San Francisco and what to do in it

arrived yesterday, by luck rather than judgment found i was staying around mission - coming out of the transit at 24th was an immediate "yes!" moment. found a place to have a beer - quite appealing down-at-heel place - Clooney's? - with a bunch of people who looked like they'd comfortably checked out of worrying about too much shit. Played some dice game for a dollar. didn't win. went somewhere else much less appealing on 24th. asked where i shd eat a burrito. barman said papalotes was good. went to papalotes, had burrito. it was fine. not mindblowing, but fine. large. met a friend in town at somewhere much worse called... mirkeller is it? because friend was playing a gig nearby rather'n choice. that central area didn't really grab me. by now beer plus jet lag was making me feel like a creature from another planet, saw two songs of the gig and then decide i must immediately go home and lie down forever.

which of course meant until about half three in the morning. got up at half six and went for a walk to the top of bernal heights, which was great at that time in the morning. didn't see the coyote i was warned about.

went to aardvark books - great shop! - spent about an hour and half in there picking books up and putting them back because i can't carry them all home. did get a late edward dorn. no idea what he's like outside of Gunslinger, which i loved. Adobe books on 24th is pretty good as well? Picked up a book about Brecht and a Dashiell Hammett, and a book on philosophy by Arthur C Danto and cd easily have picked up more.

Went for a swim in the mission pool - thanks again for the rec Οὖτις. It is a bit narrow, as you say, but it did the trick. then cycled down through Golden Gate Park and the colossal haze of dope smoke. really enjoyed that ride, tho the bit up to Land's End is a bit of a killer.

Went down to China Beach and did end up having a bit of a swim in fact cos i was hot from the bike ride. felt extremely refreshed and had a fairly full throated rendition of edinburgh man by the fall to entertain/horrify the sparse beachgoers.

being taken out to Al's place tonight, tho i'd probably prefer something a bit more informal.

any current eating recs for chinatown? thinking of heading there tmrw. will sleep like a dog tonight i suspect.

jfc dude

i mean, well done! really all that's left is to join a burning man camp. do you have any interest in building a giant inverted pyramid?

and yes that climb up to the legion of honor is no joke

oh for chinatown - Z&Y is my favorite, it's better with > 3 people. but you could go alone and get the explosive chicken and not regret it. make sure to focus on sichuan specialities.

thanks lukas. right now it feels *absolutely necessary* i have the exploding chicken. i felt i shd probably have gone into the legion of honour to see the monet exhibition and almost did but i was knackered and just wanted to go downhill on the bike for a bit and go in the sea.

might see if i can fit in berkeley as well tho. hmm. will have a think.

oh explosive not exploding. still.

if you're around this weekend, you could go to the Buchlafest thing that geeta helped organize. I have to work Saturday night, but should be there Sunday.

i would love to but sadly must go to vegas for work on saturday morning. a place i do not love. maybe unfairly idk.

there's some dope food in Vegas iirc

I have Buchlafest tickets I can't use if someone wants them :(

One of my favorite chinese place is right in the edge of chinatown: house of nanking. Dont order off the menu. (Cheg jia's next door is also good)

Hmm wonder if i can get babysitting for that buchla thing on saturday...

Clooney's used to be a cop bar iirc

there's some dope food in Vegas iirc

there's a brilliant and cheap BYO thai place in a front of shops which i try and get to whenever i go. other than that i tend to scramble between whatever's least bad from standard casino fare, punctuated by occasional higher end client meals.

colleague is taking me up for a trip to zion park on sunday. which sounds good. otherwise it's trade show/sales people hell.

Clooney's used to be a cop bar iirc

that makes sense based on banners i saw above the windows when i went past it earlier this evening - didn't see exactly what they represented but saw "thanks to sfpd" on one.

didn't quite sit easy with the locals banner on folsom i've walked past a few times now commemorating the person shot by sfpd in a doorway there. US is one of those places where i feel extremely wary of the police. i mean, certainly it's something worth bearing in mind wherever you are always, but some places the violence inherent in the system feels s little closer to the surface than others.

Blackout in the Bay Area? how bad is it?

