Ingrid's San Francisco Blog

Free Rides on Bike to Work Day

In connection with Bike to Work Day, the Alameda Harbor Bay and Alameda/Oakland ferries will give you and your bike a free ride -- all day. That's Thursday, May 15, 2008.

Get details on Bike to Work Day at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition website and at 511.org for areas outside of San Francisco.

Google Transit

There's another trip planner on the Bay Area block and its name is Google. As in Google Transit. Similar to Hop Stop and 511.org, you can type your origin and destination on the Google Transit boxes, and the website will produce door to door public transit directions.

Hop Stop is trip-planning favorite in the city. Google Transit ups the anty by including directions to and from Bay Area cities outside of San Francisco.

Muir Woods Shuttle in Service

The Muir Woods Shuttle (Route 66) from Golden Gate Transit, started its annual, seasonal service on May 3, 2008. Until May 24, the shuttle takes passengers from Marin City to Muir Woods. From May 24 to September 1, the shuttle picks up and drops at the Sausalito Ferry in addition to its regular Marin City stop.

Renovation of Terminal 2 at SFO

Terminal 2, the old International Terminal at SFO will be ready for service again in 2010, following a $383 million renovation. The first confirmed tenant is Virgin America.

Bay Area Transit - for Newcomers

If you're new to San Francisco and need an overview of your public transit options, check out the Guide to Muni and BART -- which also has information on riding cable cars and San Francisco ferries. See a system map of the Muni Metro (trains/streecars) as well as a Cable Car Route Map.

^{Photo © Ingrid Taylar}

Well, it's the first meeting of a million pirates, as far as I know. No barques, schooners or Doubloons required if you want to participate. But you must somehow identify yourself as a pirate (the historical kind or even the Seafair kind) -- and the Million Pirate March website has a blueprint for building a personal pirate ship.

On May 18, 2008 meet at Steuart and Mission at 8am. The Million Pirate March will take off after runners have cleared the Bay to Breakers starting line. Organizers ask that you register as an ING Bay to Breakers participant -- even though you are a pirate, and even though there's nothing about that in the pirate code of conduct.

Read the Million Pirate March FAQ for more info. See a map of the Bay to Breakers course for starting location.

^{Image Courtesy of Million Pirate March}

Happens on Thursday, May 15, 2008

We all know that global change happens on local, incremental levels -- especially in the face of sluggish systematic change. Which is why Bike to Work Day is bigger than it appears on the surface.

I spent some formative years in Amsterdam where bikes ruled with their own roadways. If I could design a master plan for our own streets, it would be that. Maybe we'll get there before we're all siphoning gas with straws.

In the meantime, have a bit of fun in the context of two-wheeled advocacy. Bike to Work Day gets people off four wheels and embracing the paradigm of two wheels, two feet. Last year, the bicycle crowd outnumbered cars on Market Street.

Be a part of the May 15 event -- here's how:

• Most important, ride your bike to work
• Check out the map of Energizer Stations around town where you can fill up on coffee and snacks
• Celebrate at the Bike Away From Work Party at the Rickshaw Stop (6-10p). (See Rickshaw Stop on a Map of SF Live Music Clubs).

Go to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition website for more information.

^{Image Courtesy of San Francisco Bicycle Coalition}

There's nothing mundane about the green belt of parks in San Francisco. You have Golden Gate Park, reminiscent of Central Park and other urban planning gems, and spectacular for its diverse natural and cultural acquisition.

You also have once-neglected landfill areas like Heron's Head -- restored to vibrant wetlands by sweat of the volunteer brow. Or Crissy Field, revived from its airfield days into a stunning human playground and an even more diverse home for migrating birds. And Cayuga Park decorated with its caretaker's painstaking labor of love in the form of public art.

This San Francisco Parks primer lists some of favorites (with photos) -- and has information on where to find the parks if you're new to the Bay Area.

