The Fights That Bound Us: Pat Maguire on Growing Up Irish Catholic in the Sunset

In this episode of The Sunset Connection, I talk with Pat Maguire, who opened and runs Java Beach Café with his wife, Buffy Maguire. Both Pat and Buffy are San Francisco natives with deep ties in the Outer Sunset. 

We talk about what it was really like to grow up in an Irish-Catholic family in the Outer Sunset - when the neighborhood was close-knit, rough, and far from the calm place most people know today. Pat shares what it was like coming of age here in the ’80s and ’90s: why fights broke out between kids who all knew each other, how those rivalries turned into friendships, and what it means to look back without glorifying the past.

It’s one man’s story that captures a raw, often overlooked piece of the Sunset’s identity. Check out Pat’s book, All Things Beautiful, for more of his reflections - and stay tuned for Part 2 of our conversation.

Stay Connected

📌 Listen on Buzzsprout
📷 Follow on Instagram
📘 Like us on Facebook
▶️ Watch on YouTube
✉️ Email: jessica.jasmine.ho@gmail.com

Subscribe, share, and leave a review — it helps more neighbors find the show!

The Sunset Connection — exploring the stories and histories that connect us.

Transcript

Part One With Pat Maguire

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Quick note this episode is part one of my conversation with Pat Maguire. We ended up talking for over an hour, so you'll hear the rest of the story in next week's episode. All right. Today on the Sunset Connection, I'm sitting down with someone whose name carries a lot of history here in the Sunset District. Pat Maguire. If you grew up in the Sunset, the Maguire's are one of those families everyone's heard of. The big Irish Catholic clan, rooted in faith, work, and community. Pat's story goes deep. It runs from loss and addiction to rebuilding forgiveness and finding beauty again. His new book, All Things Beautiful, is a part memoir, part tribute, especially to his late son, Kevin. So welcome, Pat, to the Sunday Connection. I'm so happy to have you as my guest today.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Thank you, Jessica. It's a pleasure to be here, and I want to thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Um, I am just really excited about interviewing you because um of not only your personal story, but the story of the family of the McGuire's and just kind of what that represents for the Sunset District, which is a huge part, and I'm so glad that we're finally kind of talking about it on this podcast because what is this as a connection without the Irish Catholics?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Correct. Right? Right, yeah.

Family First And Raising Boys

SPEAKER_01 1:26

So this is this is good. This is this is exactly the direction I want to continue is just really exploring all the facets of what the Sunset District has become in the past hundred years. And so um before we kind of go backwards in time, can you tell me about yourself now? Like what do you do and how's your like what organizations are you with? Um, tell us about Java Beach and you know what you do for Java Beach now and kind of um just an update on how things are going.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yeah, well, um my main priority above all things is my family. Uh you know, raising my boys and uh just being there for Buffy wherever I can, you know, making sure they do well in school, that um, you know, that they're thriving in sports or whatever they're into, uh, that they're just healthy and happy and seen and heard and loved.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

How old are your boys now?

French American School Choice

SPEAKER_00 2:24

So uh my youngest guy is 15, that's Dylan. Uh my middle guy is 19 years old.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Wow. Is he going to college now?

SPEAKER_00 2:34

He is. He's going to the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah, he you know, he's a basketball player and he played for International, which is a small school of 400 students. So we played in fifth division of the state, and we won the uh division five state championship for the first time in international history, and only five schools in the whole history of San Francisco in any division have ever won the state championship.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

That is amazing. So tell me more about international school. Like, where is it located? What is it like? How do people go to that school? Because I've never heard of it before.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Oh, international school is a great school. Yeah. My my children have gone to that school since they were three years old because it starts out as French American school, but we also shared the building with Chinese Americans. So there was French American, which is called FaZe, F-A-I-S, and then in the same building was Chinese American, C-A-I-S. And just this year, the Chinese American took over Mercy High School.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yeah, I saw that.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Are you guys also there?

unknown 3:42

No.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

A new spot. So where are you guys looking?

