Charity event closed due to escalating park fees

Plans for bus route efficiency advance

By Thomas K. Pendergast

Big changes are planned for certain public transportation routes in the Haight Ashbury, in-cluding the Muni #71 and #43 bus lines.

The SF Municipal Trans-portation Agency (Muni) has revealed, in its Environmental Impact Report for the Transit Ef-fectiveness Project (TEP), that a new age is possibly coming for a public transportation transition that could bring a convergence of the #71-Haight-Noriega and the #71-Limited, uniting these routes in one alignment. That means one route would swallow the other, es-sentially.

This dawning age of hope for more efficient commuting

might also see the #6-Parnas-sus line – which is electric pow-ered – blossom into the main bus route for Haight Street, while the #71-Haight-Noriega would essen-tially become extinct.

The #6-Parnassus is proposed as the local service on Haight Street,” says Muni in the Commu-nity Guide to TEP. “As part of this proposal, the #6-Parnassus would remain on Haight Street and trav-el on to Stanyan Street, rather than turning up Masonic Avenue through Ashbury Heights. This reroute significantly increases the amount of service on Haight Street, west of Masonic Avenue, and focuses service where it can benefit the most customers.”

Muni says that the #6-Par-

Low-riders, Model A and T cars, powered bar stools and fire engines: just a few of the old cars that rolled through Golden Gate Park for Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic every year. It all began with one man, San Francisco native Jimmy O’Keefe, his car and a hot dog.

O’Keefe began the Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic tradition in 1988 to celebrate his birthday, funding the first few gatherings himself. The event grew from there, but posthumously ended in 2013 after a 25-year run.

In 2010, the O’Keefe family and a group of pro-bono lawyers encountered extra steps and costs for maintaining the event due to changes within the San Francis-co Recreation and Park Depart ment’s (RPD) event approval system. The RPD was concerned about the impact that the cars had on the historic Speedway Mead-ow’s grass and trees.

As the event grew, so did enthusiasm for old cars; peo-ple would line up overnight and sleep in their cars at the entrance. O’Keefe liked to arrive early and see the cars roll in.

“The area is foggy in the morning,” O’Keefe said.

He would show up in his classic “woody wagon.”

“It’s a rapture feeling, that’s

the feeling I got. You get to hear them ‘wa-wa-wa-wa,’” O’Keefe said.

The budget for the RPD changed drastically over the past decade as it encountered budget cuts from the city’s General Fund, and as part of the change, permit fees for special events increased to fund RPD. Although there was a 50 percent discount for non-profits, the final event price tag of nearly $20,000 was too high for the O’Keefe family to continue to fight for the event.

The owners of the old cars paid $40 per vehicle to raise mon-ey for charity by the end to negate permit costs and keep the event free for guests. Budget balancing principles for the RPD ensure that the ability to pay should nev-er prevent participation in park usage, while striving to enhance opportunities to support the de-partment.

O’Keefe never saw the event as a way to raise money for the RPD though.

“This is a family thing,” O’Keefe said. “Not a money mak-ing thing for Parks and Recre-ation.”

When O’Keefe began charging for the event, profits went directly to the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House and Pome-

roy Recreation and Rehabilitation Center. For O’Keefe, the event was all about cars and helping the developmentally disabled.

“I’m not giving up on cars,” O’Keefe said. “I’m walking away without being forced out.”

The O’Keefe family posted

an announcement in April that there would be no 26th Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic, and one regular attendee was moved to start an online petition to keep the event alive.

Jared Conley, who has lived

It’s a Beautiful Day will perform at Haight-Ashbury Street Fair on June 8.Read more on page 6.

Our neighborhood is filled with stories untold.

HATCH Beat is an amalgamation of a few things that I love: participation in a strong and robust community, San Francisco and journalism.

My view of the neighborhood comes with an external Midwest lens. Originally from Chicago, I developed my passion for reporting amid corn and soy beans in central Illinois. Transplanting myself to San Francisco was a simple and instantaneous decision after what was originally a visit for an internship with my friend and mentor, Richmond ReView and Sunset Beacon Publisher Paul Kozakiewicz. I owe a great deal of gratitude to Paul for guiding me through the process of establishing HATCH Beat.

