Friday, December 12, 2008

King Arthur


Art Bowden, my former neighbor on Bassett Place and the founder of King Arthur's Pasties.

From the looks of the hill and the houses, this is when Art brought pasties to the masses in San Francisco.

The King Arthur's location near Atwood Stadium is pictured to the left.

Both photos are courtesy of Flintstoner80.


4 comments:

  1. I believe that is 43rd and Point Lobos in SF (right, Flintstoner80?). My dad came out in 1977 or '78 to continue the pasty empire.

    If my father only had a computer to see how his legacy continues on Flint Expatriates. Thanks, Gordie for keeping it alive. King Arthur's certainly was an important part of my life. My dad recently gave me the old pasty making machine so the tradition can continue in our family. But I swear, I will never go into business as it would be his wish.
    Lori

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  2. I sure ate a lot of those in my day.

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  3. Pasties in San Francisco?!? I have a hard time envisioning a bunch of hippies munching on King Beefs while watching the sunset over the Pacific. Even the vegetarian pasties use lard. Can one even purchase rutabagas in Cali? The mind reels.

    Gotta hand it to King Art for trying to introduce real culture to those posers by the bay... uh... or maybe he made "fusion" pasties- y'know perhaps a Foie Gras Wasabi Pine Nut Pastie or a Sriracha Escargot Millet Dough Pastie. Hearty enough to satisfy even the hungriest pot smoking, commie, limousine liberal.

    There were a few other pastie shops in town, but the only ones left are on Ballenger and in GB. I think Joe and Verna sold the KA franchise years ago to a former employee.

    Kudos to Art Bowden for introducing the pastie to hungry Flintoids. I always thought the pastie was a better example of regional cuisine than the blasted coney dog or Big John.

    If it wasn't for the lard I'd be two-fisting a couple of veggie pasties right now. Call 'em Cornish handcuffs.

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  4. I've got the King sittin' right here next to me in the Bay area (cuz he's my dad), and he'd like to thank the "Vürstside Varlord" for his commentary on bringing "pasties" to the Flintoids. The comments on pasties at his shop in San Francisco, however, need clarification. Lard was not used under his tenure in the product after the late '70's. AND the vegetarian pasty ( note the corrected spelling of a single encrusted turnover) NEVER contained LARD! (Canola oil was used in its stead)

    Cheerio from King Art
    (and his daughter)

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.