Only in San Francisco would a house with a tree that shoots fire be considered a future museum site. That is, if saw player extraordinaire and former hotelier Bob Pritikin has his way. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Pritikin, who often throws lavish fundraisers at his residence—sort of an adult's fun house with kitschy memorabilia strewn throughout—is hoping to "pay the bills, make a nice contribution to the community and have some daytime visitors" by transforming his mansion into a museum. He originally suggested the less-than-humble "Only in San Francisco" name for the prospective museum site, though his hopes were dashed after learning that the city's Convention & Visitors Bureau already owns said URL.

The visiting groups would be relatively small, limited to 20 people per day, six days a week, says the Chronicle. Pritikin's idea, if realized, would place his home in the esteemed, eccentric company of one of the Bay Area's other homes-turned-tourist attractions, the Winchester Mystery House. This isn't Pritikin's first hubris-driven campaign on behalf of his home, having previously lobbied for it to have it turned into San Francisco's mayoral residence in 2004. That plan predictably never took off, and handsome politico Gavin Newsom is dwelling elsewhere these days.]]> Heidi Atwal 2009-10-29T10:24:18-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/28/11241/230

Where you perhaps planning on driving over to Oakland from San Francisco to check out why we named Oakland as one of the Five Cities With A Bad Rap worth visiting? It's too bad you'll be cut off from the goodness for who knows how long, after steel cables snapped last night, hitting three cars on the roadway below and stopping up traffic for over two hours.

There were no injuries when the bridge cracked its metal whip, but repairs and general safety issues will keep the region's busiest bridge shut down at least through tonight. Granted, the pieces that snapped were themselves an emergency repair made over Labor Day weekend, but now we're generally worried about bridge fatigue; perhaps we should be putting pennies into boxes for "Save The Steel Bridges" instead of Ronald McDonald House?

Public transporation options, after the jump. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-28T08:49:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/23/113037/11

San Francisco's majestic orange gateway, the Golden Gate Bridge, has served as highlight in panoramic film shots, and famously, a protest site for a green-friendly Hollywood actor. It's come to represent the City by the Bay like no other landmark, hence the throngs of tourists and locals that flock to it for photo opportunities, or to see its fantastic details up close.

To augment its beauty, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this week that The National Science Foundation "awarded the bridge district $3 million...to install outdoor exhibits explaining "its engineering and history." For visitors, this offers the chance to soak up some educational details while ogling its impressive construction. During most of our visits to the Bridge, we've seen people cruise by for a quick picture and maybe a moment of reflection, then quickly depart. The installations will, hopefully, remedy this hurried tourist mindset. Reports the Chronicle: ]]> Heidi Atwal 2009-10-23T11:58:42-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/15/114837/22

As we uphold our weekly tradition of highlighting ex-cheftestants, giving due attention to the poor souls that didn't make it to the Final Three, we arrive at sprightly French chef Mattin Noblia. With a million-watt smile and red neckerchief that we hope he was wearing ironically, Noblia stole our hearts for being so disarmingly sweet...or maybe it was the accent. Either way, Padma and Co. bid Mattin au revoir after he presented a disastrous ceviche that Tom Colicchio found so offensive he actually spit it out. Tragic.

When he's not flashing his boyish grin on national television, Mattin can be found at Iluna Basque, his San Francisco restaurant. As you can guess from its name, the cuisine is inspired by the Basque region, served up on small plates that diners are encouraged to share. ]]> Heidi Atwal 2009-10-15T17:08:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/14/133434/53

Hollywood Hoedown al fresco, anyone?

With a torrent of flash flood warnings in San Francisco and standing water bathing the streets of Los Angeles, California is looking decidedly un-Californian this week. We get it; it's fall, time for leaves to change colors and a crisp chill to hit the air, but us Golden State natives know that the wet weather will pass and we'll still have a solid few weeks to enjoy being outdoors before it becomes truly unbearable. And by unbearable, we mean 50 degrees.

Catching music al fresco is one of our favorite ways to take advantage of the amazing climate, like thousands of Bay Area young'uns will be doing this weekend when they descend upon the Treasure Island Music Festival. But if MGMT, Grizzly Bear, and pushing your way through a crowd of Doc Martens (who brought these back, anyway?) doesn't do it for you, there are other options on the concert docket.

More on outdoor concerts after the jump. ]]> Heidi Atwal 2009-10-14T15:53:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/9/144246/879

For Pitchfork-reading, Ray Ban-sporting music fans, the Treasure Island Music Festival delivers nothing less than a heaven sent lineup. Acts getting heavy airtime on hipper-than-thou radio stations, including MGMT, Beirut, Grizzly Bear, and club kid heroes MSTRKRFT, will all be on-hand from October 17-18 in San Francisco to get the youthful masses shaking in their skinny jeans and buffalo plaid shirts. Make no mistake, this festival is cool incarnate.

The artificial island lies in between San Francisco and Oakland and is accessible by the Bay Bridge if you're driving, or a MUNI line from within SF. Now in its third year, the two-day event is skewed more toward electro/dance on Day One and what you might broadly call "indie rock" on Day Two. We're excited to see psychedelic performers The Flaming Lips headlining Sunday's affair; we predict trippy lights, costumes, and frontman Wayne Coyne climbing over the audience in a plastic bubble, as he's known to do during their set. ]]> Heidi Atwal 2009-10-09T16:08:34-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/24/102759/947

Anyone who has attempted to park on the car-congested streets of San Francisco knows that the task can best be described with a four-letter word: Fine. We'll admit it; we've been ticketed many a time for letting our car linger too long in one of those rare, coveted street spots. The safer alternative is finding a lot, where charges upward of $20 await. Adding to this list of aggravations is the headache-inducing search for parking, period. What's a Prius-driving San Franciscan to do?

The good people of GottaPark.com—dubbed "Your Community Parking Network"—are attempting to make the ordeal less of a pain-in-the-parking-meter for members of the Zipcar generation. We recently gave the site a whirl, with results that were so-so. ]]> Heidi Atwal 2009-08-24T13:41:48-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/