New kid ?

New boss in town? Somebody owe somebody money? New kid have to prove he's part of the gang? Five people shot in the Tenderloin, one dead SFGATE

And let's think about how someone could escape across a very long bridge with police in pursuit... well, I suppose if they blocked off the bridge, there would be lots of hostages and some idiots with guns. But then, there's the issue of "losing" the car by the (ahem) Oakland police... Homeland Security? You can't have lots of drug cash floating around without mayhem and corruption. How many replays of the Tenderloin shooting/escape to Oakland/Richmond have we seen?

Blackhawk in Tenderloin

Though I'm not fond of "BeyondChron" for it's sometimes ultra-left politics, and claiming to operate a forum, though it refuses to acknowledge diverse opinions (it's essentially a Fox News on the other side of the fence), I give them credit for bringing up a bit of history I didn't know about the entire time I lived in the neighborhood. ...although I did know that the area was "uptown" once, and what are now "adult theaters" were then popular theaters. Source notes follow...
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222 Club, 222 Hyde St (at Turk St) In the 50s and 60s this used to be a famous jazz club called the Blackhawk. Today it is a cutting edge underground venue with DJs and live music. The Blackhawk was actually at 200 Hyde St, which is now a parking lot. (WikiTravel)
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From the start, the Blackhawk presented all the jazz stars, local and national, and until the Jazz Workshop opened in 1956 (with former Blackhawk regular, pianist Jeannie Hoffman). The small, ugly, 'Hawk was the Bay Area's principal modern jazz club outside the Filmore District.

Dave Brubeck, Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi, Vernon Alley, Art Tatum, Johnny Hodges (with John Coltrane), Anita O'Day, Oscar Peterson, the MJQ, Chico Hamilton, Red Norvo with Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Barker, Miles Davis, Shelly Manne, Thelonious Monk, all played (and many recorded) there. (this from a Logitech promotional site)
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The New York Times recently described how American Beauty was the quintessential Grateful Dead album. That album was recorded across the street from the Blackhawk at the Hyde Street Studios.

So was every Creedence Clearwater Revival album after Green River, and Santana’s legendary Abraxis. Keith Richards recorded there, along with stars too numerous to name. BeyondChron
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Well, above paragraphs have named a lot of them, but thanks to BeyondChron for pointing out this landmark -- which is actually now a parking lot, in spite of 222 claims to be the reincarnation)

Indiana police implicated, readers blame Obama

In a perfect example of twisted conservative logic, a large number of policemen were implicated by their part-time jobs working for a company where stolen goods were commonly sold. Yet, the reader responses in a very convoluted twist of logic, turn this around and say this is an example of Obama's administration?!

read: Police raid major metal recycling firm

Sad retail implosion

Sad to see the Metreon doing so poorly. The place had such high hopes that slowly dissipated. Now in the hands of Westfield, I don't foresee anything mind-blowing, but let's see what they can pull out of the hat in what seems a prime downtown location. SF GATE Article

Mean Streets

This guy was clean for 2 years, and then wiped out by his neighborhood gangstas.

The killer ? "He's our basic stupid guy gets out of prison, wants to be a thug," Johnson said. S.F. burglary victim killed for going to police

Chinese New Year Parade Treasure Hunt

The Chinese New Year Parade is fun, but it can seem really long and occasionally tedious, and you always end up moving around to get a better view or just because you're tired of standing in one place.

Enter CNYP Treasure Hunt... Fun to run around through the crowd following clues looking for various points in the city, winding around through the parade route. More of a challenge with a larger "team." (bathroom breaks? hungry? tired now of wandering?)

At every spot there were a few other clipboard-wielding teams searching for the clue, and if the thing became too popular, that could reduce the fun and intrigue. But last night, good fun team (if a bit scattered due to size?) and a nice excuse to roam from the Ferry Building to Chinatown and North Beach.

Oh, and and looks like we got 10 of the 17 "treasures," though I haven't looked yet to see if our answers are correct.

Hipster Meltdown

uh oh, the notion that American Apparel is opening a store in the Mission is causing a hipster meltdown, as chronicled on Scott Beale's blog...

photo of hipsters posting signs on the storefront "no more hipster scum" ?

Scott Beale's twitter survey "what is a hipster" (crap, I refuse to follow any links from twitter to see what they're pointing at as their definition)

A great hipster commercial, and another video "hipster olympics" which apparently is a re-make of a Monty Python skit. Scott Beale Blog

Success?

What happens when you take 30% of the buildings in a city core off the market, and house homeless people, drug addicts, and people who can't really afford to live in the city there?

Here's the quote from the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation's newsletter:

Thirty years later, we can declare victory: 30% or more of the Tenderloin is owned or controlled by nonprofit and public entities, and the threat that the neighborhood will transform into an exclusively middle class enclave is much diminished. Quality of life, not gentrification, is today’s primary issue.

I repeat the claim I've shouted before... wouldn't it be more cost effective to house these people somewhere besides the most expensive real estate in the country?

Rowing on the Bay

Finally passed all the hurdles to allow me to take the gorgeous rowboats outside the Aquatic Park cove ! It was an incredibly gorgeous day for February. A woman was lying on the pier in her bikini, and I took my shirt off to get a little sun on my row back. This time of year, it could just as easily been pouring cold windy rain.