Mission Mission

Are you South Asian? Our friend Amit Gupta might need some of your sweet brown bone marrow. Are you not South Asian? Chances are someone else needs your bone marrow too.

To put the odds into perspective, if you need a bone marrow transplant and you’re caucasian, the chances are 8 in 10 that you’ll find a suitable match. If you’re Indian, it’s more like 1 in 20,000. Help Amit and others smash those odds by stopping by Project One tonight and submitting a sample. All you have to do is fill out some paperwork and swab the inside of your cheeks with a Q-tip. Bring your brown friends!

Project One is at 251 Rhode Island St. and the event goes from 7-10:30pm.

Check it out: Danny Bowien from Mission Chinese Food was recently on Martha Stewart. I hope that he later invited one of those Lung Shan old-timers in the back out to demonstrate how to stuff a dumpling.

[via YMFY]

Looks like 14th st. is in for some more major changes. First there was yesterday’s groundbreaking for a new 202-unit “ugly as shit” residential complex. Now there’s another proposed condo building in the planning stages, right next to the Armory.

Kink.com, the building’s current occupants, are obviously not to pleased with a new building blocking off the killer view of the Armory’s glorious profile. On top of that, they cite the need for historical preservation of the building, which is totally what Kink is all about. As you may know, throughout the 20s-40s, the Armory was used as a sporting arena (the “Madison Square Garden of the West”) and to this day Kink hosts such high-profile sporting events as nude wrestling, whip skill competitions, and simultaneous-intercourse world record attempts.

The article at Curbed indicates Kink is interested in eventually restoring the main space for events, which does sound amazing. Can’t wait to check out a concert there, though I’ll be sure to wipe down my seat first. Head over to Curbed SF for the details.

[via Curbed SF]

Surely you’ve wondered what went on at all those run-down theaters lining Mission street before they were converted to dollar stores, parking structures, and termite farms. Well now is your chance to find out. Jack Tillmany, a San Francisco transit and theater historian, will be hosting a free presentation tomorrow, Wednesday 10/19 7pm at the Bernal Heights Public Library.

During the golden years of moviegoing in the first half of the 20th century, just about everybody went at least once a week. Ten thousand people a day went to the movies in San Francisco on Mission Street alone. Most of the theatres are gone now, or, worse yet, sitting vacant and abandoned as sad reminders of what once was, but will never be again. But a couple of them have been in business for more than a century and continue to survive and, let us hope, prosper.

Transit and movie theatre historian Jack Tillmany’s presentation offers a guided tour of just about all of them, from 16th Street through the Mission and Bernal Heights to Daly City, in black and white and in color, along with the many streetcar lines that provided transportation on San Francisco’s longest thoroughfare. Best of all, the presentation is free — and all attendees will receive a free, authentic souvenir of the streetcar era!

Interesting history talks sound like the perfect companion to Whiskey Wednesdays at Bender’s! Unofficial after-party?

[via Bernalwood]

1880 Mission starts construction starts tomorrow. It  will be a 6-story “market rate” (expensive-as-fuck) residential building:

The $60 million, 230,000-square-foot mixed-use project will provide much-needed workforce housing: 202 residences –a mix of studios; one-, two- and three-bedroom homes; and, penthouse lofts. Also included in the six stories of wood over concrete building is 7,502 sq. ft. of street-level retail space and 155 below groundparking spaces, as well as amenities such as two interior landscaped courtyards, community garden, multimedia fitness facility, bike workroom and secured bike parking or each unit.

The proximity to the Armory will be a plus for you kinky types. Maybe you’ll even get a window-level view!

The groundbreaking is tomorrow at 2pm, in case you want to protest the fact that more valuable parking spots are being taken away from our fair city.

Update: Mr. Eric Sir pointed out that the building rendering is available online and is “ugly as shit”, an opinion which I will further demonstrate by sloppily scaling up the microscopic source image here:

Bomb scare at City College on 22nd and Valencia. I assume there’s no bomb since this cop is walking away from the scene with the bomb-bot.

More details as we find out.

If were distracted by all the Blue Angel action, you may have missed the aerial marketing was all up in our sky’s business this weekend. Cranky Old Mission Guy snapped this choice shot that sums it up.

Advertising evils aside, it looks like now they are just using these sky printers to crap out perfectly aligned pixels in half the time. Where’s the artistry, the skill, the danger? No soul!

[via Cranky Old Mission Guy]

I’ve only met Amit Gupta a couple of times, but I could tell right away that he is one of the most charismatic, creative, and talented guys in the Mission. You may know him as the founder of Photojojo, a site full of great photography projects and products. He also happens to be the roommate to some other awesome people.

Amit was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia two weeks ago and has started treatment. He will need a bone marrow transplant, but South Asian donors are severely underrepresented.

Here’s how you can help:

1. If you’re South Asian, get a free test by mail. You rub your cheeks with a cotton swab and mail it back. It’s easy.
2. If you’re in NYC, you can go to this event. If not, encourage your NYC friends to go.
3. If you know any South Asians, please point ‘em to the links above.

South Asia means India and surrounding countries, in case you missed that day in class.

For more details, see Amit’s blog.

Update: Even if you’re not South Asian, do it anyway. Many other minorities are underrepresented in the donor pool and need help.

Our buddy Jeff Seal just made this:

A delite-ful picture film full of fun and folly. It stars a Brooklyn ‘bicycle messenger’ and a mysterious lovely lady! Will he be able win her over or will he be stopped short by the gypsy’s curse? Running time: 14:43. Rated PG-13 for magic, unsafe cycling, and adult situations.

The Mission Police took a beating at Tuesday’s community meeting concerning increasing violence in the neighborhood.

On the bright side, they had a fun raffle during the event:

Eventually, Corrales managed to lighten the mood – just in time for the raffle. Latecomers and newbies rushed to get their names in for the monumental door prizes – police station pens, a mug and two Giants tickets.

“Can I borrow your pen?” one man asked the winner of a Mission Station pen.

“I came just in time for door prizes!” said DJ Brown who later won the tickets.

Congrats to DJ Brown and the other winners!

[via Mission Loc@l]