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San Fran's Next Museum May Feature a Fire-Shooting Tree

October 29, 2009 at 10:24 AM | by Heidi Atwal | 0 Comments

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.

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When Bridges Attack: SF's Bay Bridge Closes Indefinitely

October 28, 2009 at 8:49 AM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

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.

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The Golden Gate Bridge Wants You To Stay Longer, Learn Something

October 23, 2009 at 11:58 AM | by Heidi Atwal | 0 Comments

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:

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Get Cozy With Top Chef's Mattin In San Francisco

Where: 701 Union Street [map], San Francisco, United States, 94133
October 15, 2009 at 5:08 PM | by Heidi Atwal | 1 Comment

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.

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Jaunted's Guide To California Fall Concerts Al Fresco

October 14, 2009 at 3:53 PM | by Heidi Atwal | 0 Comments

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.

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Treasure Island Music Festival Offers Indie Rock Oasis In San Fran

Where: Treasure Island [map], San Francisco, CA, United States
October 9, 2009 at 4:08 PM | by Heidi Atwal | 0 Comments

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.

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Avoid Parking Hell In San Francisco By Renting Your Spots

August 24, 2009 at 1:41 PM | by Heidi Atwal | 0 Comments

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.

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This Weekend In The World: Retro Cars, Shiny Boats and Polynesian Hip Shaking

July 31, 2009 at 4:59 PM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

· Chicago
Now that we've been talking up Chicago all week, we might as well mention that the city is king when it comes to neighborhood festivals. This weekend brings "Retro On Roscoe," an excuse for classic car owners to buff up their beauties and take them for a cruise. There'll be over 50 clasic vehicles, lots of live entertainment, antique vendors, and the Windy City Chili Cook Off happening both days in the Roscoe Village neighborhood. It's free to attend but those chili samples will costs a few bucks, so bring cash.

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A San Francisco Sunday Our Stomach Can Handle

July 16, 2009 at 5:20 PM | by BS | 0 Comments

Obviously, we love doing weekend jet-set trips across country, but there’s one aspect that’s consistently disappointing: Sundays—they’re so perfect when you’re at home, but so frustrating when you’re on the road.

No matter how good Friday and Saturday are, the Sunday portion of our trip inevitably goes something like this: we wake up tired and hungover from too much Fri/Sat fun, but feel guilty about wasting a day of such a short vacation, so we end up leaving the hotel hottub, begrudgingly fitting in some last tourist sites when we’d much rather be back at the bar eating a second brunch, mentally preparing ourselves for what is surely going to be a too-crowded flight home.

So we’re always on the lookouts for simple Sundays—vacation activities that make us feel active but require the very least amount of effort.

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Dynamo's Maple-Bacon Donuts for Grownups

Where: 2760 24th St [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94110
May 28, 2009 at 9:02 AM | by BS | 0 Comments

If there's one lesson we hope you cherish from our Dunkin' Donuts Alternatives series, it's that donuts ain't just for kids anymore. Like their brethren cupcakes, donuts have reemerged as a complex treat that deserves to be taken seriously.

One shop leading the way in such cruller worship is San Francisco's Dynamo Donuts and Coffee, which tosses aside the grape jelly and powdered sugar in favor of what they call "donuts for grownups." They are more like fried cakes that pair better with espresso than assembly-line pastries for a quick coffee dip.

At their shop on 24th Street, Dynamo's counter-window looks out into Mission District and constantly draws a street-side line for their light and airy donuts, made from high-end ingredients like organic palm oil and Guittard chocolate. The fried treats are topped in decidedly adult flavors like banana dulce de leche, lemon thyme honey, and the far-and-away favorite: maple-bacon, which is almost always sold out shortly after breakfast time.

To score a pork-liciously tasty breakfast without all the hassle of frying up bacon, we recommend arriving at Dynamo's with the early morning crowd. These babies are best enjoyed while you're still bleary-eyed enough to not consider calorie counts.

Related Stories:
· Dynamo Donuts and Coffee [Official Site]
· Get Dat Donut [Jaunted]
· Do-Nuts So Old School, They Won't Drop the Hyphen [Jaunted]

[Photo: SanFranAnnie]

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The San Fran International Film Festival Begins Tonight

April 23, 2009 at 12:54 PM | by kjb | 0 Comments

The 52nd edition of the San Francisco International Film Festival gets underway this evening, and it'll be celebrating movies through May 7. Plenty of locals will be getting their shot at famedom, as well as international filmmakers looking to wow the crowds with films that barely make sense—to us at least. Organizers have chosen “La Mission,” a story about the struggles that take place in San Francisco’s Mission District, to kick of the festival.

Robert Redford and Francis Ford Coppola will both be receiving awards next week at the Film Society Awards Night. If you want to watch, it’ll cost you $500 for the cheap seats—but at least it goes to charity. Evan Rachel Wood and Elijah Wood will receive Midnight Awards this weekend since they are young and have made the judges feel warm and fuzzy.

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When the US Goes Green Tomorrow, Where Will You Be?

April 21, 2009 at 4:25 PM | by JetSetCD | 0 Comments

Have you fished out your bicycle from underneath the swim noodles in your garage and aired out that old T-shirt with the recycling logo yet? Get a move on, buster, as tomorrow is Earth Day 2009, with green awareness events planned in every major city in the United States. Urbanites are especially encouraged to get out and say "hey" to Mother Nature, and thanks to Treehugger's list of the "10 Best US Cities to be in for Earth Day, they can, without too much thought beyond shouldering a reusable tote bag and heading out.

While the list is full of some surprises (Los Angeles, really?), we mainly think it's a godsend in terms of exhaustive event listings for the big eco players like their top five cities: Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Washington DC, and number one New York City. From tours of water treatment plants to green tea parties, there's an eco-event to suit everyone's tastes, so long as that taste leans to the green.

Check out the full "10 Best Cities for Earth Day" list here.

Related Stories:
· The 10 Best US Cities to be in for Earth Day [Treehugger]
· The Zoos Will Be Partying on Earth Day [Jaunted]
· Green Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Image: Pollution Issues]