Tenderloin / Civic Center

Bizarre Street Sign Stencil (Finally) Explained

I've been seeing this stupid stencil around the 'hood for the last year or so and never quite knew what it was all about.  Directions to your friendly neighborhood acid supplier? Guerrilla street marketing for a Ford pick-up with a respectable turning radius?  Anything at all?

Well, We Built This City finally put the pieces together for all us curious folk:

Who else recognizes this? It’s the sign from Mission approaching S. Van Ness

And she's right!

Thank you, WBTC. I can finally sleep at night.

Mid-Market's Answer to the Bernal Heights Bikini Jogger

Our friends up in Bernal Heights have been enthralled (turned on?) for the last few months by a local resident jogging around the neighborhood in nothing but a bikini, letting her lady parts bounce around in the most photogenic of ways.

Naturally, the absurdity of such a thing generated all sorts of press and spawned a speedo jogger intimidator (which my heterosexuality/concern for human welfare requires me to classify as “ewwwww grossssss”).  However, other neighborhoods never really upped the ante with their own athletic fashion weirdos, much to the disappointment of the internet.

But now it seems there's another fleshy jogger to be reckon with—this time, gracing our city's crackhead corridor with full, unadultrated nudity, as captured by Josh J a few months back in video form:

While this blogger hasn't seen this neatly trimmed Yeti with his own eyes, I suggest listening for the catcalls “heyyyyyyyy lady” and “where you going so fast?” and “hey mommy, why don't you run over this way?” to find her yourself.

[Video by Josh J]

This is What SFPD Busting a Bike Thief Looks Like

For all the shit we give SFPD for harassing cyclists, sometimes they go out and do wonderful things for the biking community.  Like busting open Bobby the Bike Thief, or put this guy's face on the sidewalk.  And while I couldn't find any details on this particular bust, other than photographer SF SCUM took this photo last week and it appears to have gone down on Market Street, just seeing this stuff warms my cynical little heart.

How is a Gringo Supposed to Order a 'Wetback Burrito'?

I'm not really sure why you'd want to eat a burrito like a salad in the first place, but if you are so inclined, Taqueria Cancún's 6th and Market outpost has just the thing for you: The Wetback Burrito.  It's just like the wet burrito you're accustomed too, only sprinkled with language rarely used outside of Texas.

So, how are the well-to-do Caucasian clientele supposed to order such a thing without getting a black eye? DIVE Food (a blog that sadly no longer sees updates) gives us a peak into what ordering a wetback in 2006 looked like:

Something about asking for a “wetback burrito” from a taqueria worker who may or may not have once dipped his gams in the Rio Bravo del Norte is a little unsettling, especially to a fragile, politically-correct gabacho like myself.

For a second, I thought about ordering the “er, uh, the you know, ahem, w-e-t back burrito”, but I just bucked up and said what I wanted, wetback and all. At that point, the guy behind the counter, apparently not amused with my reluctance, gave me a look so cold it could freeze blood.

I know he was thinking “Oh yeah? A wetback huh? Let's see who's a wetback after I bitch-slap your punk ass.”

I just know it. [link]

Ouch.

Is this thing just a joke put on the menu so the cashier can watch customers stammer and squirm as white guilt takes over?  Perhaps just a way to see if people are shitty enough to actually order something with “wetback” in its name?

No matter what the reason, don't hesitate while ordering, unless you want your punk ass bitch-slapped.

[Pic by SF Citizen]

San Francisco Gains World's First 'Seapunk' Mural

Did you know that “seapunk” is a “thing”?  I didn't until I came across this bizarre and frightening mural of a subdued shark with sailor tats and an squid rocking a gnarly sound system in place of suctions cups the other day.  Confused, aloof, and probably drunk, I consulted with the googles about what kind of delusional paranoia could be behind such a creation.

I'm not quiet sure how I got there—I think I searched for something like “ocean punk tattoos hermit crab weird bassnecter”—but, eventually, I found this:

What is Sea Punk? A guide out of your ignorance.

The term “Sea Punk,” perhaps originally taken from the work of photographer Andrew Ceciliato, now has come to refer to a unique style of fashion that incorporates the shock value of punk and the “kawaii” nature of mermaids. The movement mixes studs, spikes, colored hair, seashells, aliens, yin yang and other religious/spiritual symbols, and other oddball items. The ideas of punk can be seen in its rather shocking, rebellious nature. A very “kawaii”-like fashion style, Sea Punk incorporates hair colors like pink, blue, and green. Main inspirations are japanese street fashion, punk, and internet fashion.

To summarize: kids are dressing up like goth mermaids and dying their hair blue and I'm old and don't get it.

But there's a whole culture behind this seapunk shit—music, DIY Etsy fashion, and, naturally, very dedicated and hilarious haters.  And San Francisco, always being at the forefront of whatever youth movement du jour that ails our Great Society, seems ready to literally paint our walls in acceptance of it.

(Also, if these kids ever move to San Francisco en masse, I'm fleeing to a cabin in Colorado where I'll squander my remaining years rocking back and forth in a sad chair on my porch, my saggy dog at my side and a loaded shotgun on my lap, yelling at rustling bushes and the drug-enduced apparitions to get the hell off my lawn.)

For the interested, you can see the damn thing for yourself at on Market Street at 12th.  Bring goggles and a harpoon.

Good night, and good luck.

[Full-size pano on Flickr]

So What Do Whales Shoot Out of Their Blowholes Anyway?

Cocaine? What, what? Blowhole you say? Huh? Oh, BLOWhole. yuk yuk yuk

Anyway, coke fiends, next time you find yourself needing a bump but don't have any money, just dive into the Pacific and wrestle a giant beluga until a geyser of energy and septum damage comes gushing out the top of its head.

The Difference a Block Will Make

Wendy MacNaughton spent some time documenting the good life at the 5th and 6th Street intersections of Mission Street for The Rumpus.  The piece involves a hot mess of street portraiture, SRO history, and feral animals, but some important takeaways involves what you'll typically overhear:

And what you can see and smell:

The whole thing is worth a look, if only so you can ogle at every gritty detail in its full-size glory.

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