Mission District

Noisebridge, SF's Only Hackerspace, Could Be Forced to Close

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

photo by Jamillah Knowles

Bad news guys: Noisebridge, the collective hackerspace on Mission Street that provides a venue for people to collaborate on technical projects and hold classes/meetings, could be closing its doors come February.  Like many of the treasures in this town, Noisebridge is officially broke-ass and cannot pay rent.  The gist of their woes is that over the summer, the non-profit space was actually turning a profit, but they have slowly lost members and donations since then.  Now they're only taking in $2,500 a month, but having to spend nearly double that on rent and utilities.

Losing such a unique space would be one helluva bummer.  Not only is it the only public space to mess around with electronics, but pretty much anyone can walk in and use their wifi without having the buy an overpriced coffee and deal with sketchy coffee shop internet while some old dude tries to talk to you about Mad Men (don't ask).  Plus, they have a tea room, a swanky Big Bird mannequin, a robot wheelchair, refrigerator full of circuitry, and even an art wall.  It's basically as close to a 20-something Disneyland as Mission St. gets.

So, unless they get more members ($40-$80/month. Cheap!), donations, or people to sponsor a day, they'll be closing up in 6 weeks.  You know what to do.

Free Pizza Tonight at Pauline's

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

I know we're a little late on this news, but Valencia Street mainstay Pauline's Pizza is celebrating their 25th birthday tonight.  So, if you RSVP [call (415) 552-2050] in the next hour or so, you'll be able to, for one night, relive those glory days in college in which you subsisted off of free pizza you scored at club meetings and events.  Go get it.

(via Broke Ass Stuart | pic by Andrew Mager)

Are Tenderloin Residents More Honest About Their Neighborhood?

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Cracky Old Mission Guy dropped this bomb on us yesterday:

I've lived in The Mission a long time, and I've been going to The Tenderloin a long time for various reasons, and I have started to feel like I have got it all backwards all along — I should have been living in the Loin and visiting the Mish. They are both shitholes, but The Tenderloin is more honest and less tense about it.

Now, I wouldn't rather live in the TL, but I think COMG might be onto something.  Sure, the Mission might be safer and more gentrified, but it still isn't the Eden of the West Coast that it's hyped up to be.  Between all the vintage clothing stores, gourmet ice creameries, and moms trying to turn Dolores Park into one big playground for their kids, it still has it's crackheads, crime, prostitution, litered sidewalks, empty storefronts, and payday loan shops and liquor stores on every corner.  Yet people in the Mission are far more protective of their image than that of the TL.

Now, there's nothing wrong with some pride, don't get me wrong.  But at the end of the day, residents of the Tenderloin paint murals about the grittiness of the neighborhood, whereas it's all rainbows and ice cream carts in the Mission.

(photo by Lulu Vision)

100 Days of BBC Headlines Now Up Along Valencia

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Peep this: local artist Johnny Selman has taken up the seemingly impossible task of illustrating a BBC headline everyday for an entire year for an Academy of Arts master's project dubbed “BBCX365.” No days off, not even while sick or for an all day drinking session in Dolores Park.  Commitment!  Anyway, while you can check out each poster for the day on the project blog, Johnny recently unveiled an outdoor exhibition displaying the first 100 days of the project in various Valencia storefront windows, giving us laypeople our first opportunity to see the works in real life.

Johnny claims his goal for project is to “draw attention to world events that people might not otherwise be aware of, and thus begin to drive people to seek out international news on a regular basis.”  That sounds nice and all, but I find this more of a fun way to have an end-of-the-year review of the year's top stories, from Gap's embarrassing branding misstep to some guy in a funny hat telling us it's okay to use rubbers.

Anyway, I didn't take a complete list of businesses where you can find the posters (mainly because rain causes me to slouch forward in apathy as I trek down the street), but the short list is Mission Bikes, Aquarius Records, Community Thrift, Ritual, Valencia Whole Foods, Borderlands, and Slingshot Gallery.

