A very
unlucky long-haul trucker from Nevada got trapped on the
22nd Street hill for more than five hours on April Fool’s
Day. Photo courtesy Mitchell Fox,
mitchellwfox.com
OTHER
TIMES I CAN BARELY
SEE: April 1 was not a good day for Rodney McFadden,
a resident of
Nevada who makes his living driving a big Volvo truck that
pulls a 53-foot
trailer. San Francisco was his last stop in a journey that
started in Oklahoma,
and after he’d finished his last delivery, McFadden found
himself on Sanchez
Street, near Cesar Chavez.
“I asked the guy which way was the best way
outta there, and he
told me to go up Sanchez Street and make a right on 22nd
Street, which I
thought would take me back to the freeway,” said McFadden.
“That was about 3:30
p.m., and my truck got stuck at the top of the hill.”
The hill, of course, is the 32-degree-grade,
one-way block of
22nd between Vicksburg and Church streets, one of the steepest
drivable hills
in the city. The hill actually has its own page in Wikipedia.
“I was able to make the turn from Sanchez, but
when I started
going down this hill the front landing gear under the trailer
got caught at the
top and I came to a halt,” said McFadden, “so the next step
was to get a tow
truck to pull me back up the hill.”
But problems developed when the first tow truck
pulled the truck
sideways, causing McFadden to halt the process and call
another tow service.
Finally, four hours later the truck and trailer were pulled
back up the hill to
Sanchez Street.
Thanks to Vicksburg resident Mitchell Fox, the
image of the
stuck truck has been preserved for posterity
(mitchellwfox.com).
Said Fox: “I was coming home from work at about
five o’clock,
planning to go down 22nd to Vicksburg, but found the whole
street blocked off
by a giant truck.” The perfect photo op.
By 9 p.m. McFadden was at last on his way out
of Noe Valley.
“And I’ll tell you that either that guy who gave me directions
the first time
didn’t know that neighborhood at all, or geez, I was
pranked…but I will tell
you I met some really nice people in that neighborhood who
made a bad situation
much better. Thanks.”
= = =
MAY DAZE: A heads-up for
Saturday, May 18, when Downtown Noe Valley will have its
annual Sidewalk Sale,
with participation from over 30 businesses on 24th and Church
streets,
according to Dani Sheehan Meyer of the Noe Valley Merchants
and Professionals
Association (and Cliché Noe Gift Store). “It will be a great
day for Spring
$ales (sorry, I could not resist), meaning there will be some
great bargains
out on the sidewalk, and hopefully a boost to our local
merchants,” she writes.
It’s all a part of Small Business Week, which San Francisco is
celebrating from
May 12 to 18.
We also hear from the Saturday Farmers’ Market
vendors (see
below) that May 18 has been predicted to be an awesome day to
buy springtime
fruits and vegetables in the morning, prior to your stroll
through Noe Valley
for merchant values. In our climate futurecast, the Noe Valley
Weather Service
is predicting early morning fog will be clutching Twin Peaks,
but burn off by
about 9 a.m., with temperatures rising to a sunny high of 74
degrees.
By the way, during aforesaid Small Business
Week, on May 16, the
NVMPA will be hosting a party at the 24th Street Wells Fargo
starting at 6 p.m.
Association President Bob Roddick says he wants all members to
attend, because
certificates of appreciation from the Board of Supervisors
will be presented to
some very worthy recipients.
According to NVMPA organizer Carol Yenne, the
honorees will
include the Town Square Steering Committee, “for their hard
work and
determination in efforts to making it a reality for Noe
Valley, and to maintain
open space and provide a permanent location for the Farmers
Market: Nisha
Pillai, Todd David, Chris Keene, Leslie Crawford, and Kate
Sherwood.”
Other honorees include the Noe Valley Merchants
ADA Committee,
composed of Gwen Sanderson, Susan Walla, and Mike Onufer, “for
their hard work
in seeking solutions for businesses in dealing with the laws
and consequences
of ADA legislation that has burdened small businesses....
Also, Zephyr Real
Estate’s Bill Drypolcher will be honored for being a constant
contributor to
the community of Noe Valley and supporter of families and
businesses through
Real Estate.”
And lastly but not leastly, receiving an award
will be Bank of
America’s Noe Valley branch manager, Becky Feijoo, for her
longtime service as
treasurer of the NVMPA.
