Posts Tagged ‘russian hill’
Monday, September 14th, 2009
See all these people heading up the 1200 block of San Francisco’s Lombard Street? They’re on their way to the Crookedest Street in the World, just a short drive away. But, en realidad, these people will have a long wait to get up this hill. Why? Because they have to take their turn. And that causes problems:
“I live one block from Lombard and Polk and every Sat and Sun Lombard is full of tourists who burn up their clutches trying to get up Lombard street….”
This is gridlock. Perhaps it will take a half hour to get to the curvy part?
Here’s the block of Clutch Sorrow:
Click to expand
Now, if you’re on this street trying to get to the good part of Lombard, you should just jink on over to Filbert via Polk and then get Hyde. Then you go north on Hyde and hang a righty to go down the famous block.
That way, you avoid this situation:
“Driving up Lombard Street in San Francisco takes patience and a quick foot. If you have a manual transmission you’ll need to exercise care when releasing the clutch. Even cars with automatic transmissions squeal tires driving up Lombard Street. Every time you go from gas to brake the car rolls back until the motor moves the car forwards. On Lombard Street its quite normal to smell burning rubber from tires and clutches. Lombard Street is best driven in a rental car.”
So, don’t follow the crowd up Lombard and don’t follow the 49 Mile Scenic Drive (which doesn’t even hit the crooked part of the street), just follow the cable cars on Hyde from Nob Hill.
You’ll do fine.
Tags: 49, brakes, burn, burning, cluth, crooked, crookedest, drive, filbert, hyde, lombard, lombard street, mile, Polk, russian hill, San Francisco, scenic, street, up, wait, Waiting
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Friday, September 4th, 2009
Let’s try the sidewalk first. Downsides include the illegality and the possible hassle for pedestrians.
All right, now let’s get onto the street. This is not recommended, particularly going outbound to the west, which is mostly uphill. It’s legal, but pretty scary.
By this time, my lungs were aching for air. Pedaling furiously in 27th gear:
Conclusion: Take the sidewalk. Walk your ride if necessary.
Or go around Russian Hill.
Or go over Russian Hill.
Those are your four choices.
But the city, the city is working on things. Check out the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s take on things right here.
Anyway, four choices. Choose wisely.
NB: Don’t touch anything in the tunnel, as everything is covered in soot.
Tags: bicycle cioalition, bikes, broadway, broadway tunnel, cycling, cyclists, DPT, legal, north beach, pedestrian, riders, russian hill, San Francisco, sfbc, sfdpt, SFMTA, sidewalks, street, tunnel, widen, yelp
Posted in bikes | 1 Comment »
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
Tonight’s Fourth of July fireworks show had a fairly high fog ceiling, so it would have to rate as better than average. Better than last year anyway, but not as good as 2007.
Here’s an excellent eight-second exposure of the northern waterfront show from Lafayette Park in Specific Whites Pacific Heights. Click to expand:
via bendjsf
And here’s a real-time shot of the same show from Twin Peaks:
Everything is done double – that’s the way they do it. Here’s a double double:
But this is what happens when the fireworks get too high – you can only see the bottom halves sometimes due to the fog:
Let’s look across the Bay over at Sausalito. That’s USF in the foreground:
Now here are some illegal explosions in San Francisco. This was an impressive burst above the northern Mission district:
And here’s Mission Bay / Dogpatch with Alameda / Oakland in the background – very nice:
The Mission and points south all had lots of illegal fireworks booming:
Oh noes, it’s a flare, shooting high above Twin Peaks…
…and then landing somewhere in the Castro District:
And there you have it.
