R.I.P.

Local Artist Killed in Valencia Hit-And-Run, Police Seek Leads

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

According to the Chronicle, Kurt Dalen, a local painter and graffiti writer, was struck and killed by a motorist at 2:45am Thursday morning outside a Valencia Street alleyway.  Police say “the driver and his [or her] whereabouts remained unknown” and are currently seeking information. 

As Wiggly Giggle, a friend of Dalen, wrote on Tumblr:

Out drinking in the Mission Thursday night? Maybe you witnessed the hit and run that killed our friend?

HIT BY A CAR at Valencia and Clinton Park (near Duboce) - car continued south down Valencia…

Described as a black or blue 4-door sedan, that will now have collision damage to the front-passenger side of the vehicle, and possibly a broken windshield.

SFPD asks that anyone with information about the incident call them at 415-575-4444.

Below, a 2009 documentary about Dalen and his time at the San Francisco Art Institute:

[Photo by Molly Oleson]

After 60 Years, The Purple Onion to Close Oct. 1st

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

In what is shaping up to be a banner year for evicting landmark institutions, North Beach's Purple Onion has been evicted from the space it has occupied since 1952.  The building was recently sold for an assuredly ludicrous sum of cash and the new owner gave the comedy club and the terribly-named upstairs Caffe Macaroni the boot.

“We're out on the 1st [of October],” Purple Onion owner Mario Ascione confirmed to Uptown Almanac earlier today.  “The new owners are coming in on the 28th.”

Along with Cobb's and The Punchline, The Purple Onion has been one of San Francisco's three pillar comedy venues.  Maya Angelou and Phyllis Diller, who also died last week, had their first gigs there.  Woody Allen, Richard Pryor, and Robin Williams have all performed on its stage.  Zach Galifianakis's 2007 DVD special was recorded there—real historical shit like that.

To get some perspective on what this means to local comedy, we asked Sean Keane to tell us a bit about the significance of the place: “There was a point where you could tell how long a new comic had been in the comedy world by when their Facebook profile photo changed to them at the Onion.”

However, the general reaction amongst local comedians on Facebook has been decidedly mixed, ranging from the I-don't-give-a-fuck snark (“The Purple Onion as we knew it is dead and gone”) to more pragmatic assessment (“there goes 60% of my shows”).  But most seem to think this void might foster a more DIY spirit within the comedy scene, forcing comics out of North Beach into more casual venues not typically home to stand-up.

As for the future? The Onion's owner doesn't have any plans to reopen the venue at a different location, but intends to look into it.  He also refused to talk to us about the future of the space and who bought the building, but one source* told us that Michigan-based strip club magnate Roger Forbes bought the building and plans to turn it into a tawdry tittie bar.

*I should note that this source is a comedian, and I don't particularly trust comedians. 

[Photo via Courting Comedy]

Mr. Bubbles Gets Scrubbed

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

The beloved 24th Street Mr. Burbujas mural, featuring the iconic anthropomorphic buff dancing washing machine discharging some serious bubbles in front of a GIANT LOADS sign, has been dealing with vandalism problems over the last few years.  But the owners—bless their hearts—persistently repaired the mural, keeping one of the last great icons of Mission District whimsy and wonder alive.

However, sometime in the last four days, they said “fuck it” and just buffed most of it out.  Outrage!

Now, one must speculate as to whether they intend to repaint/update the mural or not, especially given that they chose not to paint over the entire thing, notably leaving the tee-hee-dick-jokes GIANT LOADS sign fully intact.  And let's hope they do.  But in the meantime, Mr. Bubbles' untimely and unnecessary death must be avenged, preferably by firebombing the Benjamin Moore across the street.

(And here's Mr. Bubbles in better, cleaner days:)

[Second photo by Joe Schumacher]