Mission Mission

Watch out Brooklyn! Valencia is The New Hip Street in the City according to NBC Bay Area!

Mention of skinny jeans? Check.

Mention of ironic sunglasses? Check.

Mention of fixies? Check.

Mention of gentrification? Check.

I’m so glad our “flannel-draped” community gets to park our bikes in front “high-end restaurants” like Spork. NBC really hit the nail on the head with this one.

There’s a new place to get your new bag in The Mission. Former Chrome bagmakers (bagsmiths?) have opened their own bageria, Mission Workshop, located right down the alley from Esta Noche.

They design their bags (and jackets, coming soon) right there in the ol’ warehouse, and have them manufactured in the U. S. of A. Colorado, I believe. Anyway, the bags are big and cool looking and weatherproof and seem expensive but are probably somewhat reasonable. $275ish? $239? For made in USA? And hardy? I dunno. I’m not that picky about apparel.

The coolest thing to me is that they’re planning monthly art shows, film screenings, and/or BBQ’s. In fact, this Thursday (7/15) they’re having a free BBQ and beer bash from your afterwork time to the late evening time (“happy hour time”). Plus art from Nate Smith and Caleb Sheridan. Should be sweet.

As a side note, doesn’t it seem like our neighborhood is racking up quite a list of logos and products/companies bearing it’s name? Is someone keeping a list? It’s rivaling my home town in its bumper sticker visibility.

Levi’s really stirs it up in people.

Rather than just stirring up controversy about the new Levi’s project on Valencia like we did, our pals at SFist went inside:

So, the new Levi’s pop-up thing (they’re reluctant to call it a ‘store,’ and it’s kind of not) in the former Slanted Door location on Valencia Street between 16th and 17th, is an interesting phenomenon. While on the one hand, cynics may want to see it as a simple branding exercise, it appears to be more than that, and presents an example of a retailer trying to do something creative and altruistic for an urban community, while still selling a few pairs of jeans.

I encourage you to read the rest. This is clearly not “formula retail,” so perhaps that explains why Levi’s was not rebuffed the way American Apparel was early last year.

Shitty economy or not, the entrepreneurial spirit is still alive. Take these bright Mission youngsters, for example. Gaucho Dave snapped this shot of them and explains:

I remember when I was a kid, trying to make a buck in the summer I’d sometimes mow lawns. SF is different, these boys tried to charge me $1 to take a picture of them with a condom they blew up. I told them I had lots of friends and would do free advertising for them in exchange for a picture.

Done and done. They might still be around at 19th and Florida if you want to take them up on their offer. New decks and bearings are expensive.

People seem to have a lot to say about the new Levi’s Workshop that recently opened on Valencia between 16th and 17th Street in the future location of a Charles Phan restaurant.  Some residents find it a little ironic:

You find it odd that the hood went nuts when AA tried to move in but they had very little issue with Levi’s opening a pop-up which is a company 5000 times the size?
Have you seen all the vandalism all over the front of the Levi’s store?
They hit the store two nights in a row and completely destroyed the front of the shop, took 15 people 2 days to clean it up and still can’t get parts off.

The graffiti in question may or may not be the work of some anarchist chick that Kevmo ran into.  Whatever the case, the incident seems to have prompted the hiring of a full-time private security guard to patrol the block in an attempt to stem the vandalism, as MM reader Elle points out:

guess what? starting yesterday evening and throughout the entire summer, there is a security guard on duty 24-7 on the block of Valencia between 16th and 17th.  this is private ‘police’ monitoring your activity in public space. they don’t stop people from being robbed or killed, they are just there to watch the stuff.

For their part, Levi’s says the workshop is good for the neighborhood:

Each workshop is designed to focus on a specific craft including printmaking and photography, and will feature forums where local pioneers in design, sports, technology, sustainability, and other interests can engage and collaborate

So, what do you guys think about it?

[Photo courtesy of Uptown Almanac]

Previously:

American Apparel Comes to the Mission

Details on the American Apparel Hearing (NSFW)

American Apparel Says Peace

My favorite soju-slingin’ bar Amnesia has been redecorating, and it looks like they are going for a nautical theme. They are soliciting donations for items such as:

-Old Steamer Trunks (antique big leather and metal kind)
-Large docking rope
-Lamps, lanterns with nautical appeal
-Ship wheels
-portholes (round frames or windows)
-Chandeliers (send a picture first!)
-old, thin barn wood
-Any wooden barrels of any size
-wooden ship figure heads
-old model ships
-old ships in bottles
-taxidermy of the nautical variety… fish, sea birds, etc
-any other sort of old-timey nautical nonsense that seems appropriate for our cozy chamber.

This seems like a somewhat odd request from a place that’s across the street from a goddamned pirate store, but who am I to judge. Contact them amnesiasf (at) gmail.com if you’ve got the goods.

(via Mission Locatl)

We know one way to relax while watching the World Cup (see below), but what if the tension of the whole thing has your shoulders scrunched up to your ears? Well, Mobile Massage N’ Soccer combines the two things you require!

SERIOUS BUMMER NEWS. One of my favorite underground acoustic music venues, Bluesix, is shutting down. The owner Joe Lewis is working with the inspector to finish out June concerts.

I had a lot of good times and amazing musical moments at Bluesix and I’m really sad to see it go. It was one of the few places where you could set up a show without jumping through a bunch of hoops with unresponsive promoters, lame restrictions, unfair door arrangements, and unappreciative clientele. The proximity to my favorite psychedelic taco joint didn’t hurt either.

Joe is looking to turn over the lease on 24th and Treat to someone in the community, so if you know someone a like-minded individual who is interested please drop him a line, otherwise it will probably become a lame bail-bond place.

If you go to Zeitgeist right now the front door is blocked off and the new entrance is on the Valencia side of the patio. According to the doorman they had to make some upgrades or repairs which cast light on a few other code violations and now the whole place is getting a facelift. It seems the biggest changes are the removal of the porta potties with the addition of actual bathrooms over in the far (Southeast) corner of the outdoor area, and that the bar will now be open to the outside, so you can order from the deck under the overhang. I wasn’t sure if the original entrance would be restored or if we’ll be strolling directly onto the patio from the street for good.

It sounds like the overall flow of the space will be different, but that it won’t have much effect on the atmosphere that we all love to hate. People will still come by looking to have a nice chat with the bartender while they mix up their Harvey Wallbanger and end up running home in a tizzy to get on Yelp and write about wishing there was a way to give a bar no stars. Which is exactly, I assume, how we all want it.

Anyway, here’s a bonus bar doodle: