11 posts tagged “event”
The SF Bear's International Bear Rendezvous weekend starts today, so don't be alarmed if you find a bear with his paw in your honey. He means no harm.
As in previous years, stores have begun putting out bear decorations, including the awesome and completely unnecessary "Bears Welcome" signs. However I haven't seen the big bar banners out yet, and generally there seems to be less visible activity than in previous years. I wonder if this has something to do with a) the final filming of the Milk movie, b) the rain/cold/construction putting a general damper on the neighborhood, and/or c) the sucky economy which is apparently dragging everyone down.
And visiting bears are encouraged to check out my "Bear's Guide to the Castro" produced last year. The only update is that Bullshead has closed down. We don't really have any more carnivore-themed restaurants in the area, but for a good quantity-to-price ratio, try The Sausage Factory at 517 Castro. The antipasto salad "baby" size is already too big for 2 people, so the "mama" size is a revelation at $12.25. You must like lots of cheese though, and all of the Italian meat is on the bottom (where it should be).
OK, I'm back from my travels and any fear that my blog would become obsolete was assuaged by all of the new signs, new construction, and general all-around flux going on in the neighborhood. The big wheels of Castro commerce keep on turnin' and the proud Marys keep on buyin'.
And speaking of Pride, our Pride season has come and gone, and much like the prom photos which finally got mailed back to you a month and a half later, here is my Pride album of stores dolled up in their Gunny Sax prairie dresses, big, chunky, plastic, triangle earrings, and elbow-length, finger-less gloves. (Oops, can you tell what decade I went to the prom in?) Feel like a proud mom sending your child off for a night of chaperoned groping, wondering how they all just grew up so quickly...
Speaking of grown ups, Twin Peaks injected a little collagen into its rapidly thinning lips by stuffing its front windows with pink balloons for Pink Saturday. Puffy!
Also on Pink Saturday, the street party feuled up on booze, booze, booze, sold directly to the crowds out of store windows. This is the sort of thing which has brought Halloween down like a chain-saw to the knees, so I hope that the intense booze-hawking doesn't ruin Pink Saturday as well. I'm all for the businesses making a profit where they can, but again, Halloween is a sobering example (literally).
In these pics we see The Bar doing some discreet price gouging (smooth!), A. G. Ferrari trying to class it up by selling beer *and wine* (antioxidants!), and La Tortilla keeping it real with a 25% discount for good ol' American beer (patriotic!).
This picture is for commenter Troy who chastised me for not having better beefcake photos in my Sidewalk Sale post. Here, All-American Boy draws a crowd with go-go dancers. I'm not really sure that this is the welcome that the Dyke March organizers were hoping for at the end of their parade route, but the crowd sure didn't seem to mind.
Flags are the traditional decoration, and here Moby Dick and the HRC Store were acting extra flaggy all month.
Cliff's can always be counted on for a great window (or 5) and this one does not disappoint with the parade reinvigorated and reimagined with childlike joy and absent that bitchy jadedness that ails a lot of us. (But what's with Elmo? Everyone knows Bert and Ernie are the gay ones! Oops, there goes that jaded bitchiness I was talking about.)
Best in Show's window looks a lot like the final scene of "Les Miserables" -- if the revolutionaries were gay ... and dogs ... wearing feathered wings.
In-Jean-ious Lounge communicated the rainbow message through the international language of thongs.
Under One Roof made their rainbow with umbrellas. (Umbrellas ... rainbows ... get it?)
And following on the theme of "alternative rainbows," De La Sole featured a subtle rainbow of (fake) field flowers. I'm partial to displays like this that include the rainbow motif without being too obvious about it.
The Edge got a little whirly-twirly to celebrate. At least this display took advantage of our blustering early-summer weather.
While I believe that the influx of visitors rapaciously hoovering up rainbow tchatchkes like Kate Moss in a stall at Hyde is generally good for our local economy, I also worry about the businesses needing to close up because of the Pink Saturday crowds. Here are a couple of signs announcing these Saturday closings. Cliff's also closes on Pride Sunday, but I suppose that is more out of reverance for the gay high holy day.
