A member of SFs Finest waxes poetic about his favorite local blog, and famous local folk.

Part 2 of a 2 part look at ShoeBiz on Valencia….

Vans: One Nation, Under Canvas. Founded in 1966 by Paul Van Doren. The company suffered a bankruptcy in the 80s, but have made a MAJOR comeback in the past 3 years in the youth/urban market.

Converse: Have You Laced Up Your Chucky Ts Today? The Converse Rubber Shoe Company opened its doors in 1908. The All-Star went into production in 1917 and quickly became the most bought shoe of all time. The company “soled out” to Nike in 2003 for a whopping $305 million.

New Balance: Made In The U.S.A. Founded in 1906, New Balance is the 4th largest footwear manufacturer in the world. The model names originally revolved around price, for example the 578 would cost you $57.80.

Saucony: Loyal To The Sport. Also an American Oldtimer, the company was formed in 1910 by a Russian immigrant. In 2005, Stride-Rite took over. The logo on the side is called “The River”, the word Saucony means “Swiftly Running Waters”.

Puma: Do It With Quality. Puma formed as the result of a bitter dispute between two German brothers. It is the 3rd largest shoe producer in the world.

Onitsuka Tiger: Sound Mind In A Sound Body. Started in 1949, this brand was huge in the 60s.

Part 1 of a 2 part look at ShoeBiz on Valencia….

adidas: The Brand With The Three Stripes. Founded by two German brothers in the 1920s, a family feud ensued. This resulted in the foundation of Puma and a 60 year rivalry in shoe design and production.

Nike: Just Do It. Started by Bill Bowerman & Phil Knight in 1964. Originally named Blue Ribbon Sports, Nike was made official in 1971. Largest shoe manufacturer in the world.

Fotos by Plug2

Take a ride in the Wayback Machine, back before the days of Craig and his List. If you had only $37 and needed 2 chairs, vintage tunage, and some plates — Thrift Town on Valencia was the place to go.

It still rocks, as far as Second Hand Shops go, Im just on some grown man biz and like my stuff to match and whatever at the house.

Ive never taken a nap there, but this lady was lights out and snoring, and no one was really trippin, so its also a good rest stop.

View of Twin Peaks looking West from the Mission Bay sector.

Moon on left, light on right.

Seen (or scene) at a Dogpatch construction site.

The idea of Being Green has been pounded into my head with mucho gusto of late. Between Al Gore, Frontline, VBS.tv, my brother, and a couple of angry Hippys on the 71 MUNI — Ive been getting an earful on the regular. Seems like we are heading for a doomed future if we dont check ourselves on energy consumption.

Im not rushing out to buy a Prius or anything, Im just saying its worth looking in to.

“Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.” — Shel Silverstien

“She Loves The Moon” is a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts unfolding presently on the sidewalks of The Mission Sector. The story is told using spray painted stencils, with arrows pointing you in the direction of the next panel. The pre-existing, surrounding street scene is used to compliment the text.

The story is of the romance between two hipsters characters who live a few blocks away from each other in The Mish. Each starting at separate locations, the two first cross paths at Tartine Bakery @ 18th/Guerrero. The paths can potentially cross again a few more times, with the players making choices along the way that determine how the story will end. The are four possible endings in total.

His story starts in front of the Crown Hotel @ 16th/Valencia.
Her story starts in front of an old Victorian @ 21st/Guerrero.

More fotos here & here.

For more info contact: WhyDoesSheLoveTheMoon@gmail.com

Located on Sleazy Sixth Street in SOMA, Tu Lan is the first resto I stepped foot into, fresh off the bus in 1996. The heat index is still near 100% humidity once past the counter and everything on the menu still costs no more than 5 bucks. Even the faces of the staff remain unchanged, seemingly avoiding the aging process.

Hungry — and back on the old block — I stepped around the Skid Rogues and puddles of piss, ducked inside and took a seat at the counter for lunch.

For $6.50 I found myself with a Diet Coke and order of Imperial Rolls, and once again I was feelin good in the neighborhood.

A list of Most Known Unknowns to meet in ones — well, at least Plug1’s — lifetime:

Frank Chu: check
Nob Hill Twins: check
Flavor Flav: check
Mayor Gavin Newsom: check, please.

