Mission Mission

We’d pointed out a harrowing case of harassment, and Mr. Bronstein went to work:

So I called Cinthya Munoz-Ramos from the St. Peter’s Housing Committee, the group that’s representing the family. She’s one of six full-time women at the Committee, which takes up tenants’ issues in the Mission, particularly those involving immigrants. Cinthya said the Corado’s problems began in 2003 when they witnessed the same landlady throwing a neighbor down the building’s staircase.

Wow. Lots more at Bronstein at Large, here. And good stuff in the comments too. (Thanks, Doug!)

Somebody stole JimBeam’s bike! It’s a 58cm Olmo, like the one pictured above but a more burnished orange, and “has some rust on the piece connecting from the pedals to the back wheel.” The crime took place here in the neighborhood between 7 and 8pm on Friday night. Be on the lookout! Link.

Photo courtesy of Kettenlinie Coeln.

This thing was staring at me the whole BART ride today. I thought it was going to jump out and bite me!

Tonight is the kickoff of Video Fest 2008, held at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts.  The festival this year received 49 different film submissions of which 17 will be shown either tonight (10/17) or tomorrow (10/18).  From the festival blog:

Video Fest 08 is focused on people’s existence and their surroundings, the relationships that develop between the human being and nature, community, family and their social surroundings.

Although I have not often ventured into the Mission Cultural Center, the couple of times that I did, I was extremely impressed.  Once I heard some really good jazz that had people stopping in their tracks and turning the sidewalk into an impromptu theater.  Another time I saw an absorbing exhibition featuring photos snapped by kids and young adults.  If past experience is any clue, this should be good.

Been wondering about a few things, like that poster on Guerrero Street for the past few months, featuring a cow and advertising a free soapbox race in Dolores Park. The Red Bull Soapbox Race, specifically, which answers the next question: What was up with that fleet of can-shaped Red Bull cars I passed on the way home from work yesterday?

Now I’m pretty excited to see what these soap boxers will do, besides make my weekly date with Dolores (Saturday) a little claustro. Good news: it’ll be completely free, unless you decide to make a purchase from the food stands, bev stands, craft stands, nearby shops, or strolling vendors.

clever

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has ended it is true, but your unquenchable thirst for bluegrass doesn’t have to go unwatered.  Atlas Cafe hosts Belle Monroe and her Bluegrass Boys tonight from 8-10pm.  It just might get your knee thumpin’ (to the beat), heart pumpin’ (blood), fingers twitchin’ (to play) and feet itchin’ (to dance).

Person A: You going the wrong way.

Person B: No I’m not.  I’m going to buy liquor and that aint never the wrong way! Ahahahahahahaaa!

Person A: Ahahahahahaaaa!

Fall is in the air, and Tree over at Free Farm Stand has proof, one of the largest banana squashes this side of Thanksgiving!  No mere knife could tame this unruly beast, it requires a “sawzall.” Sounds like Tree is going to have a lot of squash in the coming weeks.

Just like Tom said (the guy who brought the tomatoes and squash to me from the country), I cut the squash easily with a “sawzall”, and I wrapped 1 lb. pieces in cling plastic wrap. I still have more to cut up and he wants to bring me more.

Link.

Recipes: Honey Glazed Banana Squash, Roasted Banana Squash Soup, Raw Banana Squash Donuts

In an attempt to find out if there was a reason why the sidewalks of Mission Street are tiled, I ran across an article published by The New York Times in October of 1989. Finding it rather poetic, and also an interesting read, I stopped wondering about the tiles, and started reading this rather lengthy article.

EACH TIME AMERICA SEALS ME IN A laminate of deadlines and Dow Jones averages, bills due and bills payable, I journey to a place where urgencies fade, colors brighten and all claims on reality begin to look relative. Just a stroll down the hill – though, like a good Californian, I usually drive – leads me out of my silent, wind-scoured, chillingly pretty neighborhood into a raucous, mouldering, charmingly unscrubbed caldron. Suddenly, the sidewalks are bordered with azure tiles and doused with the perfume of rotting mangoes; the streets are serenaded by thumping basso laments broadcast from souped-up Chevys; the advertisements appeal to a dozen loyalties and languages. Black-shawled Guatemalan women ply the restaurants, peddling red carnations, followed by packs of Vietnamese urchins toting bags of fresh-picked garlics; each available clapboard wall bursts with murals of naked Aztec deities and painted jungles; every sight conspires to defeat grayness and to sabotage the straight-and-narrow. Where thousands have sought asylum before me, I am a refugee in reverse – fleeing the benefits of the Promised Land for the immigrant hothouse and global miscellany that is San Francisco’s Mission District.

Full article here.

The 2009 Michelin Guide to San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country released its results today.  Range remains the only restaurant in the Mission to get a star and thus maintains its status as “a very good restaurant in its category.”  Known for being extremely frugal with its stars, the Michelin Guide refused to allow Bar Tartine, Delfina, Farina, or Tokyo Go Go a spot in their coveted constellation, but acknowleged that these places provide a good meal for less than $40.

Maybe its the fact the $40 does not sound like a bargain for me, but I have sadly not yet been to any of these places.  Until then, I will console myself knowing that Range gets 4 stars on Yelp and El Tonayense Taco Truck gets 4.5.