for taxation so your interest is not their concern necessarily. we talked about the property card each property has. this building card. most clerks when you approach them and ask for that they will send you to a computer monitor so to see what they have on-line. stand firm. you want to see the source document. they'll do it if you push them to do it. >> okay. couple more resources here. >> when you find out the people that used to live in your building, you can then go to the san francisco directories and their available that public libraries and they have many many years worth of these and you can find out that lawrence fox was married to betty who was a stockbroker and

presided at 42 pacific avenue. you can find out if the owner was also occupying the building they owned so you can start to build a biography of the people that lived in your house through these city directors. >> i wanted to mention the building department has miscallaneous records of all sorts and let me just, a lon the length of letting you into the inner city secrets of records being kept. this is the unreenforced masonry building survey. we have people here on the third -- second floor that do upgrade work and we surveyed all the buildings and there's photographs and descriptions and some of it made it to the building department of records and we have soils reports.

maybe very valuable if there's a voils report of your neighborhood. i bought my house and thought it was in ma great location. but the earthquake turns out shook our neighborhood really badly. the soils reports would have shown me that and will show you that and we have maybe tens of thousands by block and lot number here on the second floor that building department. on the six floor is the housing inspection division. they have their own separate records, what they call street files for buildings three or more units and sometimes fewer occasionally if their stuck away in there they have inspection records of all the multi-family buildings in san francisco and they're suppose to go out and look at them once

every five years unfortunately, they recently cleaned the files out and we lost a lot of the day-to-day records of people. we have the summary documents but there's still quite a few. here's the secret. you look that files up there and you open it up and there's all these records and a lot of stuff you don't know sm gone, but inside the file is a pocket and inside the pock seat microfiche so, then you can request copies. how do they do that. >> there's a viewer to see, you can stick them in and see what documents are on that and if you need copies someone from housing will escort you to the micro film counter and wait your turn to get whatever prints you need. >> those are very valuable records and your goal should be

to put together that complete binder. let's see. what other information. oh, the 76 survey files upstairs. >> we have the original files and we also, i guess there are two secret things i can share. lawrence held up the binder for the unreenforced masonry building. if your buildings on there and you think it's quite snappy, we have the negatives. we also have the negatives from the 1976 survey and if you make an appointment with me and my number is up there, i can make arrangements to have enlargements of these made for you. then, the 76 survey itself was

a windshield survey that the planning department worked on with some graduate students that looked at what they felt in their served jury pool to be the representative top ten percent of the top stylist architecture so they gave us photograph and some information of the outside of the building from 1976 often thousand buildings in every part of the city. >> how do you know if yours is on that list. >> the planning department has a list of all the surveys any given property may not have background information on. you can call the planning information counter and ask that it be looked up and you

can come in and -- >> -- okay. planning information counter. 583877. best to call early in the morning and be patient. we're currently under staffed. i would call at 8 o'clock. 8 a.m. and 30 minutes after. if you call at thirty to 5 preponderance you might not get anyone. >> we're almost done. another couple of minutes. but i want to point out one of the easiest references lying around the counter. we have one on the first floor of this building and one on the six floor and the floor next door. the san francisco realty directory. if you look at this you can

find by address, on or broad rick street, the construction or type, single family dwelling, zoning code, value, block and lot. last sales date. walk up and all this information is right there so you don't even need to go to the library for that. >> that's information from the tax assessor so it should be the same information as the tax assessor. >> it's a good simple starting point. jeremy, what's that magnifying glass for that you have in your pocket. >> just because it has that

sherlock holmes thing. so much of what i do involves looking through directories and all of these map's for changes that have been made and tracking when those things were done and there are other sources in text that can be very difficult to get through but have really wonderful pieces of information. the voters rolls. the pulp directories tell you things about the fabric of the city. i had an interesting case to establish a legal dwelling unit that had to pre date a certain date with a ceiling height and it turns out a person resided at this address that was a bartender and a regular sterd socialist. the owner of the building that

lived there owned the bar and he was the current chairman of the socialist party of the city. with that city planning was willing to acknowledge the bartender lived in his bosses unit in the basement of his house. there you have it. >> amazing. we will stick around and answer questions after but we have to stop right now because the time is up and i want to thank jeremy, paul, and moses and alan and thank you all for coming and we'll see you next month. thanks.

>> this is holly lee knox. there are some proud pet owners in san francisco and they have brought all their pets here to strut their stuff. >> it's an annual event that we've had. this is our 18th year. we bring in rescue groupers, vendors, supporters, lots and lots of animals. it's a proud day for us and for the animals of san francisco. >> the costume contest is really fun. people get really creative. it's a really fun event. people go all out, create

costumes, buy costumes, whatever it is. but there's some really fun ones. >> we're just celebrating the pets and just their companionship and how they are invaluable. so everybody's having fun. >> we're the city's open door shelter. that means we take in every animal that comes through our door regardless of age, condition, species, everything in the city comes through us that is in need. >> animal care control, it is such an important agency and is very understaffed, has very few resources. but we make animals don't have a home, that we get them a home and that we don't put the animals to sleep, that we're able to adopt them out.

