Mission Mission

Our pal Thaddius just hipped us to the news of the century. Mr. Pickle has been spotted lurking in the photostream of Flickr photographer cellybrain. The above is brightened up a bit. See the original here.

I messaged the photographer a few minutes ago asking if he has any interest in trying to help get the hostage returned home safely. No reply yet.

The rest of his photostream is pretty killer, too. A sample:

K-Mac over at Mission and Highland had quite a night last night:

Last night the couple above me got into a big fight. It sounded horrible. I was going to call the cops. Then, I heard the woman walk down the stairwell crying. I poked my head out the window to see her walking and weeping down the sidewalk toward her car holding an overnight bag. I watched her get into her Mustang and leave expecting the boyfriend to coming running after her. I thought things were done for the night.

And it just builds and builds from there.

Jen got in touch on Thursday with the news that her stolen bike had shown up for sale on Craigslist. Over the weekend, she got it back, with a little help from the SFPD:

I don’t want to post the whole story – and I know this is a letdown if you’ve followed this saga so far – because it was a truly beautifully organized operation that went down, and I don’t want to compromise that security for future operations. I had no idea they actually operated like this and even now that I’ve been a part of it, it’s insane to believe that it happened. The two brilliant, wonderful SFPD officers we met at Weird Fish were bike people. We talked components, we talked frame, I talked so much that they eventually laughed and told me that I could stop because they had long believed me. So the details are going to be left out, but here’s the jist:

Getting your stolen bike back, San Francisco style

Jen got in touch a little bit ago to share the following harrowing story. Her boyfriend had this bike that they both loved more than anything in the world, and it got stolen outside Safeway in March. Today, it popped up for sale on Craigslist.

Photos in Jen’s photostream prove the bike is their bike. Also:

Things to note: we added the SPD pedals. I don’t have photos of them, but we added them after the fact. (P.S. It’s my boyfriend’s bike, but I bought it and found it and I have a wicked attachment to it, so I obnoxiously call it “our bike”.) You can see the SPD pedals in the photo of all four bikes, but they’re small.

The CL ad mentions that the tires and seat are new. You’ll note those are different from our photo. Pay attention to the photos of the Campy rims, the way the handlebars are wrapped (cables underneath tape), shape of crank, Campy logos on derailleurs and crank arms and whatnot. It is absolutely ours, with no question.

We bought it from Danny – if you frequent the CL bikes section at all, he’s a dude that posts a lot of bikes from San Jose. Cash, no receipt. It’s an old Bianchi. Bought it in December, added pedals in January, kept everything else the same, stolen in March outside of the 16th Street Safeway. The only thing we have is a receipt for the pedals that’s coming from Ohio via mail as we speak.

I really don’t want the dude to yank it. I also don’t want to pay $600 for the bike I’ve already paid $600 for. I also don’t want to get shot riding off with the bike. I am so angry I’m just losing my shit – we’re tiny and nonthreatening and I’m not sure what to do.

We talked it over and decided to do this post, if for no other reason than to get the story out there. Advice welcome.

Safeway, 8:30 pm.

After a homeless man saunters out of the store, an alarm is immediately sounded via telephone. Two security guards and a bagger book it out the door, and with an apology, my cashier runs out mid-transaction to watch the scene unfold.

Two minutes later, one of the security guards returns, triumphantly brandishing….soap.

For tagging the Dolores Park bathroom building. Dolores Park View has the details here.

Says Rachel Ann Yes:

Murat/ Amuse Bouche was run off 24th by BART police today.

Link. Johnny0, can we get some kind of map illustrating the injustice?

Previously:

Amuse Bouche Stand

Where’d everybody go? In an email titled “Monday morning, 7 a.m., Dolores Park,” reader Rebecca K. writes, “Seriously, people?”

Seriously, who does this? Who?

Click to enlarge.

Indybay caught a drug bust or something happening right up against the glass at Muddy Waters:

A group of police tackled a man near 16th and Valencia in the early afternoon today. Wouldn’t have thought much of it except the cop in the last picture came inside the cafe and threatened to arrest one of the other people taking photos out the window…. something strange was up…

Read on for tons more pictures and further speculation in the comments section.

Just got a frantic text from Iron Davy:

Cop chasing dude into 24th st BART. Dunno what happened. Other dudes ran too.

What happened?