Month: February 2010

Curbside Brick-Oven Pizza

Curbside Brick-Oven Pizza, San Francisco

Our group was already a little ashamed as we were walking to Flour + Water, a pizza joint we’d previously decided was over-rated, with its soggy crust and limited menu (only two kinds of beer? please).

But then, not two blocks from my house, outside Homestead, appears a couple of folks cooking wood-fired pizzas on the street!

It smelled so good, and the ingredients looked ultra-fresh, but alas, we had a gift card for F+W. So, pushing through our regret that we’d never seen these guys here before, despite the fact they’ve been doing this every Thursday night for the last 6 weeks, we sulked off to our lesser destiny.

We will definitely see you next week, Pizza Politana!

Here’s their menu:

Curbside Brick-Oven Pizza, San Francisco

“Playland at the Beach” Documentary Premier

Playland at the Beach

This now-extinct amusement park at Ocean Beach was established in the 1880s and dismantled in 1972. It has a rich, weird history. Rick Prelinger unveiled some great amateur footage in his latest Lost Landscapes screening in December.

On March 16th, the Balboa Theater will premier a full-length documentary about the park by Tom Wyrsch.

Gone now for more than 3 decades, it remains one of the city’s lost treasures. Go back in time to see Laffing Sal, the Fun House, the Carousel, the Big Dipper, the Diving Bell, Dark Mystery, Limbo, Fun-tier Town, and much, much more, all through the eyes of the people that were there. The first and only documentary ever made about Playland.

Playland Documentary, San Francisco

(Spotted @SF_Explorers)

Google Teases SF With Promise of Fiber Internet Roll-out

Google Laying Fiber in San Francisco?

The SF Examiner reports that Google will make its initial presentation to the Committee on Information Technology (COIT) regarding its desire to bring ultra high-speed internet access to the city as part of a nationwide trial program. According to Google Project Manager James Kelly:

“We plan to provide fiber to the home service with speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second for at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people. In selected locations we’ll offer Internet connections up to 100 times faster than many Americans have access to today – and at competitive prices.”

Google will speak to COIT on Thursday morning.

I want to believe. Having said that, some of us remember the whole free city-wide wi-fi debacle, and even past promises of fiber.

(spotted @)

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-13

SFDPH Warns About Pillow-Fight Eye Injuries

2008 San Francisco Pillow Fight from the Flickr stream of 37 °C

Pillow Fight Eye Injury

We loves us a good pillow fight as much as the next guy, but this press release just sent out by the Department of Public Health suggests they aren’t as “soft and fluffy” as they seem. It includes the above nasty photo and cliams:

Hospital records show that 17 individuals with a range of injuries were admitted to the emergency room after last year’s pillow fight in Justin Herman Plaza.

“Folks should be aware of the danger of corneal abrasion, penetrating injuries, and even orbital fractures,” according to [Director of Health Mitchell H. Katz, MD].

While feathers are soft and pillows as a whole don’t tend to injure, a quick scrape of the edge of some fabric can cause serious harm, said Katz. Not to mention the occasional wild swing that results in the collision of a person’s clenched fist with a sensitive region like the eye. We recommend refraining from such public displays of violence, even if they are out of an innocent desire to have fun.

Be safe out there, kids.

UPDATE 2/14/2010: This post is a joke.

Heshy Fried is Sadly Not Gay

Heshy Fried is Sadly Not Gay

The Manhattan-based comic ventured into the Castro District (he even got off of his bicycle!) and, in the midst of his many observations about the diversity and wonder of queer taxonomy, worried that he wasn’t good enough to be gay:

I felt like I was in Mea Shearim in Israel, where I would walk and just stare at all the people as if it were the first time I was seeing their type. In Castro, I did the same thing because everyone seemed to become super exotic and interesting…

I saw a butch lesbian with a green Mohawk wearing a leather vest. I saw a man with a handlebar mustache holding hands with a guy in a kilt. I saw a skinny little guy who walked like a girl and I wondered if he ever had trouble maintaining that act, or was it even an act? I noticed a guy that could have been a chabad Rabbi, had he not been wearing baggy jeans and a t-shirt. I saw a lot of men with facial hair. Though, wait, in retrospect, maybe they weren’t even males…

No one gave me a second glance and I began to think that I was not good looking enough for these men. Maybe they could tell I was straight — even though I was wearing a dirty yellow shirt and spandex pants.

What do you think, readers? Is Heshy completely out of the running, or does he still have a shot? Here’s some video to help you decide:

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-06

Most Unfortunate Business Timing Ever?

Most Unfortunate Business Timing Ever?

These fine fellows look like they’re feeling on top of the world in their well-stocked glass shop at 18 Sutter Street, San Francisco. The year? You guessed it: 1905.

As the story goes, the business didn’t survive the quake of ’06 and the family relocated to Los Angeles. Ironically, I’m sure there was a tremendous demand for their product as the rebuilding commenced.

(Spotted @ the Flickr stream of bcgreeneiv)