Congrats to all.
= = =
HONOR ROLL: Kudos
go out to Noe Valleyan Yuriko Gamo Romer, whose film Mrs.
Judo: Be
Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful won the 2013 Jury
Prize for Best
Documentary at the International Festival of Sports Movies in
Moscow, Russia,
last month. As many of you know, this movie is about Noe
Valley legend Keiko
Fukuda, who just passed away at age 99 (see the March 2013
issue). She
was the first woman to earn a 10th degree black belt in judo,
the sport’s
highest honor.
In a remotely related item, Noe Valley
nonagenarian Jeanne
Galarza’s 93rd birthday party (rumored here last month) was
wonderful. A big
thanks go to SFPD’s Lorraine Lombardo, our 24th Street beat
cop, who threw the
party at Toast on 24th Street. Michael Gessen of our famous
Noe Valley Bakery
made a cake for Galarza, and the Just for Fun folks gave her a
lovely tiara. “I
got her two cool candles—one said 93—but I had to buy her two
cards,” reports
Lombardo, “one 90 and one 3, because I couldn’t find a 93!”
Kudos also to Noe Valley’s own Steven Pressman,
whose long
resume (primarily as a legal affairs journalist and author)
also includes being
a filmmaker. Pressman’s documentary, Fifty Children:
The Rescue Mission
of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus, had its HBO premiere on
April 8, which was
Holocaust Remembrance Day. The story is told by an 83-year-old
widow who was
the 50th out of 50 children to be sent by their Austrian
parents to Gilbert and
Eleanor Krause in America for safety back in 1938, after the
Nazis had taken
over their country.
A wonderful review of the documentary came out
that day in the San
Francisco Chronicle by writer Sam Whiting.
The Krauses’ granddaughter is Pressman’s wife
Liz Perle. She had
maintained the records of the rescue. Searching the roster of
children,
Pressman found a survivor, Kay Lee, living in Atherton. She
was originally
known in Austria as Klara Rattner, andPressman traced her to
the 1948 graduating class at Mission High School.
From there, the rest is history.
= = =
MANGIA, MANGIA! On the
local food front, news is that the now-landmark Upper Noe
Valley restaurant La
Ciccia is going to open a new restaurant just a few doors down
the train tracks
at 1781 Church. That’s where Cece’s Closet consignment shop
used to be, before
the property was brought up to seismic and ADA code
requirements.
La Ciccia owner/chef Massimiliano Conti says he
and his wife,
Lorella Degan, are planning to open a new eaterie at the
premises called La
Nebbia. “We are so excited about this and hopefully—fingers
crossed—we can open
this fall,” says Conti. “We are going to make it an Enoteca,
but so much more:
a lasagnaria, pizzeria, prosciutteria, with a fresh cheese bar
featuring local
and Italian mozzarella, burrata, and ricotta, with a small
wine bar serving
between 70 and 80 wines from California and Italy, and about
30 of those by the
glass,” says the exuberant Conti.
“We have been in this fantastic neighborhood
now for seven years
and feel very fortunate that so many people visit us…and this
will give us a
chance to expand our menu and offer a more relaxed and casual
atmosphere, and
we will prepare my favorite dish—lasagna—so we will have a
delicious variety on
the menu,” he adds.
Back on 24th Street, the Noe Valley Deli is
morphing into what
appears to be a breakfast/ lunch/brunch café. Attempts to
reach someone at Je
& June, Inc. have been unsuccessful. Workmen allowed
the posting of aVoice contact
number on the paper covering the inside of the front door. I
did notice that
the building owner put up a notice of “non-responsibility” by
the building
owner. But passersby can see, Je and June have renovated the
space and received
ABC approval to sell beer and wine. We will update you next
month. And, Je or
June: Give me a call and we can talk eggs over easy.
Rumors that the retail space on the corner of
24th and Diamond
streets is going to become a kid-related store have
evaporated, as have merchants’
hopes that a retail something-or-other will open in the space.
The current
rumor is, uh, a title insurance company.
= = =
FRUITATARIANISM: The
vendors at the Saturday Noe Valley Farmers’ Market say myriad
fruits and
vegetables are in store for us during the month of May. (As
most of you know,
especially those of you who have gotten this far down in the
column, the market
is located in the parking lot at 3861 24th, between Sanchez
and Vicksburg.)