For the month of June the city lined the neighborhood streets with rainbow flags from almost every pole along Market Street. The photo above shows the billowing "special event" flag competing for space against the regular banner which festoons many of these poles year-round. While the exuberant abundance of rainbows-on-rainbows was welcome and festive, an unfortunate side-effect of this juxtaposition was that the sunbleached (and in some cases quite tattered) regular banners looked pretty dismal in comparison to the flashy visitor flags. After hearing a few locals grumble about Pride and the annoying out-of-town crowds, it was hard not to see a reflection of ourselves in this telling scene.
I hope you all had a great Pride! Don't wait until next year to bring out your festive spirit and your rainbow thong!
Kudos (or as the kids now call them, "props") to the Merchants of Upper Market & Castro (MUMC) for a great Sidewalk Sale last Saturday! My memory of the last couple of these events has been that participation has been a little disapointing, but this time it seemed like almost every appropriate retailer (and a few inappropriate ones) had a table out.
Of course, it didn't hurt that it was both Cinco de Mayo and a rare sunny, warm day in SF -- and the boys were out in droves.
Officially the sale started at 9am, which struck me as odd because many stores don't open until 10 or 11, but the bargain hunters were out in force even before the opening bell, thus reinforcing that old saying: "Queens love bargains."
Here are some pictures of the festivities:
Chocolate on Castro had a table out, handing out samples and promoting the new store.
Rock Hard was one of a few stores with treats of a more adult nature. (No samples though.)
The comic book store Whatever had a big display and was quite packed inside. Saturday was also Free Comic Book Day (no joke -- check the link) and Whatever was particating with piles of free comics, author appearances, and raffles throughout the day. I grabbed one of the last copies of "Unseen Peanuts" and was seriously, seriously, unnaturally, disturbingly psyched about it.
Whatever is on the left in the picture above. On the right is AlwaysTan and they were definitely playing to their audience with a cute, buff, hairless, shirtless boy working the table. His sagging shorts were showing off his pair of Aussie Bum underwear. (I report that detail out of journalistic integrity only.)
The HRC Store was festive, and formerly insanely expensive designer t-shirts were going at huge discounts.
The Tibet Shop on 19th also got into the spirit of the day. (BTW, if anyone can please tell me how this store stays in business, I would really appreciate it.)
Under One Roof had a surprisingly small selection out front.
You know, good for Walgreens for participating and supporting the community event, but darned if they didn't have the most ghetto-looking display of the day. Their sale mostly consisted of beef jerkey, bottled water, and tourist t-shirts.
Thai Chef and Thailand Restaurant (below) both had tables out and were selling food and giving out samples.
De La Sole was packed when we went passed. I guess everyone wants cute shoes for the summer. I have to hand it to this store -- we weren't optimistic about them, but they seem to be hanging in there.
This is a broad shot showing (from left to right) American Boy, Cliff's (both the home store and the main store), and A Different Light, each with good-sized tables out. Cliff's gets the prize for the most merchandise out for sale, with items from a year's worth of holidays and some other dusty items that looked like they hadn't been out of the stock room since Fuzio was the Night Shift.
Superstar had a selection of porn and non-porn offerings.
Body had more sale tables inside as well.
In-Jean-ious had sale racks in front of their main store, as well as at their Lounge store up the street.
At Pottery Barn it was a veritable feeding frenzy. This was the first place I visited in the morning, and people were pulling merchandise off the carts before the employees could unwrap and price the items.
Coldwell Banker got into the spirit as well and had a table out. "Everything is 15% off!" was the realtor's opening line. Heh-heh, those witty realtors!
Books Inc. had a few racks and tables out. This was as far down Market as I got, so I'm not sure whether many (or any) stores on Church Street were also participating. But I was impressed with the participation rate in the area around Market and Castro.
Overall, I'd call the day a huge success, with stores, restaurants, bars, and coffeeshops all filled with people. I hope that this gave a good boost to the local economy, and that next year will be even bigger and better. Good job, MUMC!