Helping other journalists and aspiring writers is a part of the mission of this publication. I encourage anyone who has an interest in journalism to get in touch with me. You may have met me already—I often forget to say hello before asking people if they are writers, but I would love to get to know everyone in the community. I’ll be out walking or riding my bike looking for story ideas regularly.

The mission of HATCH Beat is to foster a wider sense of community, fulfill the ideals of the First Amendment, give the public unbiased information and to provide low-cost advertising to local merchants. We’ll be printing 18,000 copies and bringing them door-to-door to most homes in HATCH turf (HATCH is an acronym for the five major neighborhoods covered in HATCH domain: Haight-Ashbury, Alamo Square, the Lower Haight, Cole Valley and Hayes Valley). Coverage will also include Golden Gate Park.

I envision a future for the paper with pages full of more writer bylines and talent from the community. If there are any neighborhood contributors who would like to help the newspaper out, please get in touch. We’ll

Look for me on the Beat Lower Haight businesses stand test of time

William “Mac” McElroy owns the Aquarius Barber Shop on Haight Street, which is accompanied by O’Loo-ney’s Market in a short list of businesses that have seen the scene change through time. The patient father and grandfather moved to San Francisco more than 50 years ago, opening his shop when he saw the chance.

STAFF PHOTO

Read the story on page 7

Continued on page 3

Continued on page 3

Local visual artist Omer Gal shares his vision and work. Check it out on page 7.

Supervisor London Breed has big plans. Find out what in her City Hall column on page 3.

Liz Fedak

Continued on page 3

2 HATCH BEAT HATCHBEAT.COM May 2014

Supervisor London Breed

Congratulations to HATCH Beat for your first edition, and thank you to Liz Fedak for all your hard work in bringing our community a new local paper.

Let me give a brief update on some of the things we have been working on recently in your su-pervisor’s office.

Rehabilitating Public Housing for Homeless Families

In April, I drafted an appro-priation for $2.6 million to reno-vate 172 currently-unused public housing units, and prioritize homeless families for the spaces.

According to a 2013 study, more than 675 people in families, including hundreds of children, are homeless in San Francisco. And among the 40 public hous-ing developments in the City, thousands of units sit unused, unavailable for San Franciscans to live in.

We can renovate these units and house families in need for an average of $15,000 per unit, many times cheaper than the cost to bring new-construction afford-able-housing units online.

As we grapple with an un-precedented affordability crisis and an acute shortage of housing, these fallow public housing units are one of our best and most cost-effective opportunities to make housing available immedi-ately. I am working with the may-or to make this plan a reality.

Last month, Mayor Ed Lee and I also announced $5.4 million in new funding for bad-ly-needed elevator repairs at nine public housing developments. We are working hard to ensure that public housing is a priority in San Francisco, and that public hous-ing residents enjoy a measure of safety and comfort in their homes.

Cutting the Red Tape for Small Businesses

Did you know that San Francisco has more than 10 pages – 6,000 words – of Police Codes regulating arcades? I didn’t ei-ther, until a small business in the Haight inadvertently found itself in violation of the codes.

Supervisor Scott Wiener and I drafted a resolution to exempt that business and another like it in District 8 from the archaic regulations, which include things like:

• Arbitrary rules about the number of arcade games a busi-ness can have;

• A $300 annual city permit in order to have just one game;

• And dire warnings like: “Between Jan. 1, 1982 and March 31, 1982, the Police Department issued 81 permits for … a total of 493 machines” thus raising con-cerns about “public disturbances and petty crimes in the vicinity of these machines.”

I am working to re-write these arcade codes altogether. I

like pinball, and more important-ly, I support San Francisco’s small businesses 100 percent. Legislat-ing is not always about passing new laws; sometimes it is about revising or eliminating old ones.

Fixing PotholesI am very happy to report

that after some rather insistent lobbying from me, the SF De-partment of Public Works has identified funding to grind and repave Kezar Drive in Golden Gate Park, the street that con-nects Lincoln Way to Oak and Fell streets. This is a major east-west artery that has been left crumbling for years.

