Mission Mission

Go Climb a Rock is an expertly curated parade of vintage photographs of granola-eaters hiking around in the woods. Or it usually is. This week, they published this shot of a couple of very modern-looking girls hanging out atop Corona Heights Park.

At first I was like, “What is this thoroughly modern tableau doing cluttering up an otherwise–” And then I realized: no Transamerica Pyramid. They’re a couple of hippies, way back in the stone age, climbing a rock. But they look just like us!

The more things change, the more they stay exactly the same, right? I saw both those pairs of sunglasses at Buffalo Exchange the other day, I swear.

Even over a century ago, bikes were hot stuff in SF. Streetsblog tells us all about it:

The bike clubs organized century rides around the Bay Area and annual “Bike Meets” where the fastest cyclists would compete against each other before large audiences. One of the biggest ever was during the 4th of July weekend in 1893 when an estimated 20,000 spectators would jam a special track built at Central Park just south of City Hall to watch the scorchers as they hurtled around the loop.

Daaang! I guess cycling isn’t a newfangled hipster fad after all. I mean, look at that dude up there… one of the original cool dads.

Read on for even older pics, talk of “boneshakers” and more.

[Thanks, Joshua!]

Ramona Emerson’s latest Things San Franciscans Like column is up, and it’s a keeper as usual. It’s called “Things San Franciscans Like: Not Being San Franciscans,” and it contains stuff like this:

Everyone you meet in San Francisco is champing at the bit to tell you how they’re not from here, and will try to insert their own place of origin as often as possible:

“Do you know where the bathroom is?”
“I’m from Eugene.” (Which you shouldn’t necessarily take as a ‘No’)

This is like a siren’s call to other people from Oregon, and someone nearby will be obligated to ask if this person perhaps knows their cousin’s cat Misty.

Read on.

Map scan by Carrie.

Hey, hey! Now’s your chance! Remember the way Phil Bronstein compared it to Milk? Epic. Can’t wait to watch it again.

Anyway, what I’m most thrilled about is now I can watch the opening two seconds over and over and over any time I want. (Before, I said three seconds, but I think they might’ve trimmed a beat for the home video release.)

This mesmerizing animated GIF has something to do with some Día de los Muertos festivities planned for next month. All of a sudden I’m excited for fall!

The question is, will Meli be all done up like this for tonight’s Butter Lap? Show up and find out, I suppose.

“Free paint!” Exclaimed our buddy Joe Finkel on Facebook a minute ago, “San Francisco is pretty cool.” That’s right. Recology SF explains:

Most of the latex paint we receive at the San Francisco Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility [501 Tunnel Ave, San Francisco, CA 94134-2940, (415) 330-1400] is recycled on site and given away for free. If you would like some of our free paint, just stop by during regular business hours, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm, Thursday through Saturday.

Read on.

Thanks, Joe!

Photo by Stencil Nation.

Last month some friends took me out to this spot called Beelitz, an hour out into the countryside southwest of Berlin. It’s 60 or so beautiful old buildings, all abandoned and falling apart, and it used to be a mental hospital. My favorite of the three or four buildings we had time to explore was the one with an entire fucking old-growth forest on the roof.

I pride myself on always blogging things in a timely fashion, but I’ve been busy and I just now got around to “developing my last few rolls of film,” so I apologize for the untimeliness of this collection of extremely stunning photos (if I do say so myself), but here it is. Please trip out.

Previously:

Berlin Mystery Girl

Biking in Berlin

Reader Laurie V. wants to know:

“Cinema Latino” is what that old pillar-sign seems to say. There’s
some recent construction inside; they seem to have inserted a new
floor halfway up the structure; you can see it through those two big
holes they punched in the facade. There are some planning notices out
front but they don’t really tell me anything. Anybody know what’s
going on?

All I know is that place has really gone down hill ever since they eradicated that epic Ribity. Anybody else have the scoop?

Photo by bsii.

SFist knows how to get in on the action.

Last fall, writer Jordan Conn spent some time with the Mission High soccer team. This week, his piece was finally published by a magazine called Good Men Project. Here’s how it starts:

The guy on the trophy looks white.

This much has been decided as the Mission High School soccer players pass around the statuette they’ve owned for four years running, the foot-tall piece of wood lined with bronze that represents their status as the best soccer team in the city.

The figure who sits atop the trophy, the one the players rub with reverence, the one whose company is coveted by all of the city’s coaches—well, he doesn’t look a damn thing like his current owners. His hair is parted perfectly to the side, too long to match Jose Guevara’s close-cropped spike and too neat to resemble Diego Tamayo’s faux-hawk. His jersey looks like it belongs on an Ivy League rugby player, with its plunging neckline and its collar folded down.

And the shorts?

“Those things are hella short,” says Jose Mendoza, laughing as he points. “You can’t be wearing those around here.”

Read on.