Mission Mission

This many!

[18th St between Dolores and Guerrero]

Previously:

How Crowded Was Dolores Park This Past Weekend?

No matter where you live, work, walk, or ride throughout the City, you must have noticed the recent installations of  many more bicycle parking racks on sidewalks everywhere.  The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has made significant progress working with the SFMTA to make it much easier to request bike racks for specific sidewalk locations that you may particularly notice need more bike parking. 

While it’s FANTASTIC to see such progressive municipal cooperation in the name of expanding bicycle safety and ridership, am I the only one who’s getting tired of the utilitarian standard grey bike rack design?  Don’t get me wrong; they are clearly sleek, strong, and functional but I feel that a jazzier design would not only help further excite the population about cycling, but would also look way cooler! 

A recent trip up North to visit our Canadian neighbors in Vancouver presented a colorful and stylish alternative.  I walked up and down city streets for two days and could not even find two bicycle racks that looked alike!  Perhaps some criticism can be leveled at the apparent flimsiness of those triangles, but no doubt San Francisco’s intelligent creative artistic community can come up with some aesthetically pleasing marriage of form and function. 

H&R Block Bike Racks

Also, to the business-minded folks out there:  countless potential branding opportunities! 

More examples of bicycle rack awesomeness (and a locked up lawnmower) after the jump . . . 

(more…)

A nice little story to brighten up this needlessly gloomy June morning!  After the call went out on Monday about a probably stolen tandem bike that was found abandoned after Sunday Streets by a kind stranger, sleuthy MM readers discovered a similar Craigslist ad and the real owner eventually came forward. 

Great work to everyone involved in uniting this happy couple and their trusty tandem bicycle!  We here at MM haven’t felt this useful since helping to reunite kidnapped Mr. Pickle with his delicious sandwich-purveying Mama Pickle.

Mr. Pickle Saga

BREAKING: Mr. Pickle Stolen!

BREAKING: Mr. Pickle Found!

BREAKING: Mr. Pickle Hostage Situation!

UPDATE: Mr. Pickle to be Voluntarily Returned?

Mr. Pickle Returned to Mama Pickle!

Previously:

Found a Probably Stolen Tandem Bike 

It took long enough, but Landon Donovan finally punched through and scored the winning goal of the Battle of Algiers, setting the Phoenix into a frenzy and (of course) leading its patrons into the obligatory USA USA chants.

Although we couldn’t get close enough to the bar to attempt to order the scrumptious famous Irish Breakfast (how can you go wrong with blood sausage?), their spicy bloody marys more than sufficed and sustained us through this tense match.

Check the video below to see the place going OFF as the final whistle blows:

Previously:

Homemade McMuffin World Cup at the Phonebooth

And MM reader Steve is not sure what to do with it!

Some drunken thief abandoned it at 22nd and Guerrero.  I called the cops and waited around for an hour but they failed to show.  I guess the standard procedure here would be to post a notice and have the owner describe its details?  What does one do with an abandoned stolen bike?

Come to think of it, we’re not quite sure what to do with it either, so the best thing to do is to see what the rest of you have to say about it!  So far, we only know what not to do.

[Photo (NOT OF THE BIKE IN QUESTION) by thousandfold]

Sometimes you just need a place where you can put your feet up.

[San Jose at 23rd]

Previously:

Moto-Siesta at the Palace

Our friend Lisa has had the pleasure of living in Berlin for the past few months and finally made it over to that Dolores Burrito place that purports to serve real “Mission-style” burritos stuffed with all the same excellence that you would find at El Farolito or Cancun.  Her verdict?  Mixed, of course:

They cost about the same amount that you’d pay at a taqueria on 24th St. And they’re also comparable in monstrosity.

Menos puntos: they’re very very stingy about the chips!! Which I was very disappointed about. A side order of tortilla chips was 3 euros (= $3.68). Which is a heck of a lot more expensive than their usual price of…free.

Die Amerikanerin has the scoop!

Previously:

Guten Tag! Mission Burritos in Berlin!

Dolores Burrito in Berlin Obviously Not as Good as Taco-Truck Burrito

The Best Way to Transport a Mission Burrito to Somewhere as Far Away as Berlin

I found myself mesmerized by the smushed rat my friend Heather pointed out in front of my house.  I think it’s the way he’s managed to say goodbye to the world with his one final act.  See you later, little guy.

At the risk of moving up several notches on the vegansaurus death list, more (close-up) photos of the poor little dude after the jump . . .

(more…)

Despite the fact that the US team is getting shelled by Slovenia to the tune of a seemingly insurmountable 2-0 score, we can take solace in the FREE homemade McMuffins paired with potently spicy bloody marys at neighborhood stalwart the Phonebooth. Assembled with either veggie, ham, or bacon in addition to eggs and melted cheddar, they provide welcome sustenance at this ungodly early hour. A great place to catch future morning games as well!

Also USA team, I realize the Eastern Bloc has enjoyed a considerable resurgence into relevancy in recent years, come on, this is Slovenia! Let’s take it!

MM reader Andy B. has been ready all morning to watch to much-anticipated match between Mexico and France that starts RIGHT NOW:

It was pretty damn hilarious biking down Mission Street this morning, documenting my friend’s rather bold display of patriotisme prior to the Mexico/France World Cup match.  We saw lots of smiles and heard lots of honks and shouts of ¡Viva Mexico! 
The angriest remarks were from the Irish.

Amazing!  Not only are you giving the proverbial middle finger to our neighborhood’s robust Latino community, but you’re also delving deep into history to insult the ancestral Irish population as well!  Bonus points!

In case anyone is confused as to why the Irish would have big problems with this, here’s why (complete with harpsichord).

More photos of buffoonary after the jump . . .

(more…)