My office navigated a bu-reaucratic maze to see this proj-ect through (the road is techni-cally Rec. and Park’s responsibil-ity and is somehow ineligible for most paving funding sources). Now, it looks like we will have a smooth road by the end of June.

Protecting Our Parks and Neighborhoods on 4/20

The “420 gathering” in Gold-en Gate Park and the Haight, and my campaign to control its impact, already received a wave of press attention and an official statement from me. So, I won’t belabor the point here.

The “420 event” has fallen on a sunny weekend day for the last two years, which has contrib-uted to a dramatic rise in both the number of people attending and all the problems associated with a massive event that has no official organizer, no sponsor, and no one to hold to account. So, during the months leading up to 4/20 this year, I worked with Mayor Lee and convened multi-ple city departments, including the police, Rec. and Park and the Municipal Transportation Authority, to develop a compre-hensive plan to protect our parks and neighborhoods. By and large the efforts succeeded. We stepped up the police presence, asked a team of juvenile probation offi-cers to patrol as well, improved emergency vehicle access, and increased Muni service to move people out of the neighborhoods in the afternoon. And I joined a team of volunteers to help clean the park on the morning of Mon-day, April 21.

I am relieved that 4/20 was largely peaceful this year. But I remain concerned about where this event is headed, and frustrated that the taxpayers are forced to foot the bill. As your supervisor, I take my responsibil-ity to uphold public safety very seriously, and that will guide my efforts next April. We are, at least, fortunate April 20 will not fall on a weekend for several years, nor on Easter again until 2025.

And in Other News…My comprehensive over-

haul of the city’s graffiti policies passed out of committee unan-

imously on April 24, with every member joining as a co-sponsor. And in early May it passed unan-imously on its first read at the full SF Board of Supervisors. As one public commenter and Graffiti Advisory Board member said, the legislation is a “game changer.”

It will, at long last, thwart the $20 million-plus in damage van-dals do to our parks, Muni buses and homes every year.

I co-sponsored a $1.4 mil-lion appropriation to expand the city’s Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) and provide new flexible housing options for those on the streets with the most se-vere physical and mental health needs. This funding could poten-tially provide 100 or more new emergency shelter beds for the homeless.

The legislation passed in

April and the board voted to release the funds in May. The outreach team has proved one of the City’s most effective tools in combating homelessness, and I am proud to help strengthen it.

As always, it is an honor to serve District 5.

San Francisco Supervisor London Breed represents District 5.

City Hall

Police BeatCaptain Gregory Corrales

In April, we got through “4/20” without any violent crime related to the event or its aftermath. Two men were arrested with loaded, concealed handguns and numerous arrests were made for drug sales. We had more people attend the unsanctioned event than previous years, but fewer arrests were made for intoxication and fewer calls for medical attention. The biggest challenge, once again, was traffic congestion. We intend to continue to devise a traffic plan that will address the annual gridlock created by this event.

Fortunately, very few violent crimes take place in the Park Police District. Shootings and stabbings are very rare. The most common violent crime that we have been responding to is the snatching of cell phones. Almost all of our robberies were robberies of cell phones. In many of those robberies the crooks didn’t even ask the victims for their wallets or their money. They just demanded their cell phones. Often, they wouldn’t even talk to the victims. They would either snatch the cell phones from the victims’ hands or they would knock the phone out of the victims’ hands and snatch it from

the sidewalk before darting away. We have been able to make

a number of arrests and recover stolen phones for victims who have the “Find My Phone” phone app. Most phone thieves know how to thwart “Find My Phone,” but occasionally an inept thief is brought to justice by the app. In a recent case the first responding officers were able to track the stolen phone to a coffee shop in the Tenderloin. Upon entering the café the officers called the number of the stolen phone. A cell phone started ringing inside a backpack beside a recalcitrant ruffian seated at a table. The mortified mugger kept looking back and forth between the uniformed officers, the reverberant ringing, the uniformed officers, the reverberant ringing, mouth agape. The observant officers quickly solved the confused crook’s quandary by incarcerating him.

While we wait for the industry to place public safety before profit (could be a long wait for kill switches), we are spending a great deal of time and energy trying to educate potential victims of cell phone theft. We cannot emphasize enough to

be aware of your surroundings. Do not blithely walk down the sidewalk talking away on your cell phone, oblivious to your surroundings. Do not sit near the rear door of Muni with your cell phone or i-Pad out and ripe for a thief to grab before jumping out the back door as Muni stops.

