Mission Mission

Between their service cutbacks, perpetual lateness, shameless venting on twitter, colliding with pedestrians, and providing free showers to residents on Fillmore St., it’s clear that MUNI is in the middle of an epic downward spiral of fail. Why? State budget cuts, they say.

But waitaminute… I can think of this other city that also happens to be in this state: Oakland. You know, that place you never go to in the “Eastern Bay”?

Ooh, shiny! This picture is from my phone, not an AC Transit informative brochure.

I work in Downtown Oakland every day and I sometimes use AC Transit. During a recent ride, it occurred to me that there are some really amazing things about it:

1. I’ve never had to wait longer than 10 minutes for a bus. The “walk or ride” calculation never becomes a factor.
2. Buses are modern and clean. Seriously, look at the picture. It looks like interior of an airport shuttle.
3. The realtime Nextbus predictions are actually accurate and seem to be able to distinguish between buses going in the opposite direction.
4. No one sneaks in the back door of the bus or flashes a dubious expired transfer. Everyone walks in through the front and pays their fare.
5. There’s this awesome concept of “Rapid” lines. Example: the 72 stops wherever you want, but the 72R will only stop at major intersections, often shaving off 10-20 minutes of travel time. Does the 49 really need to stop every block on Mission St? A 49R that stops at Van Ness, 16th, 24th, then Valencia would change my life.
6. As far as I know, no one has ever had to defend her seat with karate on AC Transit (less tempers, less crazies).

So why doesn’t AC Transit suck? I’m sure there are a lot more factors here, but their annual operating budget is $320 million, while the SFMTA is a whopping $808 million.

Damn, maybe I just need to get my bike fixed already and stop thinking about MUNI.

Emalie found this abandoned sea shell at 22nd and Folsom, obviously left behind as cataclysmic flood waters receded back to the ocean from whence they came, leaving the ark ready to repopulate the world.

Emalie take lots of nice pictures, but they’re all locked up in her Facebook (is that grammatically correct these days?).  Free your pics, Emalie!  That goes for all the rest of you, too.

Previously: Catholicism Strikes Again

Telstar Logistics. Laughing Squid. Burrito Justice. Mission Mission. What happens when they join forces? Mission Blog Force 2010! A veritable historical mapgasm ensues.

Laughing Squid and Telstar Logistics recently exposed us to the historical imagery feature in Google Earth.  San Francisco’s 1946 layer proved irresistible, especially concerning the old SF Seals baseball stadium, now home to the Potrero Safeway and Office Depot.

As is inevitable amongst map wonks, the Telstar Logistics and Burrito Justice mapping teams started to wonder exactly where in the stores the bases were located. The alignment of the 1947 photomap is a little wobbly in Google Earth (it’s off by 30-100 feet) so we turned to another favored source for greater precision, Sanborn maps overlaid in GE. Behold the diamond of history.

In the world’s first blogging simulcast, you can see the raw base photos of the Telstar Logistics Surveying Unit along with painfully detailed overlay maps by the Burrito Justice Research Department. Telstar Logistics historical analysis will be available on Laughing Squid posthaste.

For some perspective (because that’s how we roll) here’s opening day for the Giants in 1959, their first game against LA. That’s 16th on the top and Bryant on the right.

Note that history was made recording history: a blogger ACTUALLY LEFT HIS HOME and went on-site to determine that home plate and 1st are located in Office Depot, while 2nd and 3rd base in Safeway.

Below, blue tape marks third base, looking towards home plate.  (Torillas in front of you, and frozen pizzas behind you, as is so often the case when you’re trying to steal home.)

To make this post even more relevant to the Mission — Seals Stadium was also home to the Mission Reds (aka the Missions) before they moved down to Hollywood in 1938.

And prior to Seal Stadium’s construction in 1930, both teams played at 14th and Valencia at Recreation Park. Think of that next time you’re at Four Barrel.

More photos and maps at TL, LS, and BJ.

I was sleepily strolling along Mission Street last Sunday and realized at some point that I was in Thrift Town. I went upstairs with no plan in mind and stumbled upon my new workout spot. I did a full circuit, some AbSwing, some Xtreme, some lift-and-pull thing, some other thing that I think I did backwards, then went around for a second cycle. At one point a girl looking around even joined in for a few reps.

Not bad for a free membership.

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“Farina is opening a pizzeria on the corner of Valencia and 18th,” an anonymous informant informs us, “They’ve taken all three spaces.”

I don’t know much about Farina, but surely this will be a welcome addition to the out-of-control fancy pizza boom here in the neighborhood.

The location can’t be beat (you can put your name in and then go next door to Self Edge and try on jeans while you wait). But here’s hoping any further Farina-related drive-by shootings stay west of Lapidge where they belong.

UPDATE: Eater SF confirms.

I was worried that my unflattering review of Nap’s 3 might lead to a flamewar. It’s a legitimate concern. Allan helped put me at ease:

You heard it here first. If these hypothetical Nap’s 3 facebook fans exist, then we’ll make a Herzog-style documentary of Allan eating his facebook, which should be good since it’s technically impossible.

Update: After School Naps <3 doesn’t count!

Fitting that this is a .png amirite?

Ritte Van Vlaanderen, some kind of cycling enthusiast website, this week published a helpful guide to performing the on-bike pee. Bonus points for performing it toward the long line of people waiting to get into [make your own joke here].

(pic courtesy of breadxbread)

Josh from TCB Courier says:

We have started working with Rhea’s Deli to offer free delivery within the mission for Rhea’s Sandwiches and dry goods. We are now delivering from 2 – 9 pm daily, and any order around $10 or more gets free delivery via TCB.

Rhea’s Deli has been winning over lots of folks lately. It’s easy to walk past this unassuming corner store and not realize that the sandwiches of the gods are waiting for you within.

At the recommendation of this very blog, I went there a month ago and had the Korean steak sandwich. It was the best sandwich that I’ve had in a very, very long time. Though, I gotta admit if that’s their idea of “mild” I’m not even gonna touch their “spicy”. They are also an honest-to-blog corner store, so throw in some Advil while you’re at it.

In case you didn’t know, TCB Courier is a bike courier service that will pick up and deliver pretty much anything for you. They are on bikes so they will get you your shit faster than anyone else. And yes, it is customary to tip your bike courier. Put them on speed dial now: 415-797-2255.

Free post-punk at the Knockout with some great local bands.  Airfix Kits sounds like GANG OF FOUR having a party with THE MINUTEMEN, and they even have an English-accent-sounding singer for authenticity’s sake.  Also, they’re one of Allan’s favorite SF bands (probably because they also have an Allan in the band).

Rank/Xerox is one of those bands that you can legitimately describe as “early JOY DIVISION” without getting laughed out of the room.  And of course La Corde is opening everything up with their WIPER-influenced raw sound.

The FREE SHOW starts at 9pm.  Tell the rain to fuck off and come out!

Previously: Airfix Kits at Pissed-Off Pete’s in Excelsior

As part of the Noise Pop Film Festival, on Saturday, February 27, ATA will screen the History Channel’s Woodstock: Then & Now, directed by Barbara Kopple. The film looks at the history of Woodstock and its lasting impact on music and popular culture.

And WE are giving away a free pair of tickets.

To enter, leave a comment below telling us about your favorite song on the new Norah Jones album. Winner will be decided randomly or perhaps based on merit. Contest ends one week from right now.