“Nuthin’ Eva Move But Da Money”
Street hustler "DaVinci" raps his lament about the degradation of his turf in Western Addition/Fillmore. Use headphones, there's naughty language (the video is SFW).
Before you dismiss the lifestyle when you hear, "Used to sell ice, weed, coke all night there / now they got cameras and the po-po right there" - learn a little about the history of West Addy. It won't kill you.
I moved from the Divis/Grove area of the neighborhood in 2005 and it was still one of the rare San Francisco spots where middle-class African-Americans owned homes alongside non-black yuppies. But even then, dopenomics and gang turf disputes generated gun deaths and regular high-speed police chases.
What's it like these days? Current residents speak up in the comments.
(Spotted @)
The Week on Twitter, 2010-03-26
- i don't know where this is, but it's hilarious. http://yfrog.com/jlfihj #
- best music video shot on San Francisco mass transit, ever. http://bit.ly/aLCb13 #
The Week on Twitter, 2010-03-19
- [pic] i encountered an urban coyote while hiking San Francisco hilltops this weekend! http://bit.ly/au3ZyX #
- [vid] live taxidermy with dead birds from calacademy. http://bit.ly/aqcSvG #
- just created "hillapalooza" - a detailed urban hiking route in San Francisco. http://bit.ly/dAdNDT #
Spot the Urban Coyote


I don't usually have a need for a telephoto lens, but on Saturday while hiking across some of San Francisco's biggest hilltops, I spotted a coyote in a park. It made me think more seriously about moving beyond my digital point and shoot camera, to SLR, with at least one good telephoto lens.
So, with tax refund season upon us, I guess I'm in the market for a <$1k rig. I've been looking at the Canon T1i and the Nikon D5000. Anyone have opinions on one or both of these? Are there other competitors in this class I should be tracking? Let me have it in the comments.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-13
- the Pony Express turns 150 this year. what don't you know about it? http://bit.ly/bGn2ET #
- some brand new pics of Albion Brewery & Castle's secret cavern springs. http://bit.ly/dsRCCn #
- [pic] it snowed on Mission Street just now. http://bit.ly/cwL8hS #
- [vid] best-ever use of San Francisco in a film? http://bit.ly/dCIkiE #
- [vid] San Francisco Soapbox Derby, 1975. http://bit.ly/dD0Utl @swissmiss #
- and the Oscar for Best Title Sequence goes to... http://bit.ly/bATbpD #
- [pic] Name That Spot. http://bit.ly/a5pQUi #
- [vid] tilt-shift flyover of San Francisco in Google Earth - very cool. http://bit.ly/cKtas4 #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-27
- [pic] tipped, smashed streetcar, circa 1920. http://bit.ly/dcqJUK #
- available URL of the day: ironicmoustache.com #
- oh baby: curbside, wood-fired, dive bar pizza. http://bit.ly/b0BSWb #
- [pic] Name That Spot. http://bit.ly/9O0I5T #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-20
- Google teasing San Francisco - again. http://bit.ly/aIJcjR #
- [pics] girls on bikes in San Francisco. http://bit.ly/bqiU38 #
- [pic] MUNI now using Morse Code at stops. http://bit.ly/ctj6Z5 #
- new documentary about Playland at the Beach. http://bit.ly/b3EEx7 @SF_Explorers #
- dammit, i was about to become mayor! http://bit.ly/bhcDGQ #foursquare #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-13
- [pic] Marina biz wants to donate old, smelly yoga mats to Haiti. http://bit.ly/ceSFYI #
- after a Castro adventure, stand-up comic worries he might not be good enough to be gay. http://bit.ly/aRPasf #
- [pics] historical heart-throbs of San Francisco. http://bit.ly/adEGdp #
- [whuh?] public pillow fights deemed a serious injury hazard. http://bit.ly/aRdUoN #
- [pic] Kevin Smith making Heshy Freid look like Johnny Weir. http://bit.ly/cDcdhR @frumsatire #
- close-up of the beautiful purple elven diva from 2007. http://bit.ly/cpSlrT #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-06
- new Lost Landscapes of San Francisco footage is now online. http://bit.ly/9VJ6pN #footage #sanfrancisco #
- [pic] extreme Mariposa Street. http://bit.ly/b0IQL7 #sanfrancisco #
- [old photo] San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge pretty in pink. http://bit.ly/cpaWmO #
- [sad old photo] business is all about timing. http://bit.ly/9mMG8w #
- order your Super Bowl Gumbo now! http://bit.ly/8XlIJM #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-30
- photo: is it BBQ weather yet? http://bit.ly/5905Lx #
- i can totally be less competitive than you. #
- photos: San Francisco hotel #1 on 2010's Dirtiest Hotels list, guest posts images of bedbug bites (and bedbugs). http://bit.ly/4Dcr9C #
- [video] parkour in George Christopher Playground, San Francisco. http://bit.ly/dnuzkC #
- guide dogs in San Francisco. http://bit.ly/9rkU5I #
- Da Pimp is rolling into San Francisco? http://bit.ly/98lLj6 #
Bikes Ahead
City workers spray a bicycle-related glyph onto the street near Clay and Sansome. I'm not sure what exactly it's supposed to be saying. Anyone?
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-23
- photo: ideal BART passenger. http://bit.ly/5apyz3 #
- photo: Name That Spot. http://bit.ly/7lJcqI #
- Alcatraz: fighting the wind to change the flag (video). http://bit.ly/6BLipp #
- video: crazy surfing footage from today's storm. http://bit.ly/6PC79z #
- memo to my favorite falafel spot: eat at the taqueria next door now and then to learn how to wrap a sandwich in foil reliably! #
- awesome: guy in wheelchair clinging to the back of a streetcar. http://bit.ly/75Rkyc #
- filthiest spot in San Francisco? http://bit.ly/5D4zWt via @calibersf @troy #
- freakin' amazing long-lost images of Pearl Harbor attack taken by a sailor. http://bit.ly/6UZKzx via @calibersf #pearlharbor #
- wow. those "69-yr-old Pearl Harbor pics" that were "just discovered"? serious HOAX from 2006! http://bit.ly/8uYL2o #
Joey’s

Nothing gives me a hankering for ice cream espresso sausage like doing the laundry!
(Submitted by S. Scott Ethersmith)
Death & Sodomy in San Francisco

I can't even recall how I Googled my way onto this book review - by a psychiatrist, of a pathologist's published work - but mercy me, how about this little nugget:
Many original contributions to forensic medicine were made by physicians associated with the Coroner's Office and UCSF, including the "most unique" discovery that death by air embolism could occur with cunnilingus when air was blown into the vagina.
Was that an important move back in the day? Yikes.
Needless to say, I'm trying to get my twisted little hands on this gem of a book as I type. If anyone has seen it, please hit the comments.
It looks like Amazon only has links to used copies of the book: San Francisco Coroner's Office: A History, 1850-1980.
The New Beauty Bar

Some say Beauty Bar is super-douchey and should be shunned. I live equidistant between it and Bender's, and I have to say that the nights I've chosen Beauty have never been disappointing - rowdy, cheesy, caveman fun. I look forward to seeing how the remodeling turns out.
Opposite Ends of the Mobility Spectrum
Street photography this stunning and powerful is too rare. The ideal combination of subject, setting, perspective, and of course, timing.
Here I see so many things besides the obvious: purpose, ambition, and perhaps mostly, the continuum of life. Photography has done for me what years of meditation practice couldn’t. It makes me aware of the world.
Submitted: Pet Cemetery in the Presidio
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:



