Residents and shopkepers of the Castro district are getting tired of tour buses full of “gawkers,” reports the Chronicle’s C.W. Nevius. It wouuld be one thing if they bought lunch, but a deli owner reported:

They come in here, 15 or 20 at a time. They look around, take a picture, and then they walk out. In the last three months I’ve sold one bottle of water. It is not worth having so much traffic.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty says the plague can be exorcised by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. But let’s not forget the famous response of the Summer of Love hippies on Haight St, as recalled by Mick Sinclair in his book San Francisco: A Cultural and Literary History:

On Haight St. some hippies responded to the busloads of gawping tourists by holding up mirrors, inviting the “straights” to look at themselves.

Neighbors of Dolores Park (the park, not the restaurant) are getting grouchy about the large crowds gathering there on nice weekend days. Like the thousand fans of The Breakfast Club, shown last weekend, or the crowds of gay sunbathers from up the hill.

Worlds collide in the 13.7 acre swath of green on the border between the Castro and Mission Districts and directly across the street from Mission High School.

Speaking of crowd scenes, UC Berkeley journalism professor and prolific magazine journalist Cynthia Gorney has a piece in tomorrow’s NYT Magazine about merging at freeway lane reductions, a subject near and dear to anyone who has approached the Bay Bridge on 101 in San Francisco or driven through the Caldicott Tunnel. The latter clusterfuck provides her main example. She writes about “sidezoomers” versus the benefits of feeling virtuous while choosing to wait in the “lineup” of cars that are already in the correct lane. The online version has many nifty multimedia graphics.

[Above, Harold Lloyd with a cute monkey, and Colleen Moore with a cute haircut. (The guy's not bad either.) All featured this weekend at the Castro Theatre.]

On Friday night the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will fire up the 35mm projectors once more for a solid weekend of film at the Castro, bringing forgotten (and often, formerly lost) works back to the big screen, with live musical accompaniment. On the second night last year, the line stretched around the block and way, way down the street. And it wasn’t even opening night! I had to ask myself: is this line really for a movie that was originally released in 1928? Yes, it was, and it was awesome. I expect that this year will be just as riotous, as opening night features none other than Harold Lloyd in The Kid Brother. In case you’ve never seen one of his films, let me explain something: he’s amazingly hilarious.

Another highlight of the festival is The Man Who Laughs, starring the principal from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in the role that inspired the appearance of a certain creepy character from the Batman comics. And of course there are nine other films, all worth checking out, including one that may well have inspired Monty Python. Or not.

Tickets run from $14-$20; they’re a little cheaper for San Francisco Silent Film Society members. They also have festival passes for $140, if you’re determined to see every minute and hear every note. Get your tickets here.

Gavin Newsom was walking from bar to bar in the Castro district of San Francisco yesterday urging voters to vote YES on Prop. G. No on Prop. F.

Proponents of Prop. G say it will clean up the shipyard; make new housing, shops and park area available to San Franciscans. They also say the deal with Lennar Corp. to develop the area will not go through if Prop. F is passed.

Opponents of Prop. G say Prop. F will guarantee 50% of all developed housing be affordable to people who already live in the area. The proposed townhouses for the area would start at least $500,000, and be out of reach of the neighborhood families financially.

Whatever you choose, get out and vote on Tuesday!

My wee one and I attended the monthly gathering of the “San Francisco Chihuahua Meetup” on Sunday, June 1st. The meeting takes place regularly on the first Sunday of the month, at Stern Grove. (A change in day is tentative for the next two months while the Stern Grove Festival runs on Sundays)

This was my first visit to the function and I made an entertaining error in parking and location. I have only been to Stern Grove once and did not realize the size of the place!

I parked my Zipcar at the front entrance, grabbed paws and started the descent into the park. At once, I realized, cars can indeed drive down into Stern Grove. Oops! Oh well, I thought, it’s a nice day for a walk. As the long hill wound down, I started thinking, “I may have to extend the car reservation!”

We walked through a little girl’s party, passed a large, old-fashioned house where a graduation party was happening… and then we entered the concert arena. By this time, I’m feeling a little “Alice in Wonderland.”

Two women were in the concert area with their small dogs. We stopped and talked to them, and they pointed us further down the path to where the rest of the small dogs were having their party.

Out of the concert area, I chuckled to myself EVEN MORE as I was greeted by an even LARGER parking lot I didn’t know about, closer to the event I just walked a mile to get to… oh well, nice day for a walk.

