Mission Mission

It’ll come as no surprise that Lost Weekend Video has long been in danger of having to close up shop. Netflix, HBO Go, Popcorn Time, etc. But they’ve been on Valencia Street since the late ’90s, they’re a living relic of the Mission’s storied past, AND they’re continually taking cool steps toward remaining relevant and exciting.

Firstly, they started up the basement Cinecave performance space where they’ve been doing all kinds of cutting-edge comedy the last couple years. More recently, they’ve welcomed 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in to share the space, and hopefully that’s revving up business a little.

But also, with the help of some crowdfunding, they’d like to do all of this:

We will enhance & expand our video & retail services to better serve the needs of the 21st Century film enthusiast, including:

1. A fully searchable online catalog, with IMDB links & weekly updates of new acquisitions.
2. Rental delivery service for when you can’t get down to the store.
3. Buying & selling of DVD/VHS collections, including new releases, collectibles & special orders.
4. A continuously stocked collection of our own signature tees, totes & hoodies as well as related local & custom merchandise.
5. Affordable video transfer services on-site.
6. Continuing operation of our overwhelmingly popular Cinecave comedy shows.

On their crowdfunding page, for different donation levels you get all sorts of perks, like free video rentals and cool shirts and stuff. 32 hours left to donate! Check it out.

[Photo by 1-2-3-4 Go! Records SF on Instagram]

Our pal Emily Nathon (former Mission Community Market manager, and legendary garbage hero) has teamed up with DanVy Vu of the Streatery truck to start a ZEPPOLE business, and they’re hitting the Mission for the first time this Saturday!

What’s a zeppole you ask? Why, it’s some kind of awesome Italian doughnut! Here’s another picture:

The zeppole business is called Girl Friday and they’re popping up at Tiny Warrior Coffee on 18th Street on Saturday morning 10am-1pm.

ZEPPOLE!

It’s a modest but perfect sandwich. (This picture doesn’t really do it justice, but I didn’t think to take it til I was almost done.)

20th and Hampshire.

(And remember to call your corner store by its name instead of just “corner store”.)

Lauren wrote in to tell us about all about it:

I realize you’ve run a few “lex is closing” posts – but we wanted to let you know about our project – part of which is a short documentary about the lex which is premiering at the San Francisco International Film Fest on April 30th, which also happens to be the last night of service at the Lex! AFTER PAAAAARTYY!! Just kidding, we will be working after the screening documenting the last night for the feature length that we are developing (by “developing”, we mean “fundraising”).

The short screens tonight at the Kabuki as part of a multifaceted program about a changing San Francisco. Get tickets and info here.

And check out the Lexington Club Archival Project for more.

Local art collective Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club presents a very special group art show tonight at local comics and art shop Mission: Comics & Art…

The show takes an intimate look at the domestic lives of roommates Henry Rollins (from Black Flag) and Glenn Danzig (from The Misfits) with over 60 paintings, drawings and original pages from the “Henry and Glen Forever and Ever” comic book series curated by by indie-heavyweight Tom Neely (Image Comics) and featuring San Francisco notables Ed Liuce (Wuvable Oaf / Fantagraphic Comics), Beth Dean, Fred Noland, Gabrielle Gamboa, Geoff Vasille and Justin Hall, along with indie comic heroes Alex Chiu, Banjamin Marra, Bruno Guerreiro, Chuck BB, Grant Reynolds, J.T. Dockery, Jeremy Baum, Jeremy Owen, Josh Bayer, Mark Rudolph, Megan Hutchison and Scot Nobles.

The opening reception will be on Thursday April 30th from 7pm to 10pm at Mission Comics & Art at 3520 20th St, suite B (between Mission and Valencia St), San Francisco, CA 94110, and will run through Saturday May 30th.

RSVP and invite your friends.

You know that moment when Valencia is quiet? Early before all the shops open? I show up to work and there’s a woman out front knitting quietly on a little folding stool. A real live yarn bomber.

I wasn’t expecting her to be so open or charming. I thought yarn bombing was done anonymously in the shadows. I started asking questions and here’s what I learned.

Emily Stauffer (fogknits.com) has been doing this since 2010. As sweet as she is, she started out of snark. “All my friends kept sending me this yarn bombing story that had gone viral. It got kind of old saying ‘Yeah, I saw it. Thanks.’ So I decided to yarn bomb something so that I could say yeah, ‘I’ve done it. Thanks.’”

“5 years later, this is probably my 200th bike rack.”

Emily has bombed pansies in a garden, statues, fences, mail boxes and pink flamingos in a neighbors yard (the only time she’s yarn bombed on private property). But her favorite thing to bomb is bike racks.

“I’m so opposed to yarn bombing trees. Trees are beautiful. They don’t need improving. Let’s add some color to something that needs some help. An ugly fence. A steel bike rack.”

“It took me by surprise that the bike community appreciated it,” Emily said. “I used to just cover the very top of bike racks – the most visible part. But I kept noticing that people would slide the yarn down to one side. Eventually I figured out that bikers were doing that to protect their paint from getting scratched by the rack. Since realizing that knitting racks was actually functional, about 95% of my yarn bombing has been on racks.

Emily’s work tends to stay up anywhere from 24 hours (in the Castro) to a year.

When strips get boring, Emily throws in an Easter egg like this Charlie Brown stripe.

Do you recognize this pattern? Take your best guess in the comments below.

So how long does it take to yarn bomb 5 circular bike racks? Emily does most of the work in what she calls “found time.”

“10 minutes while waiting for the bus. Another 10 minutes because the bus was full and it just passed me by. 20 minutes on the bus. I don’t really sit at home and work on a project like this.” When pressed, Emily confesses, “I probably spent 60-70 hours on this one.”

I thanked her for her contribution and with a smile she corrected me, “my egregious act of vandalism.”

Just a reminder that control is an illusion and we’re forever at the mercy of nature’s fury.

[via Kayla and Brenna]

(The Kayla link is a video btw if you wanna click on it and watch.)

Pretty similar to the real thing (seeing as how the real thing is STILL mostly fenced off.)

[via Denise]

P.S. Be sure to click on some of these related Safeway posts, especially the “how do you feel about Safeway” one…

Southern cookin’ at 23rd and Bryant.

Here’s what it looks like:

Here’s the dinner menu:

The fried chicken was legit.

Hot!

[via Christian]

UPDATE: A behind the scenes shot by Val…