Went to a Halloween party last night on Belvedere St, Upper Haight, and drove because I wanted to hit another party earlier that night in another neighborhood, and when you added it all up, it would have been over $50 in cab fares. That was my excuse, I explained to my passengers, despite the hostess saying “Don’t drive. There is no parking. Really” on her invitation.
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In the late nineteenth century, one million dollars was a lot of money. But it wasn’t too much for Adolph Sutro, the man behind one of the most extravagant leisure locations in historic San Francisco. The year was 1896, the man was a former mayor of the city, and the location was the west coast of the city. The creation was the Sutro Baths, a magnificent public bathhouse.
Many people have heard the term bathhouse and know only vaguely what this means, usually linking it in their minds with the sexual havens of more modern days. At its most basic, the Sutro Baths was a public swimming pool. But this slight description belies a much grander reality. This swimming pool area actually consisted of seven different swimming pools which were designed in Greek style within glass walls which overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Toys for swimmers included diving boards and slides as well as trapezes and swings. Ten thousand people could fit in to the baths at any given time.
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My zombie bride and I.
We got a lot of weird comments on our costume, but the best one by far was some guy who briskly walked by us and muttered, “gay marriage!” I have no idea why.
Yup, it’s the same sculpture from Burning Man Sculpture Defaced In Honor Of Burning Man, where back in early september the public installation by Dan Das Mann near the Ferry Building was affixed with a bong and lighter. This time, someone gave them Abu Ghraib costumes. Are these everyone’s favorite sculptures to prank? This one’s sure to offend lots of people, but I can’t help thinking of this in humorous reference to (The Seattle Stranger’s) children’s Abu Ghraib Halloween costumes that made the internet rounds back in 2004.
Photo via the Flickr set by Ninavizz.
Update: Scott posted this at Laughing Squid (with more description) and points out to me that it’s not just Dan Das Mann’s sculpture but it was also created by Karen Cusolito. Not knowing either of them, I only went by the name I saw in the last post’s comments. Sorry Karen!
It’s not too late to support 826 Valencia‘s literacy programs for children by taking part in 826 Valencia Week at Books Inc. in Opera Plaza, at 601 Van Ness (the former Clean Well Lighted Place space).
Ten percent of sales at the store through Saturday will go to the nonprofit center for writing and literati-spotting.
Earlier, wrote about this event I was helping organize: Emeryvillains NineMillion.org Benefit. Pictured here is a guy in the crowd at Harrington’s who won Kodak hat and jersey from our cycling team! Last night, we raised $1,240 for NineMillion.org – 9 million kids are living in refugee camps- by selling raffle tickets. Yours truly actually won a 100$ certificate at Sports Basement, the prize I had my eye on all night. Now, a new lock for a new bike (very excited). Thanks for my buddies who ran around Harrington’s selling raffle tickets to the post-work fi-di crowd:Carroll! Rebecca! Kathy! Janet! And to transplanted Kiwi Gavin (source of Kiwiisms, and the guy in photos) for organizing the event- amazing what a little 2 dollar ticket can do for a kid in a refugee camp. The photos of the event are fun too.
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This is a little bit last minute, but from 12-2 FON is reputedly giving away wifi routers in Union Square from 12 to 2 PM today as part of a promotion of its wifi service.
I was caught in the traffic jams created by the Oracle OpenWorld conference that shut down the streets around the Mascone Center in SOMA this week. But today things should start getting back to normal, and by Saturday morning, everything will be open once again!
After last year’s live staging of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Once More With Feeling: the Musical was canceled, this is about as close as you will get to Whedon-worshipping Nerdvana. It’s free, it’s awesome, it’s a sing-along and it’s at the fabulous Parkway. What more could you want?
Delta gate agent at SFO, shouting into Perry’s, where I was waiting for my flight to Minneapolis to leave: “<Name>, if you’re in here, you might as well stay here, ‘cos you missed your Cincinnati flight.”
Exterminator, in the elevator, going back to the lobby: “I shoulda become an architect.”
And my personal favorite–
White boy to other white boy, near the All-Clad saucepans, Bed Bath & Beyond: “This is the one on the fuckin’ Ghostface Killah album, nigga, no shit, fuckin’ Bulletproof Wallets and shit . . .” (He went on; I left to snicker to myself behind the food processors.)
I’m not terribly familiar with Ghostface’s oeuvre, being more of a Jurassic 5 man myself, but it turns out that the cover of Bulletproof Wallets does indeed feature a domestic scene involving cookware. I have not been able to find out whether it is All-Clad or if Ghostface prefers Calphalon, nor have I been able to find anything regarding which brand Raekwon the Chef uses.