SPEAKER_00 3:44

No, we're still on Oak Street. Okay. Yeah. So French American and International High School is on Oak Street.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

In Hayes Valley.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

So tell me about the decision to attend your kids to um the French American International School.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Yeah, what a great question. Uh, and and I get I honestly get that asked a lot, you know, especially, you know, like when they when people see or hear my children speaking French and they know what they were Irish, and they're like, Well, how come your kids speak French? And it's um the the connection that we had there is uh Buffy, my wife, her father married a French woman for in the second marriage, and so Buffy has a an entire French family, and uh and they went to French American, and so we we were there. I've been with Buffy for 30 years, so I got to see her uh brother and sister grow up, and they were at French American, and it was just seemed like such this great school.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Um, and what they taught and and that they you know learned other languages.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

And uh and then we had the opportunity to uh get in there when uh my son Kevin was just I think Kevin was about four years old. He went to the lycée francais in Cortamadeira, and then a spot opened up at French American, and as soon as Kevin went in, we've been there ever since.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

That's amazing because when people said your kids go to the French school, I I immediately thought it was the Lycée Francais on Ortega.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

In the sunset district.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Yeah, a lot of people think that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

No, then that is that newer location then, or is uh no, they've been around for a while too.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

But they used to be in the Haight Ashbury.

The Maguire Clan And Community

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Oh, so they just have two locations?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Oh, interesting. Yes. Okay. Well, that's really cool. I'm glad to, you know, that you're you you're happy with the school. And so all three of your kids have gone through. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah, it's been a it's been just a incredible place. Just I'm really, really happy that uh that we chose to go there.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Yeah. I mean, I I uh I remember when they were really young, I just kind of thought, you know, that I'll send them to either Holy Name and St. Ignatius or St. Gabriel's, and we went with it, and I'm I'm really glad we did.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Yeah, I mean SI is not a cheap school, though. So, like how do but most of your family members like how do they afford to send their kids to SI?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah, well, all most of my family do pretty well. My oldest brother was in the San Francisco Fire Department and he he did well there. And he's also a a uh carpenter. He was a carpenter and a really good one for a long time, so he could always make extra money doing carpentry work and yeah, I need to you need to introduce me to him. Yeah, yeah. He uh he doesn't do much car he he just recently retired from the fire department. Yes, but I there's a lot of guys I can introduce you to because that's as you probably know, that's who a lot of Irish are were can in construction, yeah, and the trades.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, I'd love to work with you guys.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Yeah, yeah, I could introduce you to everybody. Yeah, yeah, that would be great. Yeah, and um and so and then my you know my sister works at UCSF and the radiology department. Okay, and my other brother, my brother Daniel runs the port of San Francisco Iron Workers.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Uh my sister Christiane was a sheriff.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Wow. So you guys are just everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

And you and your brothers and sisters have kids of their own now.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Our kids have kids of their own. Wow. Yeah, that um there's uh how many are you?

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Like how many people are.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Well, there's seven there's seven of us uh in my family. Yeah, and then there's uh twenty-nine uh kids.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Twenty-nine kids.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Yeah, and now the kids are having kids.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

It is.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Is it do you think you're the biggest family in the sunset?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Oh, we are.

An Open Door And Extra Kids

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Okay, yeah. Yeah, we are that's pretty large, right? Yeah, for family, like 29 plus seven plus kids. Like that's easily over 40 people. And so how do you guys get together? Like how do you guys benefit in one house? Oh like get togethers and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Well, we have to rent out halls. So we we rent out um, we often rent out uh uh Lake Merced, you know, the Lake Merced uh boat house for Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Uh yeah, we have to rent out because not only that, but uh it's not just my family, it's also the in-laws that we married into. Like my sisters married uh a set of cousins.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

So we have a whole other family.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Oh, from the sunset, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

The frosts and the crawties.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

And the crawties.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

It brings in a whole other load of people, and then so all the other in-laws that we have, uh like the Mulcreevy's and um and the Miles and uh the Baileys, and it's just we so many people, uh McPullins.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

We have uh so it just brings in a family is no longer just the McGuire's, it's like a whole list of names, really.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Yeah, and and in a weird way, it was always kind of that way um since we were little kids, that we're always more than our actual blood family. When I was 15 years old, my father passed away. And so my mother was a widow with seven kids, and she had to go back to work at Laguna Honda at nighttime. And so our house had no adult there. And um, and if my mom ever heard there was a homeless kid from the neighborhood, she would say, Go get that kid, he's living here with us. So not only did we all grow up there, but about I don't know, I'm just gonna guess, maybe 30 other kids from the neighborhood grew up at my house.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Yeah, my mom just took care of it, even if like I remember one time we she we found these two twins from um from Dublin, Ireland, uh-huh. From Ballymon. And they were living in the bushes, and um my brother brought them home. He's like, here, I'll come home, take a shower at my house. You guys don't need to be living in the bushes, and then they came for a shower and ended up staying for like 10 years.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Well, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

So how do like, yeah, I'm so curious, like, where do they stay? Are there enough rooms in the house? Like, do you build more houses? Like, how does how does that all work? Well, you guys all fit into a house.

