European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 9, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                 we Bohiw 1 legendary san Francisco area changing pasta to Fortune cookies by Robert Lindsey new York times t the St. Francis of Assisi roman Catholic Church in san Francisco s italian North Beach neighbourhood the 9 . Sunday mass is now celebrated in chinese. In some of the old wooden buildings where Jack Kerouac and the poets of the beat generation Laboured Over their search for a meaning to me asian entrepreneurs sell Oriental herbs and Torl unc cookies. And times Are hard along Broadway the Gaud Neon illuminated strip where 25 years ago. Silicone augmented strippers generated the biggest stimulus to san Francisco s tourism Economy since 1939 s world fair. Topless joints Are giving Way to Punk clubs when i was a kid. North Beach was 95 percent italian mostly trom Southern Italy and there were Many fishermen said Luigi Marciano 57, chel at Trie Green Valley restaurant then old people began to die. The orientals came in and bought the land from the Young  according to the legend the first seniors in North Beach were chilean prostitutes who arrived eager to strike it Rich in the Gold Rush o 1849. They occupied a trough of land Between Telegraph Hill and russian Hill near a Beach on san Francisco Bay later tilled in my developers Lor housing . By the if lbs. Though. Norm Beach was a thoroughly italian neighbourhood. Nowadays there is still a Mediterranean Aura a Tew restaurants still of of six course italian dinners a few coffeehouses from the beatnik Era survive. Scores of North Beach buildings however have been purchased in the past live years by c chinese or chinese american investors Many of them Hong Kong residents Transf erring assets out of the British Colony Belore it comes under China s control in lha next decade. Many of the new owners have fixed up old shops and apartments changing the texture look and feel and rents of the neighbourhood. Apartments that once housed italian immigrant families attract renters irom the City s growing Force of Young office Burkors. Boutiques Are sprouting in the area. Some old timers 1hink the changes have been Tor the belter look what s happening said Leo Rossi a Butcher in North Beach for 30 years. People Are remodelling fining up this is the Best i be seen it in  elsewhere in North Beach other things Are on people s minds Mara permissive attitudes in other cities and the widespread use of videocassette tapes have made images of naked dancers accessible almost anywhere eroding the Novelty of san Francisco s once prosperous topless dancing Industry. In an attempt to keep up with Iho times several entrepreneurs along the Broadway strip have opened Ghl clubs featuring male so rippers or Rock music bands that operate into the Early morning hours drawing thousands of Young people mostly from the suburbs Wilh the crowds have come growing protests irom local residents. The strip s Bast known topless dancer Carol Doda once a kind of san Francisco landmark is among those who have been left without a stage by the economic shifts on Broadway. Now that the area has become Punk City .a.," she said she finds it More difficult than Ever to Meel unattached heterosexual men in san Francisco. When her interviewer pointed of that Alaska had a surplus of single men she said i be heard that but i m afraid to go up there. My silicone expands in the heal and i m afraid it would contract in cold  of find topless joints Are giving Way to Punk clubs and legitimate theater along Gaudy Broadway. Canada attracting . Shoppers new York times Teve drown a Pittsburgh ., undertaker journeyed just across the Canadian Border from rouses Point  Recently to buy a car with the american Dollar now Worth close to $1.40 Canadian he saved More than $1,000 on a new Chevrolet Nova. But to ill his Lank he favors the . Side of the Border where gasoline costs half that of heavily taxed Canada. Judy Kelley who Sells Antiques in rouses Point. A Village on Lake Champlain once notorious for rum smuggling also crossed into Canada the other Day. She went to see n travel agent about booking a fall tour to South America. Paying with american dollars will assure her of a hefty discount. But fewer canadians can afford her Antiques. Since it went above 20 percent she said it s like drawing the curtain on the  those on both sides of the Border there in the Northern tier and across the country Are used to fluctuations in the Exchange rate and try to adapt accordingly. Some remember times when an ailing . Dollar diluted american buying Power North of the Border but brought canadians to the United states for bargains. Bui few could recall a Lime when the . Dollar could buy so much. Now Canada is beckoning americans the shop windows in Montreal s old town an hour s drive from rouses Point Are festooned with signs welcoming americans and bantering the latest discounts Lor . Dollars commonly from 25 to 35 percent. Toronto Windsor and Vancouver exert Simitar lures the influx irom South of the Border crowds Canadian airports. At Toronto Airport trans Border traffic through the air Canada terminal is up nearly 20 percent an Airport spokesman Dean Smith said. Toronto Airport is like walking into Kennedy said Tony Palermo manager of Frontier travel in Niagara Falls  The allure for those close to the Border included such pre season bargain air fares As �50 . Dollars Lor an Advance Purchase round trip Lickel Between Toronto and London fares that have helped the canadians More than compete with ticket prices on the us Side of the Border where deregulation has kept fares Low now Lor the summer months the same ticket costs Abri i $475, a Price comparable to some new York London fares. Canadian shopping bargains though seem the biggest draw for americans. In the Bonaventure place shopping mall in Montreal for example americans have been snapping up Swiss made Bally shoes. A pair Hal might sell in new York Tor More than $100 could be bought on Sale in Montreal for Hall that. They come Here because it s cheap not because they re interested in the people or culture of Canada said Gilberts Talbot operator of a women s fashion boutique Fabrice in the mall. She said americans invariably ask her whether the Price tags Are in . Or Canadian dollars. I text them this is Canada so the prices Are Canadian she said. Saturday August 9, 1986 in rouses Point a town of 5,800 people including about 100 Federal Law enforcement agents assigned to the Border crossing the trends unfold in microcosm. Kelley. The Antiques dealer ventured a few Hundred feet Over the Border the other Day to Blackpool travel where the Agency s president. Joyce Miserany. And another agent Heather Urberger guided her through a rack of brochures. A two week package tour to Rio de Janiero including a hotel room and airfare irom Canada was priced Al $1 ,675 per person in Canadian dollars and about $1.200 in american dollars. A similar Faro would be available in new York bul the Montreal Airport is much More convenient to residents of the Border area. Drown the Pittsburgh funeral director said a priest had told him he could gel a bargain by buying a car in Canada. Drown visited a general motors dealer just across lha Border and settled on a now Nova on the showroom floor. The dealer said he had been Selling five or six cars a month to americans. Drown said he would save More Ihan $1 ,000. Most was from the strength of the american Dollar the real came from the dil Terence Between the 1 2.5 percent Canadian sales lax which would be refunded to an american buyer and the 7 Percone combined sales taxes he would have to pay in new York despite the expensive american Dollar Many canadians still venture South Tor the Lake beaches at Cumberland head or the Vermont resorts. Friday nights it s Wall to Wall canadians said Mark l. Barie executive director of the town of Champlain local development corporation the Agency Beto Kening the Lolly economic Asuja Vioris of that own the stars and stripes Page 17