A surreal moment

When I first moved out to San Francisco I had a number of "surreal moments"--times where I felt odd or out of sink with the surroundings. Since then I guess I've adjusted since they have definitely dropped off. I had one today though.
I'm working from home this week, so I opted to go to the bookstore during my lunch hour. There is a series of books called "Images of America" that consist of historic photographs of neighborhoods. I found one that must have been published recently since I haven't seen it before; its on San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood (where I live) and Presidio Heights neighborhood (right next door, so to speak). Of course I bought it and immediately headed to the park to look through the pictures since it was a beautiful sunny day today. It was really a trip to look through pictures of huge, beautiful mansions built in San Francisco's boom years (1860s-1920s, with an earthquake and fire in between). A fair number of these mansions are still standing, since Van Ness was the fire line in 1906. An interesting side note: I don't think any of these mansions were built by people who made their fortune directly from gold. The builders and early owners all seem to be "captains of industry"...bankers, business owners, railroad tycoons, etc. Their homes were incredible though...kind of makes me wish I was born it that era, and as a rich white male. But then again...the health care...
My surreal moment came while I was sitting in the park (Alta plaza) and turned the page to see a photo of the park from the 1930s, including the spot I was currently sitting.
Trippy, no?

(the end)