People We Meet: Max Johnson

San Francisco CA

12 April, 2021

6:16 PM

Description

By Juan Carlos Lara, Mission Local April 12, 2021 Max Johnson bought his mandolin at Mission Thrift during its closing sale. Photo by Juan Carlos Lara.Max Johnson, a Mission resident for nearly two decades, said the stretch of Bartlett Street between 21st and 22nd streets gets some of the best sunlight in the neighborhood. "Because of City College and how the buildings are all set back," said Johnson who was there on Thursday during the Mission Community Market's hours. That sunlight was part of the reason Johnson regularly visited the Revolution Cafe, and part of why he was devastated to find out the cafe recently closed. As we talked, he recognized a passerby going to the market. "What's up man?" Johnson said. "Chillin' like a villain, posted up like a lightbulb," the man replied. The semi-retired chef was at the market to pick up some green garlic, fresh spinach and gem lettuce. "I'm going to saute it with garlic, butter, salt and pepper and use it on lots of stuff, omelets, whatever, sometimes I even eat it cold," Johnson said. With a laugh, he shared that he especially likes drinking the juice that remains when he cooks lots of spinach. Before heading home, Johnson stopped on Bartlett Street to enjoy the sunshine, smoke a cigarette and play the mandolin he bought at another since-departed local business — Mission Thrift. "They were just selling everything, and it was $150, so I said why not," Johnson said. On this particular day, the 57-year-old was playing "Henry" by The New Riders of the Purple Sage, a San Francisco-based country rock band from the 1970s, and lamenting that the band's pedal steel guitarist died in February. Though Johnson's thoughts linger on relics of the past – closed businesses and songs recorded by departed musicians — the sunshine will always be there. "I'm lovin' it all out here," Johnson said. Mission Local covers San Francisco from the vantage point of the Mission, a neighborhood with all of the promise and problems of a major city. You can support Mission Local here.