Tony Stubblebine

Pics from Ice Cream Triangle

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:01:30 -0700

Relaying a story about James Lick (full story here)

Bringing up the rear

Does anybody know the story on this jungle themed house?

Women’s Building

If you anyone posts more pics, send them to me and I’ll add to the list.

Notes from the Ice Cream Triangle

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:53:00 -0700

We’re about to embark on an epic journey into the heart of San Francisco’s mysterious Ice Cream Triangle. Lives and loves have been lost here.
Route: 6.8 miles (map)

Mitchell’s Ice Cream - The southern point of our triangle, founded in 1953 by two brothers, neither of whom shot the other one. Best ice cream in the city until 2004. Did tastes change? Did more talented ice cream makers arrive? Or…?

Juri’s Commons - A neat hidden passage way built over old an old railroad line. Chartered in 1974 and championed by Cesar Chavez, the park wasn’t funded until later and opened in 1986.

James Lick Middle School - Born August 25, 1796, Lick arrived in California in 1848 with $30k and 600lbs of chocolate, and died the state’s richest man. Wikipedia notes a failed romance at the age of 21, but the actual story of love lost is epic. This building was finished in 1932.

Mural MaestraPeace - Covering two facades of the Women’s Building, this mural has themes of the healing power of women’s wisdom over time, women’s contributions to history and women’s global history. It was painted in 1994 by a slew of women.

Bi-Rite Creamery - Natural, organic ice cream, opened in late 2006. Best ice cream in the city.

Boys Club - In 1986, two young members took a break from their street-side art sales business for a turn at hooliganism—and were met with the worst possible luck.

Misión San Francisco de Asís , AKA Mission Dolores - The original, Adobe, church was built in 1791; it’s oldest original intact Mission in California and the oldest building in San Francisco. The newer, Churrigueresque style, church was completed in 1918. Don’t know how to pronounce Churrigueresque? Try out Wordnik.com’s audio pronunciation feature. I bet we can poke our heads inside.

Old Mint - In 1906, this building housed a third of the US gold reserves. The fire from the 1906 earthquake got close enough that windows melted, but the staff was able to fight back the fires with water from a well that had been drilled just one month earlier. Can you imagine if a third of the nation’s gold was just a melted mess? The building is slated to open as a museum in 2012.

Hayes Valley Farm - This is a brand new community supported permaculture farm that’s built on top of the ruins of the Central Freeway (ruined in the 1989 quake). They’re doing all sorts of interesting work here and give trainings in urban gardening.

American Bookbinder’s Museum - Sarah’s dad’s cousin donated a Pen Ruling Machine, which turns blank pages into pages with lines. The museum’s website notes, “At present one firm in Iowa, Golden Business Forms, continues to serve the withered-away pen-ruling needs of the whole nation.”

Balmey Alley Murals - These murals are supposed to be amazing, but online information on them is in short supply. We’ll investigate.

Humphry Slocombe - The most interesting ice cream in San Francisco (and also 2010’s best SF restaurant Twitter account, @humphryslocombe). From here you can go West to BART or East to Dynamo, SF’s best donuts.

Unsolved Mysteries Along California Street

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:46:00 -0700

We’re doing another Urban Hike, this time along California Street. Key details:

Saturday, July 17 2010
Meet at the Ferry Building at 9:30am
4.6 Miles total with hills.

Here was the reminder invite as written by our co-guide, Sarah:

I know I touted this weekend’s urban hike as tour of churches and
other sacred spaces. After doing some research, Tony has announced
that the theme is actually going to be “Murders, Mass Murders and
Reincarnations.” Which is a surprisingly good fit with churches. So
we’re right on track.

We’re meeting 9:30a at the Ferry Building. Here’s where to find us:
outside on the Embarcadero side, face the main doors (which say
“Marketplace and Ferries”); we’ll be just to right of those doors,
near the stairs. We’ll leave at 9:45a. Our current plan is to schlep
out California Street a ways and then loop back through Chinatown,
ending with lunch at the Ferry Building. It’s a hilly route, but we’re
brimming with obscure points o’ interest, which will give you a chance
to catch your breath. Total trip: in the neighborhood of four and half
vertical miles, which is three-ish hours or so. (Incidentally, if
you’re driving to the morning meeting point, there’s a pricey parking
lot on the Embarcadero at Broadway or a pricey garage on Howard at
Steuart.)

For those planning to join us mid-flight, we’ll try to tweet key
locations as we go (@SarahM and @tonystubblebine; hashtag #urbanhike).

Looking forward to seeing you Saturday!

PS. Nobody ever got hurt bringing water and sunscreen. Also, seeing as
it’s mid-summer in SF, you may want to pack a down jacket.

