Upper Playground on Fillmore knocks off….

The-Late-Great Herb Caen’s column header:


First Step on Market does a….

Reebok MLB:

18-Dummy Air Force 1:

There were 365 days in the last year.
Or 8,760 hours.
Or 525,600 minutes.
Or 31,536,000 seconds.

And all of them were well spent.

Today marks the 70th Birthday of our Great Gate, our Lady In Red.

But theres nothing timely about this story. The only excuse I can possibly make to tell it is that its only been told once before….

Fortunato Augiano was a friendless dishwasher who worked in an Embarcadero resto. He was unremarkable except for the fact that he was constantly depressed — and had an obsession about even numbers: would live only at even-numbered addresses, insisted on being paid to the even number, even if it meant losing a few pennies, and was forever telling the customers that an odd number was bad luck.

Well, after the 99th victim leaped off the Golden Gate Bridge, the patrons began needling him. “Hey Fortunato,” theyd yell at him, “you gonna be the hundredth? Heres your big chance to be an even number forever!!”

It was only an lighthearted joke. Nobody thought twice about it except Fortunato Augiano, who, on June 28th, 1948 — ahh, those nice even numbers — became the hundredth suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Inspired by the Late, Great Herb Caen

Finally had a chance to use the Fireworks Macro on my digi last nite. Pac Bell Park was lettin em fly for the 3-Day Weekend.

Once again, 111 Minna was the place to be. Showed up at 6, got free drinks(!) and walked out with a Not For Tourists City Guide. If you havent visited their site, check it out. Its kind of like a high-budget version of this, and with a real staff.

Thanks to Rob for hooking it all up tonite!!

Across the street from Lotta’s Fountain is The Phelan Building, an 11-story office building constructed in 1908 — the West Coast version of NYC’s Flatiron Building.

James Phelan was born in SF, the son of a 49′er. In 1897 he ran for Mayor, was elected and twice re-elected — gaining a great reputation thru hooking up The City with new parks and playgrounds. During his lifetime he encouraged and financially aided writers, artists, and musicians. Phelan Avenue by CCSF is also named after him.

Lotta’s Fountain — our oldest surviving monument — was donated by singer-slash-dancer Lotta Crabtree in 1875.

Lotta began her career as a young lady performing for miners in Gold Country. She went on to become one of The Countrys most popular stage performers. After the Firequake of 1906, the fountain — which was one of the few remaining structures on Market Street — became a central meeting place for San Franciscans.

Each year at 5:12 am on April 18th, surviving survivor of The Great Quake (there is only 1 left) meets here, along with SFFD and The Mayor.

Seen (or scene) at China Beach two weeks ago….

At the corner of Postreet and Webster once lived the “House of Mystery”.

For a long time, Mary Ellen Pleasant was the most talked about woman in San Francisco. She moved to The City during the Gold Rush, smack in the middle of 18th Century. At that time, SF was a place with about 40,000 people, 700 drinking and gambling establishments, and 5 murders every 6 days. There were 6 men to every woman. Just trying to live was an everyday struggle. She worked for many of The City’s wealthiest citizens, using her earnings to help African-Americans of the day with everything from food and shelter to lawyer fees. She was known as “The Mother of Civil Rights in California” — a Rosa Parks, MLK, and Malcolm X all rolled up into one — is what they say.

She owned the property shown above, but rarely actually lived i. For the longest time it was unknown to the public who actually resided there, hence the name “The House of Mystery”.

Today there are 6 oak trees lining the West side of the street and the plaque you see below in her honor.

….Enter 94107.

280 in the front yard:

Its a nice place to visit, but we wouldnt want to LIVE there….anymore.

Exit 94121….

Seen (or scene) at The Sony Metreon….

Lifesize replica of The Simpsons in preparation for their straight-to-video movie, premiering July 27th.

Kudos to whomever broke off and stole both of Homer’s arms. Now he cant drink any more Duff or strangle Bart.

Looks like the fellas down at Fifty24SF and Estelas finally got the fronts of their shops repaired. Good stuff.

Who: Versus Magazine (#006)
What: Release Party
When: Tonite @ 9pm - 2am
Where: Mighty SF @ 119 Utah Street, Potrero Sector
Why: Who doesnt love a party?

Heres an advert we placed in the current issue:

King NORM and Ayer crush a cargo van on Park Presidio & Cabrillo.

Part 4 of a 4 part series….

Far and away the sweetest room — by Shepard Fairey — in Suite 210.

Part 2 of a 4 part series….

Matzu-MTP/MISK 1

We couldnt get a peek inside every room, as some rooms were already occupied.

Jeremy Fish

Bathroom of Room 402 by Peat Wollaeger

So instead, we walked the halls of this old building with a new twist.

Classified art by Reyes

Unknown artist paints E-40 Fonzerelli

Part 2 of a 4 part series….

Matzu-MTP/MISK 1

We couldnt get a peek inside every room, as some rooms were already occupied.