Foto by Plug2

The Fog was thick that day, but not as thick as the crowds. Crowds of folks — 25,000 in numerical form — showed up to walk 10k and raise a whopping $4.5 million dollars last Sunday in Golden Gate Park for the 20th Annual SF AIDs Walk.

Yours truly is pictured in the below snapper. Can you guess who is me? (Hint: Dolla Dolla Bill Yall)

(Foto courtesy of SF AIDs Walk)

We’d never seen the AIDs Quilt, which was displayed in part on Hippy Hill. Seeing the names, faces, and dates of death of the departed truly put the event in perspective.

Several from the Religious Right showed up with intents of rabble rousing, but they (all 3 of them) could not fade we. We came to walk, and walk we did.

Part 7 of a 7 part series on Nob Hill….

Grace Cathedral was built to be a house of worship for all people. All inclusive and never exclusive. The All-Star preaching roster of famous Men-of-God to speak from the pulpit here include The Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and MLK.

One of coolest things inside the church is the labyrinth. This particular labyrinth is of “The Seven Circuit” variety, meaning there are seven circles, or paths, to be traveled. Travelers use this mysterious labyrinth to quiet the mind, find balance, and encourage meditation.

Wow, I just typed the word “Labyrinth” four times.

It is oft referred to as “The City’s Church”. Below you see name tags for members of the congregation.

Part 6 of a 7 part series on Nob Hill….

Grace Cathedral is the daughter of the Grace Church built during The Gold Rush of 1849. Originally located at California and Stockton, the building was destroyed in The Big One of 1906. The well-to-do Crocker family donated their destroyed Nob Hill property to the little church for the building of a new cathedral.

Work began on the new structure in 1928. Designed in French Gothic style by Lewis Hobart, it was completed in 1964 as the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the nation.

The cathedral block was completed in 1995 with a new front stairway, courtyard, and school addition.

Part 5 of a 7 part series on Nob Hill….

On the SouthWestern corner of Nob Hill is the Masonic Auditorium. Built in 1958, it is owned and operated by the California Fraternal Order of Freemasons.

The Memorial Sculpture tops the East end of the California Street side of the building. The sculpture consists of four 12 foot marble statues, each representing one of the Military Branches. To the right of the statues are 14 smaller figures in a tug-of-war between the forces of good and evil.

In the entrance are two globes — one worldly, and one universal.

Part 4 of a 7 part series on Nob Hill….

Across the street from the Mark Hopkins, is the Fairmont Hotel. Besides the Flood Mansion, this is the only building on Nob Hill not destroyed by Fire or Shake in 1906.

Every interior detail is over-the-top with Edwardian influence, from the floors to the ceiling.

Part 3 of a 7 part series on Nob Hill….

One of The Big Four, Mark Hopkins staked his claim on the SouthEastern corner of Nob Hill, and set out to build a dream home for his wifey, Mary. Construction was completed in 1878, but Hopkins never spent a night there as he died prior to completion. The mansion was destroyed in The Big One of 1906.

The property changed hands a few times and in the 1920’s the lot was purchased by architect George Smith. His vision was to build a World-Class hotel where every room would have a view of The Golden Gate City. One year later, the Mark Hopkins Hotel was completed and quickly became a social gathering place for wealthy locals, tourists and politicians.

Part 2 of a 7 part series on Nob Hill….

(Painting from the inside of The Stanford Court Hotel)

The James Flood Mansion at 1000 California Street lives at the top of Nob Hill, next to Huntington Park. It is a monument to the fortunes amassed by a handful of men in the late 18th Century. It is one of only two Nob Hill structures to have survived The FireQuake of 1906, the other being The Fairmont Hotel.

The Flood Mansion is now the home of the Pacific Union Club and is decidedly not open to the public. Never. Ever. Not under any circumstances. No women allowed, either. No one other than the members even knows who the members are. Kind of like the first two rules of Fight Club.

Part 1 of a 7 part series on Nob Hill….

The invention of The Cable Car invented Nob Hill. Prior to that time, the area was nothing but sand dunes — uninhabited except for nomadic thieves.

But the times, they were a’changin. With the wealth acquired from mining gold and silver out of the Sierra Mountains, four men became filthy rich and desired a way to separate themselves from the drunken rowdiness going down at the waterfront. So they settled high on The Hill of Palaces. In those days, a rich snob was called a “Nabob”, hence the name it carries to this day.

