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Peni? Penises?

And more importantly, why is there a trio of them advertised on the side of Muni’s 19 Polk line?

Seen above, three erect and syphilis weary ‘penises’ lauding the joys of safe sex, good health, and so forth.

“Iz The Wiz” curated by Mark Bode, Cuba, Jocelyn Superstar, and Stan163

“I started writing graffiti in 1972 and have been active ever since!!! Although I have slowed down quite a bit since 1996 when I was diagnosed with kidney failure, I still paint any chance I get whether it’s the occasional Freight or a canvas or just drawing in a black book, I try to keep active as much as possible!!!! I miss the subway trains, it was such a beautiful time when they were running.” — Iz The Wiz

Michael Martin, better known as Iz The Wiz, was a pioneering graffiti artist born and raised in the borough of Queens. Back in 1972, he became a long reigning All-City King of NYC known primarily for his quick, simple two letter tag.  In the late 1970s he broadened his focus by working on top-to-bottoms, burners, and scenery whole cars on the prestigious 2 and 5 lines of the IRT subway division. Iz represented a new breed of fame-obsessed writers concerned with finding the perfect balance between quantity and quality. Iz was later featured in the 1983 documentary Style Wars.

“He was an artist, but also a bomber, recognized as a person who made himself seen by everybody,” said photographer Henry Chalfant. “At the same time he appreciated the aesthetic side of it. He didn’t do wild style, he had a simple, readable style with great color and interesting forms within the lettering itself.”

From years of using toxic aerosol products without any type of protective mask, Iz was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1996. In early 2000, in an interview, he commented that he would give up all his past fame for full health. After struggling with kidney failure for many years, Iz The Wiz died of a heart attack on June 17th, 2009.

The murals can be found on Lilac alley off 24th Street. You can also read an in depth recollection here, or catch Iz bombing his last train, just a few weeks ago, here.

As seen in the Embarcadero Muni/BART station

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a creative director’s interpretation of San Francisco. Pictured here, a Ben & Jerry’s ad turning Our City upside down and offensively placing the Haight-Ashbury on the edge of The Financial District.

Over the past year, I’ve met a lot of talented and creative photographers on Flickr. 1105 of them, to be exact.

Last month, Flickr friend Lisey emailed me to tell me of a project she was conducting in the elevators at her day job. The idea is simple: board one of the elevators in 455 Market Street, snap a quick self-portrait, and upload it to the “In My Elevator” Flickr Pool. Some participants even go so far as to describe what they are wearing while waiting for their floor.

It’s an interesting project and one that is easy for me to participate in on my lunch hour, so I plan on going back.

On a side note, look who else I found participating in her pool: Brittney Gilbert of CBS-5’s Eye On Blogs and Kristen Holden of SF Love Story!

As seen from the Marin Headlands

Sutro Tower is a three-pronged antenna tower in Clarendon Heights, sometimes referred to as “Twin Peaks.” It is a dominant part of the city skyline, and a constant landmark for locals.

However, strong local opposition and criticism was directed towards the tower even before it was completed. The two main controversies surrounding the construction of Sutro Tower were local politics and the aesthetic effect the tower would have on the rest of San Francisco.

The Late, Great Herb Caen once said, “I keep waiting for it to stalk down the hill and attack the Golden Gate Bridge.”

Before its construction, television reception in The City was quite spotty, as the many hills of the city would block the line-of-sight radio waves — this was before the rise in popularity of cable television. Before Sutro Tower, transmitters were scattered throughout the Bay Area, including at San Bruno Mountain, Mt. Allison, Monument Peak, and Mt. Diablo. Reception outside of San Francisco was incrementally improved by the tower. By having all the main Bay Area television stations in one location, reception was improved by allowing all receiving antennas to be pointed at one tower instead of many.

Construction began in 1971, by Kline Tower, and was completed in 1973, with the first transmissions from Sutro Tower on July 4, 1973. About 3,750 cubic yards of concrete were used to make the foundation of the 3.7 million pound tower. Earthquake proofing includes ballasting two thirds of the weight of the structure below ground, resulting in a center of gravity at sixteen feet below ground level. It is used to transmit ten analog, eleven digital TV stations and four FM radio stations to the San Francisco Bay area.

