Mission District

When I Live in the Mission and I'm Like ...

— By Alissa |

When I forget to call ahead to Rhea's and there's a 25 minute wait …

Walking into work on Thursday morning after Whiskey Wednesday at Benders …

When my crush checks in on Foursquare at the same bar I'm at …

When I'm at Dolores and the weed truffle guy is out of cinnamon truffles … 

When I'm getting coffee at Four Barrel and they tell me they don't “do” skim milk …

When I walk by a bunch of Capp st hookers …

When my mom calls me after hearing about another shooting on my corner …

When my friend tells me she met her new boyfriend on Instagram …

Notoriously Strange Vegan Raw Joint Cafe Gratitude to Become a Horrifyingly Delicious Grilled Cheese Place

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

We're a week behind on this and only learning about it now, so please excuse our tardiness…but cult-favorite Cafe Gratitude on Harrison and 20th is, in fact, closing down at the end of the month and being replaced by an outpost of SOMA's oozy and popular American Grilled Cheese Kitchen.  Inside Scoop reports:

Pretty much since opening in 2010, The American has been bursting at the seams; Food & Wine declared it one of the best restaurant openings of the year. Since then, the 800-square-foot restaurant has been very, very busy, so a second location is anticipated to ease some of the strain on the original’s 200-square-foot kitchen, which does up to 600 orders a day (and they don’t even do dinner … yet).

The Mission location is about double the size, meaning they’ll be able to do the prep work there, like the pickles, housemade mustards, prepped sandwich ingredients, and so on.

While I'm sure everyone is mourning the loss of Gratitude's famous grass cracker sandwich or whatever, we now have a bona fide grilled cheese establishment that we can hit up for a healthy breakfast at 8am.  But be warned, American charges upwards of nine bucks for a sando, which is certainly causing many of you to gasp and sneer and declare the death of the neighborhood.  And maybe it is the death of the neighborhood.  However, now you don't have to walk into that building and tell a bunch of shitty vagabonds “I am transformed” or “I am fulfilled” when you're hungry as fuck and all you want to do is overpay for a salad.

A gratifying win for the Mission, if I do say so myself…

[Inside Scoop | Photo by Scott Savage]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Valencia Sidewalk Sale Returns Saturday!

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

The Valencia Corridor Merchants Association is bringing back their annual sidewalk sale this weekend, promising a hot mess of cheap and free booze and food, music, art openings, discounted goods, and associated shenanigans.  There's even a “pop-up bar” by everyone love-it-or-hate-it bar Dear Mom.

From Weston Wear's Bridget Moore, who is helping put on the event:

We feel this to be a strong and well-received event, despite certain businesses suffering setbacks from the Valencia Street Riots that took place on April 30th. We are going to show everyone we can take a beating and still throw a party.

Okay!  So, everyone go support your local (vandalized) businesses by opening your wallets and getting some rad goods in return.  Below, a list of some of Saturday's highlights:

Room 4: Vintage toy trunk show with bargain prices. Featuring lots of Pee-Wee Herman, Simpsons, and Nightmare Before Christmas. 904 Valencia

Lost Weekend Video: All day sidewalk event featuring $5 DVDs and music. 1034 Valencia

Weston Wear: Inside: Pop-Up Bar hosted by Dear Mom Bartenders Outside: Matt Marcus of The Front Porch and fellow staff serving a bevy of hot sauces, fried chicken and whoopie pie samples outside 4 prize raffle as well as 15% off all of our new summer arrivals. 569 Valencia

Candystore Collective: Vintage Goodies Sidewalk Sale. Big Discounts on a bevy of vintage treasures from the vault. Noon to 5pm, 3153 16th (Btwn Valencia and Guerro)

Dema: Pop-up Vintage from Golden Collective on the sidewalk from noon to 5pm and 15% off the entire store! 1038 Valencia

Hangr 16: Live DJ 11-7pm and Mimosas served up till 2pm. 3128 16th (Btwn Valencia and Albion)

Venga Empanadas: Menu Specials and Food Samples. All day long, 443 Valencia

Good Vibrations: All day sale & giveaway! 603 Valencia [Free dildos???!!!!]