Fort Mason - Nov '09

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:10:00 -0800

Saturday, November 7.
Expected distance: 5.5miles
Food options: Crab/seafood snack at Musee Mechanique, Italian picnic from Molinari (373 Columbus Ave).

Fort Mason - Part of Pacific coastal defense originally built up during the Civil War. Wasn’t the Civil War fought mostly in Virginia? The fear was that the nasty British would kick us when we were down. We’re also looking for the community garden that kicked off the San Francisco community garden movement.

George White Field - Lots of history here, including OJ Simpson, the invention of the one handed jump shot, and the dangers of go kart racing. Source.

Ghirardelli Square - According to the website, this is now a Fairmont Heritage Place: “Once an illustrious chocolate factory in the 1800s, now a retail urban oasis” Say what? I’m pretty sure there is still a Ghirardelli store at least in the clock tower. Let’s get some chocolate. Notes: Domenico Ghirardelli, gold miners, Peru, Rice-a-roni, lindt, mustard, Bakers.

Maritime Museum - Late art deco, “Streamline Moderne.” A lot of people like to swim here even though there are often problems with sewage overflow.

Balclutha - That’s a boat. Our friend Tim did most of the rope work on the boat. That guy can tie a knot. My only other fun fact is that they do a monthly sea shanty sing around on the boat. That’s a type of singing that’s supposed to rouse sailors while they do their work. Let me give an example:

John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave;
(3X) His soul’s marching on!
(Chorus)Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
his soul’s marching on! He’s gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord!
(3X) His soul’s marching on!

Musee Mechanique - Collection of mechanically operated arcade games. This is how our grand parents used to have fun. It’s famous for posessing a “Laughing Sal.” Here’s how Wikipedia describes Sal: “she produces a raucous laugh that sometimes frightens small children and annoys adults.” Entrance is free.

Taylor and Francisco - This actually used to be beach!

Coit Tower - Murals. The artists painted in a bunch of leftist icons to show support for Diego Rivera (something to do with Rockefeller).

Lombard Street - Whoa. Steep and curvy. It’s the third steepest street in the city and the second curviest.

McEllroy Octagon House - Gough and Union. One of five. Built 1861. The idea of an octagon house was popularized by a med student and amateur architect, Fowler. His idea is that this style would produce good health. He was also a well known phrenologist (person who divines your personality by the shape of your skull).

Haas-Lilienthal House - 2007 Franklin Street. Since we have some Haas students I thought we’d get a little history in. Where’d the money come from? Blue jeans. They married into the Levi Strauss family. They manage to be active philanthropists and stay out of trouble. This house is of a Queen Anne style, with some Stick style details.

Spreckels Mansion - 2080 Washington Street. Sugar barons. I think this house might be on the market for $15M.

Urban Hiking Hits the New York Times

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:44:48 -0800

Urban Hiking Hits the New York Times

Harlem NYC - Summer '08

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:44:08 -0800

I don’t remember all of the details. @SarahM or @Heymarci are going to have to send me the writeup.

Peak to Peak - Photos

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:43:20 -0800

Peak to Peak - Photos

Peak to Peak - June '08

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:42:57 -0800

Peak to Peak - Points of Interest

Twin Peaks.

Good morning. From the parking lot tourists enjoy amazing 270 degree views. Hike to the top of one of the peaks, referred to by the Spanish as “Los Pechos del Choca,” and you’ll get an even more amazing view including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Financial district, Alcatraz and the curve of Candlestick Park. The naming rights to Candlestick, btw, are owned by Monster Cable, a company that has made a fortune out of a marketing gimmick for what should be a commodity product. As a youth, one of your tour guides watched Lethal Weapon on Laser Disc at the home of Monster Cable founder Noel Lee while the adults around him got drunk. Regardless of this kindness, he still insists that Candlestick Park be called Candlestick Park.

http://www.bahiker.com/sfhikes/twinpeaks.html

http://www.parks.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/recpark/volunteer/Community_Catalyst_Newsletters/brochure_web(1).pdf

Kite Hill

From Yelp: “Harvey likes this park. He wishes he could still go except his parents don’t want to pick those fox tails out of his paws and nose. Waiting for fox tail season to subside is a long hard wait.” Honestly, I’ll be shocked if we find this point of interest.

Seward Street Slides

Grab your card board and go for a slide! Having fun? Thank the creativity of then 14-year-old Kim Clark, who won a “Design the Park” competition in the early 70s. In the early 80s one slide was painted yellow and the other red. A certain tour guide preferred the red.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/seward-street-slides-san-francisco

Eureka Valley Recreation Center

Did you bring your magnet? There’s a patch of dirt here where you can pull iron filings with a magnet. Interesting!

