There is a curve on the freeway running through San Francisco linking 280 North to 101 South. Some 20 years back, I was having breakfast one early morning in my usual diner. The early morning crew from a tow truck company hung out there, and we were all in the habit of gossiping through breakfast. The topic came up of an apartment building with a particular apartment with 2 huge windows level with the curve and visible for virtually the full extent of the turn. Anyway, the entire bunch tried to convince me that there was a woman who paraded around that apartment without a stitch day & night. I said “bullshit” because I was on that curve frequently as a matter of course, and had NEVER seen such a thing. Within 2 days, the wife and I were approaching the curve, when I remembered the legend. The curve was coming up fast, and I yelled “look at the apartment building!” The wife jolted while
scolding me, but I wasn’t paying attention, because sure enough there was the building with every window draped or blinded—except two gaping floor to ceiling windows side by side dead center of the building and level with the freeway. The wife was nagging “watch the road”, and I shifted my gaze to the freeway, as the windows slid away her neck swiveled to follow as she scolded “what are you loo..” and stopped mid word. I had missed the show, but she had a glimpse of something she couldn’t convince herself she’d seen. I told her the breakfast gossip, and neither of us ever hit that curve again without giving those windows our attention. We saw the woman on parade frequently over a period of at least 3 years, and eagerly referred the exhibit to any passengers along for the ride. Then one sad day, the blinds arrived, and another San Francisco tradition disappeared.