Mission Mission

Sure, you could make countless trips to the dump scrounging reclaimed materials, or you could just buy the parklet in front of Fabric8 for a considerable markup, drop it in your yard, and call it a day.

This one-of-a-kind parklet was designed and built by San Francisco artist Erik Otto using recycled materials. It has been featured in numerous publications, documentaries, and television programs. Most materials were procured from SF Recology (aka the dump) via Otto’s previous artist-in-residence there.

Amenities include 4 custom-made bean bags; low-voltage lighting system inside the house; and delivery/installation within the area. Can be purchased in part or whole. Olive tree and steel foundation excluded. Seller financing available.

More information: http://fabric8.com/parklet/2011.html

Not really my style, but I call dibs on Deep’s parklet triceratops if that ever goes for sale.

[Craigslist via Curbed SF]

So says our pal Deep, who you may remember came home Saturday night to discover that the plyceratops mural in front of his house had been graffiti bombed.  Well, that just gave him an excuse to hang out the next day (which happened to be a lovely sunny Sunday–nice work Indian summer!) with his buddy Adrian again to fix it.

Moreover, in doing so, they actually made it better, adding an additional dinosaur and some other small stuff to cover up parts of the offending tag.  I’m quite inspired by the deep philosophy here:  If someone tags your shit, tag it back!  You can complain all you want and you’ll probably even be right, but the best way to have an effect on the community is to get your hands dirty and do something about it yourself!

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here, but to the naked eye it appears that an interstitial parklet is in the midst of completion.  Now, this isn’t your normal parklet that replaces a public street parking spot, but rather a couple of narrower planter boxes that cover the small swath of red curb between driveways.  Notice how the planter also contains very similar plants to those on the sidewalk and you get an idea of the consistency planned.  Technically, the space directly in front of the driveway should be usable at the discretion of the homeowner, and if he or she wants to have a personal parklet and incorporate any nearby red area where parking would already be prohibited, it seems like the city is on board.

I may be mistaken, but I have a feeling this is in front of Deep’s house (the guy with the speaker bicycle), and this project would seem to resonate perfectly with his DIY ethos.  I wonder if this will start off a trend where homeowners on Valencia all decide to turn their driveways into parklets!

Previously:

Another parklet coming to Valencia!

Yet another parklet nears completion on Valencia

Is this even normal?  I was always under the impression that as long as you didn’t try to go to this place during the ridiculously crowded weekends, you would be okay.  Instead, perhaps owing to the welcome afternoon sunshine, the spot was packed with a waitlist at least ten-deep, so $4 mimosas had to be replaced with the $6 ones down the street at Revolution Cafe.

At least it meant that we got to hang out at the 22nd Street Parklet with these guys:

Previously:

Boogaloos: New Menus Means New Prices

Bike Racks For Boogaloos (and Friends)

22nd Street Parklet to Include Big-Ass Marimba

Look! A delightful little parklet in NYC!

I spotted on 7th Ave & 28th. Once again, the Mission is the trendsetter.

Previously:

Parklet on 22nd and Bartlett

Just saw these guys installing six (6) brand new bike racks on Valencia right in front of Boogaloos at 22nd Street.  Now the hungover masses who mob the popular brunch spot every weekend will have ample room for their fixies.  Combine this with the 3-spot Parklet debuting this Friday in front of Revolution Cafe, stoner-fave Escape from New York Pizza, and Lolo’s; and it looks like 22nd street is slowly becoming the new cyclo-hipster hub of the Mission.  Take that Divisadero!

Silly Side Story:  As I was taking this photo, some burner-type zoomed past me on his bike yelling, “Welcome to San Francisco!  What are you, from Kentucky or something?  Go home tourist!”  Confused, I mounted my bike (which I had leaned against the stop light), caught up to him at around 21st street, and asked him what the problem seemed to be.  He tentatively replied, “Well, you were taking pictures . . . of the city.”  Good one buddy.

UPDATE!!! It looks like they’re putting these up all over Valencia in the spots where the Muni-26 bus stops used to be (good riddance).  I spotted another one by Herbivore, as well as this one in front of Freewheel:

Previously:

Boogaloos: New Menus Means New Prices

Update: They Ruining the Boogaloo Building

The Maned Wolf: Gnarly! (from Kentucky!)

Freshly Painted Green Bike Lanes on Market Apparently Not Quite Enough