Photo by Flickr user Holy Mountain Photography
Seriously, though. No on L.
Author: Jeff Diehl
Day of the Dead from Last Year
Our boy, Daniel Jarvis, is covering Halloween this year, but this piece he did a year ago should tickle you nonetheless. Stay tuned for his latest…
Seattle Does San Francisco for Cheap
Courtesy of the City Guides Facebook page, this article from the Seattle Times shows how to have a luxurious good time in San Francisco on a tight budget.
The article is a bit more thorough and creative than most of its type, but I’d take it further and, for the truly adventurous, try using CouchSurfing.org to avoid paying high city hotel room rates – you’ll also meet real locals in the process.
Can’t make it to China, Japan, France, Italy or Mexico this year? Explore San Francisco’s ethnic neighborhoods and attractions, and circle the globe without leaving town… Dim Sum in Chinatown? Panini in Italian North Beach? Both are tempting, but we settled on the Mission District for an afternoon of street art, tacos and ice cream.
I do love that they recommend free City Guides walking tours, something every SF local should take advantage of (be sure to donate!). Last year they served nearly 40,000 walkers, and have dozens of tours, most of which can be dropped in on without a reservation. (Full disclosure: I recently graduated from the excellent guide training program at City Guides; stay tuned for more details.)
LA’s Sit/Lie Law in San Francisco
Photo by BayView Times/Sheet Roots
This article in the SF BayView doesn’t pretend to be neutral on the issue. It does, however, provide a helpful perspective on the proposed law:
If we want to compare Proposition L with another city’s sit/lie law, we should really look to our tougher, rougher, bigger neighbor to the south: Los Angeles. The enforcement program for the sit/lie law there was designed while our current chief of police Gascon was second in command. The San Francisco law looks and feels eerily familiar compared to the Los Angeles one…
The main features of the initiative were described in a 2002 internal LAPD memo entitled “Homeless Reduction Strategies.” The public relations campaign for SCI was designed by Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow George L. Kelling, who was paid about $500,000 in consulting fees…
The San Francisco proponents of sit/lie are currently quoting arather long article by Manhattan Institute writer Heather Mac Donald, who has been described as “the thinking bigot’s Ann Coulter.” …
Much like the LA law, the major proponents of Prop L are financial, real estate and hotel interests and the upper police department brass. Both initiatives were introduced by seemingly liberal mayors. In both San Francisco and Los Angeles, the image of the white mother and baby under threat were used repeatedly in their public relations work.
Several SU readers have spoken out in support of Sit/Lie here, where I pointed out the Manhattan Institute’s connections with Giuliani’s remaking of Times Square.
What do you think? (Read the whole BayView article here.)
Brian Wilson is Techno Viking
Someone over at Men’s Daily Forum beat me to this, but it must be posted nonetheless…
Giuliani’s Brain Spanks San Francisco
The visionaries who saved Times Square have decided to lend their beneficence to our fair city, and show us once and for all how only “the will to enforce common norms of public behavior” can clean up areas like the Haight-Ashbury, ridding it of the gutter-punks and pit bulls.
But in the process, our Doms have to deliver some tough love, especially to those employed by “Homelessness, Inc.” here in the city. Yes, Daddy, we’ve been very bad. Hurt us! Give us what we deserve! We don’t want to hear that the solution to every civic problem is incarceration, but my, we do NEED to hear it.
One of the more precious quotes in the article suggests our reward if we obey:
Police officials and local entrepreneurs speak wistfully of the transformation of New York’s Times Square, and they still hope that it could happen here [in the Tenderloin].
They do prescribe one non-police action to achieve this shopper’s utopia:
Perhaps, too, such public passivity in the face of crime owes to the city’s lack of a tabloid newspaper; in New York, such grisly events, which were common in the early 1990s, sparked widespread outrage in no small part because papers like the New York Post made them front-page news.