>> we have a huge number of volunteers who come in and they will walk our dogs, socialize our animals, play with cats, play with them, bring them to adoption events today. >> i volunteer with the animal control center and i do that every week. >> we're in an organization called friends of a.c.c. with that organization, you can donate money if you don't have time. if you do have time, you can come down to the shelter and volunteer to actually have one-on-one time with the animals. if you're like me and you don't have time to give to an animal, if you actually have one of your own, you can get your fix on the weekends, come in and pet them and love them and it's great. >> this has been pet pride 2011 brought to you by san francisco animal care and control. to find out more, visit them on the web at sfgov

>> good evening, and welcome to tonight's meeting of the commonwealth club of california, the place where you are in the know. >> you just said this is where we came in. >> is this a trick? you can find us on the internet. i am from kcbs radio. your moderator. this is part of the good lit series. now it is my pleasure to introduce our special guest today, d and alan zweibel. they need no introduction. dave barry won the pulitzer prize for his insightful and funny commons -- columns in the miami herald, which he wrote for 21 years. is the best-selling author of more than 30 bucks, none of

which has won the pulitzer prize. you may remember the tv series "and dave swirled," which was about his life. fortunately for us, his wife is running a lot longer than the tv show. he has written a show with alan zweibel. please welcome dave barry and alan zweibel. [applause] >> thank you. >> thank you for the fairly lengthy introduction. those are going to go first. i am dave. first of all, we're thrilled to be here at the commonwealth club. i want to tell you a little bit about myself. i live in miami. i moved there in 1986 from the

united states. [laughter] one of the things i always feel like i should do is to defend my city because it had a bad reputation, a bad image. the zogby does this organization -- and does this poll were they asked people about different cities. many respondents thought miami was a dangerous and violent place. that hurts. when we see that, we want to attract those people down and kill them. [laughter] it is a wonderful city, it really is. it is a question of learning to adapt to the local culture. for example, you would never say out loud in miami, i do not know, i think you have to admit that castro has done some good for cuba. [laughter] anyway, what ever you have heard, disregard. it is a great town. we have a new attitude out there. the tourism motto is to come back to miami, we were not

shooting at you. [laughter] i want to tell you quickly about my career. i have been a humor writer most of my life. i started out as a regular reporter. i worked at a little leaguer in pennsylvania called the daily local news. very small town paper. not the best edited paper. we once ran a headline that said women would be raped. [laughter] but that is where i got my start in journalism. i was not great at reporting. i was an english major and went into journalism because i wanted to write, but i learned that writing is not the key skill in journalism. talking to people is the key skill. sometimes you have to talk to people who are intimidating or hostile. good reporters are able to do that indeed there train of thought and not get flustered. i was not good at that. after i became a columnist but

was still dealing with news events, in 1982 i was in new hampshire writing columns about the new hampshire presidential primary. i spent a day following the then first lady barbara bush around. not as a stalker, but as a member of the press corps. it was a big press corps, lots of people. the motorcade of us going and around and all these dignitaries in various events. at the end of the day, mrs. bush had a press conference at a hotel ballroom. the place was packed. i was taking notes for my humor column. when i thought it was all over, the photographer brought the press corps that had been with mrs. bush up on the stage. maybe two dozen of us. they put me right next to barbara rush, first lady of the united states, for this picture. this is a situation where i know

in my mind to say nothing. i knew that in my mind. [laughter] your brain does not always tell the rest of your body what the plan is. there was kind of a quiet moment with these high-powered journalists and this room full of people. i planned to say nothing, but for some reason my mouth came open, and i said to barbara bush, first lady of the united states, who i had never met. i said, a shot at the same supermarket as your son jebb. [laughter] i swear to you. i did shop at the same supermarket but this was before he became governor of florida. but i do not think the first lady was dying to know that. i do not think she was wondering if this fellow shops it is in supermarket -- she goes, well, who gives a shit? [laughter]

not with her mouth but with her eyes. with her mouth, she said we just celebrated his birthday. i analyzed the statement. they have nothing to do with each other. she was being gracious. she has probably seen this happen in million tons. the person is reduced to a blithering idiot because she is a barbara bush. she was pretending we were having a conversation about her son. we really were not, but she was bailing me out. very thoughtful of her. i knew she was doing that. i said, thank you, mrs. bush. that is what i was thinking with my mind. but in my mouth was thinking, whoa, we're really getting it off here. i heard myself say, following up on the fascinating fact that i shot at the same supermarket as her son, i said, he is very

tall. i swear peter it is true, but i am sure the first lady was already aware of that fact. now she's looking around for the guy with the tranquilizer and dart gun. she said, he did not just grow this year. thank god. they took the picture, and it was over. i had to get the ridicule from my federal journalist on the way back to the hotel, marveling at my interviewing techniques. wondering what i would ask that lee harvey of what it i had the opportunity. they talk about spontaneous human combustion were people turn into flames and the scientists cannot explain why. i can explain why. sometimes it is your best option but don't so that really is how i became a humor writer. i was not good as a journalist. i must liro did on my own. then i ran it -- i mostly w

