The San Francisco Citizen

People queuing up waiting to vote in yesterday’s election had an easy time of it compared with those trying to exercise their right to obtain free dairy treats at the Ben & Jerry’s outlet at Haight and Ashbury last night.

With hundreds of “customers” lined down Ashbury Street, the small staff got overwhelmed, unlike the last ice cream giveaway when a crew of a half-dozen labored industriously. Too bad.

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Cause if there’s anything Americans need more of, it’s ice cream.

Oh well.

This fellow standing near Fillmore Street just had a physical altercation with another fellow sitting at a bus stop. Hard to say what happened, but the person shown appeared to make a beeline from a position of safety, threw a punch or two, and then took this position here about a half-block away. 

Now here’s his appearance a minute later after a quick removal of clothes.

This appears to be a good technique to confuse law enforcement, should the need ever arise.

Spotted in Haight Ashbury, sporting Oakland Raiders’ silver and black. He sure doesn’t like flying.

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He’s doing a lot better for himself now, however.

Just drive, baby

It was Standing Room Only tonight at The Booksmith on 1644 Haight Street near Cole because famous blogger Christian Lander came to town to promote Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions. The book started from a similarly-named blog:

“While the name has earned it controversy, the blog is not necessarily about the interests of all white people, but rather a subset of the larger population that can be variously described as affluent, well-educated (particularly in the liberal arts), left-wing (e.g. environmentally conscious, anti-corporate), and/or hipster. His book has made several bestseller lists. Lander was reportedly paid a $300,000 advance by the publisher, Random House, for the book rights.”

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Brother Christian read from six relevant passages, including #82 Hating Corporations and #16 Gifted Children.

This was the scene tonight at St. Mary’s Hospital in the Western NOPA - it was another District 5 debate featuring Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and challengers Rob Anderson and Owen O’Donnell.

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Let’s hear what they have to say. You already know Ross, here is Owen and here is Rob, who runs the District 5 Diary website.

The mise-en-scene, about 40 people made it to the end:

This debate was emceed by Richard Magary and cosponsored by the following:

Buena Vista Neighborhood Association
Cole Valley Improvement Association
Haight-Ashbury Improvement Association
Inner Sunset Park Neighbors

May the best man win.

In other District 5 news, the Panhandle Bandshell is wowing them in Europe. Godspeed, little bandshell. Come back real soon, ya hear?

The Bay Area just loves famous lefty Barack, but somebody on Haight Street in foggy San Francisco saw fit to deface these OBAMA posters.

Mocking Obama -that’s the last taboo.

via January20th2009’s flickrstream

Pirate Obama certainly is a good look, but you make the call.

You can see the culprit reflected in this car’s windshield - it’s a sap-filled Eucalyptus globulus (aka Tasmanian Blue Gum, Southern Blue Gum or Blue Gum Eucalyptus) just waiting to rain down on your vehicle.  

Of course a garage around in the area of Golden Gate Park or it’s Panhandle could run you something like $10 per day. Maybe you’d feel a little gumminess is a small price to pay for free parking?

Your choice.  

It’s so nice to encounter kids today re-embracing the true mohawk style of hair design.

You see, that David Beckham with his fauxhawk copout has led some people astray. Imagine attempting to get a mohawk look without the necessary backcombing and head shaving! Mr. Beckham really has some nerve coopting legitimate punk style.

Three cheers for the real deal, seen at the recent 2008 Haight Street Fair:

This was the scene on Haight Street the other day - four urban youths inside of one AMC Pacer. This thing was advertised as the “first wide small car,” and maybe it was. Back in the day, certainly, it was wide enough for the Sandwich King. And these days, a Pacer is good enough to get you into the Nor Cal AMC Club.

Perhaps Google could start using these cars to carry their Street View equipment around? Compared to brand-new, bright red hybrid Priuseses, a fleet of old Pacers might attract less attention from John Law.

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They loved it in France, for some reason.

Let’s say au revoir to les hipsters de Haight Street. Pretty soon, everybody will have one.

Headrests are for squares of course.  Stay safe in your two-ton fishbowl!

Yesterday’s Haight Ashbury Street Fair in San Francisco came with sunny skies and lots of attendees.

The alcohol ban of recent years has changed the character of this event somewhat. These days, the boozy Union Street Festival might have an edge in the number of inebriated. No matter, a good time was had by all in the Haight.

So, dig the colors of David Yu and look at a bunch of photos from SFWeekly. 

A mass of humanity:

 Could this man with marijuana garland be famous artist Harry Shearer trying out a new character?  

Hookahs! Get your hookahs! Hookahs.com was in the house:

A dancing baby grooving on Haight Street:

Cindy Sheehan had more than a few acolytes gathering signatures for Cindy’s windmill-tilting House campaign against Nancy Pelosi:

See you next year!