EXCLUSIVE | An underground nightclub in SF’s Bayview was shut down Saturday for illegally operating during the coronavirus outbreak, The Chronicle has learned.Story by @ctuan: https://t.co/cF9pGsCoIm pic.twitter.com/qYphlp7BRA

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) April 13, 2020

San Francisco Police busted an alleged speakeasy operating in an industrial part of the Bayview neighborhood. Above is a clip of surveillance video that the city attorney's office says shows more than 150 people going in and out of the building. Not only is there a shelter-in-place mandate in San Francisco, the building apparently isn't permitted as a nightclub nor up to fire safety standards for that kind of use. From SFGate:

Over the weekend, officers from SFPD's tactical unit and the Bayview Station seized "DJ equipment, two fog machines, nine gambling machines with $670 in cash inside, two pool tables, bins of liquor, cases of beer, bar furniture, and other nightclub-related items[...]

According to court documents, the building tenant who has been allegedly operating the club told the property owner that he was using the building for storage.

Police are also separately investigating a report of shots fired inside the building on March 15.

From Denis Shiraev -- "[4k, 60 fps] San Francisco, a Trip down Market Street, April 14, 1906"

Upscaled with neural networks trip down Market Street, San Francisco, 1906. This film was shot on April 14, 1906, just four days before the San Francisco earthquake and fire which killed an estimated 3 000 people and destroyed over 80% of the city of San Francisco. It was produced by: Harry, Herbert, Earle and Joe. Harry J.

This is actually a staged shoot, so it's not actual traffic from that time [Wikipedia]

Here's the unrestored version:

Image: YouTube Read the rest

Happy mutants Andy Cowitt and Michael Wertz have collaborated on a song that tells the story of Golden Gate Park -- San Francisco's three-mile-long stretch of man-made natural space -- from its sandy start to "skaters on streets." It was created to coincide with the park's 150th anniversary (Saturday, April 4!) and the release of Marta Lindsey's new children's book (illustrated by Wertz), Golden Gate Park, an A to Z Adventure ($17.99).

Look at how stunning the book is!

-- Michael Wertz previously on BB Read the rest

San Francisco is jamming on the wine deliveries. Unsurprisingly alcohol isn't the greatest thing for your immune system.

SFist:

You’d be forgiven for blacking out around sundown and not having even noticed yet that liquor stores across San Francisco are being forced to close at 8 p.m. every night now, according to KRON 4. Mayor Breed issued that order Friday, another of the expanded shelter in place orders now in effect until at least May 1. Any cursory scrolling of social media you’ve done in the last two weeks — and yes, it has only been 14 days since this started — will show you that drinking alcohol has become a preferred pastime in the age of COVID-19. We now have the data to back this “No sh*t, Sherlock” observation; on the heels of Eater National's report that alcohol sales are skyrocketing (“Three-liter boxed wine is up 53 percent”), the Chronicle follows up with a report that Wine.com is seeing a 400 percent increase in spirits sales, from which Eater highlights the conclusion that Bay Area residents are drinking 42 percent more alcohol whilst stuck home.

Casablanca is one of the greatest drinking and smoking movies of all time. Read the rest

Dan Denegre (Space Race Studio) used his DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone to shoot this eerie yet beautiful video of San Francisco on pause. The soundtrack is "La Guitarra Triste" by Cast of Characters.

"Thankfully few people are outside (I wasn't even close to a person), but seeing the shops boarded up is tough to see," Denegre writes. "I made sure the drone wasn't a nuisance to anyone while shooting this short documentary of this...very weird time in San Francisco."

(Thanks, Imaginary Foundation!) Read the rest

photo by Julian Mark

Restaurants and boutiques in San Francisco's Mission District -- a vibrant neighborhood at the heart of the City's struggle with gentrification and inequality -- are boarding up their windows apparently in fear of riots or robberies. The businesses are closed until at least April 7 due to the “shelter in place” mandate. From Julian Mark's story in Mission Local:

“We actually don’t want to do it,” said Dylan MacNiven, the owner of West of Pecos. “I don’t think it’s good for the public to see this, but now that everyone else has done it, we’re going to be the only one on the street without it.”

MacNiven was in the process of placing the final boards on his windows on Thursday afternoon, and he said the bar and restaurant was hesitant — but then a multitude of surrounding businesses had done the same[....]

“We’re doing it so we can sleep at night,” said Needles and Pens owner Breezy Culbertson.

Culbertson said she will be out $300 to board the windows. Just one of their front windows would cost $2,000 to replace. “It’s a bummer because it feels like it is bad for morale,” said a man named Scott who was helping Culbertson install the boards.

"Apocalypse Chic: Valencia Street businesses board up their windows" (Mission Local, thanks Tim Daly!)

“We’re doing it so we can sleep at night,” said Needles and Pens owner Breezy Culbertson.https://t.co/4h4XXViseD

— Mission Local (@MLNow) March 20, 2020

Baycon is a large, regional science fiction convention that's been serving the Bay Area for 38 years; I attended several times when I lived in San Francisco and this year I was tickled to be invited to attend as Author Guest of Honor. The event is May 22-25 (Memorial Day Weekend) at the San Mateo Airport San Francisco Marriott (at Hwy 92 & 101 in San Mateo, CA). The convention is one of the best regional cons I've ever attended, with an outstanding mix of fannish activities (boffer swords! flint-knapping! multiple warring Klingon clades!), literary panels, and panels on tech, politics and other subjects salient to the Bay Area. I'm so pleased to be invited and I'm looking forward to seeing you there! Read the rest

A housing development project hopes to put people underground in the cavernous depths of San Francisco's Mission neighborhood.

