SNBC’s Annual National Night Out Community BBQ is back!

Join your friends, neighbors and members of the Sunset community at this FREE community celebration. Free food and music will be provided!

When: Tuesday, August 5, 2008
5:00 – 7:00 PM

Where: Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center
3925 Noriega Street @ 46th Avenue

For more information, contact Darrow by email or by calling (415) 694-1287.

Hope to see you there!

It seems that The Avenues Blog has come to the attention of all kinds of local politicians running for office.  Since The Avenues Blog likes all the attention it can get, I’ll be kind enough to go ahead and post the latest updates from the local candidates.

Sue Lee is running for Richmond Supervisor and we are having our campaign kick off rally this Saturday July 26th at 1pm at the Richmond District Neighborhood Center on 30th Ave and Balboa. I would love if you could post this information for your readers in the Richmond.

DONE! 

And a little something from Rachel Norton, a school board candidate:

I am a public school parent, co-chair of the parent organization at Argonne Elementary in the Richmond District, and active in Parents for Public Schools and the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education. My husband and I and our two daughters live in the Richmond District. I am sure you haven’t had much opportunity to look at the school board races yet but when you do, take a look at my web site: http://www.rachelnorton.com/.

There.  I’ve done my civic duty.  As a reminder - the fact that I post candidate’s info here is in no way, shape or form an endorsement, just in case you thought it was.

I consider The Avenues Blog to be a community forum in addition to being my own personal soapbox from which I can spew information that interests me. 

I’ve tried to adopt a fair stance about sharing information about events in the Sunset District, whether or not they are something that I’d be interested in attending.

So, when I posted an event a few days ago that involved a campaign kick-off for Eric Mar for District 1, I apparently put folks under the impression that I support the guy (even though I mentioned in the post that I knew nothing about him.) 

So, to set the record straight - Eric Mar gets no support and no endorsement from my end, period.  In fact, so far, what I do know about the guy is that he is anti-TIC, and that’s like being anti-SF real estate ownership in my book.  Being that San Francisco real estate is my passion and my livelihood, he’s not on my “nice” list.  (Yes, like Santa, I have a naughty & nice list - it’s just much shorter.)  He’s also a little too far left for my taste (and yes, there is such a thing as TOO far left).

So - that being said, if you have something happening in The Avenues, I’d like to hear about it.  Hell, I’d like to post it for others to read, even if I disagree with the purpose of the event or fundamentally disagree with the cause or candidate. 

Why? 

Because I’m not running a dictatorship, and even though I like my own opinions and deep down know that they are right *wink*, everyone has a right to make up their own mind about the issues that surround San Francisco and The Avenues.

So there.  Hope that clears things up a bit.  Now keep those local events coming my way - and I’ll keep posting them!

You like food. 
You like movies. 
You like drinks. 
You like art. 
You LOVE San Francisco.

Then you’re probably interested in the Cinema Supper Club’s summer movie series.

From the press release (and yes, we here at The Avenues Blog are beggining to receive press releases, and yes, it is making us feel pretty important!) :-)

CINEMA SUPPER CLUB OPENS WITH SPECIAL SCREENING OF

HITCHCOCK’S VERTIGO

AT THE LEGION OF HONOR ON JULY 10

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Cinema Supper Club kicks off its summer series, “From the Golden Gate to the Silver Screen,” on Thursday, July 10, with a special 50th anniversary screening of Hitchcock’s masterpiece, Vertigo, at the Legion of Honor, one of the key locations in the film. The screening will be preceded by a talk by the authors of Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco and other Vertigo-themed activities.

The festivities begin at 6 pm at the Legion when visitors will notice a classic Jaguar similar to Madeline’s parked in front of the entry. Inside, an artist will paint the infamous “Carlotta” portrait that hung in the galleries overhead. A series of “then and now” photos reveal what happened to key locations around San Francisco that were used in the film. The Legion Café will present a menu of mid-century modern classics and the “Carlotta-tini” cocktail. Period dress is encouraged.

From 6:45 – 7:15 pm, authors Aaron Leventhal and Jeff Kraft will conduct a signing of their book, Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco in the Museum Store. At 7:30, they will present an illustrated talk on San Francisco’s importance as a “character” in Vertigo. Our 50th anniversary screening of Vertigo begins at 8 pm in the Florence Gould Theater.

About Cinema Supper Club

Cinema Supper Club is a quarterly movie series put on by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco at the Legion of Honor on Thursday evenings. These evenings offer visitors a unique opportunity to view the special exhibitions at the Legion during uncrowded, evening hours, see a themed, classic film and have a drink or a relaxed dinner at the museum Café. The summer series, “From the Golden Gate to the Silver Screen,” features movies filmed in San Francisco. This summer’s series presents:

July 10     Vertigo

July 17     The Conversation

July 24     What’s Up Doc?

July 31     So I Married an Axe Murderer

Aug 7      Harold and Maude

Aug 14    The Game

Aug 21    Bullitt

Tickets are available through www.museumtix.com and are $20 ($10 Members) for the movie and the special exhibition. For the special exhibition only, admission is $15 (Members are free). Tickets are on a first-come, first-served basis and do not include reservations or the price of dinner. Dinner reservations are available by calling 415-750-7633.

