Suriya Revival!
Mission Mission reports that Suriya Thai is to be reborn!
Unfortunately not too close — 1532 Howard St, between 11th & 12th. They have left the Mission. But hopefully the elephant will make a comeback. I see a nice spot on the left hand side of the building…
History Theater – Win Some, Lose Some (and Then Some)
I am sad to report that the Cine Latino Ribity has been painted over.
Before (via Plug1)
After:
Ah, yes, the Mission is such a better place with that field of brown paint — easier to capture that Detroit-like feeling.
So after a little scrounging on the internets, we learn that Cine Latino was originally called the Wigwam when it opened in 1913. The name changed to the New Rialto (1930-1947), then the Crown (1947-1974), and then Cine Latino until it shut down in 1990.
(Click to enlarge any of the multipanel shots.)
The Cine Latino neon is stunning, as are the windows in the original Wigwam.
And here’s an amazing history of the origins of the Wigwam (search for Joe Bauer).
My maternal Grandfather, Joe Bauer, tacked up the sign for the Hotel Burbank (sunk all his dough into it) on April 17th, 1906. On April 18th the earthquake didn’t get him but the fire did. He had four $5 gold pieces left.
With one $5 gold piece he bought, along with two partners, a teepee-shaped tent that they set up in GG Park and charged 5c a show for any entertainment they could bring in. They called it The Wigwam. GG Park had 10,000+ refugees from the quake/fire camped out there and they had nothing to divert them from their misery until the Wigwam came along.
This venture was successful and Joe Bauer bought out his partners and put up a bigger tent, another Wigwam “Theater”. This was even more successful and he then found land in the Mission and put up the first Wigwam Theater, built entirely of wood. Later, in about 1913, he put up the building that stands there now. He was a successful vaudeville theater operator and I have letters from the likes of Sid Grauman (Grauman’s Chinese in L.A.)and other west coast theater magnates asking JB to join their chain. He never did.
One of the vaudevillians he gave a break to was a young kid by the name of Asa Yolson who made something of a name for himself later by the name of Al Jolson. Jolson always played the Wigwam when he was in town. I have old registers with Jolson’s signature when he signed for his pay as all who played the Wigwam were required to do.
Looking north on Mission towards the Rialto (aka Wigwan/Cine Latino) and the New Mission Theater, in 1933:
and in 1944:
Other theaters, in kinder days:
The New Mission Theater, 2550 Mission (yes, Gus Murad’s favorite, next to the Giant Value…)
Tower Theater (2457 Mission, 20th/21st)
El Capitan (2353 Mission, between 19th and 20th)
Grand Theater (2665 Mission, between 22nd and 23rd)
Hey, the Lucky Pork Store was there in 1970! WTF, an 88 cent store? Hmmm, with inflation, that’s like 5 bucks today, so maybe it had cool things. (Well, at least $5 worth of cool.)
And one more theater on Mission that didn’t make it — the Lyceum, between 29th and 30th. Hmm, that intersection sounds rather familiar — as it’s the location of our favorite Safeway.
Compare this picture from the Bernal History Project:
to today from Google Maps:
“Dell’s Do Nuts” is now El Gran Taco Loco, and the building just to the right of the Lyceum sign is still there (with another taqueria…)
Here’s the 1913-1915 edition of the Sanborn Fire Insurance map showing the Lyceum, as well as the west side of Mission between 29th and 30th.
Hey, a bowling alley with a bar! That would be useful. And the 3300 Club was a saloon back then too. Looks like there was a hardware store in or near Cole’s.
Hmmm, I just noticed that second theater. From our friends at the Bernal History Project and their 1915 business directory, we see that it was the “Mission Theatre” — now Walgreens/parking lot.
Anyway, two great resources for old theaters are this list of post-1906 San Francisco theaters, and the Cinema Treasures website. Also, the San Francisco neighborhood editions of the Arcadia Publishing ‘Images of America’ books have amazing photos. They’re in just about every bookstore in the city, as well as on Amazon, etc. The Bernal Heights edition is great, (though I was a little disappointed in the Mission edition — too many grade school class photos).
Sources for all images are in the links — SFLib, American Classic Images, Jack Tillmany and the Bernal History Project folks. and of course Flickr users. And Sparkletack has more historical references that you can shake a stick at.
