I have been walking past this storefront on Valencia and 23rd for the past few weeks curious as to what it was all about.  I was hoping that it would be a grade-school-esque photo studio with rapey space backdrops and and mullet wigs, but I figured that'd probably be too good to be true.  Lucky for us, Photobooth co-owner Vince wrote in to tell us about it:

Photobooth is the twisted dream of two local alternative photographers, myself (Vince Donovan) and Michael Shindler.    I've been wandering the Mission for years shooting portraits on the street and in bars with an old Polaroid camera.   Michael is a tintype artist.  He has been at the center of reviving the centuries-old tintype process and making it modern again.   One night over too many margaritas at the Latin American Club we decided we wanted our own shop where we could really introduce people to the fun of alternative photography.

So Photobooth is a portrait studio where anyone can walk in and get a portrait done instantly using one of these alt techniques.  We're going to have good music and good art on the walls, so it'll be a nice place to hang out.  Our gallery will be devoted exclusively to local photographers working in alternative techniques, so we'll be having lots of openings and events.

We'll also sell retro camera gear (refurbished Polaroid cameras) and film.  We'll be carrying the full Lomography line of alternative camera gear, as well as the new Polaroid film from The Impossible Project.

So, no promise of 80s backdrops, but their website indicates there will be some costumes and area homeless people for loan.

SOMA startup 'Hipster' (which as far as I can tell is a hyperlocal Quora meets Foursquare with a hyperlame name that keeps getting everyone's attention,) is now attempting to lure in potential employees with a cartoonish benefits package that's GUARANTEED to offend the sensibilities of our readers and decent folk alike.  This afternoon they sent out an email blast to “Fellow Hipsters” which poses the following question:

What do $10,000, a year’s worth of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and skinny jeans have in common? Well, if you refer someone that we end up hiring, you'll be receiving all of that and more…

The website contains the following jpg gem illustrating the package, complete with a horrifically ugly 'fixed gear bicycle' and 'mustache grooming services'(???)  I'm surprised they didn't also throw in a years worth of UBER car service to-and-from your totes alt Mission dive to their SOMA offices.

First they make Coachella a 2 weekend event, and now this?  Fuck it, I'm moving to Bernal, shitting out some kids and joining that Dad racing league thing.

 

I dig the last idea, although if your date goes well, it's going to be wicked awkward to blurt out on the way back to your place “Hey, I gotta make a quick detour to Fayes and return my clothes.”  That'll really make you seem desperate.

In response to the post about Modern Times not being allowed to renew their Valencia St. lease so the landlord could (presumably) find a higher-paying tenant, reader Jermey brought up the idea that we tax landlords who leave storefronts empty:

Does anyone know if the landlord has a new tenant lined up, or is it going to join the ranks of the empty storefronts on Valencia while the landlords hold out and wait for someone willing to pay outrageous rent?

I hope the Supervisors follow up on the City economist's suggestion to create a tax on vacant commercial properties to encourage landlords to lower the rents to where businesses that don't sell $100 meals or $500 jeans can afford to pay them.

Not a bad suggestion.  As anyone who has actually studied economics and isn't in the Tea Party can tell you, communities often levy a tax on negative externalities (e.g. we tax the sale of gasoline because it pollutes our air).  Since empty storefronts have a negative effect on SF (blight, reduced commerce, harder to start a small business), it would seem reasonable to enact a tax that discourages landlords to leave units empty and evict small businesses in favor of finding a higher-paying corporation to fill the space.  Then again, this would be blasted as anti-business by the developers of the city, so there will doubtfully be any political capital to make it happen.  Nice to dream though?