October 9, 1972. Piedmont Boutique’s first day in business. Clearly, fabulous owners Uti and Sahaj have concocted some sort of magic potion that continues to cast color, love, and freedom of expression to the community — and the world! I hung out recently with these 2 community icons and got a good dose!
HSV: Did you always have this sparkly amazingness at the shop?
Uti: We started that way but he thought he could read Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment, have a sandwich every day, and sell stuff. [laughter]
S: I didn’t even know sizes for people!
U: So I came around and said, “You need to organize!” [laughter]
S: She makes the money, I spend it!
HSV: You recently were touted a legacy business in the neighborhood.
U: Yes. We were also just declared by the
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence a “Sacred Sanctuary” where all can come and be safe. I now have a new given name by the Order: “Saint Uti Koochie-Koo: Kindhearted Mistress of Mischief & Glamour and Caring Curator of Safe Spaces”. And my dear Sahaj here is “Saint Sahaj Sultan of Swag: The Man Behind the Glitter Curtain, Hero to the Queers, Strippers and Fabulous Fashionistas”.
HSV: Season of the Witch, what does it mean to you?
U: It creates the spark, the magic of craft, which is witchcraft.
HSV: Alchemy, something from nothing.
Both: YES!
U: People come in here and say, “I don’t want anything today. I just came in for a color fix.” Color is healing.
HSV: People come to the Haight Ashbury for the color.
U: For the color and for the energy. There are energy points all over the Earth, and this happens to be one of those energy points, which draws people from every corner of the Earth, and as far as we know, maybe even from above!
HSV: What would you like to say to the Haight community and to the global community?
U: I’d like to thank the Haight community for their essence of love, for the persistence of love, and for the insistence that love is the answer. Which is the answer for the whole globe. That’s it!
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
HSV: And we’re rolling! Hello, we are so excited on this absolutely gorgeous day in the neighborhood. Freaking gorgeous. This is Thursday, September 29 and we are at Piedmont Boutique, one of the coolest stores in business, and we are coming in to visit … Oh! Introduce yourself! Who are you?
Sahaj: Sahaj!
HSV: Sahaj?
S: Yes!
HSV: What do you do here?
S: I’m guarding the holiness here!
HSV: Uti is busy at the moment, but I’ll ask you: What does “season of the witch” mean to you?
S: To me, it’s the salt for the food. Without it, we couldn’t do anything, the food wouldn’t taste good. So you need the witches, you need that exceptional, emotional …
[Uti walks into frame]
Uti: … healing power!
HSV: Hey! Yeah! [laughter all around] Yes! This is a good witch, I do believe! Introduce yourself! Who are you? Who is this woman?
U: I’m am the other witch in here!
HSV: And your name?
U: Uti. It means “play” in Sanskrit.
HSV: I did not know that!
U: And Sahash means spontaneity in Sanskrit. A given name to us in the 1990s, which we go by ever since. And it’s a device to say I should play always and he should be spontaneous, and that’s our nature.
HSV: When did you open this joint?
U: 1972, October 9 — Fifty years ago this October, next week!
S: 50 years.
HSV: And did you always have this sparkly amazingness?
S: It developed.
U: We started that way but he thought he could read lazy man’s guide to enlightenment, have a sandwich every day, and sell stuff. [laughter]
S: I didn’t even know sizes for people!
U: So I came around and said, “You need to organize!” [laughter]
S: She makes the money, I spend it!
U: Yes!
HSV: I love that. And you’re the movie, The Queen’s Closet. This is sort of the inspiration. And I’ve wanted to speak to you cuz I always talk to a local business.
S: Yes.
HSV: You are a legacy business but you called yourself in The Queen’s Closet, a maker of couture.
U: Yes.
HSV: Can you expound on that?
U: Couture is individual looks. No one looks like you. It is individual and exquisite. And not mass! Not for the total population, only for YOU.
HSV: I love that.
U: And quality, I also mention. Couture also includes quality, which can be in the design and the look, or the quality of the garment.
HSV: Okay. Why don’t you give me a little quick tour.
