As the appeal of overlit, overcool “dives” wanes for yours truly, unassuming neighborhood haunts like Mission Terrace’s Spitfire Rose (allegedly named after the British WWII fighter plane) continue to fascinate.
The Yelp page has that enticing combo of mixed experiences and low review count that raises more questions than it answers. That’s all it took for the SU Corps of Urban Drunkards (SUCUD) to go on its inaugural raid. More after the jump.
Continue reading The Spitfire Rose
It’s hard to sympathize with iPhone thefts. Accounts like this don’t help:
My first thought as you saddled up to the bar next us while we ate our dinner was, “Hmm odd couple”. A white woman with dark blond hair, relatively tall, in her mid to late 30s, and a short black man, in his mid to late 50s. The woman was wearing a black jacket, and the man was wearing what can only be described as an over-sized khaki “zoot suit”. But whatever, it’s San Francisco right?
But when it becomes clear that the victim is so utterly grief-stricken that they rally all their design-school skills to absolutely fucking guarantee that this never happens to another human being, with wonders like the drawing above…well, I come right back around to feeling their pain. (Almost – the thieves bought GROCERIES for christ sake.)
Oh, and by the way:
If anyone stumbles this pair casing other restaurants around town, please call the San Francisco police (553-1141) and leave a message for officer C. Leung #12281, with regard to case #091094361. Thanks.
But what’s the number for the Fashion Police?
I can only hope and pray that I’m reading this right. The fascist tactics of neo-Footloose killjoy cop James Dudley are finally being challenged the way they should be:
Performing on the steps of City Hall will be the Jazz Mafia, an acoustical jazz group. Performing inside City Hall will be the night life industry and their customers who too are citizens of this great urban metropolis.
The War on the War on Fun is about to enter its next phase. If any of you are planning to be at the hearing, please be sure send pics.
Make no mistake: Artist and self-styled “greenbelt steward” Amber Hasselbring, pictured above (pointing) along with her field-guide-clutching partner in crime (and fellow artist), Iris Clearwater, is just as enthusiastic inspecting manhole covers like the one next to her, as she is identifying a native butterfly or monkey flower. More after the jump…
Continue reading The Stewardship of Precita Creek
Somewhere near Capp and 18th Streets.
Christopher says:
There’s a great little pet cemetery in the Presidio @ McDowell and Crissy Field Avenues. It would be great if more people knew and cared about this little treasure.
UPDATE: Sadly, it looks as if this spot has been largely ruined, as commenters have pointed out:
Continue reading Submitted: Pet Cemetery in the Presidio
San Francisco 1958 from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.
A film colorist at a local Chicago production house inherited a bunch of 16mm Kodachrome film shot in the late ’50s by his grandparents.
Cars driving down Lombard Street. The silhouette of the guy smoking the cigar in the window is classic. I also like the moody accompanying music.
UPDATE: A commenter at Boing Boing informs that the song is “Alone in Kyoto” by Air.
Related book: Historic Photos of San Francisco
From Amazon
From Powell’s
Uploaded by Eric Fischer
Hot damn, look at those McAllister and O’Farrell spurs. Fun to think how different certain neighborhoods would be if this plan were enacted as drafted.
Wow. I mean, holy crap. I aspire to this level of sleuthistry. I really really do.
(via MissionMission)
And why have I never seen him in the neighborhood until yesterday?
10 p.m., Tuesday night.
International Harvester Travelall. What year? 1960? This thing is the ultimate Family Truckster. (Found in the Lake Street neighborhood, San Francisco.)
Kind of crazy that I found this image from a sales pamphlet while searching for the vehicle’s identity (check out the similarity of the curb’s angle especially):
If you think the streets are bad after today’s downpour, you should see what’s going on underneath the streets.
San Francisco has an antiquated sewer system, but with a “green” twist. It’s the only community in California that operates a predominantly “combined” system, which means our wastewater and our stormwater flow through the same pipes to the ocean/Bay. More after the jump…
Continue reading Turn On The Pumps!
Part of me is, like, “Shit I just signed a 2-year contract with AT&T for my new iPhone!” Because as everyone knows, AT&T isn’t a real cellular network. Example: every time there’s the smallest hipster event in Dolores Park (like a warm weekend day), the ability to connect in all of the surrounding Mission District territory, my house included, suffers.
But instead of lamenting the fact that I’m stuck with them, and now there’s a better-performing network with a potential rival to iPhone that I’m barred from for at least 19 more months, I’m gonna instead focus on the possibility that a bunch of disgruntled iPhone users will exodus and free up some bandwidth back here in what is sure to become the smartphone ghetto.
In fact, AT&T, please continue with your horrible performance and customer service. I need all the disgruntled hipsters you can muster, if I’m to have a chance at satisfaction in this life.
SF Appeal reports on the utter generosity of SFMTA.
Is that supposed to make up for their plans to jack up rates from $55 to $60 for MUNI-only “FastPass” and up to $70 for “BART-inclusive FastPass”?
I shall happily fire the first salvo in an all-out offensive against BART if they don’t rescind this plan. That’s right, BART. Fear me. I will destroy you.
Fed by the same aquifer, but not directly connected, these bodies of water are special parts of the San Francisco watershed near the Presidio.
More after the jump…
Continue reading Lobos Creek & Mountain Lake
I guess I spend a lot of time staring off at points in the distance. Further the better, and some days are better than others. With odd cloud formations and no rain, today was perfect.
Above, the Mission around 1pm. Another after the jump…
Continue reading The Day in Clouds
Please don’t upset the Castro population’s Christian sensibilities with your demonic pagan rituals.
All dummies headed there this Halloween looking for fun, you will be dispersed. Many of you will flow down the very slight incline into the Mission, where you probably parked anyway, trickling through the alleyways and sex-vomiting on the curb.
Welcome, and I love you.
It was out there this morning, just kind of sitting there, creeping slow and moppy through the Mission’s alleys. Nothing left now but subtropical mugginess.
Although the Miwoks were convinced it was an island of evil spirits, barren and guano-coated, it’s still pretty badass to think that a group led by Mohawk Richard Oakes tried to reclaim Alcatraz in 1969. They took a boat into the bay, jumped onto The Rock, and claimed it by right of discovery, declaring:
The choice now lies with the leaders of the American government – to use violence upon us as before to remove us from our Great Spirit’s land, or to institute a real change in its dealing with the American Indian. We do not fear your threat to charge us with crimes on our land. We and all other oppressed peoples would welcome spectacle of proof before the world of your title by genocide.
Celebrities like Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda joined the cause and a colony was founded, but it sank toward defeat when Oakes’ 13-year old stepdaughter Yvonne fell to her death.
CounterPULSE will host a talk to commemorate this bold act of defiance by the “Red Power” movement, on Wed., Nov. 11, 7:30pm. It’s free.
