Mission Mission

One of the dudes arrested last night for allegedly marking up the Dolores Park bathroom building and an unnamed Mission storefront is also a budding author. An excerpt from Scott Cuilty‘s forthcoming book, The Oxnard Survival Manual:

“Give me a  smoke, Shawn. I’m  serious.”
“In a minute..”
“No, you fucking asshole.Now.”
“Calm down…Geez..give me minute…”
This had been going on for ten minutes. Mike was driving and Shawn was smoking. Mike was trying to get Shawn to give up a smoke, but Shawn, always the bunt of everyone’s jokes, was enjoying this momentary bit of power he had over Mike. “I’ll give you one when I’m ready. Not now.” Shawn inhaled slowly in front of Mike, straight taunting him. Mike wasn’t having it.
“Give me a fucking cigarette right now or I swear to God I will fucking crash this car.”

Read the rest for some high drama, an inspiring conclusion, and your new favorite sentence: “He looked as relieved as if he’d just taken the healthiest shit of his life.” Link.

Just got a hot tip on the case of Aaron Mayfield Sunshine’s mystery girl — a picture! That’s her in the yellow dress.

So who is she already?

Thanks, Meli! (Click picture to enlarge.)

The clampdown is on. First they started denying us our God-given right to Tecate, and now this. SFPD yesterday deployed a mobile guard tower in Dolores Park, apparently in an effort to ward off those who would dare to have a little bit of wine with their hummus and pita.

In today’s Mission Station Newsletter, Captain Stephen Tacchini says, “It was not an easy decision, but weighing the rise in instances of vandalism and public drunkenness against the safety of neighborhood families, the call was made. As the weather gets nicer, the crowds get bigger — and rowdier.” He goes on to urge us to think of the tower not as a symbol of a move toward police state, but as a temporary and experimental solution to a pressing problem.

Author Stephen Elliott has started assembling a counterattack. His new blog, Free Dolores Park, is leading the charge with a letter-writing campaign, and already has statements up from prominent area business owners.

Now, I love Dolores Park. I love it madly even without a tallboy in my hand. But this is like something out of science fiction. Something must be done. As Elliott’s blog reminds us, “It’s YOUR Dolores Park.”

Photo by David Cole.

Steven Weinberg of Telephone and Soup mentioned this to me the other day, sent me on a wild goose chase looking for them. Today, he remembered where they actually were, and went and took these nice pictures. Beats your old Reeboks, right? Thanks, Steven!

Jonah from The Ladder Herald just put together a set of action figures a million times better than anything Lucasfilm has ever produced. Let’s hope they don’t sue him.

Proud mum Elizabeth says, “I thought you should see this, Internet.” Link.

Thank you both. (More closeups, please!)

Previously:

Star Wars Droids as Mission Street Art, 1977

Today on I Heart Street Art, we venture down Orange Alley, a once-plain little alleyway just off Valencia that, thanks to the efforts of a group of artists and neighbors, is set to give Clarion and Balmy a run for they money. Link.

Last night I stopped in at Receiver Gallery for a sneak peek at their upcoming Porous Walker show (more on that later), but I also got a sneak peek at (and taste of) the cookies from Anthony’s Cookies, our soon-to-open new neighborhood cookie shop.

The Cookies and Cream Cookie, seen here in the foreground, was, as gallery runner Steven noted, “very meta.”

Complete cookie menu here. I can’t wait for this place to open.

By now, we all know about the strong connection between the Mission and Berlin.

Today, our new favorite Berlin blog, berlin’, explains why the Flensburger Pilsener motto is “plop.” Link.

I hate to jump on Burrito Justice a third time today, but they just keep churning out such solid content. This time, it’s a proposal worthy of an emergency Planning Commission hearing at the very least.

As you can see in the above diagram, the plan is to facilitate a smarter St. Luke’s expansion by closing Valencia to auto traffic (between Chavez and Mission) and turning it into a park — Valencia Street Park — thereby creating an inviting plaza for hospital employees, neighborhood folk and everyone else to congregate.

See the whole meticulously outlined plan, as well as the other (boring) plans currently under consideration, right here.

Oh also, this might make for good reason to finally discontinue the 26-Valencia.

My sister Elisa came across this Forlorn Candy Corn down at Runyon Canyon Park in Hollywood this week, and she slapped a KDVS sticker at his feet to cheer him up.

Thanks, Elisa!

Related:

Forlorn Candy Corn Goes To SXSW on Mission Mission.

Mission Mission Goes To Hollywood on Mission Mission.

“Per Elisa” by Alice on YouTube.