I was unaware of it but sounds like it's hit a sizable amount of the city north of Market St

fire at the Larkin St substation

shit, apparently LAX and Midtown Manhattan are down too

p sure that's just coincidence

😰

lol this is a p huge area
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C99BN0_UwAABTb4.jpg:large

I am just outside it, but now I don't have anywhere to get lunch!

what do you order at nan king ?!

whatever the chef recommends that day. he'll ask if yr a vegetarian or not and how much you want, if you like things spicy etc. I've always deferred to his judgment ever since the first time I went there and we were ordering various dishes and he said "oh you don't want that, I'll bring you something else". never been disappointed!

ooh baby

I love that restaurant.

bit more of a sedate day today. continuing heavy reliance on ilx recs went to house of nanking said recommend me something and got a large plate of whatever everyone else was having but it was great and i ate. it. all. walked back thru chinatown and power cut. drivers are so (comparatively) considerate here! noticed this while cycling yesterday too. the all stop intersections wdnt be observed in a million years in london.

went for a wander down valencia and had a couple of evening drinks. got talking to some complete prick from chicago who wanted me to endorse far right views of no go zones due to muslims in the uk. refused. and made an effort to say what he was saying was comically stupid and incorrect. left. went to elbo room. wasn't great. took a hint from upthread and have gone to benders. excellent and, as mentioned, grebt jukebox.

tho my selections haven't come on yet. v reminiscent of youth - forgotten all the jukebox ins and outs.

also, and am not sure of the long provenance of this:

https://twitter.com/hautepop/status/855544990600220673

any food recommendations walking distance from Kaiser on Geary?

you're near the Fillmore area and iirc Divisadero used to have patches of good places. It's been too long for me to rec anywhere tho...

in that immediate area: eliza's (chinese) on california is nearby and solid. awesome sustainable sushi place is on that block between fillmore and broderick, forget the name. as is my fave bakery in the city, b patisserie. a burrito joint called the city taqueria (formerly ocean taqueria) is actually really good - if you like spicy ask for the habanero salsa! lastly there's a great sandwich shop owned by the b patisserie people on the northeast corner of cali/fillmore (now that i think about it, on a monday only the burrito joint and eliza's will be open. japantown's nearby with a few options, too

awesome, thanks for the recs.

def some decent stuff in Japantown. Dosa is a block up from Fillmore and Geary and is a good upscale Indian place if you wanna get fancy.

"any food recommendations walking distance from Kaiser on Geary?"

I actually really like Korean place that's literally 100 feet away from the northside Kaiser.

the cheesesteak shop!

you folks are great, all the suggestions will make visiting Kaiser for a few days much easier

well this is odd

http://hoodline.com/2017/04/cafe-du-nord-on-market-street-to-transition-back-to-full-fledged-music-venue

Huh. Weird.

I was walking by there yesterday when I heard someone say "hey did you know Cafe du Nord is closing down?" and my mind went into a gentrification black hole for the thousandth time.

So yeah, weird.

reverting to their previous setup, but still under some configuration of the new ownership, is the headscratcher. I never understood their "let's make this into an upscale bar/restaurant" strategy, seemed strangely myopic about the layout and history of the place.

will be interested to see who does the booking and what their new setup is. Apart from having to cart gear up and down those goddamn stairs, it was def one of our favorite places to play

wasn't particularly fond of it as a venue, but if SF can be plus one music venue and minus one awful upscale bar with generic ambiance and drinks/food, that's a victory.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Rich-SF-residents-get-a-shock-Someone-bought-11738236.php

Busted a gut laughing at this line:
“I was shocked to learn this could happen, and am deeply troubled that anyone would choose to take advantage of the situation and buy our street and sidewalks,”

Make that $$$$$$ Tina and Michael!!

fkn hilarious A+ troll

I'm sure they'll get steamrolled by the even richer people of the HOA but it's still amazing.

I mean, I dunno, I kinda love that the tax collector's office was pretty much openly trolling the homeowners even more, they were pretty much flat out saying "Most everyone here knows how to do this and to heck with you if you can't change addresses."

holy crap at the final 2 paragraphs. also lol

Ours is a wonderful city

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/ofc/6256376954.html