Wow, this article got rather long. Congratulations if you made it this far — I honestly only intended to show the Ribity before/after, and then one thing led to another. Damn internets.
But the real question, which I leave to you readers, is why are there 5 huge theaters on Mission that are sitting there rotting? You can certainly make the argument that the Safeway is an improvement over what certainly would be a partially lettered Lyceum sign with a broken ediface. Climbing centers, gyms, housing — why can’t we have nice things?
David Byrne @ The Greek Theater – Encore Trickery
I was lucky enough to see David Byrne and friends at the Greek last Friday. An epic show, despite the beer lines that rivaled the Mission Safeway in inefficiency.
While I have graduated to medium-resolution photography with my new iPhone (the auto-focus and background contrast selection is pretty damn cool), I point you to the many photographers on Flickr who were closer and had better cameras than me.
David Byrne @ The Greek Theater, Berkeley 06-26-2009
Originally uploaded by hippiesaredead
(A note to those attending a concert: If there are a thousand balloons suspended in nets above the stage, yet the band takes a bow as if to leave, DO NOT GO HOME. The concert is likely not over, and you will be seriously insulting those who inflated the balloons.)
As far as I can tell, encores are devices that allow the band to go to the bathroom. If you have to pee, they probably do too.
The DBD (David Byrne Dancers) were great, and then there was the arrival of the Extra Action Marching Band through the crowd. There was a lot happening on stage.
Originally uploaded by hippiesaredead
While I was fully prepared for the dropping balloons, the onslaught of hundreds of white beachballs bouncing down from the rear/top of the Greek was pretty damn cool:
(Oh yeah, iPhone video = pretty damn handy.)
I think at least half of the BART train that left Berkeley got off at 24th, many of whom were carrying white beachballs.
David Byrne’s blog is pretty interesting — there should be a post on the show soon.
Dulay Lines in Real Life!
Remember the Dulay Lines?
I discovered a live specimen last month, in the wilds of Colorado:
This was at the Aloft hotel (aka W spinoff) in the exciting suburb of Broomfield.
I was very happy to see them. And they were probably the most interesting thing about Broomfield.
Sacre Blue! Le Chat de Merde, Découvert
This just in: Steven has received a chilling, anonymous call regarding the dastardly abduction of Bastille Kitty.
(Warning — the speaker is French. Transcript below for those of you who cannot bear to listen to a crazed, fromage-eating chat-knapper.)
Aaah Aaah!
SteeeVAHN!
I haava the Basteeel keeety. And I am naaht geeving eet baahhk.
HON hon hon hon! [ed: french laughter]
Hon hon hon.
Are you CRYING? Are you crying, Steeeven?
Hon!
‘ee is MINE.
While you may think this your prototypical French villain, even the most dastardly have great respect for Bastille Day. Therefore I have concluded that this could very well be a disgruntled descendant of French royalty.
The possibility exists, however, that the criminal is NOT FRENCH. While this may seem shocking in light of Steven’s recorded evidence, bear with me.
While researching French transcription techniques (note there is little agreement on how exactly to enscribe French laughter in English), I came across this “training video” made by English pretenders. Note this critical screenshot of a moustachioed activist explaining how to “laugh French” :
Hough? HOUGH? Dear god, could it be Allan? I hope not, but the chain of evidence is certainly worthy of inspection by international art investigators:
1) Allan just returned from Spain and Germany, two countries SUSPICIOUSLY close to France.
2) Allan likes street art.
3) Shitty Kitty has recently shown up as street art.
4) Allan has known revolutionary moustachioed tendancies.
5) Allan can look a lot like this guy:
Steven, I think I know who you need to speak with next.
Ou Est Le Chat de Merde?
Dearest Art Thieves:
When you steal a two-dimensional animal/mascot, rule number one is to take pictures and post them online.
In the case of the missing Shitty Kitty from Shotwells, the creators WANT you to send them pictures.
This past Monday someone stole the above Shitty Kitty cut out from Shotwell’s bar.
One cut out stolen seemed like a random act of Shitty Kitty admiration. Now that a second one is gone it is clear that someone (or some folks) really like these cut outs. That makes Casey and I very happy.
