Mission Mission

Also, KronnerBurger is open for business btw.

[via Porous Walker]

Local blogger anadromy (who on occasion has some gripes about San Francisco) had one of these kinds of times the other day:

I took a walk up into the hills with my SLF (special lady friend) and we took a route we hadn’t taken before and we discovered this ancient-looking stone monument at the top of a winding street that looked a little bit like a tomb to me but later we discovered that it was just the pedestal for a statue that isn’t there anymore and that the place is called Mount Olympus (Mount Olympus!) and it used to be kind of a big deal 100 years ago, visible from all over the city, but now it’s walled in by buildings but from the top of it, you can still see the city laid out below you with the house-speckled hills draped like bunting and the ships lolling at anchor out on the water spinning slowly as the tide shifts and a low gray brow of fog hovering over it all like the frayed edge of an old fashioned postcard and I have to say, yeah, I fucking love this place.

Read on for more pics and story.

[Editor's note: Congrats to Pop's on its "Best New Bar" win! Well deserved! And sorry I forgot to post this on Monday morning; I was reaaaaaally hungover because I was at Pop's til very late on Sunday night. Also, in case you don't know, Pop's is also a great place to watch basketball right now.]

Everything old is new again at Pops Bar. THANK YOU to SFWeekly readers for voting Pops “Best New Bar”. Since revamping the bar this past year it’s amazing to be recognized as “new” with such a rich history behind Pops. While Pops officially got its start around 1935, rumor has it that Carl Joseph Saxsenmeier AKA “POPS” ran the Clubhouse during Prohibition as a bootlegger. Pops has been at 2800 24th Street in the mission since 1971. This past year, Michael Spike Krouse (Madrone Art Bar/Pops Bar) and Tom Tierney (Pops Bar) brought new life into Pops with a full music line up each week. You can see the bar’s history in the decor at Pops and walk on through to become part of it’s boozy traditions!

Check out what’s new at Pops Bar this week:

5/12/15 TUESDAY

Happy Hour Entertainment 6-9pm with Julio Hernandez

Retro Tuesday, a mix of music from a range of decades that will keep u grooving!

Tropicana Tuesdays

“Quality Latin BASS”

Every Tuesday at POPS BAR

Music: FREE (Local BayArea DJ`s)

Salsa Lesson: FREE (Instructor La Muerte)

Time: 9pm – 2am

Tropicana is BACK in town! Bringing “Quality Latin BASS”, by playing some of the latest – up to date latino music genres.. of course respecting the classics…

With Tropicana Nights, our purpose is to create space for cultural diversity and environmental awareness. Community and music can do a lot of great positive impact in society.

Music by local BayArea DJ`s, such as Stepwise, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, Mr. E, J Boogie and more…

Salsa I LatinHouse I Latin HipHop I Moombahton I DubCumbia I Merengue I Bachata I Dancehall I LatinReggae I and more…

5/13/15 WEDNESDAY

Happy Hour Entertainment 6-9PM with Rude Awakenings

Forgotten underground classics of the 60s, 70s, and 80s with DJ Cathy 2-Tone and Scooter Stalin

Whatever Wednesdays

9PM-1:30AM

Whatever Wednesday is YOUR PARTY, literally. You got DJ skills? Have you been itching to show ALL your friends? Its your turn to take over the night and mix it up. Send us your request, your best mix and we’ll see what we can do to get you your turn.

Email: tom@popssf.com

No Cover

21 UP

5/14/15 THURSDAY

6-9PM Happy Hour Entertainment with Drew Smith

BFF.FM Night

9PM-1:30AM

Rotating DJs from BFF.fm radio! This week: Steve Foxx & NITEPPL

Steve Foxx’s dark, moody rock meets NITEPPL’s DJ wizardry to create EDM magic that will make you dance on your bar stool. Drink up, because every pint or shot supports BFF.fm community radio.

21 UP

No Cover!

5/15/15 FRIDAY

Cult of Choice
9PM-2AM

Shortshortzz and Lisa P present CULT OF CHOICE. Sway, groove, nod, float, fly, small-dance, big-dance, talk, or stare to rarities and well-knowns—from Chic and Chaka Khan to Todd Terje and Tensnake. Nine pm until no one is watching.

No Cover

21 UP

5/16/15 SATURDAY

Happy Hour Entertainment 6-9PM with Yellow Sun Music

Haight Street All Stars give you funk, blues, folk, rock to make you dance!

Soiree on Saturday with DJ Sweet Lou

9pm-2am

Top 40, 80s, Funk & Soul

Rocking the dance floor with an eclectic mix of dance hits from way back to today!