Couches Outside And Backyard Gym

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Well, it uh there was couches and floors and bunk beds. Yes. And um I uh I had a great spot in my house. Um I live I slept on the on the hallway floor by the um by the heater. It was like a great location because I had the heater there.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

But people had to walk by you?

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Like if they had to use the restroom or something, yeah. And impact your sleep?

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yeah, matter of fact, I slept right outside the bathroom. And um, it was a great spot. Uh I fought hard for that spot.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

And it was just big, but how many bedrooms and how many bathrooms were in this house? Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

We only had uh three bedrooms.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

So three bedrooms, two bath?

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Uh eventually we build a second bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

We don't there's only one bathroom for 30 people for mo for most of our life, yeah. That's insane. Yeah. And you get guys get re I'm an only child.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

So I don't even this isn't even compute for me. Like, uh tell me more about like how you the daily life of like what that even would look like. It sounds it sounds like chaos. Like, because you have to like get ready to go to school, like you have to get the bathroom, you have to like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Like well, we once the girls started to get a little older, uh, we we built a whole um bath uh second bathroom and uh room downstairs for the girls. Um, you know, that way they didn't have to deal with us, which was nice, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

On average, how many people were in your house like on a regular basis?

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Well, for one, our door was never locked, ever. Matter of fact, if we ever locked it, my mom would get so mad she goes, Who locked that door?

SPEAKER_01 12:15

Weren't you afraid of like people breaking into your house then?

SPEAKER_00 12:18

No, matter of fact, do you remember when the Night Stalker was um was well I don't remember, but I've heard about it. Yeah, well, he was breaking into houses and and um and we put up a sign saying, Welcome, Night Stalker, meaning come on in and and it's the end of your terror. Like if he we weren't afraid of anybody. If um if someone like the Night Stalker was to walk in our house, uh it would have been bad for the Night Stalker.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Why?

From Neighborhood Gyms To Pros

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Oh, if he planned on hurting someone in front of people, yeah. Well, because there's so many of us, like we didn't grow up with that fear of lock the door, uh, who's out there? Our door was just wide open. Uh my brothers are like, you know, they're six foot three, six foot four, six foot two. Um, you know, the and you know, like my older brother John Joe, he was he he looked like a grown man when he was like 15 years old, and he he could he could bench press like 300 pounds. And that was just all that was, you know, it's like now guys they all use supplements and and steroids to like bench press something like that. He just did it naturally.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's such an interesting way of growing up. Do you think that's really impacted how you live your life?

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Oh, absolutely. We just um, I mean, in front of my house, we had couches out in front of my house and we would just sit on the couches and um They don't do that anymore though. No, we had like we had weight piles out in front of my house where we just leave the weight pile out there and we'd work out right in front of the house.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

It's a nice use of space.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

And we had uh, you know, our backyard, we we built like a little boxing ring in the back.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Heavy bags, weights. Right. So you could always um, you know, come and and that's what we would do.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Uh local gym.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah, it was a local gym. And then two two of the guys from the backyard ended up going pretty famous fighters. Really? Yeah. Um one of the kids who grew up at our house was Pat Lawler, who fought for five world titles, and he fought he fought Roberto Duran, Wilfred Benitez, John David Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Do you still keep in touch with him?

Learning To Fight Out Of Fear

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Uh I see Pat every now and then. He went down to North Beach and he he hangs around North Beach a lot. Okay. Because I think it's yeah, so Pat's down there. And then my younger brother, Daniel, he uh he also went pro and he fought uh he he won set he was seven and one as a pro, but then um started to get a lot of concussions because he was light heavyweight and they get hit really hard. And his concussions started to just kind of go into um, you know, even when he was training, he would uh get concussions, and so he was he was smart, he pulled out a seven and one, although you know he probably would have had a a title shot uh because they were already talking to him about that, and um, but he his amateur career was great. He he was the seven-time Golden Glove champion, and he won the Northern California champions a few times, and the California champions a few times, and then he fought in the nationals. And um, like even like say like Oscar De La Hoya when he was like 14 years old, he was my brother's roommate in it for the uh National Golden Gloves. So we knew Oscar since he was a little kid, but like all those guys, like anybody who was who ended up being a famous fighter, we we know them.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

So where do you guys train? Like where's are there gyms in the Sunset?

