The cool air returned to San Francisco last night. When I took this picture this morning about 8:00 a.m., fog masked the skyline and Twin Peaks, but a ray of sun illuminated the inner Mission District. Taken from Bernal Heights.
Meanwhile, more than 100 fires were caused by lightning last night in counties north of the city, and inland areas still expect 100-degree temperatures, though cooling is expected to help firefighters in Napa and Solano counties.
This billboard appeared this weekend on the corner of Cesar Chavez and Bryant Streets, signed by “The Vinyl Institute and Ecological Art.” Click the picture for a large view (goes offsite).
I wouldn’t drop my guard just yet, but after people in Potrero Hill and Bernal Heights were plagued by a spate of muggings over the last several weeks, three men were arrested last night after an incident on Potrero Hill. Police said the men may be linked to the previous incidents.
While “ground zero” in Manhattan will almost certainly feature a Rudy Giuliani sighting and be the focus of much mainstream media attention on September 11th, there will be other distractions and gatherings afoot here on the left coast.
While Megadeth entertains the metal masses at The Warfield, I see that the Alcoholocaust crew have booked a more intimate affair with perennial political punkers M.D.C at Annie’s Social Club that night. 
Most popularly known as Millions of Dead Cops, and alternately Multi-Death Corporations, the guys are not without a sense of humor, and have tempered their raging fury at times with humorous odes to preparing tofu spaghetti & respecting the rights of chickens to roam free while doing the “chicken dance”. I believe my fave MDC show was on Divisidero in 1988 at the late Kennel Club ( now The Independent) when the appeared as Mourn Divine Correctly as lead singer Dave donned a beehive wig & ball gown to celebrate the life of the late John Waters’ film starlet.
If drag is your thing, but you take it pretty darn seriously perhaps head over to Club Crash on Sept 11th to attend the the Transgender Law Center’s fifth anniversary. One has to wonder who booked the oddly insensitive named choice for a venue called Club Crash for an Anniversary Party on the typically bleak day of Sept. 11th . Gotta love that sick sense of humor displayed by SF Human Rights Commissioner and Transgender Law Center co-founder Cecilia Chung & crew…
Another Gay themed event occurs at Castro’s Books Inc. store, a release party for a collection of gay erotica edited by Simon Sheppard called Homosex: A Celebration.
The 11th Annual Madcat women’s film festival begins with screenings, and a free Bar BQ plus a performance by musical guests Amber Asylum at The El Rio.
In the East Bay, conspiracy buffs will gather at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater, the politically purposeful movie palace hosting a 9/11 Truth Film Festival & symposium beginning Sept 10th and running through Tuesday Sept 11th.
Details on these events and links to more info including PowerPoint slides of engineering analysis of the WTC buildings’ collapse after the jump
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Do you have a funny name for your hood? It’s compulsive for me, wordplay, that is. So Kathy (a writer here) has the funniest, and I’ll cop it for a moment:
Lauridio: the neighborhood between- you guessed it- Laurel Heights and the Presidio. I am between Fisherman’s Wharf (fishy wharf) and North Beach (nobe - pronounced “no, B!”). When I first moved to Nobe, I tried to be even more location-specific, and nickname it “Fisherman’s Bharf” a juvenile play on how the tourists from Fishy Wharf end up losing their lunch nearby. But to be honest, absolutely nobody likes that name. Instead I’ve slowly started to call it “North Fishy”. “The Village” - another attempt at the cutesy part of North Beach, that was embraced by nobody so I’ve slowly adopted what other folks call it… Nobe.
Tel-Hi: Didn’t know Telegraph Hill had a name until I saw the banners on the street.
Russian Hill: Can’t… figure… one… out.
Nopa: North Panhandle. Kind of reminds me of Soma, which has been thoroughly embraced by everyone, even the Chron style guide.
Chi-town: Chinatown.
Oak-town: Oakland.
Berkeley Flats: the 4th street area. (from AmyB)
Intermission: Inner mission district, near haight/hayes/mint hill (copped from CliffS)
Minty Hill: That part between hayes and haight, near the New (vs. old) mint (copped from Aaron)
Pot Hill: Potrero. Not embraced by anyone but me. Prove me otherwise! (copped from PSB)
Random anecdote:
Walking around with south bay (soba) brother-in-law, and he keeps asking, “What’s this neighborhood?” my reply: “Pac Heights.” He’s like, no no no, it’s something else. A week later he calls me. “It’s PACIFIC Heights, Anna.”
TenderNob (or NobLoin): that also just got into the Chron last weekend.
Clayket: Upper Castro and Market, “where the magic bus turns” (thanks NancyP)
Underneath the Bay Bridge: “in a box?” haha - thanks tharpo.
What are your funny names for local neighborhoods? You’re not that juvenile?
Sunday evening, I am walking down the street with some friends towards Mitchell’s for some ice cream, and one of my friends points to this and says something along the lines of, “That’s weird.”
Fortunately, a fellow blogger, Daniel, was with me and had his camera with him (my camera died Saturday night in a tequila-induced trauma that is too painful for me to discuss further). As we stopped to take pictures, more and more questions came to mind:
Why wasn’t the doll body in the trash?
Where was the other sandal? Because, I mean, that sandal looks pretty new still.
Was this some sort of artistic statement or maybe a viral marketing campaign for a new movie?
Oh yeah, and where was the head?
The Precita Park playground, 2 pm on July 4, 2006. Since the city refurbished the park and installed new play equipment about 10 years ago, Precita Park has gone from being a dangerous, wind-swept zone filled with lurking ne’re-do-wells to a bright, grassy strip full of families and kids. Yesterday I saw a big birthday barbecue set up, a young father and his daughter flying a kite, and a squad of middle-school-aged kids playing hacky sack. It’s a really lovely spot.
In a change from the constant bad news about independent book stores, local bookseller Kate Rosenberger will be expanding her Red Hill Books on Cortland St. from 500 sq. ft. to 1200, according to the Shelf Awareness bookselling newsletter.
At Red Hill, Rosenberger plans to double most sections. “We basically want to make the store bigger,” she explained. “We were so tiny we couldn’t have all the books you need to have in a bookstore.” She is also planning to make a “big change” and do events in a way none of the stores have. The first of the new kind of events took place last week, when, to celebrate the expansion and the store’s anniversary, Red Hill hosted an event every day, including “some great music and jazz,” a poetry open mic night, film night and a kids’ event. “I hope to do a lot more children’s stuff and make the store more of a community space than just having authors read every night.”
Rosenberger also owns Dog-Eared Books on Valencia and Phoenix Books on 24th St. in Noe Valley.
Red Hill Books was formerly Bernal Books, but Rachel Pepper sold the store in 2003.
Read all of the article on Rosenberger, as well as other news about bookstores, in today’s Shelf Awareness newsletter, or sign up for a free email subscription here.