An eagle-eyed, sharp-witted, undoubtedly-procrastinating reader sent me a heads-up about a weekly shopping event at Under One Roof, the gift shop on Castro which is entirely volunteer-run, with all profits going to support a wide range of local HIV/AIDS-related charities. Here's the press release about Disco Fridays at Under One Roof:
DISCO FRIDAYS at Under One Roof
Every Friday is Disco Friday at the store that benefits the AIDS
Community. Stop by Under One Roof on Castro Street to start your
weekend right! The staff & volunteers produce a happy hour disco
shopping party complete with rotating disco ball! Get your groove on
while you buy fantastic gifts and enjoy complimentary wine! The best
part is that 100% of the profits of every sale, every day supports over
30 local HIV/AIDS Service Organizations. Can you say, “GUILT FREE
SHOPPING?” The selection is unique and ever changing, so boogie on down
and support the cause!Disco Fridays
Every Friday, 5-8PMUnder One Roof
549 Castro Street @ 18th Street
San Francisco
In case you are too lazy to read the whole press release, here are the important points:
- Disco-themed shopping party every Friday evening from 5-8.
- Free wine.
The Merchants of Upper Market & Castro have organized another neighborhood-wide sidewalk sale next Saturday, May 5. The announcement explains that the event will "help you celebrate Small Business Week" -- I suppose in case the Small-Business-Week carols and rerunning of "It's a Small Business Week, Charlie Brown" haven't gotten you in the spirit already!
In the past the sidewalk sales have been a little spotty and a bit disappointing, but I'm hoping that they are picking up steam and that more businesses will participate. During the last sale, Cliff's and Under One Roof both had big tables full of unsellable merchandise undiscovered treasures at bargain prices.
One thing that I wish the neighborhood would do, which would mesh well with the sidewalk sale, is to sponsor a neighborhood-wide yard sale. Other blocks, streets, and neighborhoods in the city do this -- one of the most famous is the Fair Oaks Street Fair, which is a 5-block long garage sale held every Mother's Day weekend on this cute, Noe Valley side street. Supposedly people come in from the East Bay and peninsula to shop this street-fair-cum-flea-market every year. I think if Castro neighbors were encouraged to open up their garages and shovel out their extras on a certain weekend each year, we'd have much more foot traffic and much better business -- for the professionals and amateurs both.
And as the weekend draws to a close, here are a few more signs welcoming the bears.
At Under One Roof, a den of bears and bear cubs play in the window, around a token of recognition from the bear community.
A.G. Ferrari wants to attract some big appetites, I guess:
So long bears! I'm glad you had nice weather, but don't get the wrong idea about San Francisco and the Castro. There are about 6 nice days here each year, and you just experienced three of them.
Next weekend is the Oscars, and I wonder if Castro business actually goes down that night, what with it being the "Gay Superbowl" and all. Hmm...
As I mentioned before, this long weekend is International Bear Rendezvous weekend, and the Castro is all dressed up to welcome the bears. I've been joking about this, but seriously, walking around, there are almost as many bear-themed windows and decorations as there were Christmas decorations back in December. Here's a selection:
Many of the bars have banners specifically welcoming IBR bears which include photos of porn actors. Here is the one from The Mix on 18th:
Here's the banner in front of The Midnight Sun:
The Edge's poster is particularly bear-y:
Upstairs at The Metro on Market (a repeat of The Mix's poster):
And in the window of Harvey's:
The HRC Store played nicely into stereotypes with a "Wizard of Oz" reference:
Here, In-Jean-ious selected some bear-relevant t-shirts for their regular display.
One interesting thing to note in the picture above is the "Bears welcome" sign in the lower left. Here's a close-up of one in another window:
These signs remind me of when my partner and I took an Atlantis (gay) cruise through the Caribbean. At a couple of the ports, some of the local merchants put signs in their windows which included rainbow flags or messages like "Welcome Atlantis Guests!" It was nice to feel welcomed, even if just for our money, but it also created a slightly odd feeling with the stores who didn't sport these signs. Did they intentionally not welcome us? Were they anti-gay? Or did they just not know about the signs? Or maybe they considered the signs a little kitschy and ridiculous?
Here in the Castro, many stores have these "Bears welcome" signs and many stores don't. But the idea that any store in the Castro wouldn't be welcoming to bears is a little nutty. Bear visitors are a big part of our tourist economy, but also we have quite a large bear population year-round.
Although now that I think about it, Badlands didn't put up a bear welcome sign, and they've been investigated by our Human Rights Commission .... Suspicious!
President's Day weekend sees the first of the big bear events of the year in the Bay Area, the International Bear Rendezvous, and this year's activities start Thursday evening, February 15th. The events are not centered in the Castro -- for example, the host hotel is the Holiday Inn on Van Ness -- but even a casual observer will notice an uptick in the average BMI of Castro visitors for the next week.
