Drugs + BBQ = Sign of the Times

As a fan of Southern-style BBQ, I’ve been very grateful for the arrival of Baby Blues BBQ in San Francisco on the corner of Mission Street and Precita Avenue, just south of Cesar Chavez Blvd.

Mmmmmmmmm.

As a neighbor of Baby Blues, I’m also grateful that they restored some of the neon signage from the former Rexall drug store that occupied the space until 1998. It’s so great to see the sign illuminated again, and the neon Drugs + BBQ combination suggested by the current facade reads like a recipe from the Ken Kesey Cookbook.

I also appreciate the fact that if you stand in just the right spot on Mission Street, two of the signs from the former drugstore form a crossword:

Lastly, as if all these mixed-up layers of history need additional seasoning, I like how this photo from the Online Archive of California shows the same building (visible on the far right) as it looked back in 1927, when Disernia’s Pharmacy first opened for business:

photos by Todd Lappin (Telstar Logistics) & Online Archive of California (OAC)