Mission Mission

People seem to have a lot to say about the new Levi’s Workshop that recently opened on Valencia between 16th and 17th Street in the future location of a Charles Phan restaurant.  Some residents find it a little ironic:

You find it odd that the hood went nuts when AA tried to move in but they had very little issue with Levi’s opening a pop-up which is a company 5000 times the size?
Have you seen all the vandalism all over the front of the Levi’s store?
They hit the store two nights in a row and completely destroyed the front of the shop, took 15 people 2 days to clean it up and still can’t get parts off.

The graffiti in question may or may not be the work of some anarchist chick that Kevmo ran into.  Whatever the case, the incident seems to have prompted the hiring of a full-time private security guard to patrol the block in an attempt to stem the vandalism, as MM reader Elle points out:

guess what? starting yesterday evening and throughout the entire summer, there is a security guard on duty 24-7 on the block of Valencia between 16th and 17th.  this is private ‘police’ monitoring your activity in public space. they don’t stop people from being robbed or killed, they are just there to watch the stuff.

For their part, Levi’s says the workshop is good for the neighborhood:

Each workshop is designed to focus on a specific craft including printmaking and photography, and will feature forums where local pioneers in design, sports, technology, sustainability, and other interests can engage and collaborate

So, what do you guys think about it?

[Photo courtesy of Uptown Almanac]

Previously:

American Apparel Comes to the Mission

Details on the American Apparel Hearing (NSFW)

American Apparel Says Peace

Something is happening in the Un-American Apparel space at 988 Valencia.

Mission Mission agents took this shot at a distance as not to arouse suspicion. Applying CSI style zoom:

Blue Fig? Hmm.

Nothing on Google (though it certainly seems to be a popular restaurant/hooka name in Ohio). Lots of permit activity at 988 Valencia via SFGov that closed on 4/23, but no specifics other than “Retail Sales”.

Blue is certainly becoming a popular prefix for Mission establishments: Blue Plate, Blue Macaw, Blue Fig. And there’s the blue Mission Cycling jerseys:

And the Mission Blue butterfly, which is making a comeback:

However, this is in direct conflict with Mission history, specifically the Mission Reds, who 80 years ago played ball a half dozen blocks away at Rec Park.

Do we require a series of red-themed establishments to keep things in balance? Or are the megaliters of tomato sauce and salsa consumed daily in pizzerias and taquerias mean we need more blue?

Did anyone else notice all the new American Apparelesque Gap advertisements all over the Mission?  Of course, they forgot to get models that look like they would try to score some smack at 16th and Mission after the shoot, but we’ll let that slide.

Take a hint everyone: it’s time to abandon your custom jeans for a pair made by kids in Asia from a company on the ass-end of a fad.

Beauty Bar, San Francisco originally uploaded by charlotte.wright

I’ve noticed the droves of young females who spend their nights at Beauty Bar. It’s mainly young undergrads who’ve recently migrated from Southern California to a three-bed share in the Tenderloin. Their version of the Mission is meeting friends at Puerto Allegre for uninteresting margaritas and enchiladas, then shaking their shoulders with some date-rape shirt to some sub-par DJ at Beauty Bar. A few months go by, and they’re standing in the cocaine line at Delirium wondering if the douchebag in the corner with the purple kerchief sitting pretty on his scruffy, smelly neck is checking out her American Apparel sangria-colored tights. Do these tourists make the Mission, or does the Mission make the tourist?