional reminders that we’re not in the suburbs anymore, Toto. I see him often enough where he usually says “hi.”
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Winko
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I live by S Street Safeway, and see the chain guy all the time. Glad to hear he has a name. For some reason that makes him seem somewhat less likely to beat me down with his chains. Not sure why having a name should make a difference. I’m sure lots of guys with names beat people down with chains. In fact it’d probably be a real challenge to find someone with no name beating someone with a chain.
Hey Burg, you ever think maybe you and I have little nicknames and are downtown characters to someone? Tee hee. It’s probably so.
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“William the guy with wire/tinfoil art stuck all over his bicycle and an ever-present Army helmet” I miss him. I used to see him all the time back in Highschool.
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I’ve never seen Chainman but was happy to see the Alhambra Safeway Santa back in the parking lot yesterday. He has been missing for a few weeks.
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Winko Ljizz counts as a “personality,” but not quite the same as a delightful neighborhood crazy. They do seem to be more prevalent as one heads south: from my time living in the Boulevard Park/Marshall School area, the closest such figure was an old guy who wore a baseball cap with a plastic fish stuck through it, and another old guy who would walk around with a half-full water bottle balanced on top of his bald head.
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you guys do have nicnames: wburg is “Mister Really Specific Corrector Guy” and KLJ is “Ho hum I just hosted the Sammies last night but I’m all commenting on the Sac Rag like it’s no biggie guy” … I didn’t make up the nicknames
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Who is the moderately crazy looking fixture at the 19th street Peet’s? I believe he is Eastern European. Anyone know his story?
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What can I say? I dig the details! Perhaps in the 2040s I’ll still be shuffling around Midtown, shouting obscure details at invisible enemies and smelling like pee, passing Keith in his tattered banana suit on my way to the bookstore…or at least to the high-rise condo where the bookstore was, where I can rail to an uncaring sky about how the damn bay areans are ruining this town.
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I did mention sacrag from the sammies stage. In fact I promised that you’d have photos of the mess resulting from Ben’s Budweiser float.
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thanks for holding up your end of the bargain. now it’s our turn. to that end: who is Ben, what is his Budweiser float, and what mess resulted from it, and do you know anybody who has photos of that?
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Ben= Cohost
Bud Float= One can of Bud, two scoops of Vic’s Ice Cream
Mess Photos= nonexistent, get photoshopping.
But really, use the space for something better. It was a quick and poor adlib to get your name out there during the Thank The Sponsors segment (Bud and Vic’s both sponsored the event.)
Please use any space you’d give up for said mess to a worthy charity, like Boobs for Rubes.
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