No Cover

21 UP

POPS BAR

2800 24th Street @ York

San Francisco, CA 94110

www.popssf.com

Whenever there’s a world premiere in the Bay Area, DT&D wants to give you the scoop, so when we saw the press release for Encore Theatre Company’s latest production, Hookman, an “existential slasher comedy” by Lauren Yee at Z-Below, we knew we had to check it out. It’s the kind of play that makes you want to dissect it over drinks, so BEWARE potential spoilers below, or just skip to the verdict (spoiler: go see it).

Brittany: Soooo, was the whole thing a hallucination?

Katie: I don’t know! I kept going between this must be a dream, to wait no, this is really happening. When it was over I was like “Uhhh shoot, I didn’t get it.” Thank God you didn’t either, because I was feeling seriously stupid.

B: Me too! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it, it went by really fast, it was super short…

K: Yeah, like an hour five.

B: And I was engaged the whole time, partially because I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening.

K: Yeah, I was definitely entertained, I just don’t know if I “got it”.  It was really funny at points, then it would get kind of dark and creepy, then in the final scene it gets really serious and sad for a second, but then really quickly gets back to being sort of funny creepy horror with Hookman playing with her phone.

B: Ok, here’s a guess, maybe the moment the first scene ended, and they were in the car crash, Lexi was knocked out or something, and the whole play is her psyche dealing with what just happened, and the phone call at the end is reality calling her back. Like she’s actually in the hospital or something and the phone call is her mom talking to her when she’s in a coma? Could that be it?

K: Maybe, I don’t if I’ve ever had an experience quite like this before, where I leave the show and really don’t know what happened.

B: Yeah, I don’t know…the staging was cool. Interesting lighting, and really creative design for such a small space. That thing at the end though really threw me for a loop, when that crazy girl came out and she was somehow dead too? It was like the little stinger added to make it even more confusing  “You may have thought this was all fake, but it wasn’t! But it was! Here’s some more stage blood! Curtain.”

K: Yeah what was that? Right now I’m sitting here going over the whole show in my mind thinking “what did that mean”.

B: There were definitely interesting and important themes, like what does social media do to us, how does violence and rape culture shape the way women have to interact with the world, how does a person cope with grief and guilt. I appreciated that they touched on all of that, while making it funny, scary and sad at the same time.

K: Yeah…I still just don’t get the ending. Someone seriously needs to go see the play and let us know in the comments section what actually happened. I know the directors notes say it’s supposed to be “hazy” but really this hazy?

The Verdict: The best theater not only entertains but makes you think. Hookman delivers on both fronts. It’s a little gory at parts (there’s quite a bit of stage blood spurted throughout), but as long as you can stand a little horror we think you’ll enjoy this show.

The Drama Talk: Hookman is the sort of show that you talk about to your friends three days after seeing it, because it’s such a mind-fuck. Playwright, Lauren Yee, adeptly explores themes of guilt, grief, belonging and violence against women all through the unlikely medium of a hilarious horror show about teenage girls. Encore creates an almost cinematic staging, with an impressive set for the Z-below space. The cast of supporting actors do a great job toeing the line between believably terrible teenagers and creepy other-worldly antagonists. While a heartfelt performance of Lexi, by Taylor Jones, keeps the show rooted a reality in which you can’t help but empathize with a teenage girl feeling isolated, scared and maybe guilty.

The Drinks: We always love checking out new-to-us places in the Mission, so we went to The Tradesmen nearby for post-show vino and snacks. We sipped rose and tried to wrap our heads around what we just saw, while banishing thoughts of Hookman lurking around the corner ready to strike.

Hookman runs through May 30th at Z-Below (the smaller basement theater at Z-Space). Tickets are available through the Z-Space website and range from $20-30, OR there’s currently super good deals on Goldstar starting at Comp-$15 tickets for select dates.

826 Valencia, to be precise. SF Weekly reports:

When a real estate broker told Tenderloin landlord Paul Boschetti that a nonprofit was interested in leasing his 172 Golden Gate Avenue property, he told the San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, Boschetti said, “No way. I’ve had it up to here with nonprofits.” But the landlord had a change of heart when he visited the original 826 Valencia. “When I saw what they were doing for the young people of the neighborhood, how much fun the kids were having, I immediately changed my mind,” Boschetti told the Chron. “If I was a kid I would like this kind of stuff myself.”

Aww. Read on for more of the story.

I think this project was originally only supposed to last through the end of last summer, but I guess it’s still going strong.

[Photo by Charles, via It's Always Sunny in San Francisco]

[via Blondie's]

What’s trixel art, you ask? “…like pixel art, but with one less corner,” says Doc Pop, the designer of this design.

You may learn more about this shirt and also order one for yourself here.

[via Mike Koozmin]

[via Omar]