Watering the Greyhound Garden: Stories from the Streets of San Francisco

Warren B Smith recounts his job as a Travellers Aid social worker at the San Francisco Greyhound Bus Terminal. In fifty-one heartfelt stories, Smith describes some of the many people he encountered at the depot and on the streets of San Francisco. Meet Banjo Bobby Brown, Waldo Weinstein, the Pacific Heights Teenager, the Drunken policeman, the Strong Man, the Minnesota Gambler, the Oklahoma Kid, the Tennessee Thompsons, and many more. The Greyhound Bus Terminal was like a modern-day Jericho Road, where broken-down travellers were in urgent need of help. From California dreamers and state hospital runaways to an abused housewife, a stranded grandmother, a suicidal transvestite, and a seventy-three-year-old man still riding the railsthe author met them all when they needed help from Travellers Aid. With compassion and careful attention to detail, the author describes the challenges and joys of working for Travellers Aid and in watering what he calls the Greyhound garden .