Mission Mission

First, Hoodline has the renderings of the condos that will replace Flax Art & Design. After years of their wooden guy trying to take down Travelodge, they finally lost the battle. The new condos will pay homage to San Francisco’s rich architectural history and – oh wait, it’s just another big boxy building.

[via Hoodline]

Next, Uptown Almanac reports that after thirteen years, Therapy’s furniture store on Valencia will close at the end of this month. The landlord increased their rent from $5,700 to $10,500, so, make of that what you will. It’s hard to remain shocked at this point.

[UPDATE: Image by Google Streetview inserted to clarify that the furniture store, on the left, is closing, while the clothing store is remaining open]

From UA:

In conversation, Whelan mentioned that he was never late on rent, and that there is simply “more demand for [Valencia Street] than there is Valencia.” Whelan believes that with the average “consumer on Valencia Street [being] a hyper-affluent tech person,” a Valencia Street store “becomes a billboard to promote [a company’s] brand.” The outrageous rent paid simply becomes another line item in a company’s marketing budget.

You know, like Times Square or something. Cool. Awesome. Love it. I’m sorry, I’m trying not to be so negative. But this neighborhood is being smothered by a huge pile of money. Speaking of money, you can save some by taking advantage of Therapy’s clearance sale!

(Thanks, Capp Street Crap!)

Looks like Clothes Contact is gonna peace out within 60 days:

$14000 / 2000ft² – Great Ground Floor on Valencia (mission district)

Great Frontage on Valencia and 16th. Nice three story building with great potential. Space will vacate approx 60 days… Possible to double space with full basement. Shown by appointment only.

Guess you gotta sell thrift by the ounce, not the pound, in this economy.

[via Craigslist]

Update: The gone-in-60-days figure may be inaccurate, according to current employee Travis:

Alright, I work there right now, and the truth is, it’s gonna be around at the very least until the end of the year. After that, we’ll have to wait and see what happens. But it’s sure as hell not closing in 60 days. Come in, you’ll see.

I got tired of using intersections to specify what corner store you’re talking about: “The 20th and Bryant one is out of Watermelon Wheat, can you check the 23rd and Alabama one?” Etc., etc. So me and some friends started trying to call the ones we frequent by name, and we found that it’s both less time-consuming *and* more fun!

Here are all the ones I now know by name now:

• Norm’s (20th and Bryant)
• Mission Groceteria (23rd and Alabama)
• Serv-U Market (21st and Bryant)
• New Hampshire Market (20th and Hampshire)
• King’s (22nd and Bryant)
• Tony’s (24th and Hampshire)
• Samy’s (24th and Bryant)
• Isaac’s (22nd and Folsom)
• R Image (25th and Folsom)
• Rhea’s (19th and Valencia)

And then of course, there are these two:

• The Nice Lady Store
• Crackistan

What’d I miss?

[Photo by Google Maps]

Dark Room boss Rhiannon fills us in:

The Dark Room has had another mishap, because when it rains, it pours, and this time it rained on a conduit box. So! We’re taking advantage of the usually underbooked July to take a short hiatus and do some repairs around the theater, make sure that everything’s all ship-shape, and while we’re at it, maybe I’ll actually get around to painting the ceiling like I’ve been threatening to do for like a year now.

In the meantime, because momentum is everything, we let The Business, Bad Movie Night, and all the rest of our recurring bookings know that we understand if they have to move to another venue. Because a 6-or-so-week hiatus can really hurt a show, but we need the time to get things back together. It would suck to lose them permanently, but at the same time, we can’t operate safely as-is.

How you, the world, can help:

• Come see Twilight Zone: Live: A Parody Show! at The Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy at Taylor, Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm,
• Support other local theaters who are putting on fantastic live performances and comedy,Throw money at The Dark Room’s paypal if you’d like (the donation link is at darkroomsf.com)
• Take Dark Room volunteers out for a cocktail,
• Enjoy your summer!

Get well soon, Dark Room!

[via Gawker]

The first bar I ever went to (besides with my dad as a kid) was the Uptown. It was a great experience, just what I always thought a bar would be like: Dark, damp and a little scary. I felt totally at home. Last week the owner, Scott Ellsworth, passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. I didn’t know Scott that well, but the couple times we talked he was always really friendly, and very supportive of the weird artsy place my buddies and I were building across the street. He ran a bar that didn’t have a cocktail program or a dress code. He ran a bar where you could sit down, have a shot and a beer and chat with familiar regulars. Inside the Uptown I’ve stored paintings during a scavenger hunt art show, made business deals, broken up fights, maybe gotten in a fight, tried in vain to get up the nerve to talk to a girl, watched my team dominate the World Series, and seen Sean Penn close it down.

[via Facebook]

The Bold Italic has a great tribute to him today, which would have been his 60th birthday.

In 2011, when I posted a picture of “KiTOS”, the letters on the back of the bar, Scott wrote in to tell us that it stood for the previous owner’s names, Kim and Tony. Let’s just say now it stands for “Keep in Touch, Ol’ Scott.”