About the Special Exhibition, Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Marie Bracquemond

For many decades, the four artists celebrated in Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzales, Marie Bracquemond were treated with critical ambivalence and lacked major public exhibitions. It is only now that their innovative styles and contributions to Impressionism are showcased in a groundbreaking exhibition this summer at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the exclusive U.S. venue. Women Impressionists is on view from June 21 to September 21, 2008. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to directly compare the work of these women artists by bringing 140 pieces together for the first time.

The Richmond District Neighborhood Center is inviting everyone in the community to their 3^rd Annual Hawaiian BBQ this Saturday!

Food!  Drinks!  Music!  Raffles!  Entertainment! & More!

Saturday, June 21st

3pm-6pm

The event will be held at the Richmond District Neighborhood Center at 741 30th Avenues, San Francisco, CA 94121 (between Balboa and Cabrillo.)

The other day, The Avenues Blog got a little love from the San Francisco Chronicle.  (Thank you… hold the applause please.) 

A lot of you took the time to write in and say “hello” after reading the little blurb.  I got email from friends, past colleagues, Sunset and Richmond district residents, fellow REALTORS and other local bloggers too! 

One of the readers that contacted me, Grace Cunnane, is also a Sunset District resident, and has started her own blog, In My Hood SF. She focuses on the Inner Sunset district of The Avenues.

Grace writes:

I am writing a series of articles, highlighting the merchants and employees of my neighborhood. My column, “In My Hood SF.”is a 52 week community based project. My stories, are their stories and together we engage in conversation and something special illuminates. “In My Hood SF” will be updated weekly.

I will interview a different merchant or employee from the Inner Sunset and bring their story to life. I want you to see their work, their value and their dignity.

And Grace does it well. 

One of the things that I love about the City is that everybody has a story, if you just take the time to listen.  And while Grace is able to highlight local businesses in her blog, her main strength is really highlighting the people behind that make these business what they are. 

From her acupunturist, Liling, to her cobbler, Glen, Grace takes the time to introduce you to the people that make up the Inner Sunset.  Swing by In My Hood SF.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy the read!

I got “another” reminder from Supervisor Carmen Chu’s office today about an upcoming cleaning event at Sunset Blvd this coming weekend.  It’s a good thing I got “another” reminder, because the first one never made it to my inbox. 

From Carmen:

We will be working along 36th & 37th Ave, on Noriega, Moraga and Ortega to clean up brush and debris along the corridor and help clear walking paths for safe walking and jogging. The event on Saturday is a kick-off to our ongoing efforts to improve Sunset Boulevard, and the work will continue beyond Saturday with crews removing dead tree parts and pruning dense trees and bushes all along Sunset Blvd.

Sunset Blvd Clean Up

When: Saturday, June 21                    Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm

Location: Meet at Noriega & 37th Ave (NW corner)

Supplies will be provided through the Department of Public Works. Please dress in comfortable clothing and shoes.

If you plan on attending the clean-up, please email chustaff@sfgov.org.

Hope to see you all out there on Saturday!

 

I have to say, so far, I’ve been very pleased with Carmen’s office and with her communication with the neighborhoods.  And I’m still hoping that Supervisor Sean R. Elsbernd will jump on the technological bandwagon and learn to email his constituents as well.  We might hear more about what’s happening in the Northern portion of the Avenues if he was able to do so. 

Anyhow - hope you have a chance to stop by and help clean up the hood!

I have a bit of an addiction that I don’t really like to talk about.  I’m addicted to reality TV.  And usually, it’s really bad reality TV.  Out of the reality TV shows that really feed my addiction, the cop/criminal shows are the ones that really do it for me.  But the TV shows just aren’t local enough, and I’d like at least part of my dose of reality to be located close to home. 

So I depend on my local police departments to feed my addiction to reality!

Depending on where you live, your local police department will email you a crime report, either on a daily, or a weekly basis. 

If you live in the Sunset or Parkside districts, Captain Paul Chignell of the Taraval police station will send you a fairly complete daily report of arrests and criminal incidents throughout the neighborhood, sometimes with a little bit of entertaining commentary to go along with it.  These reports are pretty thorough, but you will sometimes receive a few days worth of emails at a time when the Captain dares to take a day off.

If you live in the Richmond district, you receive an email from Captain Anthony Fotinos of the Richmond police station every Friday afternoon with a “greatest hits” style email that covers the highlights of crime (if you can call them that) that have occurred in the past week.  This newsletter also adds events from the Safety Network calendar to the email - which gives a nice balance of the good and the bad, or yin and yang, so to speak, but they’re definitely less thorough than the Taraval district’s daily updates.  Which makes me wonder exactly what qualifies for the weekly greatest hits list? :-/

If you want to get the Taraval station’s daily update, email the captain to request it. 

And if you want to get the Richmond station’s daily update, email the station to request it.

And even if you’re not a reality junkie like me, you might find these reports useful to know what’s going on in your neighborhood.   After all - knowing is half the battle!