^{Pictured Left: Spreckels Lake/Golden Gate Park
Pictured Right: Aquatic Park
Photos © Ingrid Taylar}

May 13 to May 19, 2008

This is just the second San Francisco Cocktail Week -- a new annual event from a collection of organizations invested in the art of mixology.

Three notable mixologists -- Jeff Hollinger (Absinthe), Duggan McDonnall (Cantina) and H. Joseph Ehrmann (Elixir) -- co-founded this celebratory week to showcase the culture, history and artistry involved in shaking (or stirring), and then imbibing in the perfect drink.

There's a free Opening Gala on Tuesday, May 13 (at Harry Denton's Starlight Room) followed by several days of events:

• Farmers' Market Cocktails - May 14 (5:30p to 7:30p)
  CUESA Kitchen at the San Francisco Ferry Building
• International Guest Bartender Night - May 14 (8p to close)
  Visiting renowned bartenders mix drinks at participating bars
• A Night of Cocktail Dinners - May 15 (times vary)
  Dinners paired with cocktails at participating restaurants
• Save the Sazerac - May 15 (3p to 8p)
  Celebrate age-old Sazerac cocktail at Elixir
• Literature, Booze and History - May 17 (5p to 7p)
  Benefit for San Francisco Museum and Historical Society at the Salon at Hotel Rex
• Finale at Absinthe - May 19 (6p to 10p)
  Guests will sample a collection of drinks, including absinthe-based cocktails

See the San Francisco Cocktail Week website for full details and tickets (where necessary).

Festivities held in partnership with The Museum of the American Cocktail, The United States Bartender’s Guild, Imbibe magazine, Tales of the Cocktail, CUESA, and leading San Francisco and Bay Area restaurants and bars.

^{Photo © Ingrid Taylar}

I have a confession when it comes to high-end San Francisco restaurants: It won't stop me from loving you if you have salt cod brandade and duck confit on your menu. In fact, some of my favorite spots around town have spectacular preparations of food items you'll see across the board at many venues.

But I wouldn't be upset, either, to see a space open with a radically different menu. Once in a while, such a place opens with a gorgeous, simple, global menu. Or with a down-home preparation that defies everything we've come to appreciate (or dislike) about nouveau.

On this list of new restaurants in San Francisco, Brenda's French Soul Food is one such option, serving customers a good old p-boy and a cup of gumbo. In other restaurant news, 2007 and 2008 (so far) have been great years for new dining spots -- brandade or not.

This selection of ten restaurants narrows it down to just a few you might want to try from the past year's dining inauguration.

^{Pictured: The Bar at Waterbar
Image Courtesy of Waterbar}

I posted the following update to my original post on how you can help victims of the Myanmar cyclone. The original post with information on aid organizations is here.

As you've probably read, there have been problems getting aid into Mynamar due to the military junta's confiscation of aid shipments. The SF Chronicle reports that aid will resume but that relief workers are still barred entry.

I received word from GlobalGiving that they have expanded their list of funded projects in Myanmar. The new list includes two projects, run by IDE and Save the Children, that are operating within Myanmar and have Government approval to provide aid to the victims of the devastating cyclone.

^{Pictured: Marines remove cargo nets from pallets of food, water and emergency supplies
Photo © U.S. Navy/Getty Images}

Quite a lot, actually.

I attended another town hall meeting on the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) issue in San Francisco last night. I'll be posting my detailed notes on the meeting later this weekend, but in the meantime, I continue to urge everyone to learn about this critical Bay Area issue -- to read the available articles and studies, and to link to some of the groups below who've had their boots on the ground from the start.

This is a program that will affect all of us in the Bay Area -- with potential health, economic and environmental consequences. We cannot escape the spray (unless we move) so it behooves us to know how it may affect our lives and the lives of our children, our pets, and our wildlife.

If the aerial program happens as planned, we will be sprayed with a chemical mixture, for three days each month, for up to nine months out of the year, and for three to five years. That's correct. Those are the estimates given by the CDFA. There is a synthetic pheromone involved, and an additional list of chemicals, still to be determined, but similar to the Checkmate product used over Santa Cruz and Monterey. The delivery system proposed is a tiny plastic microcapsule, which time-releases the product over 30 days, and which can be inhaled into lung tissue.

