The San Francisco Citizen

San Francisco’s historic Cable Car bell ringing contest delighted hundreds in Union Square yesterday. It looked like this and this.

Mayor Gavin Newsom and MTA Director Nat Ford enjoy KBLX radio’s stirring interpretation of LL Cool Jay’s Rock the Bells. (Sadly, credit for the song was given to Run DMC.)

KGO-TV personality Janelle Wang’s hair momentarily defied gravity as she did the robot on her way to the bell: 

Grand Champion Carl Payne gave in to pleas from the crowd wanting to get a closer look at his humoungous bell ringing ring: 

Carl Payne’s cable car ring. You can see the words “Champion Bell Ringer” and also the years of his victories on this Super Bowl-style finger bling:

Yesterday was all about the bell, steampunkish in its own way: 

See you next year!

Details after the jump: (more…)

If you want a burger from a cable car in San Francisco (and really, why wouldn’t you?), you’ve got two choices.

Starting with Tony’s Cable Car. It’s a simple old-skool hamburger stand at 2500 Geary perched over the tunnel that goes under Masonic. A portion of the ingredients have been previously frozen, so that’s offputting to some. But if you pay $13 for burgers and fries, the bag they put it in will have some heft and the contents will be well-prepared, hot, and yummy.  

O.K. then.

Now we’re ending with Joe’s Cable Car at 4320 Mission. Did you know that Joe Grinds His Own Fresh Chuck Daily, or something? Lot’s of people know that because this joint has been featured on the Food Network. So you’ll get tourists making pilgramages down to the Outer Mission.

People tend to like the food, but not the high prices (adding 2 oz. more chuck to your burger costs $3.50 - that’s $26/lb!) or the $15 per capita minimum order service charge. All that daily grinding costs money, you see, but some question if Joe has gone too far with his pricing scheme.

The Yelpers seem to prefer Tony’s.

If you’re looking for a tie-breaker, the San Francisco Department of Health’s most recent report has this to say about Joe’s:

Floors, Walls, Ceilings Improperly constructed, in disrepair, not clean   
Improper Storage: Equipment. Utensils, Linens    
Foods not separated or protected

For Tony’s, aka “Geary Drive In”, the DPH simply states:

This location has no violations

So there you have it. You make the call.

(Or you could compromise on the cable car theme and check out Bill’s Place on Clement. Lot’s of people like that joint.)

Google Transit has come to the Bay Area, finally. Watch the video here.

What about getting down over to San Hoser? You’ve been away so long, you may go wrong and lose your way. 

Check it out. Now, do you know the way to San Jose? 

Thank you India/ thank you providence/ thank you disillusionment/ thank you nothingness/ thank you clarity/ thank you GOOGLE!

Coming Saturday, April 12, is “Beijing, Are You Ready,” a newly-released series by Oakland’s D3 Production, Inc.

Officially approved by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic games, this special series features Chinese athletes in training, the construction of the bird’s nest (Beijing national stadium) and much more behind the scenes with rare access to key people and places. Viewers also will experience the variety of ways that China’s capital city is preparing to host the 2008 Olympic games – the first ever Olympics held on Chinese soil. Film producer Duffy Wang and others will be available for discussion. Cosponsored by the Chinese Center.

Well, if it’s “officially approved by the Beijing Organizing Committee”, it must be good, right?

Let’s get some early reviews, how about from national state television, a sub-ministry of People’s Republic of China’s central government within the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and as such it does not have any editorial independence from the PRC government.

“Beijing is counting down to the 2008 Olympic Games!”

“And the people of Beijing are busy preparing for this international sports event with great enthusiasm!”

Meanwhile, back on the planet Earth, the authorities in Beijing are “absolutely wetting their pants” over the possibility of protests at torch events around the world. And those corporate sponsors of the torch relay are getting a little nervous, it seems:

“What started off as a small number of organizations threatening to create some disruption has escalated significantly,” said Dan Parr, the head of Asia-Pacific for brandRapport, a marketing consulting agency. “This must be taking some of the gloss off for some of these sponsors.”

Now let’s hear from Steven Spielberg:

“I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual. At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur.”

Mmm. It’s almost like there’s a chance that the Olympics can backfire on a host nation. 

Beijing, are you ready?