Castro Camera

573 Castro St. Built in 1894, this is the former home and business of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay supervisor (and probably the first openly gay politician of any sort) of San Francisco. In 1978, he and mayor George Moscone were killed by former supervisor Dan White after White lost his appointment. This case is most famous for White getting a light sentence after successfully pleading a diminished capacity in what the media have called the Twinkie Defense. The full story has a lot of interesting angles, most notably that the defense had nothing to do with twinkies, but also appearances from Rev. Jim Jones, Joan Baez, Dianne Fienstein, and Willie Brown.

Vulcan Steps

The Vulcan Steps rate among the best of San Francisco’s stairways. Nearly two blocks long, the steps are carefully tended by the people who live along them. The gardens are magnificent and in places resemble a jungle.

Randall Museum

Josephine Randall, San Francisco’s first Superintendent of Recreation, founded this museum as a place for youth to develop a love of science. We’re in luck, because Saturday is the only day that the Golden Gate Model Railroad Club’s train layout is open.

Buena Vista Park

Founded in 1867, this is San Francisco’s oldest park. Some of the gutters are lined with fragments of victorian era tombstones.

Haight-Ashbury

This would be a good place for tacos. 710 Ashbury was home to the Grateful Dead and was designed in 1890 by Cranston-Keeting. That Cranston was grandfather of former US Senator Alan Cranston (famous for taking $1M from Charles Keating in the Savings and Loan scandals and also for being president of the World Federalist Association, an organization pushing for world government).

Ice Cream Obscura - April '07

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:41:37 -0800

Points of Interest, Ice Cream Obscura Hike

April 29, 2007

Outer Sunset District

The Outer Sunset District extends from 19th Ave to the beach. The neighborhood was named by former city assessor turned real estate developer, Aurelius E. Buckingham, who wanted a name that would dodge the area’s reputation for gloom. The Sunset and Richmond districts have a reputation for being the foggiest in the city. No word yet on whether Al Gore predicts that to change.

Fire Chief’s Cottage

1984 Great Highway. Built as a vacation retreat in 1905 by Fire Chief Dennis T. Sullivan, Sullivan didn’t have much time to enjoy the home. He became one of the prominent and early casualties of the 1906 earthquake, falling through three floors of his home above a fire house on Bush Street. He lay in a coma while his leaderless department battled a conflagration that demolished most of the city.

The Last Streetcar House

1850s and 1860s transit companies used horses to pull rail cars. When horse-drawn rail cars gave way to electric street cars and cable cars, the companies unloaded the then worthless rail cars to bohemians looking for cheap shelter. 1415 47th Ave. is the last of the rail car housing, indistinguishable from the outside, but from the inside clearly based on three rail cars joined side by side (a triple wide).

Dutch Windmill

The first Golden Gate Park windmill stands 75 feet tall with 102 foot long spars, and was built to pump up to 30,000 gallons an hour of well water for irrigation purposes. (Before the windmill’s erection the Park was spending $4,800 a year buying water from the Spring Valley Water Company.) The windmill’s usefulness only lasted a few years. Electric pumps augmented and eventually replaced the windmills in pumping irrigation water. Neglect, storms, and the needs of World War II stripped the windmill of its metal and spars, leaving it a closed-up ruin by the 1950s.

Freddy’s Ocean Beach Deli

4.5 stars on yelp and included on the tour just because Pronto Pup has been torn down as part of a Cliff House renovation. 734 La Playa St. (between Balboa St & Cabrillo St)

Sutro Baths

The seven Sutro Baths were built by SF Mayor Adolph Sutro in 1896. One bath was fresh water and the rest were salt water, the coldest ice cold and the warmest 80 degrees. In its heyday, the baths were home to a number of events and attractions including swimming competitions and dwarf boxing. The cost of running the baths forced several sales and near bankruptcies. In 1966 the baths were destroyed in a fire. Although Church of Satan founder, Anton Lavay, claims that he placed a curse leading to the fire most people believe the fire was set deliberately to collect on insurance.

Giant Camera

Shaped like a giant camera, and sometimes referred to as the giant mirror of life, the Giant Camera is actually a camera obscura, a precurser to photography that uses a pinhole to make an accurate projection of an outside location (in this case Seal Rock).

Balboa Theater

3630 Balboa Street between Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Avenue. Built in 1925 by the same architects who designed the Cliff House and Fairmont hotel, the Balboa has managed to survive despite competition from large multiplexes by offering double-features of high quality second run features.

The Sweet House

3512 Balboa. Hong Kong drinks, i.e. drinks with tapioca balls.

Buffalo Paddock

Small herds of bison have made their stoic presence known since 1892, when the park was a free-range zoo of elk, bears, goats and other animals.