SPEAKER_00 15:57

There was that no, there was a gym. Well, we had our backyard, and that's where um you know the majority of of everybody who was the teacher, like who was the coach? Oh well, pretty much the the the best fighter out of my family was my w before before my brother Daniel and Pat Um was my cousin Jimmy Keith, and he uh he was a golden gloves fighter, and um, so he would he would just show us some skills and you know, like the proper footwork and the proper how to cut angles and combinations, and then um and then a lot of our training was just flat out sparring. We would just we would just fight. So, you know, nowadays you have to do all the training before you get in the ring, right? We just walked right in the ring and just got down to business. I think it would it it wasn't like I wanted to. It was I felt I had no choice. It just felt like I couldn't walk down the block without someone wanting to fight you back in those days.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Everyone wanted to fight each other, was that the culture?

SPEAKER_00 16:57

I think so. I think there was just a lot so many kids in the neighborhood. Like if you went down to 46 in Judah and tried to go to you know buy something at 7 Eleven. There'd be kids that are like 30 here, there'd be like 30 kids, like just like oh wow, yeah, and then somebody. Yeah, and then somebody always had something to say, right? Yeah, and then like if like you were faced with either I take this and then you know, be like a clown or or I fight. And you know, there was like Bud's ice cream on Judah Street, right across the street from um from 7-Eleven. So a lot of like troublemakers hung out there too. Like that was the thing. I wasn't really a troublemaker when I was little. I was timid, I was shy, and I would say more like afraid. I was more afraid, and I just kind of I kind of figured that leave all that fighting to the guys who are qualified, you know. It's like I thought, like, oh, like, you know, like go ahead. You want to fight, fight my older brother. He'll he'll fight you, he'll beat you up, right? Right. But what I found out is they don't want to fight the big guys, bullies don't. They want to fight the guys who they think they could beat up.

The Turning Point After Dad’s Death

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

And um, so my brother John Joger walked down the street, nobody was gonna fight him. And yeah, and um you know, but if they think they could take you on, they come for you. And then I found that out really quick that they do, and um, and then you just you had to learn how to fight, and then um it just turned into kind of a thing, and then that seems like a very oppressive way of living. Like everyone Oh, it was horrible. It was horrible.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

They used to just like fight everything.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Oh, it's absolutely horrible. That's why, you know, it's funny because a lot of people, you know, when you talk to people, they they kind of glorify that. Like, remember back in the days from this and that, and but I don't like to glorify it because it it was terrifying, really, and horrible way of life. And I would never want my children to have to live that kind of life, you know. So I would never want anybody to think that oh, that's cool or that's tough, or that's the way to go. Like, because it's uh if you have an opportunity to live a different life, so the sunset was not a safe place. Well, I don't I think the city in itself was different, you know. Like people always say, Where, you know, what gym did you learn how to fight at? I go, oh, uh the Anjuda, the 18th Slow, the 29th sunset. Like if you couldn't get on the streetcar or the bus without like some other group getting on the streetcar and wanting to fight you. And um crazy. Yeah, it was crazy. And then there was like rumbles and everything.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

How old were you when they wanted to fight you?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Like oh, like from from an early age, but um, I used to just kind of um like you could read it in my book. Like when I when these older guys tried to surround me and beat me up at Polly Ann's, I just I just chickened out. I was like, they were like, come here, get come outside, get your ass kicked. And I was like, I was just shaking. I remember my mint chocolate chip ice cream was like melting on my hand. And these guys were like, some of them were 10 years older than me. And they were like, they want to beat me up, and I was like, hey, wow, and then someone ran and got my brother John Joe, and then he chased them all down like 10 of them, one guy chased 10 of them down Norriega Street, and so like I would just like kind of chicken out or run until I uh and it wasn't until after my dad died when I kind of turned where I go, I'm not running anymore. And it's gonna be I'm just gonna learn, I'm just gonna train. And I although I never really got into like the sport of boxing, I did get into a lot of self-defense and martial arts.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Um uh just where did you learn those skills also?

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Well, yeah, I got more into kickboxing because I like to I like to use my feet.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

And and people don't expect you to uh kick them.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Oh.

Respect, Rivalries, And Making Peace

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Yeah, and um, you know, people especially if they think you're from a boxing family, all of a sudden they get kicked. It's kind of a surprise.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yeah, I can see it.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah, yeah. And so I I spent a lot of time uh training kickboxing and wrestling, and then later in life I got like after all the fights were over, and I got you like know a lot about fighting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

I didn't realize that writing your book. Yeah, well I know it was like a part of your life, but like seeing it's like actually a part of your identity.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Well, I try not to make it my identity. I try to um I want more like I think a true martial artist, um, humility should be more of my identity where I don't want to fight you. Right. I don't want to hurt you.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