We were finally there! And there were just dozens of chihuahuas everywhere, as well as dogs big, medium and small. Winks and I met Bobby, a fluffy mop dog, and a woman who was nice enough to drive us back to the car I had parked miles away. Winks sniffed some butts, got a new shirt and we got the car back to it’s spot in the Castro with 2 minutes to spare!

It was a good day!

The historic Castro Theater, which for decades has shown a mix of film festival fare, rep-house classics and prestigious European and Asian works, will step out of the past and show a summer blockbuster.

Judging from the widely-disseminated publicity photo (left), the film “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” has something to do with a rugged older man initiating a pretty young boy in a leather jacket into the mysteries of a deep, dark hole, making it perfect for the Castro.

The film opens tomorrow, Thursday, May 22.

Many of you, like myself, have lots of questions regarding yesterday’s landmark decision regarding same-sex marriages. Equality California was kind enough to send out an email with a detailed FAQ. Check it out! New questions will be added, so be sure to check back on occasion. While you’re at it, join their mailing list and find out how to join or participate!

One thing that stood out is the fact that all this is riding on November’s ballot.

Could right-wing forces take away the freedom to marry at the ballot box in California?

Yes. Because the court based its decision on rights guaranteed by the California Constitution, right-wing groups are trying to amend our state Constitution to eliminate these fundamental constitutional protections and take away the basis for the decision.

These groups, which have received significant funding from out-of-state right-wing organizations, are placing an initiative on the November 2008 ballot that will ask voters to amend the California constitution to reverse the court’s decision and deny gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry.

Already, many state leaders are expressing their opposition to this proposed constitutional amendment. For example, in a public statement on April 11, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger stated that an initiative to amend the California Constitution to ban gay and lesbian couples from marriage was “a waste of time,” adding “I will always be there to fight against that. It will never happen.”

We agree with Governor Schwarzenegger that these outsiders are wasting their time and money trying to turn California into a state that would use its Constitution to take away civil rights and hurt families. But it will take every one of us to stop this antifamily initiative. For more information about how to get involved, contact Equality For All at www.EqualityForAll.com.

Even though yesterday is cause for celebration, it’s important to realize the fight is far from over! Go out there and educate your fellow Californians and Americans! I have hope that we will not let discrimination be written into our constitution.

Check out some images from last night’s impromptu celebration in the Castro after the jump!

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Just a reminder… the 51st Annual San Francisco Film Festival comes to a close tomorrow, May 8th. Fellow Metblogger Jeremy and I have featured a handful of films here on SF Metblogs, but there are certainly more films to be appreciated!

For your convenience, here is a link to tomorrow’s film lineup. Films at the Kabuki include:

• Children of the Sun
• American Teen
• Secrecy
• All is Forgiven
• Glasses (see my entry)
• Big Man Japan (see Jeremy’s recent entries: 1, 2)
• Flower in the Pocket
• The Secret of the Grain
• The Man from London
• Shadows in the Palace
• Umbrella

There are also select films playing at the Clay and Castro Theatres, as well as a couple over at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.

For more information on these and SFIFF films, see the the SFIFF website and buy your tickets here!

The West Coast premiere of The Yellow Handkerchief takes place tomorrow as a part of the 51st Annual San Francisco International Film Festival. Starring William Hurt and Maria Bello, this film is a soulful tale of love, loss and redemption set along the blue highways of rural Louisiana.

Maria Bello will be presented the Peter J. Owens Award today, an award named after local cultural benefactor and longtime Film Society board member Peter J. Owens. The award honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity. I remember Maria Bello from her days on ER, but more recently, she’s had parts in Thank You For Smoking and World Trade Center. See her complete filmography on IMDB.

The Yellow Handkerchief shows at 7:30pm on Friday at the Castro Theatre, with Maria Bello participating in an on-stage interview and career retrospective at 7pm.

For other SFIFF films, see the the festival’s lineup and buy your tickets here!

At 9:30 tonight, the 51st Annual San Francisco International Film Festival will present The Golem with Black Francis at the Castro Theater. From the capsule summary on the linked page:

A silent classic and an exemplary specimen of German expressionist cinema, The Golem is set in 16th century Prague. A rabbi fashions a proto–Frankenstein’s monster, sculpted from rough clay and brought to life through sorcery, to protect the Jewish ghetto from a Christian emperor’s decree that it be dissolved. Through means both surprising and charming, the creature manages to stave off the wrath of the emperor and his court. But it eventually goes haywire, as the rabbi’s jealous assistant turns the golem toward evil. A true juggernaut, the golem destroys everything in its path.

Black Francis, of Pixies fame, will perform original music to accompany the film.

Tickets are $15 for Film Society members, $20 for non-members.