SFGate reports:

Developer Chris Elsey of Elsey Partners in Manhattan, Kansas, has plans to build two apartment buildings in San Francisco's Mission District that would each include two basement-level floors with 88 so-called "sleeping pods," measuring about 50 square feet each, just a little bigger than a king-size bed...

"The contentious part is these below-grade sleeping pods," said Elsey... "When you’re building something, the plans have to be approved by the Planning Department and the Building Department. These below-grade sleeping pods meet the building codes, but there’s this perception from the Planning Department that it’s not something any human being should be exposed to or allowed to do."

...With close living quarters, the underground spaces would likely have "house rules" that residents would need to obey.

"Obviously people don’t like it when people come home drunk and belligerent," he said. "And no pod sex. I think anyone who has been in college or a dormitory, you’ve had experiences where you prefer that people do those things in private."

The project has not yet been approved by the city and it could take years for that to happen. But, if it gets the go-ahead, it's estimated that the individual, windowless sleeping pods would rent for $1,000 to $1,375 each.

Head to SFGate for images of the proposed apartment building, including plans for the sleeping pods.

screenshot via The Mole People/YouTube Read the rest

Until recently, Jackie Fielder was living in her van. At 25, the Stanford sociology grad couldn't afford rent in San Francisco. Read the rest

Spin is a short-hire/e-scooter company -- one of those firms like Bird and Lime that fill city streets with future-ewaste vehicles that block wheelchairs. It's owned by Ford. Read the rest

Looking for something special to do with the family? The San Francisco Symphony has a fun ongoing film program where they put a popular movie on the big screen and their orchestra performs the score live. The next performance is for Ghostbusters on November 29 and 30, at Davies Symphony Hall. Adult tickets start at $65.

Future film nights with the symphony include: December 3 and 6: It's a Wonderful Life July 2 and 5 (2020): Apollo 13

And, San Francisco isn't the only one doing this. Check Film Concerts Live! for shows near you. Read the rest

This Sunday, November 10th, see the wonderful science fiction writers Charlie Jane Anders (previously) and Annalee Newitz (previously) in conversation with Terry Bisson at the always-great SF in SF lecture series; doors open at 6PM at the American Bookbinders Museum (366 Clementina Alley) ($10/$8 students) with a post-show podcast from Somafm, and books on sale from our friends at Borderlands Books. Read the rest

The job listing for a vacancy in Burning Man's HR department is pretty anodyne, until you get to this: "Some of the work will be in outside weather conditions and will be exposed to fumes or airborne particles as well as possible extremes in temperature." "Possible" is really underselling it, to be honest. Read the rest

In case you missed it, some frustrated residents in the Clinton Park neighborhood of San Francisco chipped in a few hundred bucks each to purchase giant boulders to keep homeless people off their street ("anti-homeless architecture," as it's called). Boulders that the city of San Francisco aren't going to remove.

Well, BB friend Danielle Baskin, who lives on that small street, thinks the rocks are "barbaric," so she did something about it.

She tweets:

Some neighbors pooled together $2000 to dump 24 boulders into the sidewalk as a form of “anti-homeless decoration”.

The city won’t remove them, so I put their rocks on the Craigslist free section.

The post was flagged and removed, of course. But she didn't stop there. She then tried to sell the rocks for $5 each and that post was also flagged and removed.

The boulders belong in parks & gardens, not intercepting people trying to go about their day. pic.twitter.com/FEcMV9fgyb

— Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) September 27, 2019

“Can I leave my other boulders here?”

This person is either playing along or also hates sidewalks.

I’m asking him if I can borrow his truck. pic.twitter.com/H0wb5yfUSn

— Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) September 27, 2019

In another variation on my Craigslist post, I tried to sell the boulders for $5/each.

Then I‘d give away the money to people sleeping nearby.

This post was also flagged and removed. pic.twitter.com/S30bflEjK3

— Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) September 27, 2019

The latest? On Friday night, the boulders were pushed into the street! Read the rest

Click to embiggen image

Designer Jose Garcia at Zoca Studio Inc. used a familiar Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) map to showcase the Fillmore's 50 upcoming fall concerts. Ironically, you can't take BART directly to this historic San Francisco music venue. Still, it's a really neat design.

Here's the real BART System Map for comparison:

Speaking of Fillmore and its posters, if a show sells out ahead of time, they'll hand you a cool, artist-created poster for free on the way out as a gift. These posters are uniquely sized, usually at 13" X 19", and stores carry special frames to display them. My first one was from 1995 for the Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood show. It was my first introduction to the work of mosaic pop artist, Jason Mecier, who created the original art in pasta and beans.

images via The Fillmore and BART Read the rest

This Sunday, the outstanding SF in SF reading series hosts two outstanding authors: Hannu Rajaniemi (Summerland) and Christopher Brown (Rule of Capture). American Bookbinders Museum, 366 Clementina Alley. Doors at 6PM: $10 ($8 students with ID). Read the rest

For decades, Happy Mutants met one another and got seriously warped by the astounding books and other media of RE/Search Press (previously), now, after a long drought, RE/Search is publishing a new book, Underground Living (RE/Search #19), featuring the photos of V.Vale ("early Ramones shows, Henry Rollins, Lydia Lunch, John Waters, Genesis P-Orridge, William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, Kathy Acker, Survival Research Labs, and many more!"). The book launches this Sunday at San Francisco's legendary City Lights Books, where V.Vale will be in conversation with that happiest of mutants, the magnificent Rudy Rucker (previously). (via Beyond the Beyond) Read the rest