Posts Tagged ‘Merchants’
Monday, August 30th, 2010
Yeasterday’s Lantern Parade Festival and Bon Odori Dance in Japantown was well-attended. Here’s some video and here’s the dragon, courtesy of the SFNoobs.
Now, I didn’t stick around for nightfall, but here’s what things looked like early on, under the pouring sun.
The parade coming…
…and going:
People were encouraged to wave their hands in the air like they just didn’t care. (Note Retail for Lease sign in background.)
And here comes the queen and court for the Cherry Blossom Festival Queen Program 2010
Amd here’s what people were carrying:
And here’s the only pol that I saw, Emily Murase. She’s running for the San Francisco Board of Education in November:
All this was taken in by a (mostly) enthusiastic crowd:
Takko, the garlic capital of Japan, sounds like my kind of town:
People were dusting off their summery yukata to join in:
See you next year!
Tags: 150, 150th, 2010, anniversary, asian, association, bay area, beauty, benevolent, board, bon, california, Cherry Blossom, Chochin Gyoretsu, community, contest, court, Dance, education, emily murase, Federation, Festival, folk, japan, Japanese, japantown, Kanrin Maru, Lantern, Merchants, obon, odori, pageant, parade, post, proncess, queen, religious, San Francisco, school, ship, Society, street, webster, year's, yosakoi
Posted in events | No Comments »
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Per Hokubei.com:
“Inspired by the 1936 Chochin Gyoretsu (Lantern Parade) commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Kanrin Maru’s arrival, the Japanese Benevolent Society of California, the Japantown Merchants Association, the Japanese American Religious Federation, and other Japantown community organizations have organized a lantern parade celebrating the 150th. “Yosakoi,” a traditional folk dance of the Kochi region, which will host the 2011 Grassroots Summit, will be performed from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Children are encouraged to participate. The Bon Odori/Lantern Parade will follow from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.”
See you there.
Tags: 150, 150th, 2010, anniversary, asian, association, bay area, benevolent, bon, california, Chochin Gyoretsu, community, Dance, Federation, folk, japan, japantown, Kanrin Maru, Lantern, Merchants, obon, odori, parade, post, religious, San Francisco, ship, Society, street, webster, year's, yosakoi
Posted in events | 2 Comments »
Friday, November 20th, 2009
He’s back, baby! San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom is back in town, both physically and mentally. So, he’ll (OMG, is Gavin channelling giddy, laughing Tom Cruise?) once again have to deal with the so-called “delusional” media, but that won’t stop him from continuing to Take It Directly to the People, GWB-style. As here, with last night’s lighting ceremony for the Market Street Snowflakes.
Our mayor with the Snowflake Girls near the Powell Street Cable Car Turnaround at the dramatic Moment of Lighting. Dixitque Gavin fiat lux, et facta est lux:
Click to expand
But let’s start earlier on in the evening. This was Market Street a little before the ceremony. It’s the darkest I’ve ever seen it, cause they turned off all the LED snowflakes (which have been burning the midnight oil quite a bit recently, as they were last summer, when they were being installed and tested) plus the streetlamps of the “Path of Gold” too.
Even a Toyota Prius driver would turn on the headlights with on a street this dark:
The streetlights and snowflakes are wired in together? That would make sense:
Anywho, back to the ceremony, apres-lux - can you see all them signs? Show Your Zip is the new “locals only” holiday shopping program. (It would appear that the San Francisco Ballet (nice new video they have on the homepage now) would have this program’s best discounts.) Scott Beale’s Laughing Squid is celebrating its 14th Anniversary as a local business with the help of famous Frank Chu. And The Jesus Loves You Guy was on the scene as well. Natch:
The mise-en-scene last night. Aside from almost always appearing bored while waiting for others to finish speaking (looking left, looking right, looking left, looking up….), Gavin Newsom always handles these kinds of public events very well, as you would expect a charismatic leader to do:
The Least-Yellowest Teeth in all Christendom. In fact, nowadays, they’re so white that they’re on the blue side, as if flourescent. Amazing:
President of the Board of Supervisors David Chiu, taking time out of his interview with KGO-TV’s Lilian Kim to greet Frank Chu in front of The Gap, which is doing better these days, don’t you know.
And this is how I left it, with the lights on ’til January 2010:
Enjoy.
Tags: 19, 19th, 2009, 7, ABC, association, bay area, black friday, board of supervisors, cable car, ceremony, christmas, county, David Chiu, delusional, discount, electricity, frank chu, gavin newsom, girls, holiday, jesus loves you, jesus loves you guy, kgo, led, light, lighting, lilian kim, locals, market, Mayor, media, Merchants, November, president, San Francisco, shopping, show your zip, sign, snowflake, snowflakes, street, streetlamps, streetlights, turnaround, TV, union square
Posted in politics | Comments Off
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
[UPDATE: Whoops, apparently the Chronicle has two Andrew Rosses covering similar beats? Oh noes! Well, all the better. Speaking of mistakes, what are the odds that I'll see a lit up snowflake on Market Street tonight? About 100%, based on the past two weeks' observation. Oh well. Good thing those snowflakes don't use petroleum-based electricity, huh?]
