Category: Local

  • The Bay Lights, version 3

    It seems like just yesterday that The Bay Lights first illuminated San Francisco’s Bay Bridge. But it wasn’t yesterday; it was thirteen years ago. Crazy, right? Since the original temporary installation was first switched on, it was removed and replaced with a more permanent version that lasted about a decade. As of Friday evening the…

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  • The Nintendo Store in San Francisco

      Until recently Nintendo didn’t operate their own stores — at least, not in the US — but now they have two: one in New York City and one in San Francisco. After the initial opening crowds died down a little, I went to check out the SF store on a weekday afternoon. Directly across…

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  • Not-so secret passages: San Francisco’s walkways hidden in plain sight

    Like many urban environments, San Francisco has a plethora of walkways that are incredibly useful, yet for whatever reason are just off the beaten path enough to avoid large crowds. Many of them are hidden due to unclear signage, others are quite obvious yet are widely overlooked. Now there are many I could place on…

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  • Gas station explosion at 16th. and Guerrero

    The noxious odor of burning gasoline filled the cold winter air tonight in the area around 16th. and Guerrero streets in San Francisco’s Mission District in the aftermath of the explosion of a gas station’s underground tank. According to Mission Local the explosion occurred just after 4:30 PM. The Shell gas station had been closed…

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  • Aura at Grace Cathedral

    Next to a cable car line on top of San Francisco’s Nob Hill sits Grace Cathedral, a relatively modern church that looks like a scaled-down version of Paris’ Notre Dame. I arrived on a recent evening to see AURA by Moment Factory. Clocking in at just under an hour, AURA is a projection-mapped light show…

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  • In remembrance: KitKat, the bodega cat of 16th and Valencia

    Nearly six years ago I broke the exciting news right here on this very blog that Randa’s Market, the hole in the wall liquor store next to Roxie Theater, had adopted a cat. During the years since, KitKat — who I later learned was a “he” despite one employee’s initial insistence to the contrary —…

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  • I visited a robot sushi bar

    I don’t make it out to Stonestown Galleria — the mall on the west side of the city — very often these days. But when I do shop at Stonestown I’m always surprised at how much it’s changed since I lived out there. Gone are the Macy’s and Nordstrom, now there’s a Target and a…

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  • The mermaid sculpture on the Embarcadero

    The giant statue of a woman outside the Ferry Building, R-Evolution, is being joined by a whole set of temporary outdoor statues. First up is a mermaid statue named Coralee. This is by the same artist who created Tara Mechani, which was on display at Patricia’s Green about six years ago. There’s something about this…

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  • Ferry Building drone light show

    This evening drones lit up the sky behind the Ferry Building along with projections on the building’s tower. All of this was part of a drone light show sponsored by something called Gamma for this year’s Tech Week. While there was no question this was an advertisement — the enormous QR codes were a dead…

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  • HOLE by the San Francisco Neo-Futurists

    Today I was lucky enough to see one of the few performances of the limited run of HOLE by the San Francisco Neo-Futurists, a local experimental theater group. The first step once you have tickets is a small adventure: you’re only provided the exact location a couple days in advance. All I can say is…

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