(Well, maybe if hundred times more people started hanging out in the Panhandle would it become like Dolores Park. And maybe if it were ever sunny and warm instead of foggy and cold…)
For the Panhandle, this counts as Heavy Police Action.
As seen over the tweekend…
The Evidence:
The criminal(s):
Cold busted!
And all the while, a behatted man played the clarinet:
Click to expand
Come To The Panhandle when DP is just too warm and too sunny and too filled up with young people…
This joint used to be called Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Theatre, and then, sadly, Mitchell Brother O’Farrell Theatre.
But now, it’s plain old O’Farrell Theatre, I guess, in the same old part of the crime-ridden Uptown Tenderloin.
Now check it – the marquis has changed a bit over the years as well:
Click to expand
I’ve never been, but Stephy S. from L.A., well, she has. Enjoy:
“I hate you O’Farrell Theatre. I hate you because all I ever wanted to do was love you and you wouldn’t let me…”
Anyway, let’s agree to modify the list slightly:
Cheetah, Na’vi, Tiger, Blue Cheetah
There we go. That’s the ticket.
I don’t know, CVS Pharmacy. I think you all have been talking to NIMBYs too much when your PR people start bandying about recently-invented terms like “nuisance alcohol.”
Here’s what I mean – let’s review the plans for the former Fog Belt North Albertsons, that brokedown palace out there at 32nd and Clement, the place that will soon be a combo CVS / Fresh & Easy gro sto, per the always-reliable Richmond District Blog:
“CVS will not pursue permission to sell hard liquor at this location. CVS will pursue permission to sell beer and wine only. Per CVS company-wide policy, CVS does not sell malt liquor, singles or other nuisance alcohol.“
“Nuisance alcohol?” Is this your phrase now?
Click to be smooth, baby
Hey, you know what kind of people are maybe more than a nuisance? How about white people who live out in the Avenues but go downtown to drop $400 on wine and dinner and then head home via the Western Addition?
Can wine be a “nuisance alcohol” too, CVS?
P.S. The NIMBY groups you’ve been talking to only represent themselves. What about the 99% of Richmond District people who don’t belong to any NIMBYhood association? What do they think?
That 40-foot-tall Raygun Gothic Rocketship down at Pier 14 is already having an effect on people. For example, it has David Chiu, District 2 rep and President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, pining for the Playa.
Per Steve Rhodes, “after seeing this he might go to Burning Man for the fist time.”
Bon voyage!
[UPDATE: Mayor Gavin Newsom was on the scene as well. Read an account, after the jump.]
From LiveSOMA comes the news that the Black Rock Arts Foundation is counting down to the Opening Reception / “Landing Party” for the 8-ton Raygun Gothic Rocketship installation at Pier 14 (at the foot of Mission Street) on Friday, August 6th, 2010 starting at 3:00 PM.
This is a fine replacement for the Bourgeois Spider (aka Bougie Spider aka Crouching Spider) from Louise Bourgeois, R.I.P.
Isn’t it awesome? OMG, it opens up!* Check out the insides via an awesome video from Wired.com:
But, as you know, getting anything done in the 415 ain’t cheap - San Francisco has a well-earned reputation of being America’s most expensive city in which to conduct business, west of Chicago anyway. So why not see what you can do to help?
Check it:
“The Black Rock Arts Foundation is proud to collaborate with artists Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor, David Shulman, and their talented crew (FiveTonCrane.org) on the installation of the iconic, large-scale sculpture, The Raygun Gothic Rocketship at Pier 14 on San Francisco’s waterfront from August 2010 until September 2011. The 40-foot-tall art piece, The Raygun Gothic Rocketship, offers a retro-futuristic, highly-stylized vision of space travel circa 1930’s-1940’s science fiction and is the latest in a series of temporary public art exhibitions sponsored by BRAF with the aim of enlivening and activating public spaces.“
Is this the very same craft that you saw on The Playa last year? Hells yes, playa! (Leave us note NK Guy’s excellent photos of RGR from last year’s Burning Man.)
