R2D2 is now accepting your PG&E bills, Netflix, etc.

He is lurking at the corner of Powell and Postreet to help celebrate the 1,398,347,214th re-release of the movie.

There are two stories circulating around the early February crash into the front of the Fifty24SF Gallery on Fillmoe.

The first (and probably most likely) goes that two youngsters joyriding a stolen car soon lost control of the vehicle and crashed it into the front of the shop, almost taking out the passerby.

The second (and more sinister) involves an escaped convict from the Alameda county jail who made his way across The Bay to hunt down an ex-girlfriend. He then for some reason took a very sharp left-turn dead into the face of the building. After the crash the supposed culprit was rushed to SF General only to escape once again.

Thrilling, indeed.

Regardless of what really happened, Upper Playground did a nice job of turning an ugly thing into something nice to look at when Im sitting across the street at Squat N Gobble, enjoying my omelette.

“Its raining cats and dogs outside and here I am stuck at Le Central with no umbrella. Shortcut time!

Take deep breath and — dash up Bush thru Sutter-Stockton garage…fight traffic to Hyatt Union Square…cross into Union Square Garage…fly over Geary…skid into Macy’s…scamper down escalator…exit on O’Farrell into O’Farrell-Ellis Garage…take elevator down to Ellis…whoosh into Woolworth’s…leap headlong down steps into basement…run thru Powell-Market BART station to Emporium’s new basement…go up rear escalator to rear exit…cross Jessie into Giannini’s Market…scuttle through and arrive at Chronicle reasonably dry.

Yes, this entails a lot of jaywalking. And if The Chronicle isnt where you wanted to go, why didnt you say so?”– Herb Caen, 1981

In the 1850s, a surveyor for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Society named George Davidson named this hill “Blue Mountain”. After his death in 1911, the hill was renamed Mount Davidson in his honor. At 938 feet, it is the highest hill in The City.

All fotos by Plug2

Atop the hill is a 103-foot cross erected in 1934. The flat, cleared land on top of the hill is not owned by local government.

The City sold the land in 1997 to a non-profit Armenian organization at public auction, in accordance with the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state.

I met Ted Shred while deejaying at a club on Geary Blvd several years ago. One night, I asked him to cover for me whilst I went to take a pee break. When I came back to the tables he was mixing KRS-ONE over Metallica, then The Muppets over Public Enemy — straight mashup style. The crowd was lovin it and hatin it at the same time.

Today I spotted him on Upper Haight and asked him what hed been up to since we last talked and he pointed me to this video:

Trying to find a clean public bathroom can be difficult sometimes. Over the years Ive made it a priority to know of at least one spot in almost every part of town that is open 24/7, where you wont get sweated by a shop-owner or security guard if you need to handle business real quick. Having this info is like having the key to The City.

Foto by Plug2

Im talkin bout cupcakin at Union Square after work, cupcakin at Pomelos for brunch, cupcakin at Cha Cha Cha for dinner and san gria. Im talkin bout walkin across the entire City on foot - East to West - 9.5 miles. Im talkin bout takin trips up and down the coast in both directions. Im talkin bout happy hours in The Financial District. Im talkin bout Big Mac on the 1AX, 5 days a week. Im talkin bout quesadillas with apples/carrots and a can of Diet Coke. Im talkin bout Pear Cider and Parliments in North Beach. Im talkin bout long talks over lots of coffee from Angelinas.

Im talkin bout kickin it every day, all day.

Foto by Plug2

My first shirt and tie job was slangin faxes for a high-powered law firm in Four Embarcadero Center. I generally disliked the people I worked with, but the scenery was on point every time I went outside to take one of my many daily breaks.

Although I worked on the 19th Floor, the view was always best from the ground level looking up.

Im not really one to get excited about flowers or anything, but this one looks pretty nice considering that it is the top of a fountain with a circular walk going from the 3rd level promenade to the street level.

There are 3 other EC’s, part of an 6 building office complex. There used to be a sky deck on the top of #1, but people kept throwing stuff off the roof so they closed it years ago.

Located kitty corner from the Federal Reserve Bank is The City’s only waterfront hotel, The Hyatt Regency. On the top floor you will find the circular Equinox Rooftop Restaurant which rotates 360 degrees once every hour, giving you a world-class view of downtown and The Bay.

Even more impressive is the architecture inside the hotel. There are four glass elevators which cling to the outside of the internal structure in the lobby.

The floors, all 17 of them, cascade in reverse. The tiered, stair-step design is truly a modern marvel.

The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank oversees the handling of MUCH MONEY in nine of the Western states. It is one of twelve Federal Banks in the system, and the nations biggest branch. This location has one of the largest collections of money in the country. In 1983, it moved from its Sansome Street home to its current location on Market between Spear and Main Streets.