Tags: 2007, 2008, 2009, 3rd, 511, aquatic park, at&t park, ave, avenue, Bay, bay area, bernal heights, bicycles, bike, blanket, bus, cable cars, chapel, clouds, coit tower, county, Crissy Field, district, film, fire works, fired up, firework, fireworks, fishermans, fishermans wharf, fishermen's wharf, flare, fog, forecast, fort mason, forth, foruth of july, fourth, ft. mason, herb caen, hunters point, hyde, Ignatius Heights, illegal, Jefferson, july, lower, marin, marina green, mission, movie, Muni, Municipal Pier, Oakland, pacific heights, park, parking, photographs, photos, pier 39, potrero hill, presidio. telegraph hill, prohibidado, prohibited, russian hill, San Francisco, sausalito, SFPD, street, transit, twin peaks, university of san francisco, USF, van ness, walking, way, weather, wharf, youtube
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Friday, July 3rd, 2009
When they tell you “Fog could shroud S.F. fireworks“ up in Fishermans Wharf at 9:30 PM on the Fourth of July 2009, what they really mean is Fog WILL shroud S.F. fireworks, barring some Act of God, or Gaia, or Whomever.
Sometimes the weather is good, sometimes not. This year, not.
Check it out from 2008. Click to expand:
Eliya via Flickr
This is by no means the worst case scenario. So when they talk about special low-level fireworks and let’s cross our fingers, they’re spinning. And spinning is just the polite term for lying. So, what do you do? Head on over to the Mission District, where they’ll have oodles of Yelp-rated, illegal, illicit, MUY PRO HI BI DA DO (now I say that in Spanish because that’s how exotic and not allowed it is) fireworks, fog-free, for free. Just check out this screen saver album from 2007.
Of course, you can always go with the flow and follow the madding crowd northward into la niebla, le brouillard. And who knows, maybe it will be clear the way it was in 2007. Thusly:
This is the view you had from Crissy Field on 7-4-2007 – those lights at the bottom have something to do with Fishermans Wharf.
But dude, don’t drive up there. Even if they didn’t block off the streets and you already had a parking space waiting for you, you’d still have to drive out of there in a traffic jam when the show’s over at 10:00 PM. Of course, you could always hang out at all the places that will be open up in the Wharf after the show, but maybe you’d be better off driving into the City with your bikes in tow and parking South of the 101 near the Giants’ AT&T Park. Then you could ride up the flat, flat Embarcadero (on the sidewalk – it’s legal) back and forth.
Can you dig the colors, man?
But if that doesn’t pan out, you could follow the cable cars on Hyde (that’s the one north-south street they don’t block off, in my experience) and drop off the brood. Whatever you do, stay off of Van Ness. Or you could BART it to the Embarcadero Station and then hoof it up to Pier 39. But forget about MUNI, ’cause walking would be faster.
And most likely it will be foggy anyway, you’ve been warned.
Dress warm. Panthers out.
Fourth of July Waterfront Celebration
Saturday, July 4, 2009
1:00 PM to 9:30 PM
“PIER 39 invites you to enjoy a fun-filled Independence Day celebration. Rock out with ‘Take 2′ from 1-4pm followed by San Francisco’s favorite 80’s cover band, ‘Tainted Love’ from 6-9:30pm. Immediately after the entertainment look to the sky as the City of San Francisco lights up the night with it’s Firework’s Spectacular, accompanied by a musical simulcast from KISS FM 98.1. PIER 39 has the best viewing area on the bay! In addition, 39 of PIER 39’s businesses will remain open after the fireworks so that guests can miss the traffic, enjoy the PIER, have a drink, get a bite to eat, and shop. Click here for the list of locations open after the fireworks. Sponsored by Crystal Geyser ALPINE SPRING WATER, DeLoach Vineyards, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, The San Francisco Examiner, Tawain Tourism and Asus.”
Tags: 2007, 2008, 2009, 511, aquatic park, at&t park, ave, avenue, bay area, bicycles, bike, blanket, bus, cable cars, clouds, coit tower, Crissy Field, district, film, fire works, fired up, firework, fireworks, fishermans, fishermans wharf, fishermen's wharf, fog, forecast, fort mason, forth, foruth of july, fourth, ft. mason, herb caen, hyde, illegal, Jefferson, july, marin, marina green, mission, movie, Muni, Municipal Pier, of july, pacific heights, park, parking, photographs, photos, pier 39, presidio. telegraph hill, prohibidado, prohibited, russian hill, San Francisco, SFPD, street, transit, van ness, walking, way, weather, wharf, youtube
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Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
You know what makes you better than all those melon farmers out there? It’s the fact that you hang your hat every night in the City and County of San Francisco. That makes you special. To celebrate you, the California Academy of Sciences is offering free admission for you (and your neighbors). Just match up your zip code with the handy chart below, gather up the necessary proof of where you reside, and head on over to Golden Gate Park.