You see, normally the San Francisco Chronicle‘s Andrew S. Ross is lumped together with PhilMatier, thusly:
But sometimes they let him run wild and unchained, all by his lonesome, thusly:
As here, where Andrew Ross gives his take on the order of battle of this morning’s Whole Foods Showdown: Six Flags Over Noe Valley, Don’t Mess With Texas. See what Andrew did there? He fleshed things out, he gave more detail, he added to the story.
Que bueno!
(Now, you give those limited column inches to somebody like C.W. Nevius to check in with 24th Street and what would you get? Well, maybe vitriol and emotion, and maybe that would be it. Oh well.)
Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with M&R together (a quarter mil. we have to pay for horrible, soon-to-be-cancelled Trauma, where the average worker, we’re talking median and mode here, makes rock-bottom minimum wage?), but they should let Andrew out of the bizness ghetto and allow him to run wild over any and all subjects of the day
And that’s the The Bottom Line.
[UPDATE: Whole Foods has started to construct a defensive wall made of pumpkins, but how strong could it be? We'll find out soon enough.]
[UPDATE 2, Electric Boogaloo: War Reporter Andy Wright has extensive coverage from the field of battle]
Tags: 24th, 24th street, 30, 30th, 3950 24th, Andrew Ross, andrew s ross, association, bags, bell, bevan, blog, boycott, Bread Baking Ceremony, CEO, chronicle, Church Street, Community Benefit District, dufty, editorial, facebook, Friends, girlcott, goodie, goody, grand, grocery, health care, healthcare, inc, Jennifer Dobrowolski, John, John Mackey, Mackey, market, matier, Mayor, Merchants, neighborhood, neighbors, nimbies, nimby, nimbys, noe, Noe Valley, NVMPA, opening, payola, Professionals, protesters, Reform, ross, San Francisco, september, single payer, street, supermarket, upper, upscale, wall street journal, wez, whole foods
Posted in protests | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Oh, it’s going to be on tomorrow morning at the Grand Opening of the new Whole Foods at 3950 24th Street in The Valley. San Francisco’s fifth WF will start the sacred Bread Baking Ceremony at the same time protesters arrive to raise a ruckus about health care reform and CEO John Mackey, mkay?
Everyone is welcome to the store and the protest – highly unlike the invite-only events Whole Foods has recently held for the fearsome neighborhood groups. It’s called outreach or something. Whole Foods just ought to put these neighborhood associations on the payroll the way Sutro Tower, Inc. pays money to neighborhood groups around Mount Sutro to shut them up. A little payola (or granola in a huge goodie bag) can go a long way when you’re trying to placate the NIMBYs, of course.
Anywho, be there at 9:45 AM tomorrow to see San Francisco’s upscale version of Harlan County, USA.
And just think, after the boycott, “You’ll feel proud to come in and get food to serve to your family, friends, and neighbors.” Remember how embarrassed you were serving up that slop from the old Bell Market? Those days are over, soon as the boycott ends.
And if you’re not boycotting, sign up for the store tour on Tuesday, October 6th:
Tuesday Tours: A Taste of Whole Foods Market
10-11am Please sign up in advance, but the tour is FREE and limited in size. | Details
Both seasoned shoppers and new customers can benefit from a guided store tour, especially with so many unique choices available! In this tour, we’ll showcase what we mean when we say we offer all-natural, real food, at the best possible price. This is your chance to ask, listen and learn everything you want to know about our market. Please sign up in advance, but the tour is FREE and limited in size.
And here’s the bacchanalia you were excluded from:
“We are eagerly awaiting our opening next week on Wednesday, September 30th ! We have been working hard and are so delighted that we’re almost there! Further, we feel incredibly grateful for the support, well wishes, humor, smiles and hospitality that our new community has shown us! As a very small token of our thanks, we’d like to invite you to join us at our very own “Whole Foods Market Tapas Truck” on Saturday, September 26th from 11a-2p (really it’s a Taco Truck, but we’ll be serving Spanish Tapas—but you can’t miss it in our parking lot.)
Marketing Team Leader
Whole Foods Market, Noe Valley”
This is a special invitation ONLY event for our neighbors in the associations that we have been working with.
Have a look at the attached & either print a copy of this to bring with you or contact me so that I can get you printed copies that I have here at the store.
Any question, please ask—we’ll see you very soon!
Best regards,
Jennifer Dobrowolski”
Choose your side and get on out there!
Dead and wounded on either side/
You know it’s only a matter of time
Tags: 24th street, 30, 30th, 3950 24th, association, bags, bell, blog, boycott, Bread Baking Ceremony, CEO, Church Street, Community Benefit District, editorial, facebook, Friends, girlcott, goodie, goody, grand, grocery, health care, healthcare, inc, Jennifer Dobrowolski, John, John Mackey, Mackey, market, Merchants, neighborhood, neighbors, nimbies, nimby, nimbys, noe, Noe Valley, NVMPA, opening, payola, Professionals, protesters, Reform, San Francisco, september, single payer, STI, street, supermarket, sutro tower, upper, upscale, wall street journal, whole foods
Posted in protests | 5 Comments »
