Posts Tagged ‘sfgate’

Wait, which California city is the “adult Disneyland”?

July 5th, 2021
Solvang

Image used under a Creative Commons license

 

SFGate recently ran an article that compared the small town of Solvang in Santa Barbara County to Disneyland. Although the comparison was seemingly intended to be positive they took a lot of heat for this clearly questionable take.

Go ahead and read the article… and then think about it for a second.

If the criteria for an “adult Disneyland” is food, fake ye olde fashioned looking buildings, a tiki bar, and a couple of windmills then guess what? 

You don’t need to leave San Francisco to find this “adult Disneyland.” It’s been right here all along. Who knew?

The best part? I know people love paying outrageous ticket prices to visit Disneyland and the prices in and around San Francisco are just as wild. Yay!

While we may not have Space Mountain, you can get on a cable car and close your eyes. A fireworks show every night? You bet your ass! Here, light this and throw it quick or you might lose a finger.

Though the last animatronic figures probably left town when FAO Schwarz closed their Union Square store, you can find outdoor street performances in the same part of town. Just look for the Michael Jackson impersonator at 4th and Market (gets call from Disney) sorry, I’m being asked by corporate to retract that last part. Apparently there’s some sort of branding issue regarding Captain EO.

But in the “comparing Disneyland to San Francisco” department it turns out I’m kind of late to the party as Mr. Show with Bob (Odenkirk) and David (Cross) did this exact bit… back in 1996. 

 

 

Oh and by the way, if that Mr. Show sketch seems familiar it might be because I covered it here on this blog a decade ago.

… and history repeats itself. See you here again ten years from now with a new take on this same joke.

Does SF Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub write enough about old movie theaters?

November 27th, 2011

Castro_Theatre_Historic_Movie_House_San_Francisco-799658
(Original CC licensed photo by Thomanication)

You may have noticed today’s SF Chronicle re-established the struggling paper’s dominance with not one, but two features about old movie theaters written by pop culture writer Peter Hartlaub.

Yes, two articles about old-timey movie theaters in one day is a fair amount. Ideally the Chron should shoot for four, maybe five on a given day; but if time permits for a mere two pieces reminiscing about yesterday’s cinema houses, I would understand.

Here’s the sad news: until today Mr. Hartlaub hadn’t written a word about old movie theaters for a whopping SIXTEEN DAYS! How did we survive this torrid dry spell? How were we able to sleep without nightmares of dusty velvet seats of yesteryear facing an magnificent but unlit screen?

Prior to that dry spell, it had been a nearly unmanageable three days without coverage of pre-movie organ performances at the Castro, the once glamorous art deco facade of the Parkside, or the fight to preserve the building which once housed the Harding. Alas, the article was but a tease as it was a repeat of what he’d posted the day before.

How are we to live out each day without this breaking coverage of a time when movies cost less than 50 cents? And who else but Hartlaub would be willing to painstakingly illustrate these articles by looking through his employer’s photo archive?

Peter Hartlaub, I implore you: we need more coverage of yesterday’s cinema houses. And we need it on an hourly basis.

Thank you.

Dumpster parklet explained

October 18th, 2011

Dumpster parklet

Dumpster parklet

You know that dumpster with trees growing out of it by the Chronicle building on 5th St? Turns out it’s actually supposed to be a mobile parklet. Seems like a dumpster filled with a garden is kind of a lazy man’s parklet. But then look at the sponsors: our local garbage hauling provider, Recology, is behind this. It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?