rote it on my own. i was in and and wrote some young adult fiction books with one of my band mates. i enjoyed the experience but i never would have thought about writing an adult kind of novel with anybody else until i met alan. i want to tell you about alan. i do not know if you realize how major he was then in the comedy world. the remember the great 19709- 1980 "saturday night live"? a lot of that was this man here. how many of you have seen "700 sundays close " with billy crystal? he co-wrote to that. how many of you have heard the song "mr. budging goals -- mr. bojanles"? he had nothing to do with that

at all. [laughter] any way, ladies and gentlemen, my co-writer -- i ask one thing of you. when we get to the questions, please, no questions or comments about the freakishly huge size of his head. ok, that is all we ask. actually, you should not look at it right now. a huge head. it is like easter island. >> it is for radio. >> doug and i are leaning to our left because of the gravitational force. but, as i say, he is sensitive about it. [laughter] let's forget right now about alan zweibel's head. ladies and gentlemen, alan zweibel. [applause]

>> you know, it is really amazing to me that i actually know dave barry and actually wrote a book with him. i remember as a 5 or 6-year-old kid, my grandfather used to read a lot of dave's stories to me. [laughter] and here i am now. how did i become a humor writer? it is ironic, the whole thing is because, originally, it was not my idea to become a comedy writer. this was a decision that was made for me about 35 years ago by every law school in the united states. [laughter] went to college. my great point average was really good, but you had to take the law boards, which was graded from 200-800. if you could write your name, you got 200.

if your einstein, you got 800. if you work alan zweibel, you got 390. that classified me as mineral. [laughter] i remember going home at easter, and i told my long island jewish parents that i got 390 on at the louisiana board. and about a week later, this was just as they uncovered the mirrors -- [laughter] my father gave me $1,000, which i then it took in gave to a man named stanley kaplan. stanley kaplan has these schools all over the country where they teach you to take standardized tests. so i gave him the $1,000. for six months, i studied it to retake the louisiana board -- the law board. six months later, i reject the test.

my score catapulted up to a 401. [laughter] i figured, at that rate, i would be about 90 before i got into an english-speaking law school. so i started writing jokes for all comedians who played in the catskill section of new york. the hotels paid me $7 a joke. that was the going rate at the time the vso 21. they are 45. it was like writing for my parents' friends. but i tried my best. they would say to me, like, a sperm banks. sperm banks are in it the news. write me sperm bank jokes. 21, this is what was the foremost on my mind. they have this new thing now called sperm banks, which is just like an ordinary bank except here after making a deposit, you lose interest. [laughter] hey, $7, what do you want?

[laughter] then i became the sperm bank guy. they would go, more sperm bank jokes. that i looked into the future. i said, i see a problem with spurring banks. they're starting to freeze sperm. that will be a problem because it is herded up telling kids and they are adopted. how do you tell them they are defrosted? [laughter] $7, ok? i am living home with my parents. this is after college. i got a job in a delicatessen to supplement this great living i was making. my price went to $10 and $12. these were nondescript comedians always driving -- writing for. i was going nowhere fast. years later, it was easier to write for guys that had characters, like rodney dangerfield. he had that thing, i do not get

no respect. it was easy to say, i never got any respect. even as an infant, my mother would not breast feed me. she said she liked me as a friend. [laughter] see, that was easy. these -- the catskills were dying. i said, ok, i am going to live with my parents forever. i am go to work in this delicatessen forever. i took these jobs that these old guys would not apply for me, and i made it into a stand-up routine for myself. there were two big clubs in new york. i will go on stage, deliver the jokes, and maybe a manager or agent, the kind of people who used to hang out there, would like my material and give me a job. this is where richard pryor started and lily tomlin and others. the first date -- the first week of was working there, i met a guy who is also starting up.

his name was billy crystal. he lived about 3 tons over from where my parents live. he had a little blue volkswagen, used to pick me up every night. drive into the city. we would get on stage, do our jobs. he would drive me home. we would critique each other's jokes and our acts. i am about four months into this nightmare, this experiment of mine. one night at about 1:00 a.m., having the hardest time in the world making these four drunks from des moines laugh. i get off the state and -- i get off the stage and go to the board videos awaiting for billy. a man sits next to me and starts staring at me. staring at me. i finally go, what, what do you want? he goes, you know, you are the worst the media i have ever seen in my life. i said, thank you, i really need to hear this right now. thank you very much. he said, but your material is good.

do you write it? i said, yes. he said, can i see more of it? i said, you bet. i even asked his name. ends up this is lorne michael, and he is going to the clubs in new york looking for writers for this new show called "saturday night live" that was going to premiere in the fall. i go home to long island and a type of what i believe for a 1100 of my best jokes. two days later, i have to go back to the city for my meeting with lorne. i was so nervous. what should i wear? well, hip new show. i will dress hip. i put on my father's marroon polyester leisure suit. i looked like a big blood clot. i looked like a big blood clot. i went to the city.