U: Okay, but I want to give you a little vision …
HSV: Do your thing, yes!
U: This is from Annie Sprinkles.
HSV: I know Annie Sprinkles!
U: Recently, she and Beth married fire.
HSV: They married fire?
U: Yes they did. See the fire?
HSV: [zooming in] Yes I do!
U: They’ve married every element on Earth now I think. And we do Annie and Beth! That is couture!
HSV: Wow! And you recently got touted a legacy business in the neighborhood from the SF Heritage, correct?
U: Yes. We’ve been here forever [laughs]. We’ve were also declared by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence a Sacred Sanctuary, where all can come and be safe.
HSV: Wow. That’s so beautiful! And that’s so perfect for the Season of the Witch, this being the all-women edition. We’re honoring the divine feminine — and that includes the drag queens and …
U: Everyone!
HSV: The essence of the divine feminine.
U: And in fact, even everyone now allows themselves color. They can be the most hardcore macho man and they will wear a flower shirt. [laughter]
HSV: I’ve just recently come to like pink, which is totally not me.
U: Oh yes!
HSV: Oh I used to vehemently disliked it!
U: I wore it to Germany and almost got locked up! But anyway, I now have a new given name: “Saint Uti Koochie-Koo: Kindhearted Mistress of Mischief & Glamour and Caring Curator of Safe Spaces”. And my dear Sahaj here is “Saint Sahaj Sultan of Swag: The Man Behind the Glitter Curtain, Hero to the Queers, Strippers and Fabulous Fashionistas” by the Order.
And we will admit, we did do 3 miracles in order to get this. There were 30 people here on the 7th of this month …
S: Even the Pope couldn’t do it!
U: And the Pope, he was here, he participated. So the first was: here’s a fish, what is 2 times 2? Here’s a loaf of bread, what is 4 times 4? Well obviously we multiplied the fish and the bread, right?
HSV: Yeah …
U: And they had a box of cereal called LIFE. They had a CD with a skeleton on it from the Grateful Dead. I dropped the Dead into Life. Therefore, I obviously brought the dead to life. So, we became saints! Now … I do say you can pray to me, but I have no promises. [laughter!]
HSV: Season of the Witch, this is the all-women edition, the witch, you know, sometimes they burn them at the stake because they have power.
U: Most obviously they do — especially if they cured them of disease!
S: Of course they would burn them!
HSV: And they were repressed because of religion. In my mind, saint is a good thing, but religious ruined the whole thing.
S: Yes!
U: Exactly! There were many things through the ages, and some of them have been called Krishnamurti and other names. Buddha, obviously he was a saint
HSV: Saint Theresa. She was in the church …
U: Yeah, but she had it!
HSV: Yeah, different thing!
HSV: Season of the Witch, what does it mean to you?
S: It’s the part which makes everything move, it creates the phenomenon of life! You need this part. You need the female in order to have …
U: It creates the spark, the magic of craft — which is witchcraft.
HSV: I love that. Alchemy, something from nothing.
Both: YES!
S: You put colors together, otherwise imagine a canvas with one color — oh my god!
U: And you know people do come in here and say, “I don’t want anything today. I just came in for a color fix. Nice! Because color is healing.
HSV: Okay! That brings me to the Haight-Ashbury in these interviews I’ve been doing with women in the neighborhood, I’m realizing the Haight-Ashbury is actually feminine! It’s an embracing community, it’s accepting, it’s colorful, it’s got that vibrant energy to it, right?
Both: Yes!
HSV: People come here for the color.
U: For the color and for the energy. There are energy points all over the Earth, and this happens to be one of those energy points, which draws people from every corner of the Earth, and as far as we know, maybe even from above.
HSV: Everybody knows the Haight Ashbury! Haight Street Voice is “hyper-local with a global perspective”., What would you like to say to the Haight community and to the global community?
U: I’d like to thank the Haight community for their essence of love, for the persistence of love, and for the insistence that love is answer. Which is the answer for the whole globe. That’s it!
S: It’s the solution for mankind — weasels, birds … [laughter]
