You’ve heard of ephemeral vernal pools, but San Francisco has its own version - autumnal lakes of water that rise up after heavy rain sometimes. Let’s call this one Lake Ashbury.
The cover on this legally parked bike certainly earned it’s keep the other night, battling waves of water 10 feet high.
Click to expand:
Such is the plight of those who park motocycles on the mean streets of San Francisco.
So, you’re all set to motor on the streets of San Francisco with your high-performance vehicle and then…
Disaster! Some funeral procession is blocking you even though you have the green light. It’s just like Critical Mass, except these car parades can show up at any time. Do you really have to listen to these “funeral cops” when they try to block your vehicle’s path?
Maybe. See below.
Per Tom Marshall, a CHP spokesman in HQ in Sacramento:
“The Vehicle Code says any person who disregards any traffic signal or direction given by a peace officer authorized to escort funeral processions in uniform shall be guilty of an infraction and subject to penalties.
“The Vehicle Code is silent on non-peace officers performing funeral-escort duty.
“However, we would recommend that motorists observe the directions of such an escort not only out of respect, but also to avoid danger to themselves and those in the procession.
“It is reasonable that a motorist in a funeral procession is somewhat relying upon the escort’s direction and may not expect someone to not observe their directions.”
What that means is that, especially in places like San Francisco where there are rules for Funeral Precession Escorts, you probably won’t get a ticket for ignoring a so-called “fake cop,” but you very likely will get the blame if you get into an accident.
Choose wisely.
Mark “Papa” Guardado, President of the Hells Angels’ San Francisco chapter, was killed in the Mission District on September 2nd. Tomorrow’s funeral should be well-attended.
The vigil will be held Sunday at 7 p.m. and a funeral Monday at 10 a.m. at Duggan’s Serra Mortuaryat 500 Westlake Ave. in Daly City, with interment to follow at Cypress Lawn cemetery in Colma. The two-wheeled funeral procession could be the largest in Bay Area history.
This is what the sidewalk memorial for Papa Frisco looked like today at 24th and Treat in the Mission. Click to expand:
The Guardian Angels were on patrol in this area over the weekend and there are extra police around as well.
Let’s hope for a peaceful day tomorrow.
You see, the sidewalks of San Francisco’s Market Street don’t have posted speed limits so you’re free to go as fast as you want.
Everyone will cheer as your illegal, hollow, straight exhaust pipes resonate. Why not give us a smoky burnout or two?
All right, see you tomorrow!
You cagers in your cars don’t know the joy of SuzikiGirl, who never misses a green light on the streets of San Francisco.
A small motorcycle gets you around a little faster and a little safer than a scooter, don’t you think?
The Presidio of San Francisco, on the northern waterfront to the left of the newly upscale Ghirardelli Square, hasn’t seen this much action since they filmed The Presidio, starring Sean Connery. It appears that a mounted member of the United States Park Police briefly detained a Google Maps camera car for some sort of driving infraction this morning. Oh noes! Don’t impede this car - it’s gone to some interesting places. It’s not scary at all, right?
So the photo below shows how the magic of Google Street View happens - you can see their method all laid out. In this case, Google is using a brand-spanking-new Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid (wouldn’t a 50-state VW Jetta TDI diesel get better mileage?) and a rather tall metal mast with mad cameras, GPSes and SICK laser range finders. Click to expand:
Courtesy of damianspain of the San Francisco Bay area. Thanks Damian! Check out his flickrstream for lots of great shots of San Francisco, including a rare blue sky at the North Beach Festival.
(Normally, the Presidio is a quiet place, except for people feuding over the location of the new CAMP museum and the occasional coyote attack. And Hooverball - the kids these days make all sorts of noise throwing their old school medicine balls around.)
Keep up the good work, Google Street View drivers. Just make sure to watch out for The Man (as well as all those sexy pedestrians trying to catch your attention).
[Update: National Park Service employee and Commenter #67 Motorcop_2000 disputes any account that has the Googler getting a ticket. MC_2K indicates that this driver merely got lost and was trying to get "back to the Avenues" (meaning the Richmond or the Sunset districts). Bad driving and Toyota Priuseses seem to go together, so this story rings true.]
