Most Americans who vote on Election Day cast their ballots in everyday, drab places like school cafeterias and recreation centers.
Not so in San Francisco, which has always reveled in its weirdness. Its 501 polling places — more than 10 per square mile — include hair salons, flower shops, art galleries, a training center for improv actors and strangers’ garages.
It was in one of those garages on Tuesday morning that Jay Streets, wearing a Hawaiian-style shirt festooned in the word “Vote,” set up a bar serving free Vote-a-Lattes and Ballot Buster Dirty Sodas.
Voters could also enjoy coffee, doughnuts, fruit, popcorn and chocolate, all surrounded by American flags hanging from just about every corner.
“They say I’m the mayor of the block,” said Mr. Streets, 66, a retired carpenters union representative. He said it was the 16th time that he had offered up his garage near the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park as a polling place, each time moving most of his vintage car collection onto the street.
Across the park, even more unusual is the polling place at the San Francisco Columbarium, a building to remember the dead. There, under a copper dome, voters can cast their ballots among thousands of niches containing ashes of the dead, including those of Chet Helms, the music promoter who made Janis Joplin a star and is called the father of the Summer of Love. Harvey Milk, the slain gay rights icon, is also memorialized there, though his ashes were scattered in various places, including the Pacific Ocean.
Nate Gellman, 35, a poll worker there, said things were slow enough that he had a lot of time to look around and think.
About what, exactly?
“Cycles of life,” he said. “Lives lived, you know? That stained glass used to be better.”
He pointed out the favorite niches he had discovered, included those of the founders of Anchor Steam craft beer, the San Francisco classic. (The beer itself also died in 2023 after 127 years, though there are efforts to revive it.)
San Franciscans do not actually have to go to the polls at all since all active, registered voters in California now receive mail-in ballots under state law.
But Andy Pastalaniec, who manages the city’s polling places, said San Francisco’s unusual offerings stem from its commitment to providing one for every precinct, a quaint concept these days, especially in a high-density city with more than 536,000 registered voters.
Of course, there are never enough fire stations or libraries available to keep that ratio, so seasonal workers called “poll locaters” fan out months before Election Day in search of willing hosts. In exchange, each host gets $250, which does not go very far, particularly in San Francisco.
“It is mostly something folks do just out of the goodness of their hearts,” Mr. Pastalaniec said.
At Ana’s Barber Shop, the sign offering taper fades and mullet fades was moved aside to make way for voting equipment. It was the same at El Mansour, a Moroccan restaurant, where the sandwich board offering rabbit tagine and nighttime belly dancers leaned against the facade.
At Hoogasian Flowers, voters cast their ballots while surrounded by piles of teddy bears, balloons and bouquets. Jessica Larson, a 34-year-old software engineer, said she signed up to serve as a poll worker for the first time after seeing social media influencers suggestively promote the gig by making a joke about working stripper poles.
“Democracy is super sexy, absolutely!” she said with a laugh.
In the back, Jorge Hernandez crafted a huge bouquet of pink and purple flowers. Mr. Hernandez, 57, said he immigrated to the United States more than 20 years ago from Mexico because he is gay and felt more comfortable living in the Bay Area.
He said that if he were making a bouquet for Election Day, he would choose all white gladiolas, lilies and roses to symbolize peace. There is too much fighting among Americans, he said, and he feels the country should focus on unity and opportunity.
“Politicians can get voted out,” he said. “The people decide.”
He grabbed another long-stemmed pink rose and kept working.