A nice poster non?
In closing, Raygun Gothic Rocketship! Raygun Gothic Rocketship! Raygun Gothic Rocketship!
(If we can manage to keep the vandals, the taggers (both corporate and non), away from this thing, we’ll be in good shape.)
“Dear Friend:
You are invited to join us in celebration of the Black Rock Arts Foundation’s latest Civic Arts Program project, the installation of the Raygun Gothic Rocketship at Pier 14 in San Francisco, California. Come hear more about this ambitious undertaking from the crew that made it happen. Enjoy entertainment, dj’s, light refreshments and surprises from the Rocketship crew! The Rocketship will remain on view, free to the public, until October 7, 2011!”
*Sadly, the ship’s hatch won’t be open to the public for various reasons, like the ADA and the chance of falls from 15 feet up etc…
A great shot from Nick Winterhalter:
California Attorney General Jerry Brown can’t abide gang wars in Steinbeck Country. So today he’s telling us about the people in his Gang Suppression Enforcement Program, along with a whole bunch of other California and federal peace officers, arresting 94 suspected Montery-area Norteños and Sureños.
And to keep things going, Jerry just announced a local, Salinas-area gang task force.
Anyway, there was a big press conference today – look at who all was there.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello (Northern District of CA), Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo, Salinas Chief of Police Louis Fetherolf, Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue and a host of others down in Salinas :
Check it:
“Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today discussed “Operation Knockout,” in which agents from Brown’s Gang Suppression Enforcement Program (GSEP) of the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement arrested gang members after an eight-month, wide-ranging investigation and sweep targeting the most powerful gang leaders in the Salinas area.”
All the deets:
SALINAS – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced that more than 200 agents from his Gang Suppression Enforcement Program and other law enforcement agencies today arrested 37 members of two vicious gangs responsible for a rampage of violence — including more than three dozen murders and 200 shootings — that terrorized the citizens of Salinas and nearby areas.
Today’s mass arrests culminated an eight-month operation, code-named “Operation Knockout,” aimed at apprehending members of the Norteños and Sureños gangs that turned Salinas into a hub of murder, robbery and drug dealing.
The operation targeted the most dangerous gang leaders in the Salinas area. In addition to the arrests made today, agents seized 40 pounds of cocaine, 14 pounds of marijuana, nine ounces of methamphetamine, $34,000 in cash, and 12 guns. An additional 57 arrests were made before today’s sweep.
“Operation Knockout was designed to restore safety to the streets of Salinas,” said Brown. “Citizens in John Steinbeck’s hometown deserve better than having to endure a violent crime rate that’s three times the national average. We owed it to the people of Salinas to arrest these out-of-control gang members and ensure a heightened sense of personal security throughout the city.”
Ever more deets after the jump
It had to happen, after all. There was just too much confusion, back in the day. And this is the phrase you can memorize to keep your terms straight: “Kim Bauer was scared by the mountain lion.” Easy peasy. (And sometimes cougars and bears hunt the same prey, but usually they get along.) Moving on…
Palo Alto’s memorable National Single Cougar Convention 2009 from last Saturday is still reverberating throughout the Bay Area. Beths Spotswood and Hondl were there to capture all the action on video. And here’s a few words on CC09 at the SF Appeal and here’s a few more at the CultureBlog. In short, we’re all a Twitter over this affair. (And now really, who could possibly think Beth Spotswood a cougar? You could make a Photoshop of her wearing all animal prints lasso-ing a Boy Scout and she wouldn’t look Cougar-ish at all.)
And look who else is getting on the fun – check out a Palo Alto Weekly newspaper from last month:
via Ian Ruotsala, whose brain was temporarily scrambled.
Putting those bits together, well that’s five-star journalism.
Can you imagine Another Cougar Sighting in Woodside instead?
No. Maybe in 2008, but not in 2009.
Apparently, there’ll be some showdown this afternoon at the City Hall SFMTA meeting regarding the proposal to add trailers to some buses on Union Street. That plan, according to some Cow Hollow NIMBYs, turns buses into “monsters.” Perhaps not as monstrous as this 300-passenger job from China or the Knight Bus, but enough to “destroy” the entire neighborhood.