The criminality that plagues us most often in the Park District is invariably property crimes, the most serious of which is burglary. Every morning, I read every police report generated in the Park District. I have never seen a report of a residential burglary of a home with an operating alarm system. At one time, alarms were considered too expensive for all but the rich. Today, alarm systems have become affordable. Another alternative is the “poor man’s alarm,” a dog (my alarm is an English Bulldog) inside the house.

With the warm weather upon us, it is especially timely to urge everyone to close and lock their doors and windows when they leave their homes. At least 75 percent of the burglary reports I read indicate that entry was made through an unlocked door, or more often, an open or unlocked window.

We are blessed to be in a low crime area, but we want to minimize any chance of you being victimized. The next report will include, but not be limited to, auto burglaries and bicycle thefts.

Captain Greg Corrales

Recalcitrants steal cell phones

Supervisor Breed pushes for flexible housing improvements

HATCH Beat 3HATCHBEAT.COMMay 2014

Vote at City Hall May 5—June 3 Vote by Mail new requests due by May 27 Vote at Your Polling Place on Election Day

June 3, 2014 Sta tewide Pr imary E lec t ion

City and County of San Francisco Depar tment of E lec t ions

sfelections.org (415) 554-4375

Register to Vote by May 19!

Muni changes nassus now carries approximately 20 customers per hour, compared to the 71-Haight-Noriega, which carries 80 cus-tomers per hour between Masonic and Stanyan on a regular weekday morning while heading east, in the downtown direc-tion.

According to Muni, The seats are al-ready full on the #71 route by the time it reaches Masonic, and the bus is near capac-ity by Van Ness. By contrast, the #6-Par-nassus has open seats at Masonic (approxi-mately 25 customers on board on average) and only half standing loads by Van Ness.

“In the future, the #6-Parnassus route would also be extended to West Portal Sta-tion; however, the exact route is unknown at this time,” the TEP report states.

Streets eliminated from the #6-Parnas-sus route would include Masoni, Frederick and Clayton streets, and Parnassus between Clayton and Stanyan streets. In the interest of true balance, says Muni, the #32-Roos-evelt and #33-Stanyan routes would con-tinue to offer service along these segments. The reroute of the #6-Parnassus would also require new overhead wires on Stanyan, between Haight and Parnassus.

The existing #71L-Haight-Norie-ga-Limited route, which now operates only during peak periods (eastbound in the morning and westbound in the afternoon) would replace the #71-Haight-Noriega line and provide all-day limited-stop service on Haight Street in both directions. It would continue making regular, or “local” stops, west of Stanyan and on Market Street.

The #43-Masonic may also be destined for a route evolution extending from Chest-nut and Fillmore streets to Fort Mason (via Marina Boulevard and Laguna Street). Ser-vice in the Presidio would be modified to connect to the Presidio Transit Center, and then the bus would exit the Presidio in the Marina District at Richardson Avenue, in-stead of Lombard Street.

Should this come to pass, the #43-Ma-sonic would no longer serve Letterman

Drive and Lombard Street between Presi-dio and Richardson avenues.

Yet the future is at least somewhat un-written at this point, because Muni is of-fering an alternative route alignment. The #43-Masonic “service variant,” as Muni has dubbed it, would include an alignment on Masonic Avenue between Haight and Frederick streets, and on Frederick Street between Masonic and Cole Street. The eliminated segments would be on Haight, between Masonic and Cole, and Cole be-tween Haight and Frederick streets.

The new segments would include Frederick Street between Clayton and Cole streets. Muni serves approximately 700,000 riders per day, with “low-income” residents making up approximately half of Muni’s to-tal ridership.

While no changes are proposed for the #33-Stanyan line within the Haight, proposed changes for this line could ma-

terialize with a new route crossing Potrero Avenue and continuing east on 16th Street to Connecticut Street, then south to 18th Street, then to Third Street, and then to 20th and Tennessee streets in order to cover the Potrero Hill segment of the #22-Fillmore line that would also be eliminated. Service would be rerouted onto Valencia Street between 16th and 18th streets, to alleviate transit congestion on Mission Street, says Muni, and provide better connections with the #22-Fillmore.