“We are looking forward to sugar snap peas and
broccolini,” says
Ashley McDermott of Happy Boy Farms, “and lots of herbs, like
oregano, mint,
parsley, cilantro, and tarragon.”
Evelyn Williamson from Tomatero Organic Farm
will be bringing
“strawberries, a lot of herbs, spring basil, lettuces,
arugula, spinach, and
carrots.”
“For us, we will see a lot of tomatoes and
squash,” says Capay
Organics’ Lisa David.
According to Aaron Gold from Hidden Star
Orchards, the best
fruit will be blueberries and cherries. Forrest Cook from
Swanton Berry Farm
says he’s been selling a lot of his Chandler strawberry crop
(very sweet and
very short shelf life). “Next we will have cauliflower and
broccoli,” says
Cook.
“We are looking at long beans, bell pepper, and
hot pepper,
eggplant, and tomato,” says Kou Her from the Herr Family Farm
(“My dad spells
his name with two Rs”).
The month of May will bring “a lot of peaches
(yellow),
cherries, apricots, plums, as well as pluots and apriums,
which are hybrids of
plums and apricots,” says Jimmy Egoian of Twin Girl Farms. “We
will also have
some great nectarines.”
= = =
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’: The
Mazookmobile was driving towards Market on Dolores—a poor
route choice—on
Saturday, April 20, in the late afternoon, and I have never in
my life seen so
many people in Dolores Park. Okay, I get it—weekend, sun, fun.
But when I passed by the park the next Monday
afternoon, after
working at my regular day job, I noticed there were still
hundreds of sun/fun
people lounging on the park green. I stopped, got out the car,
and entered the
park to find out: Who are all these people?
I came upon Alex Rosan, who said he was a
regular at the park
but lives in the Lower Haight. “This place is a melting pot of
people with
beautiful spirits,” he said. He pointed out that various
groups go to various
spots on the uphill terrain. “Over here [pointing to the
playground], you have
moms and kids, and up there [pointing to the upper plateau
near 20th Street] is
the gay beach area, and over there [near the tennis courts]
are the
international groups, and up the hill are artists, hipsters,
techies, punks,
anarchists, hippies, and some nine-to-fivers.”
Taylor Alec, from Bernal Heights, agrees that
it’s a very social
park. “I come here because it is a great place to
people-watch.”
Liz Kershaw, who lives in Noe Valley, says she
comes over the
hill because “it is relaxing, and everyone here has a great
feeling.”
“I come here when it is sunny—I work and live
around here, and
find it is very social around here—as a matter of fact I met
my fiancé here,”
says Noe Valley resident Maia H, blushingly.
“I enjoy this park and get to meet a lot of
people from France,”
says Wahia, who lives in Daly City and works in computer
science.
Donna Hunt from the South Bay comes “because it
is a good place
to hang in the city and has good weather.”
One park grazer, who would not give his name,
said he thought
the conga drum group could stand some improvement. And a
fellow from Bernal said,
“Some people get unruly when they have had too much to drink,
which you never
see with the stoners.”
Dolores Park, as Voice readers
know, is in the
midst of a major remodel, and construction is due to start in
October. I’ll be
trying to catch some events in the park this summer,
especially the SF Mime
Troupe and a rock show I hear is on the calendar.
= = =
ODDS AND ENDS: A
new woman’s boutique, called Kitami Ropa has opened at 1478
Church St. near
27th, selling modern, vintage, and new clothing. The shop had
a soft opening in
mid-March, but was fully stocked and attracting lots of
attention by early last
month. “We have clothes by a lot of different designers, many
of them local,”
says owner Tara Kitami. She says she’s open Tuesday to
Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7
p.m.
Congratulations to Peggy Cling and Jack Twomey
for correctly
answering last month’s blue-ribbon bonus quiz question: Where
exactly in Noe
Valley is Worth? Twomey wrote a letter to the editor about his
growing up on
Worth (see Letters, page 8), and Peggy Cling takes her walk
from Sanchez Street
to Grand View and passes Worth on the way. Of course, Worth is
a one block
street located between 21st and 22nd streets with Grand View
to the west and
Douglass Street to the east.
= = =
WHAT A LONG STRANGE
TRIP IT’S BEEN: That’s
it for May. See you all in June. Ciao4now.