Couldnt get into the Red Carpet Show. Couldnt get into The Home-Run Derby. Couldnt get into The Big Game.

Woe is me.

But, I got some final snappers from this weeks All-Star Celebration. Hope you enjoyed them, and tomorrow its back to Bay Business.

Boaters filled McCovey Cove last nite, hoping to catch a dinger during The Homerun Derby at Pac-Bell park.

King Street sidewalks have been nicely decorated with these images in prep for Tuesdays All-Star game at Pac-Bell Park.

Perhaps to distract your eyes away from the snipers posted on area roof-tops….

An All-Star team of security (Secret Service, Dept. Homeland Security, ATF, Coast Guard, SFPD & CHP) is very present in the area this week. This will include limited access to McCovey Cove and a no-fly zone in the open space above The Ballpark.

Several aircraft, including The Goodyear Blimp, have been circling the sky over the Eastern part of The City for the past 2 days.

I McGyvered some binoculars to my digi and created a zoom lens of sorts.

You can see the results of my ingenious ingenuity here:

Safeway catches SF Giants Fever @ the Church Street location.

Todays date is 7-7-7, so Im posting this up in hopes of bringing them some luck in the 2nd half of the season.

We went to the Mountain View Kwik-E-Mart yesterday to get a Squishee from our friend Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

12 7-11s in The World have been transformed as a promotional vehicle for the upcoming Simpsons Movie out July 27th.

The address is 1380 Pear Avenue, between 101 and the Googleplex.

America the Beautiful, Emerica the Bold.

Who: a couple hundred skaters.
What: critical mass and boardflips.
When: yesterday @ noon-ish.
Where: EMB/Ferry Building.
Why: no work/school & 70 degree weather.

It started off with a half dozen kids olley-ing over some newspaper boxes.

After 15 minutes, SFs Finest removed the boxes, much to everyones dismay. Cries of “BOOOOO” and “Eff The Po-Lice” quickly became the thing to yell.

But the spirit of the day would not be silenced, and a wall-of-decks emerged from the frustration. It was Independence Day, after all, and They Cant Fade We.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_62Iti4obQ]

A board was broken, and raised to the sky as a symbol of resilience.

And the Young Revolutionaries show solidarity with decks in the air.

Wheels-to-the-pavement or four-on-the-floor, they headed South down 3rd — armed with a feeling of accomplishment and a police escort.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

America’s most American holiday — except in San Francisco, where its highly illegal to shoot a firecracker — will start with the clashing of fenders and banging of horns early in the morning. Despite the solemn warnings of the press and The Internets against setting foot outside the doubtful safety of ones own home, the citizens will waste no time in heading for the highroad and the highway, the beach and the BBQ. Everyone will be in a hurry to get there, no matter where. What it will prove, if anything, is that the fine American spirit of independence is not yet dead. Too bad so many motorists and pyromaniacs will have to die trying to prove it.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

Inspired by the Late-Great Herb Caen.

…..knockin out emcees or knockin balls out the park.

You heard it HERE first:

In celebration of being the Greatest-Hitter-Ever-To-Swing-A-Bat, Barry Bonds is co-throwing a party at Roe Restaurant in SOMA with one of the greatest spitters of all-time, Jay-Z.

There is an auction going on right now for an invite ticket — custom made from Tiffanys.

The party goes down on Monday, July 12th, 9pm. Be there — or be square — and unconnected like me.

Bluxome Alley revisted….

“You are a foolish man”, wrote a recent reader. “You write about an Old San Francisco that none of us ever knew, including yourself, probably.”

Foto by Plug2

Well, there is something to be said for that attitude. However, I am a hopeless nostalgia-holic, an affliction that eventually touches all San Franciscans, old or new. It comes from the drinking of the past, and there is no escaping it in This City, where the future is present now more than ever.

For a start, take a visual note of all the old buildings that are disappearing — making way for new, indistinguished buildings. There is something eternally in infernally sad about a fallen building — especially one that has stood for so long and become such a familiar part of the scenery. When the gentle old buildings become overshadowed by the new, The City changes and becomes harder, too — and this is not good for any of us, Newcomer.

“You are a foolish man”, the reader wrote and I plead guilty. People in love — especially in love with a city’s spirit and a city’s past — cant help but looking foolish.

Inspired by the Late-Great Herb Caen.