Mission Mission

The Mission Bicycle Festival commenced this past Sunday despite the efforts of concerned NIMBYs and was (as SF Citizen would proudly say) a huge success, thanks in part to the beautiful 80 degree weather and diligently organized volunteer corps.  Locally crafted bike gear by artisans and vendors such as Box Dog Bikes, Rickshaw Bagworks, and Mission Workshop were on full display in a friendly environment that was far less daunting than the massive Interbike convention I checked out in Vegas last week:

(BTW, way better Interbike photos can be found over at Box Dog Blog)

Thanks to the Mission Bicycle Company for organizing such a wonderful representation of velo-culture in the neighborhood (and the Women’s Building too, of course)!  While I wasn’t brave enough to enter the trackstand competition to compete for a brand new Valencia frameset, it was still cool to witness along with the bunny hop contest and unicycle basketball.

Also, I’m pretty sure Interbike didn’t have a S’mores-cycle!

See you next year!

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!

Building upon the deluge of nostalgic Dolores Park photos that surfaced earlier this week, MM reader friscolex clued us in to the gold mine that is the San Francisco Public Library History Center Blog.  And what a gold mine it is!  Here we have a photo of Mission High School students eating lunch in Dolores Park in 1958.  Myriad interesting things here. 

First of all, these “high school” students look a lot older than most high school students I see around these days.  In fact, they look older than most undergrads!  Perhaps they’re not really high school students at all but are merely playing the part a la James Van Der Beek.

Furthermore, I’m not quite sure, but all of these students look pretty white.  Although this may just mean that they weren’t on the city champion soccer team, I’ve got a feeling that most of their fellow classmates were white as well.  50 years later, it seems that things are a little different.

But that’s not all from the SFPL HC!  Check out these amazing early (1965) designs for BART trains!  Supposedly, BART promised “trains automatically timed to arrive at stations every 90 seconds during rush hours, [and] BART is guaranteeing everyone of its passengers a seat[!!!]“  I wonder how that worked out.

Nevertheless, the SFPL History Center is a gold mine.  Be sure to check it out and support it however you can!

Previously:

Dolores Park 20 Years Ago

More Photos of Dolores Park 20 Years Ago

Mission Soccer: A San Francisco Dynasty

Although the going price of PBR in Mission bars consistently maintains at a steady (and reasonable) $2 (unless that foolish drinking tax gets passed), anytime you have a chance to get wasted at half that price, you have to take it.  Throw in 4 foot tall Connect Four set up (current score–Sarkarati 1, Sexpigeon 0–although my next opponent Kanye West will be a tough one) and you’ve got your Wednesday all figured out!  Thanks Broke-Ass Stuart!

Now, this also brings up an interesting question of bar tipping etiquette.  When you order one PBR, you tip $1, but when you order, say, three PBRs, do you also tip $3?  Does it make any difference how much the drink costs?  Should you tip more for labor intensive ones since they take longer to make?  Does the mixology of a Bloody Mary warrant the same tip as the flick of a pop-top on a can or the addition of Jameson to a glass of ice cubes?

What say you?

Previously:

Doc’s Clock Really Does Have the Nicest Bathroom Ceilings

But They Don’t Have NO JUKE

Yesterday’s post featuring pictures taken in Dolores Park 20 years ago was so nostalgic it inspired MM reader and cheese connoisseur Gordon Edgar to post some his old snapshots from the same era.

A week or two after Bush Sr. started the first Gulf War San Francisco had a huge protest. We watched the crowd grow outside our window (and let people in to use the bathroom since no one rented honey buckets for protests back then) and I finally took a picture when the crowd got huge. Then we rushed downstairs and joined the march.

Oh yeah, all the people in the park were there for the protest, not sunbathing. The park was empty by the time we got to City Hall.

Read on for more photos of the Park and to find out the name of the vegetarian Chinese restaurant that used to be in the Dolores Park Cafe spot.

The age-old dilemma.  You show up at Zeitgeist famished and order one of their delicious burgers.  You do the time and wait the requisite 10-15 minutes while anxiously downing a beer, your mouth salivating from the aroma emanating from the grill and your ears perking up every time the cook shouts another name across the yard (or wait–I guess they don’t do that anymore?).

Finally, the moment of truth arrives, and just as you sit down back at your table ready to devour that poor defenseless hamburger, your hear that familiar siren song, “Tamales, tamales!”  But damn, you just got a burger!  What to do, what to do?

The Zeigeist Tamale Burger.  That’s what you do.  An unholy alliance of beef, bun, masa, pork, and Tapatio.  Take that KFC Double-Down!

Did you get a chance to spend some time and chill out in one of those temporary parklets this past Friday?  If not, here’s a peek at what you missed at PARKing Day 2010.  [Disclaimer:  NO SAVESIES were used in the commandeering of these parking spots]

As expected, the longtime PARKing veterans in front of Lost Weekend and Ritual Coffee went all out with a 3-meter spot featuring a camping ground complete with a tent on top of real sod and a portable forest of potted plants.  Attention to detail such as the inclusion of a panda clinched a mention as one of the best parklets of the day.

Similarly, the fine folks at SPUR also created a parklet so kickin’ it probably would have qualified for their useful map of POPOS (Privately-Owned Public Open Spaces) had it been a permanent thing.

Despite the fact that not all the parklets were as thoughtfully orchestrated, that didn’t stop people from getting into the spirit of the day.  As this fellow proves, all you really needed was a swatch of AstroTurf and a juvenile tree.

(more…)

PARKing Day is here again, so go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity to hang out in a parking space for the whole afternoon.  As usual, SF Appeal has an excellent interactive map detailing known PARK locations, so have at it!

Also, today would probably not be a great day to try to find street parking on major SF thoroughfares.

While this is definitely a strikingly complex and beautifully designed map of San Francisco, its omission of the Mission is quite puzzling, especially given big-time NYC’s recent fascination with us.  Where are  the micro-citizens of this town going to get their burritos?

Photo and Map from Etsy

[Hat Tip:  Curbed SF]

This must what happens when you apply string theory to this bike.

Obits courtesy of Married to the Sea.

(Thanks Sally!)