Muni is offering a range of choices, including a service variant for this section of the #33-Stanyan line. This would, should it be adopted, include an alternative align-ment on 16th Street, between Mission and Guerrero streets, and on Guerrero Street, between 16th and 18th streets. The elimi-nated segments in this future vision would be on Mission, between 16th and 18th streets, and 18th Street, between Mission

Gas runs out for old carsin the Richmond and Sunset districts for nearly 40 years, went to the picnic at least a dozen times. While the O’Keefe family has stepped down, Conley described the situation as an appropriate entry to open discussion about changes for public acces-sibility to the parks of San Francisco.

“Real change comes from action,” said Conley. “Right now the City is dead set that if anyone wants to have a local gathering in the City, they have to pay for it.”

Conley and O’Keefe share an opinion that removing the financial feasibility of events such as Jimmy’s Old Car Picnic will remove San Francisco’s blue collar worker roots.

O’Keefe used to give hot dogs to hot rodders at Jumbo’s Drive-In at a time when people would race on the Great Highway.

“The picnic brought my generation back to me,” O’Keefe said. “There were 40 baby boomers on the block. These cars are American pride; they all mix; they don’t care.”

Conley started the petition to see if

initiative would come from other people, and has not yet opened discussion with the Recreation and Park Department or city supervisors.

“If the City isn’t looking out for your interest then it isn’t right,” Conley said.

The loss of the picnic for Conley is a loss of a community.

“Everyone kind of knows each other,” Conley said. “You want to get a chance to

know your neighbors and see people who used to live here and had to leave to other parts of the Bay Area.”

“It’s bigger than the car show, we’re trying to preserve as much local history and flavor as possible. It’s important, oth-erwise we lose in this City exactly what’s unique about it. Change is understandable, it’s a port city. This was a way to preserve what makes this City unique,” he said.

By Liz Fedak

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

and Guerrero streets.On the eastern edge of the Haight

Ashbury runs the #22-Fillmore line, which would be rerouted to continue along 16th Street to Third Street, creating new con-nections to Mission Bay from the Mission District. It would also add transit to 16th Street, between Kansas and Third streets, Mission Bay Boulevard, between fourth and Third streets, Fourth Street, between Gene Friend Way and Mission Bay Boule-vard, and then along Gene Friend Way.

The rerouted #33-Stanyan line would replace a segment along Connecticut and 18th streets. Service on Kansas and 17th streets would be eliminated.

Then again, another proposed service variant for this line would include new motor coach service between Mission Bay and the 16th Street BART station, plus a re-route of the #33-Stanyan along the current #22-Fillmore route.

Writers sought for new paperbe online too, although copy posted in addition to the print version will be slow at first. All are welcome to participate in the creation of HATCH Beat, and I hope to help emerging journalists learn how to report and craft a story. As well, the “Arts and Literature” section belongs to the artists and writers that we know as neighbors, and I hope to feature someone new each month.

You can count on monthly columns

Continued from page 1 from Supervisor London Breed and Capt. Gregory Corrales (thanks!), a calendar of events, historical photos and information, real estate data and featured artists and writers.

We’ll be posting videos and photo galleries online at times, so “like” HATCH Beat on Facebook and visit Hatchbeat.com if you’d like updates. As well, please send any news tips or press releases to editor@hatchbeat.com, or give me a call at 415-819-4744. Cheers!

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A Path to Citizenship for the Undocumented

No Fracking

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Monday, May 28, 2012Parade 10:30AM / Program 11AMSan Francisco National Cemetery

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MEMORIAL DAYCEREMONY

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4 HATCH BEAT HATCHBEAT.COM May 2014

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HATCH BEAT 5HATCHBEAT.COMMay 2014

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OMER GALPhotos Left: Gal’s T-shirts are on display at

Momi Toby’s Revolution Cafe, 528 Laguna St.

Local visual artist challenges notion ‘shithead on’By Liz Fedak

Omer Gal’s show at Momi Toby’s Rev-olution Cafe deals mainly with grotesque trash art. Gal describes his art as “profound looney characters drawn in a rough child-ish manner on T-shirts,” which hang on the walls, accompanying additional drawings and a photo collage. One of the questions that motivates his works is, is art not a use-ful commodity?

