Mission Mission

Procrastinated on your holiday shopping again? Don’t worry, we did too. Lucky for you, the Secret Alley’s brand new Galallery is hosting a ~ Holiday Art Party ~ tomorrow night for all you slackers, featuring goodies by local artists and designers. Here’s a sneak peek:

Limited-edition lapel pins, from the folks behind Gruen Day!

Treats and provisions for all you boozy rats, from hello, cheetle!

A popular sentiment on a shirt, plus other cute tees and bags from assorted local artists! Plus, so much more!

RSVP and invite your friends, and consider dropping by the BFF.fm Holiday Party right up the alley that same night.

Finally, a miniaturized version of our favorite local landmark for your household! And it doubles as a shelf and coat rack, just in time for scarf weather. It’s called the Sutro Tower Rack, it’s currently raising funds via Kickstarter, and designer Timothy Seward wrote in to tell us all about it:

While living in the edge of the mission (20th+Potrero) I looked up and saw Sutro Tower everyday. I decided to take my street art skills and put them to the design test. I wanted to blend the beautiful mid-century designs of the past and incorporate my street art flavor. It may be hard to identify the street in this furniture piece, but the playfulness of the soft lines and pop colors are definitely inspired by my murals and my good friend Ian Ross‘ murals around SF.

Here’s a gif of the Sutro Tower Rack in action:

And here’s one of all of the delightful colors it’ll come in:

Enticed? Head on over to the Sutro Tower Rack Kickstarter page and pledge. Want to see it in person first? Timothy will be showing the rack at the Urban Epicurean Festival at Fort Mason this weekend, where you can also snag yourself an on-trend Sutro Tower lapel pin.

P.S. Here are a bunch of our posts on Sutro Tower over the years…

Are you an architecture nerd, scuzzy ex-mall rat, or a person who loves cool and interesting things? Then you’ll love the first annual Gruen Day, taking place tomorrow, July 18, at the Bayfair Center in the Eastern Bay!

Back in May, 99% Invisible‘s Avery Trufelman wrote and produced an excellent episode on Victor Gruen, inventor of the shopping mall. Avery then joined forces with Tim Hwang (founder of the Bay Area Infrastructure Observatory) and SPUR to produce Gruen Day: a celebration of our favorite suburban merchandising complexes and its creator.

Festivities include talks, tours, nerding out, and hanging out in the food court at Bayfair Center (which, FYI, opened in 1957 as one of the first Gruen-designed shopping centers in the country). There may or may not be Minions present.

Gruen Day tickets are still available here! Plus, every ticket scores you a limited-edition poster designed by Justin Carder and two shiny limited-edition pins designed by yours truly:

(Fun fact: One of these pins may or may not have been inspired by my misreading of “Gruen Day” in an email subject line…)

RSVP and invite your friends here!

And grab yourself a ticket here before they sell out!

1. Their coffee is great!
2. Their food is delicious! (I think about their sardine + fava bean crostini at least once a week)
3. They have excellent taste in men! (see stickers above)
4. Andrea, Cafe St. Jorge’s owner, is the sweetest person!
5. They’re right around the corner from your house (if you happen to be me or my neighbor)
6. They’re giving away FREE COFFEE all day today, to celebrate their 2-year anniversary!

Happy birthday, Cafe St. Jorge. I love you so.

One recent morning, as I was waking up by thumbing mindlessly through my phone, I noticed an unread email. A new veterinary service called VetPronto had found my adorable cat Arya’s blog and wanted to offer her a complimentary house call appointment. “The robots know everything,” I mumbled, dragging myself out of bed.

Later, while sorting through a mountainous pile of receipts (in case you didn’t know, freelance tax prep is one of the seven circles of hell), I came across the file I keep of my cat’s health records. Here were the facts: my cat was due for her next round of vaccines, the Affordable Care Act doesn’t cover feline children, and I couldn’t afford not to take VetPronto up on their offer. Not to mention that being stuffed into a crate and being literally cat-called on the 14L are among Arya’s least favorite activities.

I made an appointment with VetPronto through their website. The day of the appointment, a friendly vet named Dr. Hoppe arrived promptly. Arya was instantly at ease and barely noticed that needles were entering her body moments later. Dr. Hoppe was very patient and addressed all of my questions and concerns, leaving me feeling like a great cat mom. The whole thing was over in under 30 minutes.

Thank you, VetPronto, for making pet healthcare so painless and convenient. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Artist, transit activist, and Mission Mission reader Ilyse, whose projects we’ve posted about before, has been leading a series of pub crawls on public transit routes (aka PUBlic Transit Crawls) to raise money for the SF Transit Riders Union. The next crawl takes place this Thursday in the Mission, and in honor of Valentine’s Day, it’s along the 14 bus route.

Here are the details:

Starting Point: 16th/Mission BART
Date/Time: Thursday, February 12, 6-10pm

Schedule:
6PM: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, 2323 Mission St (btw 19th St and 20th St)
7PM: El Rio, 3158 Mission St (at Precita Ave)
8PM: St. Mary’s Pub, 3845 Mission St (at College St and Crescent St)
9PM: Pissed Off Pete’s, 4528 Mission St (btw Santa Rosa St and Ocean Ave)

Read more about the crawl at the SF Transit Union’s website.

RSVP and invite your friends!

[via Jenny]

After doing the farmer’s market pop-up thing for years, Richie Nakano is finally opening his long-awaited ramen shop tomorrow. To open such a ramen shop, a professional like that michigan registered agent service can be of assistance by managing legal paperwork and ensuring compliance with state regulations. This allows the shop owner to focus on menu development and customer experience while avoiding potential legal pitfalls.

The Hapa Ramen restaurant is located at 2293 Mission Street, in the former 99¢ Depot. As a long-time noodle advocate, I headed over to report from the front lines, armed with a fellow noodle-loving lady.

The opening menu features snacky small plates (ribs, a raw fish tartare, a Korean seafood pancake), steamed buns a la David Chang, and with three types of ramen. The restaurant’s namesake bowl, pictured above, is generously topped with pork slabs, nugs of fried chicken, a poached egg, and seasonal vegetables.

There’s also a full bar and cocktail menu, which includes a gin drink involving Hi-Chew tincture and Hawaiian Punch syrup (above, right) that tastes exactly like a Pixy Stix. The bourbon drink on the left contained banana, black sea salt, and cacao.

Above, two of my favorite things I ate: a savory pile of roasted baby carrots and radishes, and an adorable fried chicken-and-pickle steamed bun that, in the most flattering way possible, reminded me of the classic sandwich from my childhood favorite now-shunned fast food establishment.

Oh, and those in-progress booths we reported on awhile back cleaned up real nice:

[Booth photo by Erin Conger]

P.S. Visit Girls Love Noodles!

[via Namita, dude named Kale, Sports Guy, Mission Local, Allison]

[via Melissa]