(Posters, from left to right: US SENATE LIFTS ‘DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL’ GAY SOLDIER BAN, POPE BENEDICT CONDONES CONDOM USE IN SOME CASES, OBAMA RECEIVES 12 STITCHES TO LIP, ANONYMOUS RECRUITS WIKILEAKS ‘DATA ARMY’, TWITTER SCRAMBLES TO BLOCK WORMS, NORTH KOREA’S KIM PAVESWAY FOR FAMILY SUCCESSION)

This Weekend in Street Art: Enjoy

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

If all the rain didn't keep you indoors this weekend, you may have spotted these photos of landscapes and food from “enjoy” pasted up around town.  Now, I'm supportive of this particular brand of street art because any reminder that there's a sun and are other dietary options available to me beyond Mexican fast food and plain veggie burgers is appreciated.

But even though mouthwatering photos of watermelons are nice and all, I couldn't help but notice a bunch of these food photos were posted around areas that homeless people sleep.  Is this some sort of cruel joke? Just a big “sorry y'all, I'm not going to give you any food, but here's a picture to hold you over” middle finger to the people who sleep on the steps of the Polish Club?  Or is it innocent enough because, well, only pretentious assholes read into simple art this much?

Which Neighborhood Has the Dumbest Bloggers?

— By Jenny Wilson |

Earlier this month, Google announced a new advanced search tool that  helps filter websites by the complexity of their content called “Reading Level.” Clearly we don't know what algorithm Google uses to rate the blogs (perhaps we can blame the commenters for the crappy results?), but who doesn't love comparing a few San Francisco blogs?

Apparently the subtle complexities of PBR, Four Loko, bicycles, and the richly in-depth analysis of burritos were lost upon Google because according to its new ”Reading Level,” the Mission is home to the dumbest bloggers in San Francisco. 

Although some of our life choices may prove otherwise, it seems that #TEAM_UppyAlmy isn't the dumbest blog in San Francisco. Congratulations Mission Mission.

2% more literate? Must've been all of that wikileaks coverage that really put us over the top.

  

  

Looks like Mission Loc@l is the smartest blog representing the Mission. Must be the writer's nicely uniformed profile pictures. With no writers drunk or wearing a Pooh Bear costume in their photos, these people obviously take blogging very seriously.

    

And how did the other neighborhood blogs reading levels fare?

Looks like the Tenderloin, mostly known for its homeless, drug addicts, prossies, schizos, oh yeah, and UC Hastings Law School students is smarter than 2/3's of the Mission blogs.

      

The Lower Haight's HoodscopeSF, slightly dumber than the TL, slighty smarter than the 2/3's of the Mish.

 

Haighteration leads the pack for the gutter punks, retired hippies, and USF students that characterize the Haight.

The Marina fares well with 7x7. But really, how complex are their posts? About as complex as this.

Finally, San Francisco, your smartest blogging neighborhood according to Google's ”Reading Level” is Noe Valley. Congrats Noe Valley SF for being pretty average, but a whole lot better than the rest of us.

Finally, a 49 I actually want to ride

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Okay okay, maybe you cannot ride a painting (or can you?), but Andy Stattmiller's “Take a ride on the 49…” is perfect.  From the overweight person sitting in a motorized wheelchair at 16th & Mission, to the tagger atop of Farolito, to the painter covering tags at 29th and Mission, and all the crackheads and street people in between, he pretty much nailed every character you see along the route.  Good work, sir.

$2100.  On sale now at Fabric8.

Mother Jones Reporting Live From Mission High

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Mother Jones Magazine has launched a new education blog that is focusing on Mission High.  Kristina Rizga explains:

Over the next few months, [Titania Kumeh] and I will be exploring American education trends through the hyperlocal lens of Mission High School, one of San Francisco's lowest-performing—though rapidly improving—urban public high schools. Instead of writing another shocker on the achievement gap, we'll ask students at Mission High and other inner-city schools what really works to help them to succeed. Instead of another diatribe on “value-added testing,” we'll report from real classrooms on what star teachers do. And instead of obsessing about fights between school chiefs and teacher union reps like Michelle Rhee and Randi Weingarten, we'll talk to teachers about their own employment contracts and tenure concerns. Don't get me wrong—we'll still cover the studies, talk to the experts, and report on conferences. But we'll let the realities of every-day life in schools be the primary driver of our coverage, rather than reactions to the latest reports, donation announcements, or accusations.

Read on.  Or, if education and political issues isn't you thing, check out their tour of Mission High featuring pictures of REALLY HAPPY looking staff and chillingly accurate descriptions of high school life that make me really glad I never have to set foot into a classroom again.

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