Mission Mission

Fair Oaks is one of the prettiest streets in the Mission, and it has hosted the Fair Oaks Street Fair every spring for the past 37 years — just look at those rad ’70s spring outfits from one of the first ones! As per usual, it’ll be five blocks (21st to 26th) of neighborhood garage sales and food stands from 9am to 5pm, all benefiting local nonprofits (Jamestown Community Center’s youth programs, and the Fair Oaks Community Coalition’s alley project).

Read on for more information and more cool old photos.

Love that Wam Bam! (Ping Pong Nite is: “2 ping pong tables, soul DJs, every Thursday at El Rio, 9-midnight, free.”)

RSVP and invite your friends!

Time sure flies! Seems like it was only yesterday N&P was at its original location on 14th Street and I was still in school and too poor to even be able to afford a little zine. But I loved browsing. Now Needles & Pens is on 16th Street and I am rich and can afford all the zines I desire. Cheers to us!

The celebration (at Luggage Store NOT Needles & Pens) is Friday and features performances by Tara Jane Oneil, Strawberry Smog and WR/DS, and works by all these luminaries:

Amy Browne, Andrew McKinley, Andrew Schoultz, Austin McManus, Bill Daniel, Brigid Dawson, Chris Duncan, Chris Johanson, Chrissy Piper, Daniel Higgs/Kyle Ranson, David Benzler, Deuce 7, Edie Fake, Griffin McPartland, Hamburger Eyes, Hilary Pecis, Jason Jägel, Jay Howell, Jay Nelson, Jeff Canham, Jeremy Fish, Joey Alone, John Dwyer, Jovi Schnell, Julianna Bright, Kevin Earl Taylor, Know Hope, Kyle Field, Kyle Ranson, Lena Wolff, Maria Forde, Mary Joy Scott, Mat Obrien, Matt Furie, Maya Hayuk, Mike Brodie, Miriam Stahl, Monica Canilao, Nathaniel Russell, Nick Mann, Nigel Peake, Nikki McClure, Oliver Halsman Rosenberg, Orfn, Orion Shepherd, Other, Pacolli, Paul Schiek, Paul Urich, Paul Wackers, Pez, Ray Potes, Richard Coleman, Rich Jacobs, Russ Pope, Sam McPheeters, Serena Mitnik Miller, Stefan Simikich, Tauba Auerbach, Ted Pushinski, Thomas Campbell, Tim Kerr, Xara Thustra

Can’t wait!

[Photo by ! !]

[Stererogum via sharkdick]

[Photo by James Barber]

That thing was empty for a million years, and they wanted like a million bucks a square foot for it. Can’t wait to see what’s coming!

I guess I don’t hang out on Valencia much these days, or I’d just forgotten how well-trafficked it is. I had one happy hour drink sitting in the window at this bar (they make a cool thing where they put half a frozen margarita into half a glass of sangria btw), and we started seeing basically everyone we know. After the first six or seven, we started keeping a list:

1. Energetic entrepreneur trying to sell us a jacket through a closed, tinted window
2. My friend Stinky
3. DJ Primo
4. Luigi from Thieves Tavern
5. Leticia Huerta
6. Girl I recognized from someplace
7. My friends Allison and Neil*
8. My friend Lindsey*
9. DJ Primo again
10. Milo from St. Francis Fountain
11. Guy Lindsey recognized from someplace
12. Tall, longhaired bartender from Jack’s (RIP Jack’s)
13. Amit Gupta (of Photojojo)
14. Mandy Harper (of Wholesome Bakery)
15. Amit Gupta again
16. Helen Tseng (of The Bold Italic)
17. Ginger skater Lindsey knows
18. Primo AGAIN (2 Men Will Move You is this Saturday btw)
19. Tall guy from Boyz IV Men
20. Fake Nihar (not of Haçeteria)
21. Lindsey’s #1 longhair bike messenger crush
22. Some asshole on a motorized skateboard
23. Guy that works at Box Dog Bikes
24. Lil Stinky (Stinky’s younger brother)✓
25. Dave from Jess’s office (whose birthday it was, HAPPY BIRTHDAY)✓

It was a pretty fun game. Highly recommended.

*Pictured
✓Seen immediately after exiting, so it might not count

[via @megaflora]

[via the best internet service provider in town, MonkeyBrains]

Not all seem to be as happy about it as you might expect.  The Priceonomics Blog took an in-depth look, asking some local tattoo parlors about the increasingly-popular phenomenon:

Despite the rebel associations of tattoos, artists recognize that what they do “changes people” and they exercise that responsibility wisely. Every tattoo artist we met described talking with teenagers who came in asking for tattoos on their face, hands, or other visible areas. Tattoos aren’t as taboo as they once were, but even with adults, artists recommend that people don’t get tattoos in visible places unless they’re established, retired, or in a more welcoming industry.

Why give up the possibility for profit? “Because it’s the right thing to do,” Paul Stoll, owner of Body Manipulations in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood told us. “You don’t want to go home knowing that you changed an 18 year old’s life for the worse. Tattoos should be empowering. They should change people for the better. They shouldn’t be a mask.” Paul asked for a face tattoo when he was young. The artist told him that he’d do it if Paul still wanted it in a year. He never got it.

Read on.

[Photo]

Danny, who got his start at Mission faves like Slow Club and Bar Tartine, and made waves at our dearly departed Mission Street Food, is taking the entire world by storm with Mission Chinese Food, doy. Last night he took home one of the culinary world’s highest honors, and Inside Scoop jetted to NYC to pick his brains afterward. Here’s what he has to say about the new SF project he’s working on with longtime partner-in-crime Jesse Koide:

It’s going to be insane. It’s going to challenge people. I want to make food that we definitely want to eat on our day off — food that cooks want to eat, that diners want to eat … It’ll be Asian. It’s not going to be Chinese — I don’t think.  I don’t think I can convince Jesse to cook any more Chinese food [laughs] … It’s going to be a twin concept restaurant.  We’re actually going away for a lot of R&D.

Read on for more on what it’s like to win, and info on (and a pic of) his sick new Air Jordans.

P.S. Blast from the past: The first post we ever wrote about Bowien, five years back.