Mission Mission

Look at that champ up there, mid back flip. And look at that girl’s outfit. Summertime!

Photo and photo by Dylan Bigby.

Reader Laurie V. tells us what’s up:

Thought you might be interested in this tidbit: I live a few doors
down from the corner of 19th & Lexington (you know, where the lesbian
bar is). There was an old corner shop there that shut down 3 years ago
and has been closed ever since. 2 years ago, construction started on
turning it into a new restaurant — but it never seemed to get it
together. There’d be a burst of construction for a month, then it
would suddenly stop again. As neighbours, we got planning permission
letters every time it applied for a licence, which it did under 3
different names over 2 years. I’d just resigned myself to the fact
that it would never open, but today on my walk home I spotted a bunch
of people drinking inside, so I knocked on the window and asked what
was up. It turns out the place changed hands again last week; one
“Emily” has taken over the lease and says they plan to open in
October, serving “seasonal soul food”. I sure hope they do, as it
would be great to have a new restaurant 2 doors away! (To say nothing
of the awesome-in-concept Hog and Rocks, which looks like it is nearly
ready to open)

Yum! Thanks, Laurie!

Hella old photo by Seldo.

Someone brought this sheep (singular) to Dolores Park. It was only 2 months old, so I’m pretty sure he’s going to have his hands full in a year or so when this thing is full grown, knocking down doors and butting his head into parked cars all over the place.

He was really soft, for the record.

Previously:

Cute Baby Animal in Dolores Park

Sheep in the Park

Some of you may have noticed that the regular “Elbo Room” sign had recently been replaced with another older-looking one that reads “Amelia’s.”  Now, it’s back to the “Elbo Room” again.  So, what’s going on here?

Well, after talking to some key Elbo staff, it turns out that around 20 years ago the Elbo Room used to be a rocking dyke bar named Amelia’s that allegedly would have put the Lex to shame.  Every year when Pride rolls around, they dig the old sign out of storage and install it in front as an homage to the bar’s colorful history.  Then, when Pride weekend ends and all the brunches are over, bloody marys flowing in the gutter, they lock it up again and go back to the regular ol’ Elbo Room.  So there you go!

History lesson with Professor Sarkarati over!

Back to Normal

[Normal Elbo Photo by SF Bar Experiment]

Totally asked six people if this was a sheep or a lamb or a kid or what and nobody knew. Anyway, it’s a cute baby animal.

Photo by cardiffteam.

Previously:

Sheep in the Park

It’s been a long-standing revenge fantasy of mine to set up a decoy bike and equip it with GPS from a cheap cell phone. Then I’d wait for it to get stolen and track it down to the source: some kind of crime kingpin guy with an eyepatch living in a mansion in Russian Hill. He’d know the jig was up and there would be an epic chase ending at the top of Sutro Tower. Then there would be a high-altitude fight scene involving crossbows and I think you can fill in the rest.

Unfortunately, thinking over this scenario further, it never seemed to make logistical sense. I mean yeah, maybe I’d track the bike to an intersection in Bayview, but then what? Knock on every door and ask, “uh, did you steal a bike recently?” then mace the dude on the spot if he answers yes?

Good thing the SFPD is teaming up with the SF Bicycle Coalition to do these sorts of sting operations for us. Sometimes it’s best to leave things to the pros.

SFAppeal reports:

The sting operation pilot program will begin later this summer and will target the Richmond district, according to Esparza. A decoy bike will be set up with a transmitter and once it is stolen, police will be able to track the bike to the person in possession of it. The SFPD will also continue keeping an eye out for stolen bicycles on Craiglist and in Bay Area pawn shops.

So basically if you want your bike to be safe, park it in the Richmond for the next couple of months.

Get the rest of the scoop at SFAppeal.

Whoa. Swing dancers in fancy dress, old west bank-heist bandannas, Run DMC ghetto blaster, and the title of my favorite Kinks song (but since Lala is gone I can’t link to it, so sad). This is a melting pot of cultures and ideologies almost as badass as the USA itself.

Photo by captin nod.

Barcelona Cycle Chic over the weekend toured up to Copenhagen for the Dutch Cargo Bike Championships. Look at this champ up here, haulin’ tires and such. What fun!

Lots more pictures here.

Previously:

Bike Lanes in Copenhagen

You heard it here first: Hot new look for summer.

Photo by Devanny.

The California Honeydrops are the latest band to be featured on Chasing the Moon and it’s my favorite installment yet. If you haven’t had a chance to see them yet, it should give you a good idea of what you’re missing. Good thing I wasn’t at this filming, because I probably would have knocked over a boom mic dancing.

From Scott McDowell:

This band is world class fresh! The California Honeydrops are the real deal: transforming any dull scene into a world class dance party. Lech Wierzynski leads killer a band that includes pianist Chris Burns, drummer Ben Malament, bass player Seth Ford-Young, and saxophonist Johnny Bones. Working on this episode was especially tough because none of us could stay seated during the editing/mixing.

I love that second tune. If you told me it was a lost Sam Cooke side I would have thought twice about it.

Previously:

The California Honeydrops Talk BART Busking