The security there is pretty over the top, so dont be surprised if they get a little noided when you start scoping the perimeter on your lunch break, snapping fotos.

Im not one to promote second-class citizenship or anything like that, but I cant argue with this one.

Foto by Plug2

Located off 7th between Mission and Jesse is the new Federal Building, supposedly opening later this month. When finished it will be 18 stories tall (240 feet high, 345 feet long, but only 60 feet wide) and consist of 4 annexes.

A true example of contemporary architecture, it will be the first naturally ventilated building on the West Coast — using solar panels on the exterior as a thermal blanket. When the air inside warms it floats upward, moving cooler air throughout the building via windows that open automatically when instructed by sensors.

Uh huh, I know, yeah me too.

“A thousand miles of trolley wires, five thousand miles of telephone cables, ten thousand miles of neon tubing, four hundred thousand telephones, eight hundred thousand people and a million and one peices in a puzzle we call Baghdad-by-the-Bay. All this is San Francisco, a City filled with critics who long ago made up their minds that theyd never be happy….anywhere else.” - Herb Caen, 1951

Painted by Tony Bennet

Plug1’s cousin Dustin from Wisconsin used the fotos from our Kenny G post for a school project.

“The project was to use 3 colors right next to each other on the color wheel and then use a compliment color of one of the 3, then just lighten and darken those colors.”

Dustin:

Original:

Part 5 of a 5 part series covering our walk across The City.

At this point of our journey we had walked 7 miles and the only things we had really eaten were 1/2 a box of Girl Scout cookies and an old bagel.

The Plug’s were getting HUNGRY.

So we hooked up some snacks at Peasant Pies on Irving:

At around 15th Avenue things got pretty residential. Lots of telephone wires. Every foto we took has some sort of wires in the background.

If youve ever been unemployed and stuck watching Judge Judy/Alex/Joe Brown, youve seen a Dr. Jang & Associates commercial. The one where he goes “Si Hablo Espanol” and cracks a big white grin is comedic and creepy at the same time.

Out of nowhere we found this gem:

Flip This House Pt. 2:

More wires:

Finally we reached our oasis in the sand:

5 hours or 9.25 miles or 20,606 footsteps later we reached the cold and dirty Ocean Beach.

Part 4 of a 5 part series covering our walk across The City.

The hoods went up on our hoody’s as the fog started to blanket The Inner Sunset. Determined, we continued heading West towards the beach.

At the top of Parnassus, our last hill, we reached the UCSF Medical Center. This is by far the best hospital in The City. CALPAC is only good for having babies at. Kaiser is a malpractice lawsuit waiting to happen. SF General is cool, just a bit run down and always full of baseheads with no ID and no insurance — so the lines are long.

Dont know if these are patients or doctors, but I like the way they dressed up this wall:

The oral surgery center:

Parnassus turned into Judah and we headed north up 9th Ave:

Who hasnt sold a futon, found a roommate or met a late night “casual encounter” because of these folks?

As we rounded the corner onto Irving we started to get HELLA hungry….

Part 3 of a 5 part series covering our walk across The City.

The towers of Twin Peaks were ever present in the backdrop as we slowly continued West:

Passing the Castro, we stood facing the gnarly 17th Street hill up to Stanyan.

Foto by Plug2

Multiple homes share the same parking garages on the street level:

At the top of the hill, one very old Fire Station:

On such a clear day we could see all the way over to Oakland:

Finally we reached the crest and continued thru Cole Valley towards Parnassus Ave:

Part 2 of a 5 part series covering our walk across The City.

Heading West up Mission thru SOMA, the sun was shining bright as we eased out of skid row. This area used to be called “South of the Slot” because it was South of the metal crack running up and down Market Street — a slot — that the trains used for gription. At Valencia we crossed over to Mid-Market and headed towards The Castro.

San Francisco Ninth Supreme Court:

ICP running thangs on Mission. What up Buders?!?

Older than Amoeba is Grooves on Market Street. Owned by a husband/wife combo, they have two listening stations inside:

US Mint:

The side of Baghdad Cafe down looking down 16th Street. We strongly recommend the Desert Fries:

Castro Street looking South:

This begins part 1 of a 5 part series covering our walk across SF — East to West. It took 5 hours, was 9.25 miles or 20,606 footsteps.

Before we begin, let me make one thing clear: Bay 2 Breakers means The Bay to The Ocean.

Herb Caen once referred to the breaking waves on Ocean Beach as “Breakers”. It doesnt have to mean running across town naked, smoking and carrying some sort of odd float.

That said, me and Plug2 decided to have our own “Bay 2 Breakers” on Saturday….