Polly Ann Ice Cream

500 flavors (including vegetable and zuchini) and free doggie cones. Can’t decide? Spin the wheel of ice cream.

Ferry Building Hike - Jusin's Writeup

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:41:01 -0800

Ferry Building Hike - Jusin's Writeup

Ferry Building Hike - Map/Pedometer

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:39:30 -0800

Ferry Building Hike - Map/Pedometer

Ferry Building Hike - Photos

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:38:47 -0800

Ferry Building Hike - Photos

Ferry Building Hike - March '07

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:32:00 -0800

Points of Interest, San Francisco Urban Hike

March 11, 2007

SF Ferry Building, Starting Point.

Start congregating around 10:30, leave from the front of the building at 11:00am sharp. Opened in 1898, the Ferry Building sports the largest foundation in the world for a building over water, strong enough to survive two major earthquakes (1906 and 1989). The 240’ Clock Tower is based on the 12th century Seville Cathedral. The building was a hub for transport but faded into obscurity in the 50’s when the interior was remodeled for office space and the erection of the Embarcadero Freeway blocked it from view. The Embarcadero Freeway was demolished following the ‘89 earthquake, bringing back the view and leading to a restoration of the building. Wear your trendiest jeans and sun glasses if you want to visit the farmers markets, Tuesdays and Saturdays. I celebrated Y2K New Years here among a throng of people and lasers.

AT&T Park

The park formerly known as SBC Park actually opened as PacBell Park (SBC bought both PacBell and AT&T and then changed their name to AT&T). The water on the right field side of the park is known as McCovey Cove after Giants 1st baseman Willie. 41 Homers have been hit into the water without bouncing, 33 of which were hit by Barry Bonds. Thirteen balls have made it to the cove on the bounce, none of which were hit by Barry Bonds. I saw Barry hit home run #661 at the park (then SBC) and don’t care that people think he’s on steroids (he obviously is) because I think cheating is part of sports.

The Ramp, First Regroup Point

855 Terry Francois St, (415) 621-2378. Fast walkers or people cutting their hike short may want to stop here for brunch and a Ramos Gin Fizz. Born out of New Orleans the Ramos Fizz is 2 ounces gin, 3 drops orange flower water (available in high end liquor joins and Middle-Eastern markets), 1 egg whites, 1 teaspoon bar sugar, 1 ounce lemon juice, 1/2 ounce lime juice, 1 ounce cream, and Soda water. Shake very vigorously for at least one minute. Strain into a tall thin glass, or a very large old fashioned glass, and top with some soda water. Stir. I recommend sitting outside.

Potrero Hill

Home to Dogster, a social network for Dogs, and Anchor Steam brewery, owned by washing machine heir Fritz Maytag. OJ Simpson grew up here. Follow 16th St. through the neighborhood and then make a right on Folsom

Rainbow Grocery

1745 Folsom St. The place to stop if you’re into healthy eating. Just won 2007 Best Freebies for its selection of olives and cheese. Many Americans think Philadelphia brand cream cheese is an acceptable bagel topping but I can’t stand the stuff because I grew up eating no-gum natural cream cheese from Rainbow.

The Armory, Second Regroup Point

1800 Mission St at 14th St. This 200,000 square foot reproduction of a Moorish castle was completed in 1914 and served the National Guard until 1976. Kink.com recently purchased the building for film production, citing the character of its cavernous dungeon-like basements, stone staircases, sweeping corridors and a gigantic drill court. At least three films have already been shot including Princess Donna suspended above the drill court. Some local residents are vowing to fight the company saying that the movies “degrades the neighborhood, demeans women and offers “dead-end” jobs that no decent person would want.” I don’t have enough personal experience to weigh in.

Arinell

509 Valencia St, (415) 255-1303. Pizza expert (and Grinnell College Alumnus) Ed Levine calls this “one of the best New York slices he’s had on the West Coast.” The magic of a NY style slice is in the thin chewy crust. Californians hide their poor crust under a load of toppings. This pizza stands up on its own. I recommend cheese slices.

The Little Giant

Gold Fire Hydrant at 20th and Church. This hydrant is one of the few which had water after the 1906 earthquake and his credited with saving the Mission district from fire. Its heroism is honored each year with a fresh paint of gold. On your way to the hydrant relax with your slices in Dolores Park.

Citizen Cake

399 Grove St, (415) 861-2228. Hot Cross Buns are a type of sweet spiced bun made with currants or candied fruit and topped with an icing cross. They’re traditionally made for Good Friday but can be enjoyed by people of all faiths. The ChowHound Hot Cross Bun Tour 2007 has not found the time to review this year’s buns from Citizen Cake so we’re going to stop in and do it for them. After this, head back across Market and then down Mission to the Ferry Building.