By PSA Press:

This is the legend of the Golden Fire Hydrant, the miraculous fireplug that saved the Mission District of San Francisco in 1906.

When San Francisco burst into flames in the days following the disastrous 1906 earthquake, much of the city’s network of fire hydrants failed. Miraculously this hydrant, nicknamed “little giant,” is said to have been the only functioning hydrant and is credited with saving the historic Mission District neighborhood.

It stands on the southwest corner of Dolores Park to this day and is painted with a fresh coat of gold paint each April 18th.

Get yours here.

• Trevor the Dolores Park Truffle Man has gone legit. Read all about it.
• CellSpace is long gone, forever and ever. Remember it fondly via these photos.
• There were Nazis in the Mission last week. Ugh.
• Tablehopper is hosting a happy hour today to benefit victims of the earthquake in Mexico. Get details and/or tickets.

[Photo by Patricia Chang]

[via Christian]

@SFPD will have extra patrols 7 days/week on foot & on bike @ #Dolorespark after today's #shooting.

— Lisa Amin Gulezian (@LisaAminABC7) August 4, 2017

You can see the Bay Bridge!

Also in 2008, some bloggers at Curbed SF made an prediction about how the SF skyline would evolve:

Now, basically a decade later, they’re pretty much dead right. Here’s the view today:

No bridge.

[Top photo by Moncrief Speaks]

Mission Local reports:

A 23-year-old man is in critical condition after he was assaulted and stabbed at Dolores Park late Wednesday afternoon, eyewitnesses reported. Police confirmed one person was stabbed at 5:23 p.m. by a group of five suspects ranging from 17 to 20 years old.

Two eyewitnesses, Mark and Barbara, said a group of five or six youths chased the victim across the park and then attacked him with a golf club and a glass bottle.

[...]

One eyewitness said that it was reminiscent of incidents in the 1980s.

Read on.

[Photo by Mission Local]

Well there’s Rice Paper Scissors’s annual New Years Day Brunch, which I’ve raved about many times before. (But it’s not in the Mission this time.) Just check out part of the menu:

Parker House Pork Buns
cultured butter, char siu, and quince in a naturally leavened Parker rolls (made by baker K. Bayle)

Turkey Potstickers
napa cabbage kraut, ginger, and cilantro, served with red vinegar and tamari.

Fried Imperial rolls
fried rice paper rolls with taro and woodear mushrooms. served with mint, cilantro and fermented chili dipping sauce. vegan, gluten-free.

Daikon Cakes
crispy rice cakes made with daikon, Chinese sausage and dried shrimp.

Breakfast Banh Mi
two fried eggs and housemade sausage patties with housemade pate, mayo, daikon pickles, cucumbers and cilantro

Check out the rest of the menu (and RSVP and invite your friends) here.

And then also, there’s a new Mission tradition (hopefully) happening for the first time… it’s the WesBurger n’ More New Years Day Hangover Helper! Here’s a portion of the menu:

Beverages (all brought to the table)
Tex Mex Micheladas (2)
Dolores Greyhounds – Lo-Fi Gentian Amaro and Fresh Grapefruit Juice (2)
XL Bottle of Topo Chico
Personal French press coffees (2)

Course 1
Chips, Queso, & Salsa
Cevichaladas – ceviche+michelada

Wowee! How 2 decide?????? Maybe can do both??? More info on Wes’s party here.

Film Night in the Park 2016 presents Goonies in Dolores Park this Saturday night right after the sun goes down! Here’s a blurb about Film Night:

Film Night in the Park is San Francisco’s premiere outdoor film series. Over 125,000 people have attended Film Night in San Francisco since 2003. Films are presented free of charge on a giant outdoor screen in beautiful park settings. Attendees are encouraged to picnic before screenings and are discouraged from bringing chairs.

Check the rest of the schedule here.

[Fan art by █▬█◉⋒ㅌ⑂ ᶨ℮✝⑀]

1. LA DOLCE VITA! Saturday afternoon at the Alamo Drafthouse, as part of Negroni Week 2016!
2. PITCH PERFECT! Saturday night in Dolores Park, as part of this year’s Film Night in the Park programming!

Thanks, Ryan!

Earlier this month a wild pig terrorized some neighbors near Dolores Park. Well, we’re happy to report the pig, whose name is Janice btw, is safe and sound and nowhere near the Mission.

SF Gate reports:

A little piggy has been adopted after she got loose and sent Good Samaritans on a hog hunt through San Francisco’s Mission District this month.

Janice the wayward piglet’s new home will be with Al Wolf, director of Sonoma County Reptile Rescue in Sebastopol, San Francisco Animal Care and Control announced Friday.

“We’re gonna miss her,” said Deb Campbell, a spokeswoman for San Francisco Animal Care and Control, the shelter where Janice has been staying. “She’s so awesome. She’s so cute.”

The 10-pound porker led a group of people on a chase on Dolores Street on March 8, running under cars to evade her pursuers and prompting a police officer to block traffic in the area. Brother Damian of the Society of Saint Francis headed the pursuit.

“We had a three-block up-and-down and up-and-down chase,” he said the day of Janice’s capture.

Read on for more. (Thanks, Jess!)

Now please enjoy these other pig-related posts from over the years…

Nah, just kidding. It’s somebody’s lost pet we think, and the SFPD were on the scene (haha) and we think maybe it ended up with the SPCA?

(Thanks, Victoria!)

If you have any curiosity, at all, about the 1906 Earthquake (especially a morbid one), the Mission District is probably the most interesting place to look. Here are the top 3 reasons history nerds should take a closer look in the Mission.

1. LIQUEFACTION

Turns out that when you fill a marsh in with sand and debris, build lavish 3 & 4 story buildings on that sand and debris, then shake the ground for half a minute, those buildings pretty much sink right down into the ground.

Sinking buildings were built over what was once lake or marsh.

Guests on the 4th floor of the Valencia St. Hotel (top) simply stepped out of the window onto the street. Those sleeping on floors 1-3 weren’t so lucky. Most of the buildings destroyed by the earthquake were wiped out by fire. But this block of victorians on South Van Ness (below) survived 3 days of fires to become a tourist attraction.

South Van Ness between 18th & 19th.

2. FIRE LINE

The fires burned out in the Mission leaving a dramatic contrast between prosperity and homelessness (just like today!), thriving commerce and total annihilation (just like today!), Victorian architecture and Edwardian. Walk down 20th street from Dolores Park to Valencia paying attention to the architecture on the North side (post 1906) vs. the south side (pre 1906).

Much of the commercial hub in the Mission District survived. There weren’t many places left in the city that you could buy anything so thousands flocked to the Mission for goods and services in the days, weeks, and months after the fires.

3. DOLORES PARK

At the corner of 20th and Church remains one of the few fire hydrants in the city that was functioning after the city’s water mains had burst. This hydrant is credited for helping stop the fire for pushing forward and is painted gold on April 18th each year.

Dolores was also the temporary home for some of the quarter of a million refugees (more than half of the city’s population). A handful of these Army built earthquake shacks remain in the city.

Next week Mission Bicycle Company begins hosting 1906 Earthquake bike tours which include a theatrical simulation of the 46 seconds of the earthquake, 10 stops with before and after pictures, little known stories, a few surprises, lunch and a rental bike (more info).

Don’t forget to clean up after yourself!

[via Ariel Dovas on Instagram]