Cultural Destination?

From today's Chronicle Open Homes section, one agent is advertising TICs in our neighborhood in BOLD type with the headline "HIP! CULTURAL DESTINATION!"

We always knew that we were in a great, diverse neighborhood, but I guess the cat's out of the bag...

(Chron Real Estate Section, Open Homes, Page L8, first column - not listed on SFGate.com)

Mirkarimi: National landlord may have pulled wool over Planning Commission eyes

From the San Francisco Sentinel, "A national landlord firm may have acted in "bad faith" through a misleading permit application harmful to tenants granted by the San Francisco Planning Commission, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi concluded today."

"District 5 tenants of the 13-unit Victorian apartment building approved for major structural change complain the permit was a ploy to increase number of units and drive current residents out. On Thursday several residents spoke before the Planning Commission, which no long has jurisdiction, to keep commissioners abreast of their appeal to the San Francisco Board of Appeals."

"Mirkarimi visited the site located at 800 Lyon Street Thursday at the request of tenant Marianne Beck."

"Beck cited tenant evictions and approved plans for fire escape restructuring she claims is life-threatening. "Since Prana 8 Properties took over the building they have systematically evicted many of the old tenants from our building," Beck wrote to Mirkarimi."

"Tenants are represented by Raquel Fox of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic and by Joe O'Donoghue, president of the Residential Builder's Association."

Fillmore, Harlem of the West

I heard a good radio story on KQED's California Report today about a book called "Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era" (Chronicle Books), and photo/oral history of the Fillmore in the 1940s & 50s. Pretty amazing collection of folks who used to hang out not far from our little NOPNA 'hood.

From the publisher:

Billie Holiday singing at the New Orleans Swing Club. Dexter Gordon hanging out at Bop City. Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane all swinging through town for gigs. Sound like a nostalgic snapshot from the New York jazz scene, or perhaps New Orleans? Nope. This particular sentimental journey describes San Francisco's Fillmore District in its heyday. The Fillmore in the 1940s and 1950s was an eclectic, integrated, and hopping neighborhood dotted with restaurants, pool halls, theaters, and shops—many minority-owned—and boasting two dozen active nightclubs and music joints within its one square mile. Although it has been commemorated in songs, poems, and in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, few people today know of the rich history of the Fillmore and its musical legacy because it vanished abruptly and so thoroughly due to redevelopment in the 1960s. Through dozens of archival photographs and oral accounts from the neighborhood residents and musicians who experienced it at its height, Harlem of the West celebrates this unique and rediscovered chapter in jazz history and the African-American experience on the West Coast.

related:
Exhibit at the SF Performing Arts Library & Museum
Article from the SF Chronicle (Jan. 22)

What about that Cafe Daebul?

So,

the legend is that the dark, quiet place across from Albertsons on Fulton, Cafe Daebul ('Devil' in Korean) is some sort of house of ill repute.

These are, of course, only rumors and I personally have no proof of anything.

Some say 'let sleeping dogs lie' some say 'inappropriate for the neighborhood',
some say 'victimless crime' some say 'women being exploited'...

what do you think?

About the Fulton Street Bar...

the building owner forced the bar owner out of there by increasing the rent outlandishly.
Then there was a guy who was going in there to put a full pizza restaurant and bar in, and he started renovating... and I think ran out of money and went away.
The last I heard the actual business owner told me he was going to to remodel the place and open a restaurant himself. That was at least two years ago when he told me that.

It's really unfortunate that the old place was forced out... and that nothing has gone in there in so long.

The restaurant formerly known as Tango20

... is now sporting an ABC license notice from Papalote, a "hipster" mission burrito establishment. Earned 8.7 moustaches on the BurritoEater website - sounds good to me (Note: Taco Loco on Divis earned 8.5 M...).

Greening the City Summit in GG Park

invite you this all-day event featuring experts in sustainable cities from across the county, interactive workshops with city staff, awards for local greening projects, a vendor gallery and more.
Participants will learn about innovative approaches to the Urban Forest,new tools for community-based greening, and discuss the future of San Francisco's new City Greening Initiative. Michael Kinsley, principal and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, will give the keynote address.
Astrid Haryati, Assistant for Green Initiatives to Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley, will provide an overview of Chicago's Greening Program.
The summit will be held on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 at the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The summit is free of charge and lunch will be provided.
Advanced registration is required -- please register today as space is limited.
Registration materials and more information can be found at:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=36859