Mission Mission

Our recent post where Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch expresses regret for having missed the Fugazi show in Dolores Park back in 2000 elicited all sorts of nostalgia from readers who lived here at the time.  Knowing that my friend (and bandmate) Eric was around back then, I asked him about it at practice last night.

Turns out, not only was he (along with the rest of the Mission) at the park for the show, but Ian Mackaye also borrowed the Marshall Cab that now resides in our practice space in order to play.  While I was still grappling with this information, Eric moved aside the head and revealed a surviving piece of masking tape on which was written, “IAN Return to j,” so that all of the equipment Fugazi borrowed for the Dolores Park show would get back to their owners.

It’s obviously been a rough decade for the cab after its pinnacle in the park, as this hulking relic is now merely used as a PA for our singer when we practice.  Nonetheless, stop by Secret Studio to give it some Pope-style reverence if you feel like your music is in a rut and need some transitive inspiration from one of the greatest bands ever.

Oh, and buy our record if you get a chance!

And it happened right in front of reader Andy’s place:

It was on 20th near Dolores, across from the Park.  A woman was
walking on the sidewalk when somebody got out of a car and grabbed her
purse, then sped off. (It was an older Maroon Cadillac).

He wasn’t able to get any pics of the vehicle or assailant, but did manage to alert the Twitterverse:

WTF?! Just saw a girl get mugged in front of my apartment. Cops showed up in less than 60 seconds (before I could find my phone).

The girl is not hurt, just freaked out and without a purse. They were in a car, grabbed her purse from her and sped off.

Incidentally, if you see a Maroon Cadilac driving fast around the mission, call 911.

We’re in communication with some of the folks involved and will have more on this soon, so be sure to check back for updates.  In the meantime, be careful out there!

[Photo by Ian Main]

Looks like this lady is well aware of the perils of crossing at 19th and Dolores.

Those “sidewalk bulb outs” and “pedestrian refuges” can’t come soon enough.

[photo and title by Jeremy Brooks]

We were first hipped to this phenomenon last year when it was still a mostly guerrila operation, but it looks like they’ve gotten themselves fairly organized by now, as reader Janel shares:

A mix of tennis & volleyball with a yoga ball

They play every Sunday @ 8:30 pm on the tennis courts at Dolores Park (18th and Dolores). They are done when the lights go off @ 10:15. Join the mailing list by emailing at volleybonksf(at)gmail.com. Feel free to bring friends, dogs, drinks and mix cd’s.

And Pauly Shore.

Check out the helpful “promo” video that explains the rules and offers a glimpse into the tactical strategy needed to succeed in this blistering nascent sport.  I can’t see this going the way of SF Bike Polo (forced to relocate to 21st and Shotwell due to the fact that neighbors complained their bicycle tires scuffed up the tennis courts) unless it can be proven that a giant yellow yoga ball (or Pauly Shore) is somehow also bad for tennis.

Previously:

Volleybonk

Bike Polo

Dolores Park Bike Polo Crackdown

Weather:  Hawtt, 5 days and counting
Accoutrements:  Ganja treats and tamales
Refreshments:  Cold beer, cold water; walnut popsicles

Advice:  make like Scorpion and “Get over here!”

UPDATE:

Building upon the deluge of nostalgic Dolores Park photos that surfaced earlier this week, MM reader friscolex clued us in to the gold mine that is the San Francisco Public Library History Center Blog.  And what a gold mine it is!  Here we have a photo of Mission High School students eating lunch in Dolores Park in 1958.  Myriad interesting things here. 

First of all, these “high school” students look a lot older than most high school students I see around these days.  In fact, they look older than most undergrads!  Perhaps they’re not really high school students at all but are merely playing the part a la James Van Der Beek.

Furthermore, I’m not quite sure, but all of these students look pretty white.  Although this may just mean that they weren’t on the city champion soccer team, I’ve got a feeling that most of their fellow classmates were white as well.  50 years later, it seems that things are a little different.

But that’s not all from the SFPL HC!  Check out these amazing early (1965) designs for BART trains!  Supposedly, BART promised “trains automatically timed to arrive at stations every 90 seconds during rush hours, [and] BART is guaranteeing everyone of its passengers a seat[!!!]“  I wonder how that worked out.

Nevertheless, the SFPL History Center is a gold mine.  Be sure to check it out and support it however you can!

Previously:

Dolores Park 20 Years Ago

More Photos of Dolores Park 20 Years Ago

Mission Soccer: A San Francisco Dynasty

Yesterday’s post featuring pictures taken in Dolores Park 20 years ago was so nostalgic it inspired MM reader and cheese connoisseur Gordon Edgar to post some his old snapshots from the same era.

A week or two after Bush Sr. started the first Gulf War San Francisco had a huge protest. We watched the crowd grow outside our window (and let people in to use the bathroom since no one rented honey buckets for protests back then) and I finally took a picture when the crowd got huge. Then we rushed downstairs and joined the march.

Oh yeah, all the people in the park were there for the protest, not sunbathing. The park was empty by the time we got to City Hall.

Read on for more photos of the Park and to find out the name of the vegetarian Chinese restaurant that used to be in the Dolores Park Cafe spot.

Some may view this as a thinly veiled passive aggressive attempt to keep drunk hipsters out of the park during one of the hottest Saturdays of the year, but I don’t quite see it that way.

Rather, the City was trying to throw the neighborhood a sprinkler party, but sadly no one seemed to want to participate.

Que lastima?

Previously:

Dolores Park Community Meeting Recap

Glen Canyon Park Just Might Be the New Dolores Park

The San Francisco Mime Troupe is performing for FREE in Dolores Park tomorrow, Monday 9/6. The show starts at 1:30pm.

They are called the “Mime Troupe” but don’t expect to see skinny dudes in whiteface pulling imaginary ropes. Do expect to see a hilarious musical theater production with a typical pinko SF spin on a current political theme.

This year’s production is called: “Posibilidad, Or Death of the Worker”. Here’s the trailer:

[photo by Steve Rhodes]

Sick of hearing about Dolores Park yet?

Last night, Parks and Rec approved a 2-year lease allowing Blue Bottle Coffee to post up in Dolores Park, meaning we’re going to start seeing some long lines for something other than the bathrooms. The cart will operate from 8am-4pm.

Local businesses, such as (shocker!) Dolores Park Cafe, aren’t too crazy about this development and are hoping to prevent the kiosk from being located in “the heart of” the park. Hey, don’t worry guys: I’m sure a steady amount of sales come from folks wanting to use your customers-only restroom. Or maybe it’s time to protest the park bathroom renovations too?

In other related news: do you think the park “jumped the proverbial shark,” as Brock puts it?

[via the Examiner, photo by Lauren Hoernlein]