Google Maps Thinks North Beach is South Beach
Is this some sort of prank from within Google? If so, they need to quickly write a new humor algorithm because this is very, very weak.
Nice Try, Teddy
I think we’ve all been tempted to go over the wall at some point by the apparent harmlessness of barbed wire. Learn from this Teddy Bear’s mistakes and save yourself some grief. (Then again, at least he died yearning for freedom.)
(Spotted on Capp Street near 17th.)
San Francisco Has Wood – Ladders
Ours is the only fire department in the country that makes and uses wooden ladders. Before the fir used to make the ladders can be utilized it has to sit and age for 15 years. Amazingly, they repair ladders that are close to 100 years old for future use.
This is a fascinating piece. I could do without the cheesy anchorman voice-over, but other than that, I was riveted for the whole 3:55 duration.
The video’s been around for about a month now and I don’t know how I missed it.
Hot Post-Earthquake and Fire Film Footage from 1906
Seventeen minutes of pure awesome.
(Spotted @ Uptown Almanac.)
Would This Stop Golden Gate Bridge Suicides?
Serbia’s Suicide Prevention Office hired McCann Erikson to create this ad campaign that projects words of support onto the water under jump spots on Belgrade bridges. The message can only be seen when looking down from the spots.
Why not try it on the Golden Gate?
(Spotted @)
The Cheapest Beers
Steve Robles spends his free time wisely, and passes the savings on to us:
Whether you’re unemployed, underemployed, or squirreling away your, ahem, nuts in terror of the post–American Empire Mad Max economapocalypse to come, these are hard times for beer lovers who like their pints out in public. You need cheap suds. Here’s a guide to staying within your meager budget while enjoying an oat soda or 10 to help you swallow the bitter pill that is the Bay Area economy. And cheer up, you ol’ bugger: it’s beer o’ clock!
SFBG has the whole story.
“The City is My Sweetheart”
Image by Jonathan Moore
From the Spots Unknown Flickr pool.
North Beach Old and New
Presented through the eyes and hands of local North Beach resident, John “Gianni” Mola, a former poverty lawyer and Old World Italy aficionado, this video first touches on Chinatown’s growth into previous North Beach territory, then presents some restaurants that are part of what Mola sees as a trend of Italian immigrants coming back into North Beach.
It finishes with him sourcing and making a gnocchi dish from scratch. Do not watch this video while hungry!
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Featured spots
View Spots Unknown Map in a larger map
Timelapse Footage of San Francisco and its Fog at Night
This is the first time I’ve seen fog undulating in quite the way it does here. Also amazing are the quality of the exposures and how they capture the glow of the city at night, and the planes landing and taking off at SFO. Oh, and that final shot of the moon setting into the fog bank. Good God!
Prepare to be stunned.
(Spotted @)
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Moustache Magic
Mr. Magic performs on the street in Fisherman’s Wharf. To be honest, even though he’s pretty good with the metal rings in his hands, the rings around his eyes and on his upper lip had me more mezmerized.
Under the Bridge
It gave me a funny sort of feeling when I stumbled (OK, climbed and scrambled) onto this spot directly under the Bay Bridge, where it traverses San Francisco’s northeastern edge and first passes over water to the initial tower.
See higher-res versions at the Spots Unknown Flickr pool. And follow SU on Twitter.
It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Smashes Their Nuts
I’d probably risk it for 30 seconds, at which point I’d be sucking wind too hard to stand up. Otherwise, the longer I jumped, the more likely my bad aim would place one or both of my feet into the edge holes.
Seriously, how do you get insurance for something like this? The bars in between trampolines don’t even look padded.
Name That Spot
Where are these two be-Stetsoned gentlemen located? In the comments.
The Answer to Betty White Fatigue
While we were at a pawn shop on Mission Street, Steve spotted this. (What’s with the two jumping fishes?)
MUNI should totally bring back Phyllis Diller for the Fast Pass! At 93, she’s got 5 years on Betty White. I even did their graphic design work for them:
