San Francisco is My Home

24
Mar

Photo show at the Legion of Honor

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Events, Museums

If you need more eye candy in your life, then…you probably don’t live in the Castro. Anyway, the solution for this is a trip to the Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990–2005 exhibit at the Legion of Honor. This show is padded with images of all the loveliest celebrities in famously sexed-up poses; the perfect thing to spice up a dreary work week. Check it out any time between now and May 25.

24
Mar

Rocket Dog fundraiser coming up

Author: kris, Category: Charity, Events, Groups

Local non-profit org Rocket Dog Rescue is holding a fundraiser party on April 5. Rocket Dog’s founder is the woman who lost her home on Christmas Eve, and the organization can really use your support at this tough time.

The fundraiser is happening at Terra Mia on April 5. Expect fine foods, drinks, and a silent auction. Every penny raised will go towards rescuing a dog who is going to be euthanized at a shelter. Visit the website for details.

24
Mar

Weekend preview

Author: kris, Category: Out of town, Outdoors, Weekend preview

The Monday weekend preview rolls around again, but today I’m a little stumped. You see, friends, I am going out of town starting Friday. Usually just knowing I’m going to be in the city over the weekend makes me peripherally aware of stuff that’s happening — you can’t help taking note of flyers and things around town and thinking “hm, option.” But this weekend, no such luck.

Instead, I’d like to draw your attention to a few stellar out-of-town options for a weekend away.

Option 1: Sand and sun

Northern California has almost everything you could ever need, from our indie-rockin’ beanies right down to our smug, self-satisfied little toes. However, sometimes you find yourself wishing you didn’t have to wear three layers of clothes to visit the beach. At those times, I recommend a quick weekend in the south of our fair state. Head to Monterey for some of the state’s most stunning coastal landscapes, which can be interspersed with a trip to the outstanding Monterey Bay Aquarium when you’re tired of lounging on golden sands. (Lest you think this is one of those touristy, semi-dull museum experiences, think again. The Aquarium is actually exciting, gorgeous and surprisingly fascinating for a warehouse full of cold-blooded critters and invertebrates.)

Option 2: Mountain dew

Not the drink; the landscape. The Sierras are a perfect place to backpack (although you’ll need some serious cold weather gear if you go now). You can also find lovely hotels in Tahoe or Yosemite. For example, the Yosemite View Lodge features semi-affordable suites with jacuzzi tubs overlooking the river; I highly recommend it.

Option 3: Party

You can always find cheap flights to Vegas or L.A. if you want to go somewhere a bit more people-oriented. It will tell you something about me that the closest I’ve been to L.A. is Disneyland and I’ve never been to Vegas at all. When I want to party I usually head to Santa Barbara, where the plethora of drunken underage co-eds letting their hair down can supply you with anecdotes for a month. If you want a slightly more adult holiday down there, check out San Ysidro Ranch, the uber-luxury spot where celebrities like Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck stay when they come to town. I could never afford to stay there, but I did get the insider’s tour and stood in one of the fancy-pants bathtubs.

20
Mar

Exhibits at the Conservatory of Flowers

Author: kris, Category: Golden Gate Park, Kids, Museums, Nature

The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park has two exhibits going on right now. I saw both yesterday (ever your faithful correspondent, I go see pretty floral stuff in the middle of the workday so you don’t have to) and I can say with confidence that they are awesome.

First off is The Butterfly Zone. Now, I am not normally a girl who will cheerfully walk into a room full of giant flying insects, but somehow butterflies are different. I am still a little jumpy when they land on me, but my yen to be surrounded by pretty pretty colors overcomes — just barely — my aversion to things flying at my face. Butterfly Zone is an exhibit all about butterflies, as you might imagine, and includes tons of information on their lives and habits, none of which I paid any attention to. Instead, I sat on one of the benches and watched the many pretty little guys fluttering around the plants and flowers and occasionally coming to check out my shoulder blades and hair. This exhibit is good for kids, but very young kids will want to touch the butterflies, which is bad for them.

This exhibit runs through November 2. You can also check out their Night Safaris, where you get a different butterfly experience. Check the website for details.

Photo by Ron Lewis.

On the other side of the Conservatory (where you’ll find the secret passage to the Lounge), The Art of Penjing resides peacefully among the water plants. This ancient Chinese art consists of creating elaborate miniature landscapes of plants, wood and stone, with a few tiny houses and people in boats thrown in. (Incidentally, do you ever hear anyone talking about a modern Chinese art? Whenever you say “Chinese art,” you feel compelled to throw in an “ancient,” right? Weird.)

I love miniatures. I always have, since I was a little girl. I love elaborate dollhouses filled with sliver-sized spoons and knives no bigger than a freckle. I love books about tiny people or miniatures that come to life (The Indian in the Cupboard, Mistress Masham’s Repose, The Littles). And so I found these carefully constructed landscapes completely enthralling. The care that’s taken to choose the little plants that look like towering trees, the ones that look like pussy willows along the bank, and the tiny tiny blossoms blooming on hillsides — it’s unreal. Plus, there are itty bitty insects in there that were fluttering among the “trees” like birds. It was really enchanting. Top marks from me.

The Art of Penjing runs through April 27. Your Conservatory ticket will get you into both shows as well as the bulk of the Conservatory itself. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students, $1.50 for kids under 11 and free for kids under 4. Enjoy!

19
Mar

311

Author: kris, Category: Bars and Clubs, Music, Transportation

I went to Bottom of the Hill to see a friend’s band play last night. (The band is Truxton, and while I am of course a biased reviewer, I recommend checking them out. The rock is fierce, the performance energetic, and the music all harmonious and stuff.)

Afterwards, feeling independent and not yet aware how severely undressed I was for the external temperature, I turned down a ride home and elected to take the bus.

Twenty minutes later, concerned for my near-frostbitten fingers, I stood anxiously in the middle of the empty street, searching the horizon with yearning, runny eyes for a bus that still had not appeared. The nice thing was I was able to get some chat time in with the kind folks at 311.

In case you do not know, 311 is the number you call when you are stranded at a freezing bus stop in the middle of the evening and your bus isn’t coming. You tell them where you are and what line you’re waiting for and which direction you’re going (they can help you with the inbound/outbound thing if you’re not sure) and they can tell you where your bus is using advanced satellite technology, or possibly magic.

The i.m. Gavin Newsom, let me tell you, LOVES this service. I’ve heard him randomly mention it at more than one press conference. (And a digression: man, it has been WAY too long since I’ve been to one of his press conferences. No wonder he’s getting married, without me to gaze at him adoringly from the third row on a bi-weekly basis.)  He loves it with good reason. I don’t know why, but it’s a lot easier to wait that extra twenty minutes if you can get regular updates on where the hell your bus is.

So that is the message of today’s free-form Wednesday. 311: use the number. (But avoid the band.)

18
Mar

Tuesday profile: Amoeba Music

Author: kris, Category: Shopping

I went to Amoeba yesterday. This indie music store opened in 1990 in Berkeley and now has three locations, including the Haight Street store I visited yesterday, and the Hollywood store, the self-proclaimed “world’s largest independent music store.”

Having Amoeba and Rasputin in the area, I might be a little spoiled. I haven’t been in a big music chain store since I was a tweeny little thing buying Vanilla Ice singles on cassettes at the mall. Maybe it’s normal now to have a warehouse-sized store full of used music and movies at good prices. Maybe it’s normal that it’s seemingly staffed by a cast of thousands, all of whom are ready to talk shop with you, none of whom are obnoxious teenagers. Amoeba is kind of like the store in High Fidelity, if that store were ten times the size and none of the employees had an interest in hurting your feelings.

Also, they buy your used stuff. I get some rather low-ranking CDs from time to time through another writing gig of mine, but Amoeba will take pretty much anything that’s not scratched up. They don’t usually pay huge amounts for it of course, but I discovered yesterday that it’s possible to charm your way into getting a bit more money than your CDs deserve by being witty with the counter staff. Ladies, make a note.

This place is one of those rare city spots that’s good for locals and tourists. It’s right beside GG Park, in the thick of the Haight Street vibe, and is a genuinely local spot that appeals to a wide audience. You can browse around for hours or go straight to what you’re looking for. And if what you’re looking for is romance, those counter boys are really quite something.

Important note: Though this is an independent music store, it does not necessarily have any indie street cred. I’m pretty sure it’s too well-known; hipsters prefer their music stores, like their music, to be obscure. No doubt you can find plenty of cool, off-the-beaten-track albums here, but you should probably tell people you got it at that tiny record store on Valencia.

17
Mar

Weekend preview

Author: kris, Category: Events, Food, Movies, Weekend preview

Friday, March 21

This is the last weekend of the Asian American Film Festival. Now is the time to catch the last showing of all those shows you were too lazy to go see during the week. There are just a few films playing on Friday, but one of them is The Unseeable, a ghost story from Thailand that I am definitely hauling myself out to Berkeley to see. And if I can do it, why can’t you?

Saturday, March 22

I am pretty excited about this, even though I cannot go: the Falkirk Cultural Center in downtown San Rafael is hosting an Alice in Wonderland Spring Faire. Actors from a local theatre troupe will dress as characters from the books, lead a parade and perform scenes from the musical Alice. There’s also the usual host of musicians, magicians, clowns and puppets, along with fun kid activities like contests and Mad Hatter hat making. It’s $5 per person and you can bring your own picnic lunch if you want to.

Sunday, March 23

Sunday is Easter, and even if you don’t believe in the Bunny or that Son of God business, it can still be a fun holiday. Why? Because unlike, say, Thanksgiving, the central meal of Easter is brunch, which to my mind is the best of all possible meals. Check out a long list of great Bay Area brunch spots here.

14
Mar

Star Gazing and the Zoo

Author: kris, Category: Celebrities, Landmarks, Nature

I’ve been feeling interested in celebrity sightings this week. Maybe it’s because my fellow is going to New York on business, and everyone has a story about how they ran into some celebrity they love and adore while they were in New York.

If you too are interested in fame-spotting, you might want to check out this list:

“San Francisco is home to a host of lovable local characters and celebrities, but if you want to spot famous faces with a wider appeal there’s no shortage of movie stars in this town. Whether you want to haunt a film set or stake out a celebrity-attracting eatery, this list will help you hunt down your favorite stars.”

Don’t worry, you’re not losing your daily dose of me me me. I wrote that list too.

In other news, I wound up going to the zoo yesterday rather than the photo archive. If ever you find yourself at loose ends on a weekday in this town, you really should check out the zoo. It’s calm and quiet during the week, so you can just sit and watch the animals in peace for a long time. And here it is, your moment of them (because moment of zen is trademarked, and I don’t want Viacom to sue me):

13
Mar

Where we came from, where we’re going

Author: kris, Category: Museums

As a city, we define ourselves by our disasters and our idealism. People date things by the Great Fire and the Loma Prieta earthquake, by the Summer of Love and the time when the Beats held court. No one seems to be dating things by the recent oil spill yet, but I have high hopes we’re not going to just forget about that, all evidence to the contrary.

I’m thinking about this today because I’m reading Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile which is set, surprise, in Egypt.

” ‘If there were only any peace in Egypt I should like it better,’ said Mrs. Allerton. ‘But you can never be alone anywhere — some one is always pestering you for money, or offering you donkeys, or beads, or expeditions to native villages, or duck shooting.’ ”

The book was written in 1937, and accurately describes the experience my fellow had in Egypt in 2004. (Except the duck shooting, I don’t know what that’s about.) In this one aspect, at least (the relationship between Egyptians and tourists), Cairo hasn’t changed, and that’s interesting. Do they define themselves by their unchanging-ness, as we define ourselves by our changes? Then again, perhaps someone who visited our Pier 39 in 1937 would find it familiar today as well. I wonder.

It is because I wonder that I plan to visit the San Francisco History Center. It’s full of old photos and documents dealing with our past, and, well, I’m curious. If you, too, are curious as to what, if any, progress we’ve made as a city, you should check this out. It’s located in the Main Library, but the hours of the photo collection are kind of weird, so check before you go.

12
Mar

Show tonight

Author: kris, Category: Music

If you’re looking for something to do tonight, We Be The Echo is playing at Bottom of the Hill again. Remember: cave train, poor posture, great music. It’s all happening.

Click here for show info, and click here if you can’t remember what the heck I’m talking about.