Bright idea: Roxie Theater’s marquee restored
February 21, 2017
Things are looking brighter for San Francisco’s oldest cinema.
On Sunday, the Roxie Theater turned on its newly restored neon marquee and riser, the culmination of an effort that dates back to 2015.
Operations Director Lex Sloan said that while the neon portions of the marquee that read “Roxie” have held out over the years, various other parts of the sign have been on the fritz at times.
Fully restoring the sign included fixing the bars under the horizontal letters reading “Roxie,” and the neon borders and jewels at the top and bottom of the vertical marquee, she said. The repairs cost $3,000, and were paid for with money from a 2015 fundraiser.
“When I started at the Roxie a little over year and a half ago, the white neon that lights the entry under the marquee started to go on the fritz and that is when our executive director Dave Cowen and I decided our goal was to restore the marquee to 100 percent,” Sloan wrote in an email.
Finishing the work proved logistically tricky, requiring, among other things, navigating around phone wires, a tree and delicate neon, Sloan said.
“The final push, which happened on this past Sunday, required the rental of a boom lift to reach the top outermost side at about 37 feet in the air,” she wrote. “It took us a while to work out the logistics for replacing the uppermost red border.”
The Roxie, which first opened in 1909, has been getting a lot of love in recent years. In the summer of 2015, the 238-seat movie house and the Little Roxie theater two doors down shuttered for a week so staff and volunteer could paint and do an extensive cleaning. The theater also welcomed new management that year, obtained a state-of-the-art projector theater and increased its efforts to court donors.
[Photos courtesy of the Roxie Theater]
You’ll heart this
February 14, 2017
Check out the recently unveiled “Poet Tree,” on Valencia Street near Clarion Alley. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
[Photos by Jeff]
Gentrification Lake’s newest residents? Frogs.
February 9, 2017
The now empty lot at 22nd and Mission, the site of a massive 2015 fire, has been looking a little wild these days, but this is kind of ridiculous. Ribbit … Ribbit.
[H/t @EamesEra]
But Valentine’s Day isn’t for two weeks!
February 1, 2017
Love, Capp Street style.
Starboard gone, now home to Asian popup
January 31, 2017
Open less than a year, Mission hofbrau Starboard is apparently no more. The restaurant’s old space on 16th Street is now home to a popup serving Asian fusion cuisine.
It is unclear what happened with Starboard. Emails sent through the restaurant’s website and to its sister business Slate, next door, were not returned.
Adrian Pham, one of the partners with the popup, Cross Hatch Eatery, said they officially opened Jan. 12, and began cleaning the space, at 2919 16th St., about six days prior. Pham said he didn’t know what the story with Starboard was but agreed to pass along my phone number.
Cross Hatch is currently on a month-to-month lease and serving food three days a week, he said. Though this is its first popup, the business debuted in 2015, initially as a farmer’s market food stand, before moving on to catering. Here’s what else Pham had to say about the business and its food:
Our name simply represents the melting pot that we are – Crossing two or more culture’s comfort foods and having something unique hatch.
The company began on the foundation of wanting to join the two ideals we believe drive us, passion & purpose. We plan on using CrossHatch to create a home where passion meets purpose. Ultimately we’d like to become a platform where small businesses, local artists, foodies & entrepreneurs are able to come together and share what keeps us passionate whilst giving back to the community in form of time, money & an attempt to enrich our culture.
Cross Hatch is currently open from 5 to 10 p.m. on Thursday and from 5 p.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
[Bottom photo via Cross Hatch’s Facebook page]
Going with the flow
January 18, 2017
Mixed messages at 16th and Mission streets.
True grits: Cajun restaurant about to debut in the Mission
January 17, 2017
Alba Ray’s, a new Cajun restaurant that’s moved into the former Hapa Ramen space near 19th and Mission streets, is scheduled to open Monday.
Workers on suspended scaffolding were busy repairing and painting the exterior of the 2993 Mission St. space over the holiday weekend, while a crew focused on the finishing touches inside.
Taking a break from work to chat outside the restaurant yesterday, owner Alvin Garcia explained how Alba Ray’s got its name and gushed about New Orleans and its food.
Ray is Garcia’s son’s middle name, while chef Adam Rosenblum’s daughter is named Alba.
“I just have this passion and love for new Orleans,” Garcia added.
Alba Ray’s will have about 100 seats with a bar. The plan is to bake all the bread and butcher the meat in house.
A sign taped to the restaurant’s window soliciting employment applications gives other specifics:
Alba Ray’s is a delicious tribute to NOLA’s culinary culture and famous spirit of hospitality. Conceived by the all-star team that brought Causwells and Popsons Burgers to life, the Cajun restaurant and bar will serve specialties like crispy boudin balls, shrimp and grits, and creole jambalaya created by Chef Adam Rosenblum, who worked for James Beard award-winning New Orleans Chef Donald Link.
Garcia summed up the restaurant in a few more words yesterday: “Good food, good drinks, good times,” he said.
Rain delay: New Mission park won’t open until spring
January 10, 2017
Finding a “park” in parking may not be hard, but transforming one into the other has proven a bit more difficult than expected.
Winter rains have delayed the opening date for the Mission’s newest park, once a paid parking lot at 17th and Folsom streets, said Joey Kahn, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Recreation & Park Department. Initially slated to open this winter, the park is now scheduled to be completed in early spring.
“We’re looking forward to celebrating the opening of the new park with the community,” Kahn wrote in an email. “This parkland will help revitalize and provide open space to the Mission community.”
Billed as the first neighborhood park to acquired and built by the agency in more than a decade, the 31,850-square-foot park will feature a lawn and drought-tolerant plants, a playground, adult fitness equipment and outdoor performance and classroom spaces, among other elements.
The agency broke ground on the project in March.
17th-and-Folsom-Rendered-Plan-09.29.16[Images courtesy of San Francisco Recreation & Park]
Wind fells tree on Guerrero, heavy winds to resume
January 9, 2017
High winds brought down trees all over the city Sunday including this one at 20th and Guerrero streets. According to the National Weather Service, there could be more to come. A storm is supposed to move in tonight and a high wind advisory will be in effect from Tuesday afternoon to evening.
[Photos by Johnny]
Flats-out weird
January 6, 2017
To be fair, many of the white keys are missing as well.