That itself is identity, right? Like, you know, Bruce Lee, right? Yes, correct. Not okay, maybe Bruce Lee's a bad example, but there are people like you know, who are very good at martial arts who practice humility.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Yeah. Well, I that's it. I I think if you if you do martial arts without the spirituality of it, um uh it could be detrimental, I think. You know, uh especially like if if if you're operating from a place of fear, like I was when I was a kid when I was getting in all these fights, because look, you know, after you know, doing all my shadow work and stuff like that and and therapy, you know, I found out that I was just all that violence came from a place of fear. I was just afraid. And although like people who didn't people who knew me just thought I was like, you know, maybe a troublemaker or something like that, or you know, kid who gets in trouble. Um, but looking back on it, you know, I found the root cause, and the root cause was fear. And then I also thought that I needed to protect my younger brothers and sisters, which you read uh in the book, the the when the big kid who I was fighting, like he dropped me twice, and and I could hardly even see him. And this was right after this was 10 days after my dad died.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Wow.

Ice Rink Gauntlet And Streetcar Fights

SPEAKER_00 22:58

And on the second time he dropped me, I just wanted to lay down. I didn't even want to get up. I was like, this guy's gonna kill me if I get up. He was you know, he was massive, and he knew he also knew how to fight. It wasn't that he was big. This kid was a boxer and a wrestler, and so he was pretty talented, and um and he dropped me twice. And I remember the second time I just I wanted to say I quit. But he started to circle my little brothers and sisters and friends and look for his next target, and I remember kind of making the decision right there that I would rather die than let him hurt them. And I think it was in that moment I changed when I got back up, when I said, No, I'm not gonna let this happen. I'm gonna let my like I'd rather die than let this guy than watch this guy hurt my family. And and the funny thing is when I got back up, that's when I started to win the fight.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yeah, I um he came running at me and I I got him with a pretty clean left hook and he dropped. And that shocked, that shocked him and his friends because he he was dominating the fight. Right. Um and then and then um the first time he dropped me, he started to mock me. He started to stand above me and beat his chest, and um he he was mocking me, so that brought me, you know, like a lot of anger and shame. And so when I dropped him, I did the same thing to him. I stood above him, beat my chest, and he circled. Um, and then the second I dropped him a second time, and on that second time I did what he did to my family. I started to circle his friends, and I was like, you know, any of you want something, you know, to do this. And then that's when he uh he gave up. And um I later found out he broke both hands on my face. Both his hands were broken, and I guess that that was one reason why he wanted to quit. And that see, that's the thing about being like a fighter, is it's not just so much that you know how to fight, it's you you could also take a punch. And so um, but that kid we I ended up making friends with him down the road, and that's how a lot of the Sunset District happened. Like the guys who you fought, you ended up making friends with them, which is weird.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Well, yeah, how did that even happen? Like just one day you're like, I don't want to fight anymore, we'll be friends. Yeah, well, that doesn't sound like that sounds crazy to me, but like that's great. I'm glad that happened. Yeah, but was it because you guys were all realizing you're doing it to each other?

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Like I think I think there's some level of respect you start having for people. But for me, um, I went back down, you know, because all his friends were saying that I lost the fight. And so that's what really that's I think that's what really turned me. I was just fed up with all this, and I was like, all right, screw it, I'm gonna go fight this guy again. And I found out where he hung out, and he hung out at your market on 48th Avenue.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

What was that?

Memoir Link And Tease For Part Two

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Uh it was a little market still there, believe it or not. It's just it's called your market. Oh, yeah, it's in between Judah and Lawton.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Oh, I know what that one. Okay, yeah. That one. Okay, it's up to me.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

And so, like, kind of a lot of the hoodlums would hang out there. And um, and then down the block, too, that I also wrote about in my book was we had the San Francisco ice rink. So that was the other location that like if if you weren't um like you would get picked on there too at the ice rink, like if you didn't know how to fight. There was always like some group of kids like hanging out in front with like steel toe boots and like Ben Davis pants and turby jackets and smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. And if you if you try to like just get through them, you just wanted to go ice skating. Yeah, yeah, I did. I did.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

That seems like such a such a innocent d desire. Like, oh, I just want to go ice skating. Oh, I just want to buy something from the 7-Eleven and suddenly you just get you your whole day. Yeah, maybe your whole week, maybe your whole life is king by this fight.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

And that's where we'll leave it for now. If Pat's story resonated with you, you can read more in his new memoir, All Things Beautiful. Part personal story, part tribute to his son Kevin. I'll link it in the episode notes. Next time we'll talk about what it took to write it and how he found beauty on the other side of Lost. I'm Jessica Ho, and this is the Sunset Connection. Thanks for listening.