We started at the Eastern-most part of Market Street, the beautiful Ferry Building:

Dude was selling 1 part popcorn with 1 part pimpin’:

The office of The Examiner, where Herb Caen used to write:

Two old signs, symbols of an era soon remembered for being forgotten:

Looking South on 6th, “Wine Country” as it was once called:

My barber, Joe, works here. This is in the break room:

Old fire escape off Jesse Alley, where the dope fiends and hookers play:

Drunk, went to Bong Su on 3rd and Folsom the other nite for VN appetizers and wine tasting. The Salt and Pepper Calamari, Duck Mustard Wraps, and Gol Kampachi were amazing. Hard to believe that Maxs Diner once lived at this same address.

We dont know much about wine, but as you can see they have quite an extensive assortment.

Thanks to Peter for treating us like royalty.

We walked down Mission Street in SOMA around 7pm after work one night and saw the buildings starting to look dark and cold.

When I got on the M train this afternoon, a strange message flashed across the fare screen:

That said, Mayor Newsom is considering free rides for all on MUNI.

Id rather pay $1.50 than the other option, but free works for me. I hate paying for stuff.

In 1996, it took me 3 days to Greyhound across the country and the old Transbay Terminal at the corner of Mission & Fremont is the first place I stepped foot in The City.

Walk by today and youll notice that things are changing real big on that block. The new transportation hub is undergoing a $4 billion overhaul, to be completed sometime before 2019 (?!?). The new building will house a light rail system, connect to the Cal Train, and become one of the West Coasts largest skyscrapers. It will basically become San Franciscos answer to Grand Central Station.

This construction marks the beginning of the end of the skyline we know today….

Mesh has a link to the SF Skyscraper forum, which has an incredible pictorial of what is currently being built in SOMA and what is being planned over the next 10 years.

Located at the corner of Main & Folsom Streets is one of many high rises sprouting up like weeds all over SOMA. This particular building is 2 years in the making. I can remember years ago, when it was a vacant parking lot that my dog loved to pee in. As much as it is a beautiful structure, the neighborhood is quickly losing its old, industrial feel.

Check out Donald Kinney’s fotos of this towering giant at A Photo A Day.

Two black eyes for SF Journalism made the front page this week….

The first dates back to the late 60s, when The Zodiac Killer wrote letters taunting the Editors of The Chronicle and The Examiner with cryptic clues only himself and investigators would know about several local murders. Over the years police have interviewed over 2500 potential suspects, but yet to solve the case.

The second revolves around journalist(?) Kenneth Engs column in a recent AsianWeek titled “Why I Hate Black People”. The paper ran a front page apology this week after an uproar from the African American community and a slew of civil rights activists.

It was only a matter of time.

I turned on CNN this morning, and much to my surprise noticed the flagrant theft of my red arrow used to illustrate the sliding rocks on Telegraph Hill which I posted about on Friday.

I knew it would happen sooner or later, but suspected it would start on a more local level — not straight to prime time.

Riddle me this, you media giant: Does changing the width and length of the red arrow make it okay?

Ill let my 8 loyal readers be the judge….

CNN’s red arrows:

WHAT IM SEEING dot com’s red arrow:

In the words of the great Steven Colbert: “CNN, you are on warning. Ive got my eye on you!!”

Since the 1860s, Chinatown has been showcasing its culture to The City in the Chinese Lunar Parade. It is the oldest and largest of its kind in the world. In ancient China, it was beleived that those born under a certain sign would carry traits of the element and animal that ruled that year. This years zodiac sign is the boar.

A big downside to not reading your camera manual is that when you want to shoot fotos in the dark, they come out looking like butt.

The celebration lasts for two weeks, including a flower and street fair.

Year of the ???

It was such a relief to see Frank Chu last nite. I havent seen him for weeks and was getting worried….

2007 tickets go on sale today at 10am.

“The rich people on top of the hill will be OK, but the poor people at the bottom are screwed.” — Ed Sweeney

Early Tuesday morning, the ground began to move under this Telegraph Hill TIC. 120+ residents were quickly evacuated, with no injuries reported. I spoke with Ed Sweeney, an SF building inspector, who told me the owners of this property have known about this issue since the early 90s when a similar slide happened on the other side of the hill.

The arrow shows what part is sliding:

Several large boulders slammed into the back of the Showgirls “Gentleman’s” Club on Broadway:

A few dwellings on Montgomery Street were evacuated:

Arial view from WikiMapia:

Or watch the video here.

We dont know who put these very stylish metal statues in the courtyard of Gap HQ on the EMB, but we like them.

Hes not sweating, it had just rained:

I had two teeth extracted today and have eatin nothing but Xanax and Vicodin for the last 10 hours. So I dont feel like internetting anymore right now.

Fotographed on Samsung T-509 camera phone