“I think that people would rather spend money on a nice couch than on something they can’t actually use such as a painting, but what many people don’t re-alize is that a painting has emotional value, which is very useful,” said Gal.

In this body of work, Gal attempts to challenge the notion by painting direct-ly on an everyday commodity, a T-shirt, which he sees as both wearable and afford-able. The shirts all exhibit different shit-head characters.

What are the shitheads? They are a group of imaginary monsters which start-ed out as a comic.

“I would pin up a new comic every day on my house’s communal kitchen’s bulletin board. In the comic, one character would say to the other, ‘hey why did you steal my girlfriend!’ and the other shithead would reply ‘because I’m a shithead!’,” said Gal.

Gal pursued what he saw as a “stale joke,” varying the usage in each comic.

“I then started posting the comics on Facebook and made a few ‘shitty’ anima-tions as well,” said Gal. In the tradition of grotesque and trash art, Gal had an urge to make these shitheads as paintings.

“I knew it would lead to some sort of juxtaposition with the history of painting, but wasn’t expecting to start creating wear-able paintings at the end of the road.”

In addition to the shitheads, Gal re-cently had a three-channel video installa-tion called Naked Cave at Aggregate Space in Oakland. The video piece depicts a loose narrative of a wolf that lacks a tongue and his ghostly masked tongue-washer appren-tice, who washes and inserts his different false tongues according to the specific mood she chooses he should be in.

“With each insertion of a different tongue the wolf goes through a new jour-ney,” said Gal.

Gal also finished Biotic Rituals recent-ly, a debut LP recorded by his “mystical, quirky folk band,” Cookie Tongue.

“The name Biotic Rituals is also my main theme for a series of multicolor pen drawings. You can see a glimpse at Momi Toby’s,” said Gal.

The closing reception for Gal’s gallery is Sunday, June 8, 6 p.m., and will include shithead-shirt owners commencing in a performance called “The Shitheads Dias-pora”.

New Season Starts for Golden Gate Park BandThe first concert of 2014, and 132nd Golden Gate Park Band season, began at the Music Concourse on April 27 with a flag ceremony. The Golden Gate Park Band began in Sep-tember of 1882 and has continuously offered free public concerts on Sundays in Golden

Gate Park since then. The band is led by music director and conductor Michael L. Wirgler. Unless otherwise noted, all concerts begin at 1 p.m. and last approximately two hours.

• May 18: In coordination with Sunday Streets;• May 25: Memorial weekend concert;

• June 1: Italian-American Day with Simi Cantori;• June 7-8: GGPB Festival – 10 bands: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.;• June 15: Scottish dancing with The Dunsmuir Dancers;

• June 22: Circus in the Park with Circus Bella;• June 29: Honoring the San Francisco Fire Department;

• Friday, July 4: Celebrating America’s birthday;• July 6: Great concert band music (TBA);

• July 13: Saluting Camille Saint-Saëns and his friends;• July 20: Great concert band music (TBA);

• July 27: The Musical World of Disney;For more information, visit the website at www.goldengateparkband.org.

6 HATCH BEAT

Calendar

HATCHBEAT.COM May 2014

Big Brass MagicTuesdays, 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.Madrone Art Bar, 500 Divisadero St. Big Brass Magic is an eight-piece ensemble featuring “a robust horn section that hugs the listener and drums that drive like a Harley Davidson.” Originally from Berkeley, the band spent time developing their sound in New York City before returning to Califor-nia. Check out their original compositions for free Tuesday nights. madroneartbar.com

Bike-in Movie Night May 27, 7:30 p.m.-10 p.m.Cyprian’s Center, 2097 Turk St.This event includes a free dinner and screening of lo-cally-made bike movies. The nano-brewery Comrades will have beer available by do-nation, with proceeds going to the Cyprian’s kitchen reno-vation project. Free, cyprian-scenter.org

Fantasia Live in ConcertMay 31, 8 p.m. and June 1, 4 p.m.San Francisco Symphony, Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave.Footage from Disney’s Fan-tasia will be screened while the San Francisco Symphony performs pieces from the orig-inal score. Prices vary, www.sfsymphony.org

