3 posts tagged “quickly”
This week the production of Milk, Gus Van Sant's biofilm about Harvey Milk (you may have heard about it) moved north a block toward Market Street. The first of the march scenes was filmed tonight (February 4) and they'll be closing up the street again this Friday to wrap it up. (For a copy of the funny clothing guidelines for march extras, head over to this post on Towleroad. In case you were going to pull out your Disco Stu costume, think again!)
Down toward 19th Street, the location of Given which had been transformed into Milk's old Castro Camera has begun its return to the 21st century. The outside signs have come down, and the interior has begun to be disassembled.
In the window they've displayed a photo of the original store interior which they apparently used to guide the set dressing. The Gaycities.com travel blog has a great shot of the photo propped up against the set during the construction, and this really shows how the crew was shooting for historical accuracy. Now the photo is in the window and easier to inspect closely.
Across the street, Swirl is already back to normal and open for business (although the old sign is still up). It's actually stunning how quickly they were able to transform this place with shelving, moved walls, exterior work, etc. and then just as quickly put it back to normal. As someone who has struggled through a monster renovation which has overtaken our lives completely for the last 4 years of our lives, I'm actually incredibly bitter about this, but I'm trying to work through this. My partner also reminds me that the Swirl renovation was all for show and wouldn't pass code, but still, I want my shower back!
The newly-opened Lisa's Hair Design has lost its awning and has been made over into Alda Yarn. Nothing says the 70's like knit vests.
Quickly, the bubble-tea purveyor made infamous by our dearly-departed supervisor Ed Jew, is made up as a real estate agent's office. If you want to be depressed, go check out the posted listings closely.
Also on that side of the street, The Bead Store had its awning taken down, but is otherwise unchanged. I guess it has retained enough of its woo-woo, 70's, earth-mother styling that it fit into the movie just fine. Likewise, Twin Peaks looks untouched since the 70's -- and coincidentally the same thing could be said about many of its customers. (Hey-oh! These are the jokes people! I'll be here all week!)
Finally, this isn't a business, but the Muni stop has been shielded by wooden structures. I guess it would be hard to explain the presence of a "Harvey Milk Plaza" in the background of the movie. It would kind of give away the ending.
I called the paint job gaudy and garish before, but I have to admit that it looks pretty nice now that it's done. Thanks Gus!
One of the more bizarre San Francisco news stories these days is about the misleadingly-monikered freshman supervisor, Ed Jew. You can head over to the San Francisco Chronicle's website, search for "Ed Jew" and see an evening's worth of reading on his current problems, but there is one tie with the subject of this blog which I find deliciously unexpected and amusing: Jew is accused of taking $40,000 in kickbacks to smooth permit problems for a Taiwanese chain which has a store on Castro Street -- that bright orange plastic purveyor of tapioca ball drinks, Quickly.
I always thought Quickly was going to kill someone, but I didn't think the victim would be a politician's career.
When Quickly opened a year or so ago, I was horrified. First of all, tapioca ball drinks are without hyperbole the worst thing ever to happen in the history of mankind. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, tapioca drinks are usually a cold, flavored milk tea to which has been added a few inches of tapioca balls which sink to the bottom of the cup. These balls are about a quarter-inch or so in diameter and have a consistency somewhere between ricotta cheese and Play-Doh. As you drink the tea through a straw a gushy ball periodically comes shooting up the straw right into your gullet.
Now, the tapioca balls alone are damning enough, but Quickly also ups the ante by serving a hot food selection which is truly beyond description. The biggest sign in the window advertises 59-cent hot dogs, and as CastroNative noted in another post's comments, it's traumatizing to imagine what eating one of these would do to your system. But the alternatives to the hot dog are equally unfortunate: squid ball, fried oyster, pork tripe, fried squid, fish ball...
(Actually come to think of it, there are a lot of balls on the menu, so maybe they aren't so out of place in the neighborhood after all.)
Next door to the Harvey's construction site on the Castro Street side is another one -- the former site of Tully's, which has sat empty for a few months now. A couple weeks back there were the first signs of activity, and now the renovations are in full swing. Here is a new peek in the front door, showing that they walled off the back portion where the storage and restroom were.
As for what is moving in, there is a "help wanted" sign posted which directs people to submit to something called The Chocolate Store. The deadline was Saturday (sorry!) so no employee discount for you. I really was hoping for another coffee shop because the neighborhood could certainly use more cafe space, but this Chocolate Store could be interesting, especially if it combines a cafe-like business with its chocolate theme.
The last sweets store right in the heart of the Castro was Faerie Queen Chocolates which stood where the Quickly bubble tea stand is now. The owner famously shut the store down 3 years ago, loudly complaining (in letters-to-the-editor, a sign posted in the windows, and this Chronicle article) about the changing character of the Castro, the rising homeless problem, and the unwillingness of Castro gays to support their own. Frankly, that scary-ass doll hanging over the entrance was enough to put me off chocolates, gay owner or no. My sincere hope for the new Chocolate Store: no scary-ass dolls please.
Still in the Castro but a few blocks down 16th Street is the world-famous Joseph Schmidt Confections that I mentioned in my "Bears' Guide to the Castro." I promised a photo then, and here it is:
It's a small, unassuming storefront, but the chocolates really are amazing to look at and amazing to taste. And as added incentive to check it out, note the sign in the window:
It's never too late to have a Happy Valentine's Day in the Castro!