Five & Diamond: Music and all day sidewalk sale event! 510 Valencia

Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club: Sidewalk Event. 1057 Valencia

Curiosity Shoppe: Little Paper Planes book launch party and gallery opening. 855 Valencia

Carte Blanche Gallery: Live music and discount prices on a selection of framed collector prints and photo books. 973 Valencia

Dog Eared Books: Discounted Books and serving up treats from 10a-6pm. 900 Valencia

Casanova Lounge: Opening up early at 3pm! Live DJ set and $1 off drinks till 7pm. 527 Valencia

The Front Porch:  Executive Chef Matt Marcus and staff will be serving up a bevy of award winning hot sauces, new chiptole bbq sauce, fried chicken and whoopie pie samples 12-5 in front of Weston Wear (569 Valencia) Then all night long menu specials at their own spot. 5-11pm, 65A 29th Street

ArtZone 461 Gallery: Ryan M. Reynolds “Continuum” and Paul Morin “Modern Portraits”. 12-6pm, 461 Valencia

Community Thrift: 25% off all furniture! 623 Valencia

Belljar: Discount and and drinks all afternoon. 3187 16th (Btwn Valencia and Guerro)

Mira Mira: All day sale, in store event and serving up munchies. Noon to 7pm, 3292 22nd (at Valencia)

Hazel and Gerties: Sale and Adoption Event. 3385 22nd Street (Bwtn Valencia and Guerro) [Puppies!]

West of Pecos, A Reclaimed Wood-Filled Southwestern Restaurant, Opens Tomorrow

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

I found myself parked in the middle of some 1950s-era Southern bar in Midtown Manhattan yesterday.  It was kitschy, with all its barnyard, trailer park, squeaky screen door decor, but it was nice.  And as I sat there, sucking down a $6 Miller High Life wondering how the fuck creative types could ever put up with such an exorbitant town, I couldn't help but to also ponder as to why the Mission doesn't have more goofy thematic establishments within its bounds.

Well, wonder no more: West of Pecos is opening tomorrow in the former Bombay Bazaar space on Valencia.  Now, Pecos doesn't exactly look like it will become anyone's regular haunt, and it could be closer to those areyoufuckingkiddingme? Manhattan prices we've seen so much on Valencia lately.  But, goddamn, it sure does look nice inside.

From Eater, who snapped the above photos:

At this point, the remnants of the former Bombay Bazar—three gaping skylights and original 1907 wood floors—have now been filled in with items salvaged in the Santa Fe area. A 100-year-old tobacco barn has been turned into a bar top and tables. Heavy reclaimed doors have been touched up with natural turquoise and brick red tones. Tin lines the bars, and round wrought iron chandeliers hang from the ceilings. It's all very rustic, and wooden with lots of Southwestern flair.

And the food?  Well, the menu is not up yet, but they are saying it will be lots of Santa Fe and Texan dishes of meats and veggies and some BBQ.

[Photos and More Info on Eater]

Have Thoughts on the Redesign of Bartlett Street?

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

As mentioned before, the folks over at the Mssion Community Market and Rebar are looking to convert Bartlett from 22nd to 23rd into a nice new outdoor plaza fit for events, chilling, and buying fresh produce.  And should you have any interest in sharing your thoughts on what changes should come to the block, swing by CCSF Mission Campus Wednesday night.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Local Homeowner Needs Lesson in Community Networking

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

This note to neighborhood taggers is adorable.  Adorable.  It's written on a repurposed grocery bag.  It's violently stapled to the wall.  It ties in local sports teams.  It innocently assumes taggers won't respond with stickering it.

But really, South Van Ness homeowner, what you need is a buddy.  A buddy to guide you through the rough process of creating a mural in the Mission.  I mean, have you walked down Clarion Alley lately?  The “do as you wish” artistic free-for-all approach to community art just doesn't work.  You'll go to bed with a Giants mural and wake up to find really crude post-feminist fascist propaganda (read: a stick figure with a giant cock).  And no one wants that.

[Photo by OMG the Mish!]

Skee-Ball Comes to the Mission!

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Or at least it did, at Sunday Streets outside of Rhea's.  But, clearly, this thing was dragged out to the street from somewhere.  So where is this thing holed up?  And can the public (read: me) play it?

(Also, what would it take to get a bar/venue/dollar store to keep one of these things running?  I know Mission bars don't really need to do anything besides put in a pool table, pinball machine, and maybe a shuffleboard table to pack the place, but there are plenty of spots with ample space that could maybe mix things up and allow us to play skee-ball without schlepping our asses out to Buckshot.)

[Photo by Mission Bicycle]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

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