Diana Gameros at SF Jazz June 14, 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.SF JAZZ Center, 201 Franklin St.The Latin singer/songwriter will perform songs of love, longing and hope. Gameros left Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to study piano and recording technology in the U.S. She uses classical, underground rock, avant-garde, world mu-sic and jazz influences in her music. $20, sfjazz.org

Much Ado About Nothing May 17, 24, 8 p.m. and May 18, 25, 3 p.m.Buriel Clay Theater, 762 Fulton St.Join the African-American Shakespeare Company in its 19th season closing show. “Much Ado About Nothing combines great humor with more serious issues of honor and shame and is considered one of Shakespeare’s sharp-est comedies,” said Artistic Director L. Peter Callender.

Free events at the de YoungMay 23, 30, 5 p.m.-8:45 p.m. M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden DrivePublic space is utilized for free events ranging from live music, dance performances, film screenings and more.

PERFORMANCES

MUSEUMS

GET FIT

Free Day at the California Academy of Sciences June 1, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.55 Music Concourse DriveExplore the Academy for free on June 1.

CHOMP! They Came from the SwampTuesday-Sunday through Oct. 19, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.100 John F Kennedy Dr.The Conservatory has part-nered with California Carni-vores to feature various spe-cies of carnivorous plants. Visitors can learn how the plants have adapted to at-tract, capture and eat their prey. $2-8, free on June 3

Midnight Mystery RideMay 17, 11:59 p.m.Location announced May 17Meet at a secret location for a ride that begins at midnight. In general, rides are about five miles in length and will leave no riders behind. To find out the meeting location for May 17, visit www.mid-nightmystery.org/sanfrancis-co/. Free

Free Group WorkoutsWednesdays, 6:30 a.m.Alamo Square ParkThe fitness group offers vary-ing half hour boot camp-style workouts that incorporate hills, core work, plyometric and endurance training. “Get faster. Get stronger. Build your community.” www.face-book.com/NovemberProj-ectSF

Circus Skills JamWednesdays, 7 p.m.-9 p.m., ages 8+Circus Center San Francisco, 755 Frederick St.Learn new circus skills such as juggling, rolla bolla, tight-wire, feather balancing, clowning and more at the Circus Center San Francisco. Children less then 15 years in age must be accompanied by parents. Free, reservation re-quired, circuscenter.org

Yoga in the Park, Golden Gate ParkSaturdays, 11 a.m.Lincoln Way and Ninth AvenueThe non-profit Purusha Seva Project hosts free yoga in the park on Saturdays. Current and new yogis are encour-aged to bring a mat and blan-ket to join. Free, purushayo-ga.org

Lindy in the ParkSundays, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.John F Kennedy Drive between Eighth and Tenth avenuesDancers of all ages and lev-els can dance to jazz, blues and swing music at Lindy in the Park whether they have a partner to bring or arrive solo. Beginner lessons begin at noon and a jazz step is revealed each week around 1 p.m. Free, lindyinthepark.com Sustainable Edibles: Garden for the EnvironmentMay 17, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.Garden for the Environment, 1590 7th AveLearn about sustainable and edible summer gardens.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL XAVIER

NOPA Improv Class May 28, 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.Cyprian’s Activity and Resource Cen-ter, 2097 Turk St. Have fun in an improv class! Alcohol is permitted. $5-15 suggested donation, cyprian-scenter.org

Community DinnerJune 5, 6 p.m.-8 p.m.Cyprian’s ARCUniversity of San Francisco Urban Agriculture presents a free community dinner fea-turing produce from farmers markets and community gar-dens. Free, events@cyprians.org Delicious BarbecueSundays, 3 p.m. Molotov’s, 582 Haight St. Grab food off the barbecue and meet your neighbors while playing pool or pinball at this Haight Street Bar. Free

MEMORIAL DAYMake up your own event by checking out these City land-marks on Memorial Day

Fort-Point National Historic SiteMarine Drive (on the southern side of the Golden Gate Bridge)Although guided tours are booked through the season, you can learn how to shoot a cannon while visiting.