Let’s hear from C.H.N. Marcie Judelson, from her recent letter to the Chronicle. Some excerpts from “No monster buses“:
You get the idea.
Here’s something to ponder – if 60-foot buses going down the street destroys the surrounding area, that means that all the other hoods in town with 60-foot buses have already been destroyed, right? So all you godforsaken souls in the Mission and the Richmond, well you’re dead but you just don’t know it. How can you tolerate subsisting in your non-charming non-village?
That’s the NIMBY mentality.
But, maybe the buses will roll and Life in the Cow Hollow will go on as before?
Yes, in all probability, yes.
Let’s check in with the Cow Hollow area on Union Street, where lots and lots of business lots are for rent these days, per this recent bit from Sally Kuchar at CurbedSF. Well, here’s the news of the day: There’s a new proposal from MUNI to have bigger bus stops and longer buses on the 41 Union line.
The reaction? Crazy, Kramer-esque banners from millionaire homeowners. See? But don’t laugh, signs like these get results, sometimes. Like when the World’s Smallest Burger King over in the Inner Sunset went under after being subjected to one man’s incessant campaign. RangeLife has the story on that one.
But let’s hear from today’s Union Street NIMBYs themselves. Happy reading!
60 FEET-LONG MONSTER MUNI BUSES
THREATEN TO PUT SMALL UNION STREET INN OUT OF BUSINESS
A SF Muni proposal is currently in the works to establish a 291 feet long Bus Terminus at Union & Fillmore. This is to accommodate 60 feet long articulated buses which are planned for service on Union Street. This act of folly places the terminus at the very doorstep of the Union Street Inn, and could place the very existence of the jewel-like Inn in jeopardy.
Objections to the ill-conceived plan voiced by merchants of the Union Street Association at recent meetings were summarily dismissed, leaving the impression that the plan is a done deal. The proceedings were termed “farcical” by some merchants.
The impact on The Union Street Inn and other merchants in the area could be crippling. With the small inn already struggling to survive in a bruising economy it is inconceivable to think that Muni would even consider removing five revenue-earning meters directly outside the Inn in order to make way for a totally inappropriate, peace-disturbing terminus that would start operation at 5 am and continue throughout the day.
Closure of the award-winning Inn would not only be a tragedy, wrought by bureaucracy run amok, but would also result in a loss of $40,000 a year paid by the inn through the City Hotel Tax.
An appeal for intervention by Supervisor Alioto-Pier has, as yet, only elicited a polite formal response from a Legislative Assistant.
CONTACTS: David Coyle, Innkeeper, Union Street Inn, 2229 Union Street; Lesley Leonhardt, Union Street Merchants Assn.
An immaculate black FJ-40 Toyota Land Cruiser is the primary reason this Matrix Morpheus-looking dude just won SF HoTY ’09.
Just look at the details:
As seen on Fell Street. Click to expand.
Aging FJ-40 model (豊田 ランドクルーザー, Toyoda Rando-Kurūzā). Of course! Dude could buy a much newer Bland Cruiser (2009 price = $50k-something) instead of this (possibly amazingly expensive) torture box, but where’s the fun in that?
Alaska license plate: SURF. Of course! Our 50th state is the next frontier of surfing, don’t you know.
Right Hand Drive (RHD). Of course! Dude’s driving on the wrong side of the vehicle. Why? Why not?
Snorkel. Of course! Can you see the urban snorkel air intake standing up on the left side? Very handy when our streets are under five feet of water. Snorkle! Snorkle! Snorkle!
Original diesel engine. Of course! A Chevy small block would just drop right in, but where’s the fun in that?
No doors. Of course! How can people see your stylish shoes and socks with doors blocking the view?
The hat and the fogglasses (on a very dark summer day) put him over the top. Nobody could possibly best this fellow, that’s why he’s San Francisco’s Hipster of the Year, 2009.
