The
Chronicle reports on a plan to “ruin” the Albany Bulb. This is the best (and most affectionate) portrait of the Bulb’s current state that I’ve seen in the mainstream media. I will never forget my first visit to the Bulb (
back in 2001, when the Sniff pieces were in much better shape and not, it seems, as well known), and the place has grown quite dear to me since then. I hope that its freewheeling nature—indicative of much that is special and good about the Bay Area—can be preserved.
Over in the City, at the Buena Vista—the tavern that introduced Irish coffee to these shores—they’ve
changed the whiskey they pour, actually moving away from their own private blend. The owner sez money has nothing to do with it. He just likes Tullamore Dew better, and claims that was the stuff they used when Irish coffee arrived here in 1952. Hmm.
My alma mater’s longheld desire to renovate its football stadium has hit yet another unexpected snag: It appears that the current plans would
effectively destroy the longstanding Golden Bears institution known as Tightwad Hill. I’ve never watched a game from up there, but I’ve always liked the idea that it was a possibility. My hunch is that the university will destroy the Tightwad tradition, just as surely as it has quashed decades of tradition at nearby
Bowles Hall.
The Telegraph Avenue location of Cody’s Books
closes today. It’s
big news. People are
sad. I was feeling the same way until I read these latest words from owner Andy Ross:
“Students today, they use the Internet. They read their textbooks,” Ross said. “In the ’70s, they had wide-ranging intellect.”
This is not the first time Ross has blamed his clientele (and elsewhere, the city of Berkeley) for the fact that he failed to adequately respond to changes in his own industry and in his business’s immediate environment. Your bookshop is not shutting down today because 21
st-century students suck and don’t read books, Mr. Ross. Your bookshop is shutting down in part because your mindset shaped your business, and that mindset has become a lot more friendly to the yuppies who inhabit your store on Fourth Street than it has to the university students of …
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When I arrived home yesterday, the following was taped to my front door:
Hell yeah I’m excited! The Man burns in 28 days!
[So much to do, so much to do!]
Also recently spotted in my neighborhood. (Click to embiggen.)
Recently spotted in my neighborhood. (Click to embiggen.)
There was a
really great piece in the Chron this weekend about my favorite Bay Area street musician, the self-described
Artist General and Global Village Idiot Savant, the master of the cymbalom, Michael Masley. Whenever you see this guy out on the street playing, it’s fun to stop and watch people have their first encounter with his music. You don’t have to wait long before you spot a jaw or two just hanging open in awe and wonderment.
You recognize this sign, doncha? Sure, Marquard’s has been at the corner of O’Farrell and Powell just about forever. Well, walk on by and take one last look, and maybe pick up one last paper: the Chron reports that Marquard’s is
soon to be replaced by Hat World, “a huge national chain specializing in logo caps,” which the residents of
SF have clearly been clamoring for. And thus the entire Union Square area is one step closer to being just another mall, albeit one that doesn’t share a common roof.
Combine this sort of news with the
word from Sacramento that Governor Ahnold is going to force Caltrans to switch gears mid-project and build us an
ugly-ass viaduct to replace the eastern half of the Bay Bridge, and you begin to think it’s only a matter of time before our entire environment is nothin’ but chain stores and concrete. Sigh. …
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There is an abandoned train station in Oakland, near the 980, that I have been meaning to surreptitiously enter and photograph for more than a year now. But I haven’t, because I don’t have any experience with trespassing, and a few drive-bys seemed to show that getting into the place would be a colossal pain. Perhaps it is, but apparently it’s doable, because pics of the place showed up at
Satan’s Laundromat this morning. Color me terribly jealous.
Budget Travel magazine has some thoughts on where to grab
really cheap meals in San Francisco. I can personally report on a few of their picks: Nirvana, Home, and Eos are fantastic, while Red’s Java House is not everything it’s cracked up to be. At the very end of the article, they tease me by mentioning a
riceless carne asada burrito available in the Mission, which is definitely going to merit further investigation. And soon.
There’s a
lovely little piece over at SFGate today (no, you won’t find it in the printed
Chronicle) about the folks who work the tollbooths at the Bay Bridge. I’m a FasTrak user now, so I don’t hand bills over to these people anymore, but back when I did, there were faces I recognized, and I even had a couple of favorites who were always cheery and pleasant and remembered me and my Beetle. Now I just cruise through and listen for the FasTrak unit’s double-beep. Easier. Quicker. But a moment of human interaction that was part of my daily routine is lost forever.
Ten minutes ago I knew very little about
SF’s Treasure Island.
But now. . .
Here’s what the
Big Game bonfire looked like last night at Cal’s Greek Theater. Walking back down southside, we passed under the Campanille, which was lit up in blue with gold graphics on each side, like
this representation of the coveted Axe.
It took Cal two quarters to heat up today, but the result was sweet, sweet, sweet.
Cal 28, Stanfurd 16.
Things are always strange when we visit
the Farm but there was something especially strange (and, though it pains me to admit, cool) going on down there today, as you can see in the shot I took of the Stanfurd Band doing their moronic bit before the game. Look back there on the sideline, and you’ll see a large
Trojan Rabbit, straight out of
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We never did find out what the deal with it was. It left before the …
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Being a California Golden Bears fan is a bit like being a Cubs fan or a Red Sox fan: Your team never goes all the way and seems to have a problem with bad luck, but every now and then they pull off something that makes all the heartache worth it. I can’t say it any better than the team did in an e-mail I just received:
The California Golden Bears upset the #3-ranked USC Trojans on Saturday evening before 51,208 fans at Memorial Stadium and a national television audience. The win marks the first time the Bears have defeated a Top 5 nationally-ranked team in more than 28 years.
Let me add that the game
was won in triple overtime. It was amazing, and I’m psyched to have been there. I also think I know what gave the Bears an edge: One of the first things the super-obnoxious …
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Wandering ever-so-slightly off the beaten path in southwest Berkeley last Saturday, I found a building that was really a
ghost.
