At night, it’s alive with lights and fire, showing a visualization the music being created.

You can check out a few more photos by Daniel Garcia here.

Every time the first of the month rolls around and rent is due, are you thinking, “Dude this place sucks. If I owned a building, I’d totally run it like, with awesome-ocity”? Well, now is your chance as 625 Taylor Street is on the market. This forest green gem of Tendernobbery is just a mere $3,200,000. What a deal! Actually, when you figure that it has 21 units and that that makes than $152,000 apiece, it is kinda a good deal, although this is purely for someone looking to rent out the place obviously. And who could resist when the listing has shots like this? Moving boxes in a junior bedroom are soooo hot! Rar!

Yesterday, Burning Man finished up another year. For those that attended, they are undoubtedly already starting their plans for next year while nursing sun and other anatomical “burns”. For those who did not attend, the once-a-year opportunity to try out Mission & Haight hot spots has passed (Steve should have realized.)

Amidst all the articles that are bound to come this week about how it “changed my life” or “I’m so totally moving to San Francisco now” or “I’m so totally moving to New York now because my Burner roommate won’t shut up about it and the apartment is full of this shit Playa dust” there on the Burning Man blog was an interesting article entitled, State of the Man. Most people are focusing on the fact that Burning Man LLC is finally going to shift to being a non-profit enterprise, which is one of those, “it’s about time” kind of moments. Something that really hasn’t been hit upon (yet) is the location of where they plan to be based in the future, which is somewhere along the 6th Street, Mid-Market corridor.

Obviously, most people outside the area would ask, “Why?” but it makes a good deal of sense due to it being a neighborhood in San Francisco that is in pathetic shape and is currently being locked down by the homeless/advocate industry to create the stagnation in development that you see. A Burning Man arts center would add a stabilizing element that would bring an interesting, eclectic flow of people to the area, albeit a mostly white one initially.

Short of tossing out the current residents of the Mid-Market area, this is one way to improve the area and bring in non-charity based money, that would branch out to grow other businesses. I’ve said it before, but the only way that the Tenderloin is going to grow is a break-out of the lock these certain groups have has upon it for the last two decades. And while I don’t really believe in Burning Man, I do believe in this.

For those who want a gigantic bowl of cheap pho, Bodega Bistro is probably not for you. It’s a proper sit-down restaurant in Little Saigon that has a rather extensive menu which is properly Vietnamese as as well as French. For those who slept through history (or any movie on the Vietnam War), Vietnam was a French colony at one point, so the nod to this aspect of history is perfectly reasonable although rarely seen.

What I didn’t understand about Bodega Bistro was the name as it seems to be a blending of the Spanish “bodega” meaning “wine cellar and “bistro” from French for well, “bistro” which made little sense despite their having a strong wine selection. As it turns out, “bodega” is apparently from “bo-de-ga” which is “beef-lamb-chicken” in Vietnamese, albeit more formally written “bò” “đẻ” “gà”, except that “đẻ” means tongue (or a number of other things depending on the accents), so I don’t know what the actual deal is, which makes sense given I don’t know Vietnamese whatsoever.

All of your TenderAuthors were eating out at this one and seeing as how myself and evarels were very early, stubbornly hungry, and despite hiphapa’s arriving at the actual time, we piggishly ordered of the rolls to gnaw on before she arrived, which were might tasty. Guilt of pre-ordering prior to group assemblage as charged.

Of course, once all seated, we ordered up properly and someone (hiphapa) decided to get the squab. Now, I grew up butchering pigs, cows, and sheep in the great wilds of Northern California, but I’ve never ascribed to the notion that the less edible portions should be served up with the more edible. Not everyone agrees on this as the squab comes with the claws and of course, the head:

It should be noted that the squab was indeed good though, as long as you can block out the head aspect if it bothers you. The other dishes were solid as well. I mean, you really can’t go wrong whether it’s a simple pho, the more elaborate dac biet that evarels had, the prawns that hiphapa had, or a more elaborate chicken dish that I had. Chef-owner Jimmie Kwok knows his business when it comes to preparing traditional Vietnamese dishes along with well, traditional French dishes.

One thing to note in all of this is that Bodega attracts groups and while I generally hate groups at restaurants due to their size and composite drunkenness, these groups didn’t bother me at all. In fact one group nearest us was hilarious. Everyone was getting completely shitfaced on wine that the servers kept lining up to decant. Maybe if I understood Vietnamese, I would have told them to stop saying things about the ladies at our table, but as it was, they were just silly and amusing as well to watch. It ain’t Teatro Zinzzani, but on some level dinner is also the show at Bodega Bistro and you should give it a try if you want to have a different angle on Vietnamese dining.

For those who know of it, 555 Post is a very nice, Tenderloin/Union Square building. I am quite familiar with this building as I briefly worked for the company that used to occupy its premises, Euro RSCG. They’re a design and ad agency that lives up to nearly all the bad stereotypes of agencies and has since moved over to Telegraph Hill.

555 Post has however been empty since they moved out back in June. It’s a cool building though as it used to be a gentlemen’s club and as such it has a full, dark wood bar in it as well as the old contours of a swimming pool that was in the basement with a subterranean gaming room. I swear you can still smell cigars and Scotch in the walls of the lowers floors to this day. The upper floors are relatively nondescript, but it’s within this history that apparently the SF Flex Academy is opening on the 7th as in next Tuesday. I really have no idea what this is and after searching around a good deal, I think I have even less. Officially they claim to be:

…a full-time, tuition-free public charter school located in downtown San Francisco, serving students in grades 9-12 from anywhere in the Bay Area.