So to welcome the bears I thought I'd whip up a quick "Bear Guide to the Castro." I'm not a bear myself (although I've been known to admire a bear in my time) so I can't really claim to be an expert, but here are some ideas for the ursine visitor:
No bear visit to the Castro would be complete without a pilgrimage to the Starbucks on 18th, known affectionately (or contemptuously) as "Starbears." I don't know how this place became the gathering place for the bear set, but it was bear-central even back when it was Pasqua, before that chain was snarfed up by Starbucks.
I always used to call this place "the tank top club" because the uniform of choice is jeans or cargo shorts, baseball cap, and a tank top, and the southern-facing seats out front are one of the few places in the neighborhood that you can sit in the sun and not freeze your bare shoulders off. Come to think of it, a thick mat of fur is necessary to wear a tank top in San Francisco.
For a "real" bear bar you need to go South of Market, but The Edge at 18th and Collingwood is the closest you'll find in our neighborhood. Here you can see that they are already decked out with the bear flag ready for the IBR Castro pub crawl.
Joe's Barbershop on 19th (across the street from Spike's Coffees and Tea) is not strictly for bears, but they specialize in the rough and ready masculine cuts that you usually associate with the leather or bear crowds. Their clientele certainly represent those populations well, as do most (all?) of the barbers here.
If you can't quite read the awning in my picture, the motto of the store is "just a little off the top," positioned underneath the cutely flat-topped logo. It's one of the best signs in all of the Castro, IMHO.
This is another somewhat oddball choice, but I had to include P.O. Plus on Castro because there seems to be some sort of requirement for employment here that you have facial hair. In general it's a great store with super-friendly staff, much more convenient that the USPS around the corner, but in addition if you are a bear fan there is probably at least one (and maybe more) person behind the counter that you will find to your liking.
If you get tired of the effete California cuisine which takes pains to differentiate the vegetarian menu items from the vegan ones, then head over to BullsHead on 18th which specializes in buffalo meat, as well as good ol' beef. The burgers are quite tasty, and if the menus are to be believed, buffalo meat will cure pretty much anything that ails you.
And not to generalize that all bears are obsessed with food, but I felt like I couldn't close without mentioning the Joseph Schmidt store on 16th and Sanchez. This is one of the more famous boutique chocolatiers in San Francisco (which was sadly bought by Hershey's, although it continues to operate as before), and the chocolates here are works of art. Their chocolate bowls in particular are spectacular, and would make an excellent souvenir from SF. The truffles are as big as golf balls and come in a huge variety of flavors. Outstanding.
I apologize for the lack of a "real" photo. The storefront itself is pretty unassuming and easy to miss if you are driving by, so I'll try to add a proper photo later.
Well, hopefully that is enough to occupy you between the IBR events. Welcome to SF and the Castro in particular!
Some updates on the space formerly occupied by Tower Records and Tower Videos:
- The enterprising folks at Kard Zone have enscripted one of the upstairs windows as advertising space.
- The downstairs space will be used by Under One Roof for their upcoming Food and Wine Sale. The dates for the sale are February 15-19, although traditionally volunteers get first crack the day before the public sale. They are looking for volunteers now, so this is your chance to get bags of Euro-looking snack crackers and jars of chutney at a reduced price!
- The current rumor-du-jour is that Cost Plus World Market is negotiating to move in to Tower's old space. If that's the case, Under One Roof won't even need to clean up after their sale as any unsold bottle of fig marinade and boxes of herb mints will fit right in with Cost Plus' regular product line. Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing Cost Plus move in because I enjoy their selection of holiday foods, but it would probably be a blow to area wine stores and to some of the antique/knick-knack places which specialize in exotica.
Local photographer Steven Underhill will be signing copies of his newest boyfest, Rassle, on this Wednesday, January 24th, at 7pm at A Different Light bookstore.
I'd always sort of dismissed Steven Underhill because of his, well, very thematic oeuvre, but it turns out that he is apparently a very good portrait and event photographer. He advertises in all of the local gay rags, but he also advertises to the wedding and portrait market beyond his gay fan base. I have friends who actually hired him to photograph their commitment ceremony, and they said that he was great *and* affordable, very friendly to the guests, and overall did a great job. In fact, that's their wedding picture on the cover of Rassle. (Just joking.)