Mission Mission

Sexpigeon jokes that it might be a portable hummingbird feeder, but he would like to know for real.

Go Climb a Rock is an expertly curated parade of vintage photographs of granola-eaters hiking around in the woods. Or it usually is. This week, they published this shot of a couple of very modern-looking girls hanging out atop Corona Heights Park.

At first I was like, “What is this thoroughly modern tableau doing cluttering up an otherwise–” And then I realized: no Transamerica Pyramid. They’re a couple of hippies, way back in the stone age, climbing a rock. But they look just like us!

The more things change, the more they stay exactly the same, right? I saw both those pairs of sunglasses at Buffalo Exchange the other day, I swear.

Met these guys on the strip last night after they had cycled through Flamingo and gotten chased out by the security guards.  One of ‘em was on the phone trying to meet up with the rest of the gang to find out the next spot to hit up.

For the Flamingo run, phone guy was the leader and picked the route through the slots on the fly, scattering drink girls and bronzed, pot-belly’d Medicare recipients in his wake.  Meanwhile, middle finger dude carried the rearguard, security officials nipping at his heels.  Celebration by track-stand up the escalator.

For anyone wishing to join them on their cyclical adventures:  these rapscallions can sometimes be found at SF Bike Polo by 21st and S Van Ness (since they got kicked out of Dolores) when they’re not terrorizing Las Vegas casinos.  Tryouts next weekend!

(original photo via Telstar Logistics)

In the comment section of the Cinema Latino / Crown Theater article, reader “like a fox” brings us this interesting tidbit in my response to my plaintive wail, “Could you imagine something like Oakland’s The Fox in the Mission?”

Your wish is granted. The *other* theater across the street – New Mission – is slated to become a music venue – with the Fox being the model. Unfortunately, the New Mission doesn’t have the architectural splendor of the Fox. Don’t know how the funding or permitting is going, sorry.

Gus Murad’s club and height limits are well known, but the idea of a Fox-like entity in the Mission is a new one to me.  Any readers with more information?

(More Mission Street theater history porn here, and more pictures inside of New Mission here.)

Even over a century ago, bikes were hot stuff in SF. Streetsblog tells us all about it:

The bike clubs organized century rides around the Bay Area and annual “Bike Meets” where the fastest cyclists would compete against each other before large audiences. One of the biggest ever was during the 4th of July weekend in 1893 when an estimated 20,000 spectators would jam a special track built at Central Park just south of City Hall to watch the scorchers as they hurtled around the loop.

Daaang! I guess cycling isn’t a newfangled hipster fad after all. I mean, look at that dude up there… one of the original cool dads.

Read on for even older pics, talk of “boneshakers” and more.

[Thanks, Joshua!]

Ramona Emerson’s latest Things San Franciscans Like column is up, and it’s a keeper as usual. It’s called “Things San Franciscans Like: Not Being San Franciscans,” and it contains stuff like this:

Everyone you meet in San Francisco is champing at the bit to tell you how they’re not from here, and will try to insert their own place of origin as often as possible:

“Do you know where the bathroom is?”
“I’m from Eugene.” (Which you shouldn’t necessarily take as a ‘No’)

This is like a siren’s call to other people from Oregon, and someone nearby will be obligated to ask if this person perhaps knows their cousin’s cat Misty.

Read on.

Map scan by Carrie.

Hey, hey! Now’s your chance! Remember the way Phil Bronstein compared it to Milk? Epic. Can’t wait to watch it again.

Anyway, what I’m most thrilled about is now I can watch the opening two seconds over and over and over any time I want. (Before, I said three seconds, but I think they might’ve trimmed a beat for the home video release.)

This mesmerizing animated GIF has something to do with some Día de los Muertos festivities planned for next month. All of a sudden I’m excited for fall!

The question is, will Meli be all done up like this for tonight’s Butter Lap? Show up and find out, I suppose.

“Free paint!” Exclaimed our buddy Joe Finkel on Facebook a minute ago, “San Francisco is pretty cool.” That’s right. Recology SF explains:

Most of the latex paint we receive at the San Francisco Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility [501 Tunnel Ave, San Francisco, CA 94134-2940, (415) 330-1400] is recycled on site and given away for free. If you would like some of our free paint, just stop by during regular business hours, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm, Thursday through Saturday.

Read on.

Thanks, Joe!

Photo by Stencil Nation.

Last month some friends took me out to this spot called Beelitz, an hour out into the countryside southwest of Berlin. It’s 60 or so beautiful old buildings, all abandoned and falling apart, and it used to be a mental hospital. My favorite of the three or four buildings we had time to explore was the one with an entire fucking old-growth forest on the roof.

I pride myself on always blogging things in a timely fashion, but I’ve been busy and I just now got around to “developing my last few rolls of film,” so I apologize for the untimeliness of this collection of extremely stunning photos (if I do say so myself), but here it is. Please trip out.

Previously:

Berlin Mystery Girl

Biking in Berlin