Mission Mission

I just hope this is able to reach you in time.

Last night I ran into a hot tip that originated at Sean from ARAWA, and I decided to follow up. The lead was good: The Mission Police Station has a public restroom that is available 24 hours a day.

That’s right. Now you don’t have to stand up against the side of a building and pretend you’re just a low-texter while trying not to splash on your shoes. At least not in the area around 17th and Valencia. You basically just straighten yourself up, waltz into the lobby, motion to one of the two bathrooms with a smile and a raise of the eyebrows and the cops behind the glass will buzz you right in. It’s as simple as that.

I spent a recent weekend in San Juan Bautista, a town I recommend if you want to get out of the city for a day or so and see some of the great aspects of another kind of classic California. You can see the famous Mission, pick up some nice antiques, look for the local Oddfellows chapter,  have a chat with one of the chickens loitering all over town, try to match old pictures from postcards to their current locations, and end the night dancing to live music at Daisy’s Saloon.

If you happen to awake on a late, sleepy Sunday morning at either the San Juan Inn or the Posada De San Juan and wish there was an excellent brunch spot nearby, you may want to find your way to the corner of Third and Mariposa, to Mission Cafe. The inside looks pretty much as you’re picturing it.

Oh man. The brunch here. The eggs benedict was awesome with spinach, tomatoes and ham. Creamy hollandaise sauce all over the plate. The potatoes were less amazing, but good enough with the sauce.

Then there was the waffle and eggs special which also included bacon, hash browns and fresh berries. (Berries! Yes!) The waffle had some kind of extra almond flavoring. Both just under $10.

A special note of warning: there’s a rumor around the tiny town that Mission Cafe may be closing soon. Possible reasons varied, but if you find yourself in the area, go while you can.

Grab it while you can.

Spending an evening above 18th Street just, um, cueing up the tees, or hitting the ol’ little whiteys or whatever kind of slang is associated with golfing.

Me neither. But I saw this car on South Van Ness. It had some shadows from a fence on it.

Local blogger Kevin Montgomery (the Mission Mission offices are so quiet without him!) posted about some interesting vehicle lettering in Mountain View. I spotted some myself on this interceptor parked on Valencia Street.

Facing an invasion of fruit flies at The Secret Alley, Noel decides to employ a less-than-obvious method of getting rid of them: hanging a plastic bag with water and pennies in it over the counter. The idea being (I think) that the light reflecting out of the bag will confuse the little buggers, causing them to scatter.

Just in case this doesn’t happen to work, anyone have any other helpful ideas? The least obvious the better.

A message from some person(s).

Anyway, some people just have phone issues.

It’s just a fact.

Also.

I don’t go to Blondie’s. Because I live here. Right??

Anyway, I went to Blondie’s on New Year’s Day to wash off my hangover with some tequila and my weird friends got Bloody Marys with bleu cheese olives and sausage olives. The general response was that bleu cheese olives are good and sausage olives are bad, “like little meat ice cubes.”

*Did it!