Jeremy Fish

Bathroom of Room 402 by Peat Wollaeger

So instead, we walked the halls of this old building with a new twist.

Classified art by Reyes

Unknown artist paints E-40 Fonzerelli

Part 1 of a 4 part series….

Located in The French Quarter (read: half a block of Bush Street) near Grant Ave (formerly known as Dupont St) is the Hotel de Arts. If I ever had to stay at a hotel in my own city, this would be it.

There are 5 floors totaling 40 rooms. Each was concepted by a different contemporary pop artist. And each artist was given full control over the rooms visual story.

Room 305 by London Police

Room 207 by Alayna Magnan

Room 402 by Peat Wollaeger

Room 306 by Jeremyville

Room 504 by Sugarluxe

There are 4 local characters every San Franciscan should meet: Frank Chu, Da Mayor, and The San Francisco Twins.

Yesterday whilst walking by the Nob Hill Cafe on Taylor, we spotted The Nob Hill Twins eating spaghetti in the window booth and stopped in to introduce ourselves.

Marian is on the left with Vivian on the right.

Long-Story-Short: The Twins were born 8 minutes apart. They moved to The City in the 70s from Kalamazoo, Michigan. They always dress snappy and always alike and are very spry for a couple of ladies in their 80s. They live in a Nob Hill apartment @ the corner of Pine and Mason. They seem to be famous for no real reason besides….being famous.

At least 1/2 of our 8 loyal readers have been personally handed a Moo Card by myself or Plug2. On the front is a picture and the back is our web address.

Foto by Plug2

Last nite the crew from Moo flew out from the UK to SF and threw a nice little party at 111 Minna. By nice little party, I mean open bar(!), appetizers, and a free Lomolito(!).

Foto by Plug2

Part 3 of a 3 part series on The Sea Cliff….

Part 2 of a 3 part series on The Sea Cliff….

It appeared early on that danger was looming around every corner.

Heres why: most of The Sea Cliff has a sharp drop-off of at least 300 feet into The Pacific Ocean.

The view looking straight down:

Part 1 of a 3 part series on The Sea Cliff….

It was too nice to be inside internetting all day today. So The Plugs grabbed some PB&Js, some Gatorade — and hit off some nature.

Foto by Plug2

Thats right, your homey Plug1 was In-Like-Flynn on Friday afternoon for the final taping of The Conan O’Brien Show at The Orpheum Theater on Market Street — rollin V.I.P at that. The line to get in was looong — stretching from 7th to 8th — and on both sides of the street.

On the set was a replica of The Great Gate, with Max Weinberg & The Max Weinberg 7 off to the left. The crowd was pretty rowdy, a pair of leopard-print panties flew on stage within the fist 5 minutes.

Video of the stage hands moving the desk on stage:

Sam Wo’s got more props than Intel, who sponsored the trip:

The crowd went berserk when Snoop D-O-Double G crip-walked onto the stage.

What the viewers saw at home:

Conan makes an Orlando Cepeda arrest joke:

Word up to T Fahrn for hookin up the tix!

Located at the corner of Sutter and Octavia, The Queen Anne Hotel is one of the first structures built in The Western Addition. Erected in 1895, it was originally a girls boarding school.

It has since been transformed inside to reflect the once Victorian/Edwardian feel of the neighborhood. Each of its 48 rooms have been authentically decorated with a very 18th-century European feel.

We’ve had a late-night visitor in The City all week….

Mayor Newsom proclaimed May 2nd, 2007 “Conan O’Brien Day”.

The certificate was presented at Justin Herman plaza, however neither one showed up.

There were only two look-a-likes, who looked nothing like The Cone Meister.

The “Masturbating Bear” did show and looked quite ashamed afterwards.

The Western Addition sprouted up after the Firequake of 1906. Victorian “track housing” quickly filled the westward lots from Larkin to Divis. During the rebuilding of the destroyed Downtown and SOMA sectors, many City agencies and shop keepers temporarily relocated to Fillmore Street. The boundaries of this neighborhood have slowly crept West over the years making way for the Hayes Valley and NOPA sectors.

This bustling, well-mixed neighborhood went thru many demographic changes over the next 75 years. Nearly all of the Japanese were evicted to internment camps during the war effort, leaving vacancies for a large migration of African-Americans from the south. In the 50’s, the local government declared the area “a slum” and opened the doors for Urban Renewal. The century old Victorian and Edwardian homes were cleared while low-rent and high-rise housing were built. This time, young professionals started to move in, and this time the African-American community was edged out.

One of the preserved parts of the old Western Addition is the Cottage Row, a group of homes that once housed servants for the wealthy landowners on Bush Street.

We went out to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma to check out the homey Jeff race his dirt bike around the track a few times.

As you can see, he started off in the back….

….but by the 2nd lap, dude was a good 30 seconds in front of the rest, taking home the 1st Place trophy.

The bike was destroyed in a crash a few weeks ago and had been completely rebuilt for todays race.