Mission Mission

Yeah, remember when this was Spanish-language beer ads for like ever? And oftentimes just blank?

Different times!

[Photo and title (and additional reporting) by Tanya Wheeler]

Reader Britta (who also a few weeks ago dug up all that info on the old police station on 17th) dug up all the info and made a LocalWiki article about it:

In a residential area at Capp and 25th in the Mission, there’s an oddly big office building that always has lights on at night. What is that? It’s the telco building at 3333 25th Street, owned by AT&T.

In other words, it’s a telephone exchange containing telephone switches and other pieces of equipment, called a “central office” in telecommunications company jargon.

Read on for lots more info and history. Thanks, Britta!

UPDATE: Oh doy! Commenter sfnola says, “This is where The Phone Booth at 25th/SVN gets its name.” Nice.

Reader Brigid H. recently came upon this shot of her grandparents from waaaay back in the day. (Back when Dolores Park was cool, jkjk.)

Different times!

Oh god. What if we all die in an earthquake and the only people left to rebuild are the ones who went to Burning Man? #terrifying

— daisy barringer (@daisy) August 24, 2014

The normally jam packed African Outlet in Hayes Valley has completely emptied out, and according to their facebook page and IndieGoGo campaign, they are looking for help to relocate, possibly to the Bay View. They claim to be just looking for a larger space, but it seems like this has been in the works for a while, and they are in reality falling victim to the city-wide rent increases [via SFExaminer].

Displaying a bright “Class War 2.0″ banner, the group marched peacefully up Valencia and then turned on 22nd before stopping in front of Lolo Cevicheria for an impromptu rally.  The speaker made an interesting point regarding rent control that I had failed to previously consider.  Namely, that while families without the fortune of living in rent-controlled apartments are forced to move after their rent gets dramatically increased, people who do actually dwell in rent-controlled spots suffer from landlords who refuse to fix anything except for the most necessary (read: legally-required) repairs.

Many families are terrified of even asking their landlords to perform important maintenance within their apartments out of fear that they will notice some sort of technicality within their living space that would provide means for eviction.  Imagine dealing with that constant level of fear every day of your life, where any sort of misstep could be used against you.

Sadly, I just see this situation getting worse and worse.

[via Dale Thorn]

Dang, this sounds like a good time:

What we got: Hosts Beth Lisick and Arline Klatte, a 20 piece version of Marc & The Casuals, a special opening set by soul gospel legends the West Coast Spiritual Corinthians. Comedy by Anna Seregina, Chis Colin & Rob Baedeker. Special Musical Guests Persephone’s Bees, Etienne de Rocher, Fredo Ortiz, Karina Denike, Meryl Press, Brigid Dawson, Bob Reed, Jason Morgan, & Virgil Shaw.

With summer stories from Porchlight and a summertime soul story and invocation from the Bishop Marc Andrus…
Show start promptly at 8:30 and won’t stop until everyone has danced and laughed and danced again.

Tix:http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/593133

It looks like Arizmendi got approval from the city to move ahead with their parklet plans on Valencia, and now they’ve started an Indiegogo campaign to help fund the project. In their words:

We, the worker-owners of Arizmendi Valencia care about providing delicious, affordable and unique baked goods to our neighborhood. As a diverse cooperative, we also value community dialogue among folks of varying backgrounds and experiences. In this spirit, we want to build a semi-circular parklet in front of our store to cultivate comfort and connection among our customers.

It also sounds like they’re planning on having the parklet host a rotating mural series, and that they’ve already received interest from neighbor and talented local artist Sirron Norris. As someone who enjoys both delicious baked goods and sunshine, I couldn’t be more excited about bringing these two things together.

According to MM reader Chino, he’s a “stop and chatter and a direction changer” (and he likes Ramen):

We crossed paths outside of JapanTown in SF.  He saw our excitement when we recognized him and said ‘You guys wanna go this way with me’ We switched routes and chilled. He gave us an opportunity to banter & didn’t rush it at all. The whole thing was really human & made our day. Thanks Fred!

Gotta admit that I’m kind of surprised he’s not a stand-in-liner.  For the record, if anyone recognizes me on the street, I’m a “turn around and run away shrieking-er.”

(Thanks Chino!)