Mission District

Keith Haring Resurrected

There's his Radiant Baby, stenciled right onto 16th and Guerrero.

(The Brooklyn Museum is having some sort of retrospective right now, which means the entirety of NYC's plywood walls are covered in Keith Haring's art.  Maybe their marketing is making its way out to San Francisco now?)

[Photo by Quonky]

Intrepid Researcher Sets Out to Determine Which is Better: Muni or BART

We Built This City is amidst an experience to figure out which mode of transportation is best to drag you from the Mission to downtown.  So far, things aren't looking good for Muni:

Travel time: BART 7 minutes, Muni OH MY GOD AM I GOING TO GET THERE BEFORE LUNCH?* Winner: BART

Number of blond chicks talking on their cellphones: BART: 0, Muni: 2. Winner: BART

Sunshine/scenery experienced during ride: BART: 0, Muni: The whole way. Winner: Muni

Number of jerks taking up more than one seat: BART: 2, Muni: 9 (counted the guy sleeping across 4 seats as 3). Winner: BART

Number of people in close proximity to me who seemed like they might be carrying bird flu: BART: 0, Muni: 70% of the people on the bus. Winner: BART

Geez.  Why don't we just tear up Muni already and reinvest all that money into a cycling program?  If we took their $780m annual budget and, like, divided it up among SF's 805k people, everyone could buy fancy new Public Bike every year and have enough money leftover for an Instagram-enabled device.

[More stats over at WBTC]

Renting an Apartment in the Mission Now Means Bidding on the Place and Offering the Landlord a "Signing Bonus"

This dream could be yours for $3,000 OBO!

Rental prices are going up.  Way up.  And with historically low vacancy rates and new millionaires moving into town, it's a landlord's market.  Take this new development in the world of renting apartments: having to bid upwards of $3k/month for an apartment on Valencia and Duboce.  Check it:

$3000/mo. 1 bd in Mission — ridiculous? Yes. Make offer, let's talk.

Ridiculous rent for a 600 sq ft one bedroom apartment in the Mission?

Even if you can have your pet?
Even if it has lots of natural light, a small working fireplace, claw foot tub, somewhat upgraded eat-in kitchen, including new fridge?

And here is the real deal: WALKING COMMUTE TO CIVIC CENTER AND MID MARKET!

Sounds like a good deal!  What do I need to do to get such a posh pad?

MAKE A BID BY RESPONDING TO THIS EMAIL:

(Your bid will of course be subject to your seeing the apartment).

Your bid should include the following (required):
-monthly rent you are willing to pay (water & garbage paid by owners),
-plus agreement to lease for minimum one year,
-plus your employer name with phone number to verify, and
-last 2 landlords with phone numbers, &
-how many people and pets will reside in the apt, &
-your phone number (we will only respond by phone, not email).
Not required but appropriate:
-info about your pet(s),
-plus info about you — your elevator pitch resume —
-and, if you wish,
—————offer of a signing bonus.
We will see who responds, evaluate the offers, then set up opportunity for top bidders to view the apartment some time between bid close and following week.

Alright, well for that kind of money and effort, what kind of palace are we looking at?

Looks great!  Where do I sign?

Oh, and one more thing:

Thanks for your interest in living in San Francisco's most awesome neighborhood.

Stepped-on Del Taco Box to Replace Giant Value

Have you ever wanted to live in a weird 70's bowling sign?  Well, soon you'll be able to, as Mission Street's Giant Value is set to become a deflated accordion/fancy 110-unit condo development that'll rival the height and majesty of the New Mission Theater marquee.  From the architect, Kwan Kenmi:

110 Market Rate Condominums [sic] will inhabit this urban site adjacent to the New Mission Theater.

The project showcases quality and urban living. Meticulous detail 'weaves' the project tightly into the existing vibrant urban fabric. Small meticulously designed one and two bedroom condominiums bring value and density the neighbourhood [sic]. The design utilizes contemporary design and materials to bring idividuality [sic] to the building and dwelling units.