And the nice thing about this free admission program is that it probably won’t be as crowded as it sometimes gets on the third Wednesday of the month, when everyone gets in sans tariff.
Celebrated Missionites getting a little camera time in front of the green screen before entering the Cal Academy yesterday. Bide your time, your free day is coming:
Read the fine print. Click to expand:
Thanks, Bank of America.
Tags: 2009, 94102, 94104, 94105, 94107, 94108, 94109, 94111, 94112, 94114, 94115, 94116, 94117, 94118, 94121, 94122, 94123, 94124, 94127, 94129, 94130, 94131, 94132, 94133, 94134, 94158, academy, academy of science, academy of sciences, address, bank of america, Bayview, Bernal Heights 94110, calfiornia academy of science, california, California Academy of Sciences, castro, chinatown, code, cole valley, cow hollow, Diamond Heights, downtown, dr., excelsior, farrington, Francis Wood, free, golden gate park, greg, haight, Hunter’s Point, id, Ingleside, Lakeshore, Laurel Heights, letter, marina, Miraloma Park, mission, Mission Bay 94103, museum, music concourse, neighborhood, neighborhood free days, Noe Valley, north beach, pacific heights, parkside, phd, piano, potrero, presidio, proof, renzo, richmond, russian hill, San Francisco, science, sciences, seacliff, SF, soma, spring, st., stonestown, sunset, telegraph hill, tenderloin, treasure island, Visitacion Valley, wachovia wednesdays, western addition, zip
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Monday, February 9th, 2009
You’ve already seen the sad aftermath of a San Francisco Porta Potti arson on the streets of San Francisco but now, here’s a photo of the melted aftermath before cleanup.
Porta Potti Arsonist, do you have a Message? What is your beef? How would you like to change Society? Could you please forward your manifesto? Do tell!
An early victim from 2008 on Powell. Click to expand:
via Seven Morris
Tags: arson, construction, department, fire, fires, flame, green, police, porta, portable, portable toilets, potti, potty, Powell, resin, russian hill, San Francisco, SFPD, site
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Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Look below for the telltale sign of yet another Porta Potti arson – bright green or blue or aqua synthetic resin embedded into the sidewalk, evidencing the molten flow downhill. Was this portable toilet parked right next to a tree? Thanks for asking, yes it was. Isn’t that against the rules? Yes again. (Oh well.)
But why was this toilet chosen to be the 21st to go up in flames? Take a look at the crime scene below for a clue.
Can concrete cement handle the heat of melting, petroleum-based plastic? Clearly no. This gouged part of the sidewalk will need to be replaced at some point:
The charred tree is the one on the right. Click to expand to see why the arsonist might have picked this particular spot.
Spoiler
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Look at the glass-encased eternal flame on the upper left. Firebugs are attracted to fire, right? Something to think about…
Stay safe.
Tags: arson, broadway, construction, department, fire, fires, flame, green, pacific heights, police, porta, portable, portable toilets, potti, potty, resin, russian hill, San Francisco, SFPD, site
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Saturday, December 27th, 2008
If we can’t catch the serial portable toilet arsonists of Russian Hill (actually, these fires have occurred outside of Russian Hill as well, but whatever), then why not require metal to be used as the primary construction material as opposed to combustible plastic or whatever?
Just a thought.
This Russian Hill Port a John on the steepest street in San Francisco remains safe. But for how long? Click to expand:
Additionally, Wiki helpfully notes:
Portable toilets are referred to colloquially or sold under such brands as port-a-john, job johnny, port-o-let, port-a-loo, sani-privy, port-a-san, porta-potty, tidy john, John To Go, toi-toi, J-Jon, shit-shack, porta-kybo.
(The More You Know…)
Tags: arson, fires, portable toilets, russian hill, San Francisco
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