San Francisco Citizen

Uh oh, seems as if there’s a little unrest at the paradise that is this weekend’s Union Street “Eco-Urban” Festival 2009. No, it wasn’t the Republican party recruiting again, it was trouble with promoter Steven Restivo trying to tamp down on the boozy house parties that have occurred on Union Street during festival weekends past.

What you would have is hundreds of kids at Union Street residences drinking beer. Heaven forfend! Let’s hear from Party Person Brooke on the Yelp:

“Each year (for the last 5!) some friends of mine who live on Union St have a big party during the festival which allows all of us to get together, drink, dance, and be merry and peruse in and out of the street festival. It’s a well managed production, with control of who comes and goes, safe, in control, etc…. This year Steven Restivo has put an end to it, and the festival hasn’t even started yet! Steven took it into his own hands by calling the police, the fire marshals, and LANDLORDS of the apartments and buildings on Union St ahead of time, to ensure there were no parties this weekend, OTHER THAN THE ONE HE WAS THROWING. It seems he’s a big cry baby and thinks the house parties which are a custom with Union St Fest detract sales from the Beer Gardens he hosts.”

Doesn’t that just twist your mellow? Stevo “slandered the organizers of the party and contacted the building owners“? Oh well.  That means no more house parties, like this one from last year.

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.

Oh well, on to this year. Of course, you’ve got to expect more than a modicum of peroxide, silicone, designer funglasses and lapdogs. Of course, it’s Cow Hollow.

Having said that, the seems a perfectly fine fest. Let’s take a gander at 2009. By the way, it continues tomorrow.

This thing is biiiig – it will take you a long time to wander about Union even if you don’t hit the biergärtens:

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 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.

Last year’s “Eco-Urban” fest 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.

See you there tomorrow and next year!

See all the participants, after the jump.

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