I'm inclined to think that these rendering inaccurately portray the true magnitude of this thing, considering the New Mission Theater marquee is only 70 feet tall and they've designed it to be 8 stories (unless the floors will only be ~8 feet tall each).

Anyway, no word yet as to if there will be any affordable housing, when construction is slated to begin, and how much each unit will be flipped for (but we're hearing rumors that the developer, along with Alamo Drafthouse, is pitching in $1.2m to revitalize Bartlett Street).  Stay tuned.

Celebrate Skeeball's Arrival with a Charity Skeeball Tourney at Dr. Teeth

As we mentioned last week, a skeeball machine was spotted hanging out outside of Rhea's during Sunday Streets.  And this made us freak out.  Why?  Because we love skeeball, damnit, and we aren't particularly down with biking out to the Richmond to play.

Well, the machine's owner, noted skeeball champ Joey the Cat, has found a permanent home for it right in Dr. Teeth's backyard and they're celebrating its arrival with a cancer research fundraiser TONIGHT before Broke-Ass Stuart's party.  Joey fills us in:

Our dreams have come true and I found a home for the skeeball machine: Dr. Teeth. To kick off the machine being placed in the newly renovated backyard AND raise money for blood cancer research (who's not doing that right now?!), I'm hosting a Charity Skeeball Tournament with a bunch of prizes and fun.

Here are the details:
6PM registration / 7PM Tourney Starts / 9PM Trophy Ceremony
Prizes: Sol Republic Headphones (value: $99) - $25 Gift Card to Mission Bicycle - 3 Sony Dashes - One Free Skeeson of Brewskee-ball -  Other Goodies

The tourney is free to enter, but they'll be charging $1 per game (all of which is donated to blood cancer research, of course).  Also, THERE'S SKEEBALL IN THE MISSION NOW.

[Thanks, Joey!]

"Working-Class Mission Bar El Mexicano Getting Set to Gentrify"

At least, that's the headline from Grub Street, which goes on to report that the bar's (at 3088 24th Street, between Lucky and Treat) liquor license changed hands today and “will likely close for a hipster makeover in the coming months.”

[Grub Street]

Becoming a Beautiful Stoned Butterfly

Dude.  dddduuuuddddeeeeee…… u lookin at this thing? It's like a metaphor for the Obamanati endorsing gay marriage. Right? Like, when he finishes suckin' down that jammer, wings will bust outta his fascist lil' cocoon and fly to the Middle East and end our imperialist wars for Israel.

Wait. Whoa. I think I might be wrong.  Like.  What's up with that Indian feather thing?  Is this a hungover hipster burrito?  Fuck dude, how'd it get that joint in its mouth when it has no arms? fuuuuccckkk are armless man-burritos comin' at our crops? Where's our pit bulls at dude?

im so high. i think im hungry for pizza

namaste.

[Thanks, WBTC!]

Anti-Gentrification Mural In Progress on Balmy Alley

There's a new mural going up in Balmy Alley and it's about everyone's favorite topic: gentrification!  This time, the Hitler-stached policía are broing-down with white folks over coffee as they arrest and harass Latinos, making a safe place for yuppies plugged into the Matrix to type away on their MacPhoneiBookthings while being laughed at by monkeys.  I think.

From one Oakland resident participating in painting the mural:

This particular mural was the perfect adaptation of the culture of the mission changing from a celebrated Chicano community into basically, hipster-yuppy central. In my opinion the mural’s design really does a good job of emphasizing the politics behind gentrification.

The funny thing is, this mural is still relevant in Oakland and many other places around the world.  So many people are losing the heart and culture of their neighborhood, to high rise condo’s and pabst drinking hipsters.  It’s sad that the mission is becoming one of those areas, but so is Oakland, and many other places around the world.

Wait, I'm confused: is it the cops causing gentrification, with their deportations and questionably racist enforcement of the law?  Or is it the hipsters, with their PBR and high rise condo's?

Anyway, for more analysis and pictures of hipsters painting the mural, head over to 2AM Is the time.

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