But we really would like to know what you’re doing with that Shitty Kitty cutout and Bastille Kitty. Please send us pictures. Write us an account of the heist. A postcard. Something. Email us at info (a) telephoneandsoup.com
Their goal? Get pictures of Bastille Kitty before Bastille Day (July 14th). Are you up to the challenge, art thieves?
Their newest challenge:
Can you take Birthday Kitty with Dave all in your face at the bar?
Good luck.
Or if that seems impossible just come along to our next meet up. We can make you more Shitty Kittys on the spot. I was at Shotwell’s last night and Tommy (co-owner with Dave) and I were thinking about making the next Shitty Kitty meet up on Bastille day. (That’s July 14th for all of you non-francophiles.) Long live the revolution!
Mission Street Restaurant Guide
It may come as a shock, but there are restaurants along Mission in addition to those in the PRV (People’s Republic of Valencia).
The fine folks at Mission Loc@l have come up with a map:
All I can say is that cecina tortas at La Oaxaquéna kick ASS.
Shit Monster Revealed!
Another search of riveting garden video reveals our nocturnal friend in greater detail…
The arrogant little bastard took a dump right in front of the camera! You can see the steam rising up.
+1 to stucco-sux and noam for correctly guessing a racoon, and 1/2 a point to tk. (Sorry Steven, no sign that crappy raccoon has shitty kitty.)
Well, now I know what has been nosing around the grass in my yard – they’ve been known to roll up sod to get to the grubs underneath. (For a while I thought I had gophers, and was relishing the thought of going all Bill Murray on them.)
So how does one discourage raccoons? They seem to be rather clever:
Only a few studies have been undertaken to determine the mental abilities of raccoons, most of them based on the animal’s sense of touch. In a study by the ethologist H. B. Davis in 1908, raccoons were able to open 11 of 13 complex locks in less than 10 tries and had no problems repeating the action when the locks were rearranged or turned upside down. Davis concluded that they understood the abstract principles of the locking mechanisms and that their learning speed was equivalent to that of rhesus macaques. Studies in 1963, 1973, 1975 and 1992 concentrated on raccoon memory and have shown that they can remember the solution to tasks for up to three years. In a study by B. Pohl in 1992, raccoons were able to instantly differentiate between identical and different symbols three years after the short initial learning phase. Stanislas Dehaene reports in his book The Number Sense that raccoons can distinguish boxes containing two or four grapes from those containing three.
Shit Monster
As previously noted, some sort of animal is taking a giant crap in the same spot in my backyard each night. Needless to say I am not amused.
Long time readers of this blog may remember the advanced, military grade infrared technology I used to reveal last year’s mystery of the tomato monster.
Anyway, I’ve been deployed the IR at said shit spot and recording it (go EyeTV!) Needless to say, scanning through 8 hours of two feet of my garden is not exactly compelling daily viewing and I’ve been putting it off. But what do I discover as I watch a week’s worth of my garden? ANIMAL EVIDENCE.
So… we have whiskers. Is this a cat? A racoon? A beaver? A sea lion cub? Such mysteries behold gardens in La Lengua. Please let me know your opinion.
Suriya Pi
A very promising sign from our new friends at the Pi Bar.
Thin crust – check. Slices – check! Welcome to La Lengua, my circular-food-making friends..
(I’m thinking a new mural competition, no?)
TO OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF VALENCIA ST.
After years of economic and personal trials, Suriya Thai Restaurant closd its doors for the last time on March 4th of this year. They will be missed by many.
The owner of 1432 decided, perhaps for a fresh start, to paint over the well known Elephant Mural that graced the doors for the past 17 years.
The ground floor remained empty for two months when a neighborhood couple approached the landlord with a proposal to open a new restaurant called “Pi Bar”.
What we hope to create is a clean, family friendly, neighborhood place featuring hand thrown, thin crust pizza made from locally sourced ingredients. The plan is to be open seven days a week, offering pizza by the slice or the whole pie.
In addition we also plan to serve fresh salads, vegetables and toppings made with local organic produce, as well as arisitian wine and beer.
It is our intention to be a well lit, positive addition to the community, offering a warm friendly environment to food lovers of all ages to gather. Above all, we want to be good neighbors, and are looking forward to meeting all of you.
We regret any inconvenience that might be caused by our transition.
At your service, Jen, Rich and the Staff of Pi Bar.
Burrito Justice 