California’s first full-time, five-days-a-week hybrid school combines the best of online education with traditional, onsite schooling. SF Flex uses the curriculum from K12, the largest provider of online learning for grades K-12, to offer courses in the core subjects (Math, English, History and Science) along with a robust catalog of electives. Students attend school in our building every weekday, are supported by professional, certified teachers, and can participate in extracurricular sports, activities, and clubs…

There’s a bit more than, but you get the drift. Unfortunately that’s about all you get. Trying to find anything else on their site that describes them in heavy detail is all but impossible. Furthermore, a search on SFGate turns up no related results for them which is really weird for a brand-new school opening up in the heart of the city. Also, they call themselves a “public school” yet they’re not listed anywhere as a San Francisco public school.

To further muddy the waters, when reading their PR announcement, I saw that the parent company of this, K12, is a publicly traded company based in Virginia. So, not only is it not a true public institution nor a non-profit, but it’s a private company that’s publicly traded. If anyone finds this to be a good idea, let me point my finger at the awesomeness that is our current publicly-traded, capitalism-based health case system that keeps me stocking up on the much cheaper meds whenever I visit those “commie” systems in Europe.

All of this is just weird and in case you didn’t get the point by now, I have serious doubts to this thing. An 11,000+ square foot building, despite being on the edge of the Tenderloin, is not cheap, and will cost about $400,000 in rent yearly. That’s why an ad agency (who regularly pulled in very, very fat contracts) left and it leaves me wondering how a learning institution that is in theory “free” (i.e. not charging the $25k a year that the AoA does) is able to fill the space and not be dodgy.

Several SF neighborhoods get mentioned in the piece, including Hayes Valley, the Castro, the Haight, and Pacific Heights. Of the Tenderloin or Tendernob? Not a whisper. This is too bad, as Tenderloin certainly has some innovative fashion, whether it comes from Project Runway designer Christopher Collins or the high-heeled trans gals strutting down Polk Street. As a sign of how out of touch Trebay is, he chose to interview an administrator at the Academy of Art’s fashion department. Academy of Art is one of the largest landlords in the city and is perhaps better known in San Francisco for being a diploma mill for starry-eyed, high-paying, international students than a quality educational institute. It’s not even clear if their main fashion program (they offer another fashion degree online) is accredited. The only (maybe) good thing about Trebay mentioning the AoA is that many of their students do live in the Tendernob, but whether they’ll ever work in fashion, or write about it, is anyone’s guess.

Ramirez sexually assaulted, raped, and mutilated women, and during his time in San Francisco he lived in the same building as famous Society for Cutting Up Men (SCUM) founder and would-be Andy Warhol murderer, Valerie Solanis. Solanis died at the Bristol in 1988 of emphysema, and it’s not known how long she lived there. Solanas was in her 50′s when she died at the Bristol, twice as old as Ramirez. It’s unknown if they actually ever met one another, even in passing, but it’s certainly interesting to think about what it would have been like. Would there have been a spark of recognition between criminals? Or would they just have seen each other as potential victims?

From the Chronicle:

“The vibrations are so bad in Room 315 at the Hotel Bristol in the Tenderloin that Daniel Sepeda thinks it’s time to bring in the holy water. ‘I should sprinkle some around and say some prayers,’ he said. ‘There are weird spirits here. It gives me the creeps.’ Sepeda and his roommate, James Bowton, attribute those creeps to Room 315′s former tenant, Richard Ramirez. Ramirez is the man police say is the ‘Night Stalker,’ a cold-blooded serial killer who murdered people while they lay sleeping and then scrawled satanic symbols on their walls. Ramirez stayed at the Bristol several times during the past two years, according to manager Alex Melnikov… Melnikov said Ramirez left behind a mysterious odor in the room. ‘It smelled like skunk,’ said one resident who declined to give her name. ‘The cleaning man sprayed like hell, but it wouldn’t go away.’ A five-pointed star, a pentagram, associated with devil worship, was found drawn on the bathroom door…”

Previously, the space (which is seriously the size of my bedroom) held some kind of weird clothing store that never had more than one rack in it at a time. Sportique isn’t open yet, but from what I can see it’s basically a boutique-y version of REI. They carry polarized sunglasses, canteens, fleeces, hoodies, t-shirts with graphic prints, and outdoorsy jackets by Helly Hansen. I’ll stop back by tomorrow to get a better look, and maybe I’ll be able to talk to some staff. As I passed by today, the shop girl was still literally unpacking boxes of merchandise and hadn’t even gotten to folding all of it yet. So far though, the store looks welcoming and even though I’m not an outdoors kinda gal, I liked the stuff they had. Bienvenue, Sportique, and à demain!

(Helly Hansen jacket below. Disclaimer: I have no idea if Sportique carries this particular item, I just to show the type of stuff they offer. Plus, I wanted to put a pic in the post.)

I have a penchant for the 1990′s, all television, medical oddities, long-term kidnappings, local history, current teen interest, celebrities and serial killers.

It’s a good read that includes what I assume to be the dream of any American girl when it comes to a man from Amsterdam:

Les and I enjoyed breaks from the Dutch every time a woman approached the bar to order a drink, because their attention would instantly be diverted to the fresh meat. This whole fiasco would have been entertaining to watch, had we not been their convenient back-up plan.