The tower is owned by Sutro Tower, Inc., which in turn is owned by a consortium of the four major television broadcasters in San Francisco; KTVU, KRON-TV, KPIX-TV/KBCW and KGO-TV, with usage leased to other Bay Area TV and radio stations.

Named after Adolph Sutro, a businessman and former mayor of San Francisco who had a mansion located about 100 feet away from where the tower is now located, the tower stands 977 ft above the ground and 1,800 ft above sea level. It is the tallest structure in the city, surpassing the 853 ft Transamerica Pyramid by more than 100 ft. In addition, it is built on one of the highest peaks in the city, the old site of the Sutro Mansion owned by Adolph Sutro’s descendants.

The original design of the tower called for white lights longitudinally rising along its three legs to the top. When opened, these lights were lit. However local resistance and aesthetic considerations forced the operators to turn off the lights and they have never been used since.

Additional images of Sutro Tower can be seen here.

As seen from Potrero Hill

The original Dirty 30 lurker ORFN as seen on Mission (above) and Bartlett (below).

See 19 additional ORFN’s here. See 729 additional ORFN’s here. And then there is this awesome, somewhat related website, too.

I first read about these micro art installations over at MissionMission a few months ago.  And a few weeks ago, while outside of The Kilowatt, I got to see them for myself.

There is a bizarre story behind these, and I don’t really understand it, but it goes something like this: a collective named the “Elsewhere Public Works Agency” has been adhering these little sets of windows, doors, brick walls, and water meters around The City for the past year, and generally with no accreditation.

Laughing Squid uncovered their very bizarre website, which led to yet another very bizarre website. If you have any more information, pls leave it in the comments.

“Careful now. We’re dealing here with a myth. This City is a point upon a map of fog. Lemuria in a city unknown. Like us, it doens’t quite exist.” – Ambrose Bierce

“Consumers Auto Body” – by WAND, KEBS, & BUTER

Different people use Twitter for different reasons.

I often use it as my own local AP Wire, as I hear about a lot of things there first and often the things that never make the mainstream news. Case in point: twice in the past week, I was alerted to legal graffiti walls showcasing fresh productions in The Mission District.

Seen here, Consumer Auto Body on Valencia gets a rollup makeover from WAND, KEB, & BUTER.

Seen in The Mission District one recent Friday night.

Joe’s Cable Car Restaurant in the Excelsior District is where “Joe Grinds His Own Fresh Chuck Daily”. A large sign on the roof of the restaurant declares this to passerby in large, bold, International Orange serifed font.

Joe’s opened in 1965 with a 160 sq ft. building constructed to look like a San Francisco Cable Car. He originally operated the resto as a drive-in diner with walk up service. In 1973, the rooftop of the Cable Car was extended to provide the drive-in customers shelter from the rain. In 1977, it was time to protect customers from the westerly fog. Walls and windows went-up around the extended roof, completing indoor seating. In 1980, an additional 500 sq ft. was created to accommodate out-door seating. In 1983 Joe’s went all-out, adding 1000 sq ft. Table service was provided in 1998 so customers no longer had to stand in line and order from the counter.

Like Your Editor, Joe is big on signage. ‘No Parking’ signs plaster the parking lot while the interior of the restaurant is covered in neon. Hungry? Joe’s is open 11a to 11p, 7 days a week. You can check out the .pdf menu here.

“40 Automobiles on Parking Level 6″

A commenter on my Flickr stream recently inquired into how I am often able to gain access to the uppermost levels of buildings in and around the Financial District to get shots like this and this and this.

The answer is not so much about “access,” but rather a professional grade camera bag/jet-pack combo.  The jet-pack allows me to walk around The City at will, and when necessary, propel myself up to 1500 feet into the air with just the click of a button. Once elevated, the image capturing process is fairly simple.

EDITOR’s NOTE: As of this posting, the camera bag/jet-pack combo is still in beta mode, thusly I am unable to provide any further detail. So until this amazing product is released to the public, you can see more test shots taken from high above our city streets here.

Additional images from a bouillabaisse of automobiles here.

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com·po·sure (km-pzhr)

A drunken mistake of a photograph that ended up working for me, as seen above.

Shot while walking home one night after leaving “Riders With Drinks.” That’s RumNose walking stumbling in front of me in the lower left center.