San Francisco Citizen

I’ll tell you, San Francisco doesn’t have too many Republicans but they manage to come out in force during Steve Restivo’s annual Union Street Eco Urban (or is it Urban Eco?) Street Festival.

I can just about assure that the Mitt Romney people will on the scene and out in force, with the ironing boards and whatnot – like this guy:

All right now here’s your Union Street Festival Decision Tree:

“1. Is it sunny outside?

2. Can you stand crowds of overgrown sorority girls and fraternity boys?

3. Can you stand crowded beer gardens filled with the aforementioned?

If you answered yes to the above, proceed to the Union Street Festival. “

Dude, harsh!

But here’s the retort, from a party-lover, here’s the other side of this perfect dramaturgical dyad:

“SORRY FOR:

(1) PARTYING AND HAVING FUN AT A FESTIVAL

(2) NOT BEING A GRANDMA, and

(3) LIVING LIFE A LITTLE.”

So there you go.

The alcohol drinking used to be totally wide open, and then things got toned down a bit, and now I think even the walled-off beer “gardens” are gone. But you can always join one of the annual beer-fueled house parties, why not?

All right, let’s travel back to years past – here are some shots from yesteryear:

“Now here’s what’s funny when the so-called neighbors who own houses near traditional San Francisco street parties, like the Bay to Breakers Fun Run and the Union Street Festival. Inevitably, some of the actual neighbors, the people what live on the street itself, throw open their doors for anything-goes, beer-fueled house parties.

Anyway, today Andrea Koskey has the news about how there will be no more beer gardens at the Union Street Festival 2011, prompting this response from Serg of the Uptown Almanac:

“Yeah because rock and fucking roll brings the “wilder element.” Yeah I bet it must be nuts when your heehaw ass festival gets raided by tall-can wielding dave matthews fans. Ain’t no dancing in this town bitches! We want to sell shitty ass freeway artwork and braclets made out of old rocks and trash to senior citizens and sweater knots. Fucking dumb asses chewing on shitty grilled meat on a stick can’t hang out in beer gardens or do whatever dumb fucking bullshit it is that they do on their lame ass stoops on Union st. Union street can suck my balls, that shit has been herbfest from the gate, amatuer hour trainwreck can stay gone.”

O.K. then.

All right, get your house partay tickets or invites now. (It’ll be a piece of cake if you are popular/cute enough.)

The perils of post-adolescent Union Street Fest shotgunning. The front of this house faces Union:

That entire residence was filled to the brim with partiers in 2008. Ah, memories.

All right, see you there, or not.

Now enjoy a trip down Union Street Festival Memory Lane:

This thing is biiiig – it will take you a long time to wander about Union:

You know who proved popular was Tom Rigney, “electric violinist, Cajun fiddler, composer, graphic artist, and leader of the American roots music band, Tom Rigney and Flambeau.”

Best in Show – Candy Wrapper Handbags, something like this, as seen on Oprah

Micro cupcakes continue their dominance over the cuisine of the late aughts

Your streetfest four basic food groups are poultry (including turkey legs, they’re not just for renaissance festivals anymore), corn on the cob, couscous (not pictured) and garlic fries (not pictured).

2.5 star-rated Left at Albuquerque [sadly closed now, I think] offered crowd-pleasing  beer towers to sidewalk diners:

Now they’re renting out A2B electric scooters to tourists. Do people really ride these things on the Golden Gate Bridge sidewalks at 20 per back and forth to Sausalito? People do. Anyway, Blazing Saddles bike rentals was offering test drives.

Suds on the Roof, but much less than in years past. I think a man partying outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a red cup of suds.

“Eco-Urban” Union Street featured a hell of a lot of gas powered Honda generators, but this year, not so much. Originally, I thought this distribution amplifier was a box full of car batteries, but now I’m at a loss at figuring out how this band got its power. If they had a generator, they hid it well.

What’s this?

It’s an overhead extention cord leading from a Union Street business to one of the food vendors in the middle of the street. Is that an extension cord being used as internal wiring? Cough electrical code cough.

Oh, there it is! One of at least two Hondas in operation today.

But at least all the amplified music won’t disturb this slumbering. ear-protected pooch.

It’s big, in’nt?

And here’s the lateral view from our most-polarizing street fest yesterday, the day with “fewer hooligans” drinking beer according to at least one Sunday attendee:

I’ll tell you, myself, I didn’t see too many “drunken douchebags.” Myself. Anyway, it’s nice to see Union busy for a change.

Lots of swag from our corporate overlords at this street faire:

All right, here are a few of the Repubs. Yes on B and Fix MUNI Now were a few of their issues:

And here are some more. These people were promoting Dana Walsh (no, not the character on 24 and not this cutie, oh no – the Republican Dana Walsh).

As usual, the West End was strictly for kids:

And dogs, of course:

Fandango let people take two free spins on their unfairly-weighted (aka loaded, gaffed, cogged, weighted, crooked, or gag) swag roulette wheel – that was a mistake. Scored a bumper sticker the first try and then a precious $50 credit code the second. Bonus.

And of course, another Mini MUNI Meltdown, right on sked: