Mission Mission

(still from "Fire in the street spreads to parked cars.")

Sunday night around midnight someone lit the northside gutter between Mission and San Carlos streets on fire. At least two cars parked along the block were caught in the blaze. A third car pulled out from behind them before the fire spread, as seen here.

I came along after the flames had been put out and the two cars were pretty much melted into the sidewalk on their right sides. Since my camera’s in the shop I had no proof until Void (winner of our science themed music video contest) sent us this video by “northofsouthofmarket“.

The owners of the car in front, a middle aged male and female couple talking to each other in Spanish, stood and stared at the melted mess. I asked them what had happened and the man told me that “somebody with nothing better to do came here and lit a fire.”

Is this the work of the “carsonist” we’ve heard so much about? Or just some wanna be burner who missed the last bus to the playa? Either way, not cool, bro.

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.

Seen on 20th Street.

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):

The San Francisco Mime Troupe is performing for FREE in Dolores Park tomorrow, Monday 9/6. The show starts at 1:30pm.

They are called the “Mime Troupe” but don’t expect to see skinny dudes in whiteface pulling imaginary ropes. Do expect to see a hilarious musical theater production with a typical pinko SF spin on a current political theme.

This year’s production is called: “Posibilidad, Or Death of the Worker”. Here’s the trailer:

[photo by Steve Rhodes]

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

Doctor Popular reminds us how bicyclists often get shafted on BART:

Yesterday a rider cut in front of me as I was boarding the train and she took up this whole seat. There were at least 40 other seats open for her, so I asked if she would mind letting me use that space. “I was here first” she replied. Then I asked if she would at least move her bags so I could sit in the seat next to her while I propped my bike against the wall and she said “I need the whole seat”.

All this seems to come from a general sense of passenger animosity towards people who have the nerve to bring their bikes on board. I’ve had some seriously unsafe rides due to folks not offering up those spots. In a way, it forces you to take up more space and disturb even more passengers.

Doc Pop commenter Colin brings up a great point about how the whole process is flawed:

Note that even in that space the bike wheel sticks into the doorway. Bikes on BART is a kludge.

Newer cars have improved designated bike areas, but they are few and far between. The SF Bicycle Coalition confirms that they are working to address the issue:

We are asking BART to allocate space on board their trains for bikes so that they won’t interfere with other passengers and can be stowed safely for the duration of your trip. BART plans to remove seats on 80 of its 500 train cars for a first phase and is expected to modify the rest as funding becomes available.

For many, the commute hours rules (bikes only allowed 8:50am-4:25pm) eliminate the practicality of biking for many daily work commuters. A 2009 SFBC survey of BART riding cyclists confirmed that the commute blackout period is one of the biggest headaches about commuting. No word on if or when lifting this restriction will ever be considered.

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?

Recent J-school graduate, Mission Local alumni, and black & white photographer extraordinaire Armand Emamdjomeh is at the De Young!

…the short video I made as part of my thesis project, New Mission, is going to be showing as part of the Friday Film Night at the De Young Cultural Encounters series! It’s basically a slideshow of my Mission photography, with little bits of video, all to the narration of the poem “In Twenty Years” by Marcella Ortiz.

It’s kind of an ode to the neighborhood and the character that it has now.

It will be part of this very Friday Film Night at the De Young Cultural Encounters. The event is free!  (Facebook event page here if that’s how you roll.)

If you can’t make it, Armand’s work will also be at SF City Hall on the 16th at the Night/Light exhibit.

(Someone get this man a job so he can stay in the Mission, OK?)