Mission Mission

This scene has something to do with a girlie show that took place decades ago in what is now the Great American Music Hall on Treasure Island. (Be sure to consider this while swaying and nodding at the Hope Sandoval show there tonight during the Belle and Sebastian set there next month.)

[Burrito Justice Historical Update: "Sally Rand's Nude Ranch" was part of the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition (aka World's Fair) on Treasure Island. Epic, totally NSFW photos here. Sally made a name for her nude dancing at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair (bringing in $6K a week, the equivalent of $100,000!)  She  followed up with the 1.0 of the Nude Ranch in Ft. Worth at the 1936 Frontier Expedition.

In 1936, Sally Rand bought "The Music Box" (today's GAMH) where she performed her world-famous feather dance and bubble dance.  She continued to dance into her 70s, and worked with the Mitchell Bros in the early 1970s.]

Spots Unknown has some of the sordid details in a new post entitled Photos of San Francisco in 1939, and just published a follow-up article on Sally Rand.

A love letter to Shotwell Street from reader Neo Displacer, via our Contact Us page:

I think you should do a post on how Shotwell is the most beautiful street in the Mission. I think folks may say Valencia, but they would be wrong. It has truly stunning people walking to and fro,  but the street? Not so much, it’s a commercial strand. How about Dolores? Nah, it’s the border between the encroaching Castro at the 18th St end and further south it’s Baja Noe. 24th? Are you kidding me? It’s great to walk between Papalote at one end and Dynamo at the other, great coffee can be had at at least 3 places. But again commercial, and what with the strollers it’s not as beautiful in walking human terms as Valencia. Now I live on Folsom, and you may argue it’s beauty. The allee is indeed gorgeous but the fact that is four lanes ruins it.  That brings me to Shotwell. It shares tree lining with Folsom yet it is informal. I was walking down it today and was struck by its loveliness.

There are many old, pre-quake, houses. They are well kept. There were many folks sitting on their stoops. There were several grills fired up cooking meat. I saw some kids playing. I saw one sexy-as-hell girl. Oh god Shotwell is there anything you can’t do? My first place in the Mission was at the far North end. It was a railroad flat and it was dirt cheap. That was 1992. Junkies often parked their cars in front and shot up.  But I forgive. My landlord had AIDS. He didn’t make it the 2 years I was there. He was cool and it was sad he left. He planted 2 ficus trees in front.  One night The 20-something chick upstairs had a party. Hipster dufii, drunk and disorderly, swung around the tree and dislodged it from its shallow roots. Needless to say I was pissed. I carefully replanted the tree and re-staked it. I watered it and hoped for the best. It was the least I could do for my old landlord. That tree is now huge. It stands next to its paired tree almost as tall as the old railroad flats. [Above] is the tree. It’s on the left, its partner on the right.

Thanks, ND! Nice work on that tree, and on this comment. And for the record, I did do a post like this, about two-and-a-half years ago: Shotwell Stroll (3/27/2008)

Remember how stoked we all were for the Pabst cycling caps last year?

Well, as of today, Pushbike has an even cooler Pabst design, as well as this awesome Tecate model. And, as Pushbike’s blog post notes, you can’t count out the drunk Hamm’s bear (or the handsome Hamm’s typeface):

Look at all this good stuff! For sale, on the cheap, right now!

Jen Oaks will have these beauties and more for sale at her SF Zinefest booth this weekend.

Previously:

Jen Oaks’ Beater

Jen Oaks’ Kitty Tattoo

What Do You Wear When You Take Out the Recycling?

Photographer alvaro offers no further explanation regarding this epic scene. Well done, alvaro.

Previously:

Mission Hipster, 2010

Mission Hipster, 2003

Mission Hipster, 1998

My favorite San Francisco stairways are the Filbert steps, the Jupiter steps, the Harry steps and the Detroit Steps. What are yours? Don’t have any? Maybe you need San Francisco Stairways, the new app by Barbara Rockwell.

A hot tip from reader Eric E.:

Not exactly Mission but I heard from some various sources (i.e. friends at work & this guy on twitter) that SFPD is orchestrating a “no bikes on the sidewalk” ticketing sting in front of the Ferry Building this morning. Guess Spare the Air days would be the most profitable time to do it, no? =P Lame.

Careful out there, everybody!

Here’s a passage about “Holly Golightlys,” AKA the girls of the Mission:

You see them flying down Valencia Street on Vespas, their wildly improvised get-ups composed of, say, rags scavenged from the Bay Area’s fabled thrift shops (Out of the Closet in the Castro, Eco-Thrift in Vallejo, the Goodwill outpost just off the 101 Freeway in San Rafael), Marni skirts, vintage SM leathers culled from an eclectic assortment of goods at Marc Josef’s locally legendary antiques shop, Tradesmen, and wingtip shoes. You see them particularly on a stretch of 18th Street, where Dolores Park vies for landmark status with Tartine, the upscale pizza joint Delfina and Bi-Rite grocery, a kind of foodie Vatican.

Read on.

(Thanks for the tip, jinksy!)

Probably not, but Queena from Bay Citizen is producing a series of videos about eggy drinks in the Mission just to make sure. The first one takes place at Elixir.