Read the CDFA's points. Read the many refutations of those points (links below). And keep in mind the CDFA has had a significant PR budget for their point of view, whereas the opposition comes by way of vigilant grassroots efforts.

Cities in the Bay Area are saying no to the CDFA's program -- passing "no spray" resolutions. But the CDFA is not bound by those resolutions. The City of San Francisco has asked City Attorney Dennis Herrera to prepare litigation against the State of California.

There will be more details in my updated summary. But until then, please utilize the resources below to better understand what's being proposed for our Bay Area homes and wilds this summer.

On May 9, 2008 -- Angie Coiro (on KKGN Green960 AM) hosted both Albany Mayor Robert Lieber and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura. You can link to audio of the show here..

Previous articles at About San Francisco:

Overview of LBAM Spraying | Summary of Berkeley Town Hall Meeting (Feb 2008)

Learn more about the LBAM Aerial Spraying Issue - San Francisco & Bay Area. You can link to the CDFA's official website here. Below are links to groups that oppose the CDFA's aerial spraying plans.

• California Alliance to Stop the Spray
  Umbrella organization for groups, health professionals, and individuals who oppose the spray
• Stop the Spray
  Founded in the Autumn of 2007 to give voice to aerial spraying opposition in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties
• East Bay Stop the Spray
  East Bay arm of Stop the Spray
• LBAMspray.com
  Online repository of LBAM-related documents, studies and news
• Vegan Reader
  An informative, independent website covering all aspects of the LBAM spray issue
• Joanie Greggains at KGO Radio
  Joanie's been covering the LBAM issue on her show Saturday mornings
• Play Not Spray
  Coalition of parents and concerned San Franciscans opposed to the spray
• Pesticide Watch
  Citizens group founded in 1991 to develop sustainable solutions for dealing with pests

This is the first time Tavern on the Green has stretched beyond the boundaries of Central Park in New York (if you don't count the Tavern brand dipping oils and sauces). And it's moving into San Francisco in a big way: more than 40,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor restaurant space in the Metreon.

The Metreon could use an infusion -- a more hopeful utilization of real estate, against the beautiful space of Yerba Buena Gardens. Will Tavern on the Green be the medicine? According to the San Francisco Business Times the move is, in part, an effort to revitalize the space and, of course, to give the famous Tavern on the Green brand a new venue in our [tough] culinary town.

I'm keeping an open mind in this cynical realm. It's not easy to dismiss 13,000 square feet of outdoor drinking and eating space. We'll see what develops as Tavern on the Green makes its moves on SoMa.

^{Pictured: Yerba Buena Gardens
Photo © Ingrid Taylar}

I get a number of questions about the truths and myths of San Francisco. A common one is about the Golden Gate Bridge being painted end to end each year. In spite of an official refutation from the Golden Gate Bridge authorities, that notion persists.

Every travel book mentions the possibility of biting fog, especially on the bridge. And yet, tourists blatantly identify themselves in shorts and tank tops.

There's the issue of "the five" and "I-five" when referring to California highways. I realize some people get their knickers in a knot when anyone says "the five" up here in the Bay Area. It's associated with Southern California, after all. I have no problem either way but LA transplants take note.

And street names. If you have a background in the Spanish language, you won't be thrown by too many pronunciations. But, for the uninitiated, there are a few twists. "Gough" is like "cough," "San Rafael" is san-ruh-FELL, and "Bernal" is BURR-nuhl. (Although you'll still find nuances and syllabic variations.)

I won't get into the various political misconceptions about San Francisco from dittoheads trolling the SF Gate message boards. For the record, no, it's not a constant, naked bacchanal out here on the West Coast. (Well, not constant.)

So -- what are the San Francisco and Bay Area myths you most like to take on? Send them to me, and I'll post a compilation in a few weeks.