Mission Mission

Behind 826 Valencia.

Two girls. Same age, same 16th and Valencia. One is saying, “This nigga gon’ get stabbed.” The other, “Is it on the @7×7 list?”

— Allan Hough (@missionmission) May 22, 2013

(And 7×7 retweeted it first thing this morning.)

You might remember her from when she had lots to say about the temporary Levi’s popup on Valencia about three years back. Later, we suspected that she might have been part of a very elaborate and insidious Levi’s marketing ploy. (So maybe Betabrand hired the same marketing team? jk)

This morning she made an announcement on Twitter (and her Twitter remains tremendously engaging):

She’s right about the new Boards of Canada though, am I right?

Anyway, the thing is, she used some kind of gnarly etching cream that’s so dangerous she elected to also put up a homemade — and bilingual — warning sign:

How thoughtful!

This afternoon, Jefferson from Mission Bicycles, Betabrand’s neighbor, sent in all of these pics and filled us in on what Betabrand is exactly:

Who is Betabrand? (Hint: they are not owned by Liz Claiborne). The owner, Chris Lindland has lived here in San Francisco for 17 years. He started his company in the basement. In my opinion, here’s that makes them remarkable: They have not outsourced production to China, Bangladesh, or Potugal. They are not made in the USA. It’s made in San Francisco. They are local makers. The money stays here. They employe about 100 blue and white collar San Franciscans.

They are relocating their operation from Cesar Chaves to Valencia. Adding a retail space so their customers can come in and try stuff on and have a human interaction.

Sounds fine to me.

Here’s the finished piece:

Messed up: Betabrand, a SF clothing company, is supposed to open a store on Valencia St. tomorrow. Then, this: twitter.com/mgrooves/statu…

— Matt Graves (@mgrooves) May 10, 2013

And here’s a crew cleaning up the mess today:

That thing was empty for a million years, and they wanted like a million bucks a square foot for it. Can’t wait to see what’s coming!

I guess I don’t hang out on Valencia much these days, or I’d just forgotten how well-trafficked it is. I had one happy hour drink sitting in the window at this bar (they make a cool thing where they put half a frozen margarita into half a glass of sangria btw), and we started seeing basically everyone we know. After the first six or seven, we started keeping a list:

1. Energetic entrepreneur trying to sell us a jacket through a closed, tinted window
2. My friend Stinky
3. DJ Primo
4. Luigi from Thieves Tavern
5. Leticia Huerta
6. Girl I recognized from someplace
7. My friends Allison and Neil*
8. My friend Lindsey*
9. DJ Primo again
10. Milo from St. Francis Fountain
11. Guy Lindsey recognized from someplace
12. Tall, longhaired bartender from Jack’s (RIP Jack’s)
13. Amit Gupta (of Photojojo)
14. Mandy Harper (of Wholesome Bakery)
15. Amit Gupta again
16. Helen Tseng (of The Bold Italic)
17. Ginger skater Lindsey knows
18. Primo AGAIN (2 Men Will Move You is this Saturday btw)
19. Tall guy from Boyz IV Men
20. Fake Nihar (not of Haçeteria)
21. Lindsey’s #1 longhair bike messenger crush
22. Some asshole on a motorized skateboard
23. Guy that works at Box Dog Bikes
24. Lil Stinky (Stinky’s younger brother)✓
25. Dave from Jess’s office (whose birthday it was, HAPPY BIRTHDAY)✓

It was a pretty fun game. Highly recommended.

*Pictured
✓Seen immediately after exiting, so it might not count

While Adobe Books has fortunately managed to find a new home on 24th Street, the question of Liz Clairborne-backed Jack Spade moving into their former location still remains.  Among those opposed to the technicality-skirting men’s boutique is the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association (VCMA), who went to the Department of Building Inspection yesterday to log a complaint against the plans of Jack Spade to open up a 10th store on the Valencia Corridor.  Jefferson, Vice President of the VCMA, explains their case:

They had 7 stores when they applied for a LOD (Letter of Determination) from the Planning Department. Planning confirmed that they were not formula retail at the time but cautioned that if they opened up 3 more stores their status would change.

Next week the VCMA will finalize and submit a letter to the planning department to express the business communities’ opposition to their presence on the Valencia corridor.

Rumor also has it that Jack Spade craftily attempted to partner with Dave Eggers’ 826 Valencia in an effort to establish some neighborhood clout, but that the non-profit writing center turned them down.  It’s still too early to say how the city will respond, but could this situation unfold the same way as the Valencia American Apparel that never was?

[Photo via UA]

Can you imagine 17th and Mission without Thrift Town and the rest of this building?

[via Uptown Almanac] (Thanks, Thea!)

About 4,700 people temporarily lost power on Tuesday.

Just got a autocall from @pge4me on Mission / La Lengua power outage, ETA 6:15 for restoration.

— Burrito Justice (@burritojustice) April 23, 2013

Then a reader, Geoff, sent us this pic, saying:

I was on Valencia st when the power went out, so I went back home. On the way I saw this at 21st and Alabama. A Mylar balloon shorted out the wires, and it looks like it took out most of the district.

Thanks, Geoff!

The SF Appeal has the official story:

[PG&E spokesman] Molica said the balloon “caused extensive damage,” and he reminded people to keep metallic balloons weighed down and away from power lines.

Here’s a pic with the balloon highlighted, in case it wasn’t clear above.