San Francisco National Ceme-tery1 Lincoln BlvdLocated in the Presidio, 30,000 Americans were bur-ied in the cemetery including Civil War generals, Medal of Honor recipients, Buffalo Sol-diers and a Union spy.

SS Jeremiah O’Brien and USS Pampanito11 Pier 45, Fisherman’s WharfHistoric World War II ships on Pier 45.

History Lesson on the Japa-nese Tea GardenMondays, Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fri-days, Saturdays, 1 p.m.75 Hagiwara Tea Garden DrStarts inside the entrance to the gardens. 9:30 a.m. tour

is freeGolden Gate Park: West End June 4, 11 a.m.Meets at the Dutch Windmill (Queen Wilhelmina Garden) on John F. Ken-nedy Drive near the Great HighwayLearn about the west end of Golden Gate Park in a free walking tour.

Landmark Victorians of Alamo SquareMay 17, June 5 and 7 Meets outside of the Victorian at 824 Grove St.Learn about the evolution of Alamo Square and the Paint-ed Ladies.

Golden Gate Park: East End May 19 and 23, 1 p.m., Meets at top of Conservatory of Flowers stairs, 200 JFK Dr.Learn about the east end of

FREE TOURS

Haight-Ashbury Street Fair, June 8, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Vol. I No. 1 - MAY 2014PO Box 170365, San Francisco,

CA 94117Phone: 415-819-4744

editor@hatchbeat.comwww.hatchbeat.com

HATCH Beat publishes monthly and is distributed for free to homes in the

HATCH territory.

Editor: Liz Fedak Columnists: SF Supervisor London Breed, Capt. Greg CorralesContributors: Paul Kozakiewicz, Michael Xavier, Greg Gaar, Tom Pendergast, Lindsay Adams, Omer Gal, John M. Lee

All contents © 2014 HATCH Beat. HATCH Beat welcomes all written articles, news tips, feature story ideas and photographs from neighborhood contributors.

The 37th Annual Haight-Ashbury Street Fair will be held on June 8 on Haight between Stanyan and Masonic.

Many vendors will be present to present their artwork, wares, food, services, jewelry, clothing, crafts and more. A few Haight merchants include Bettie Page Clothing, Tibetan Gift Corner and The Booksmith. A variety of cuisine will be sold from vendors and Delicious Kettle Corn will be popping.

The fair was created 37 years ago in 1978 in response to the growing economic and residential spirit of the community in the ‘70s. The Haight St. Battle of the Bands final round will be held at the Milk Bar on May 31.

Masonic Stage Line-UpNo Exit, 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m.The Al Kief Trio, 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.Battle of Bands, 12:30 p.m.-1:05 p.m.Dangermaker, 1:20 p.m.-2:00 p.m. The Love Dimension, 2:15 p.m.-2:50 p.m.The Mark Nelson Band, 3:05 p.m.-4 p.m.Sweet Water Black, 4:15 p.m.-5 p.m.

Stanyan Stage Line-UpInferno of Joy, 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m.El Radio Fantastique, 11:45 a.m.-12:25 p.m.Battle of Bands, 12:40 p.m.-1:20 p.m.Lee Gallagher & The Hallelujah, 1:35 p.m.-2:15 p.m.Tony Saunders, 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.

It’s A Beautiful Day, 3:45 pm.-5 p.m.

The first annual Haight-Ashbury Street Fair, April 30, 1978

Plan ahead if you plan to take the N Judah, 33 Stanyan, 43 Masonic, 37 Corbett or 71 Noriega, as service may be disrupted.

For more information, visit haightashburystreetfair.org or search Haight-Ashbury Street Fair on Facebook.

VOTE YES

Proposition B: Waterfront Height Limit Initiative•   Prop. B means losing the chance to build vitally needed new housing for middle       and low income San Franciscans•   Prop. B destroys the maritime infrastructure of the Port of San Francisco•   Prop. B takes away from the Port, Planning Commission, State agencies, community     leaders and our elected officials the ability to approve well thought out and critically      important waterfront projects

Proposition A: Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond•   Help ensure San Francisco’s firehouses, police stations and emergency water      systems are able to function after a major earthquake, without raising taxes.

VOTE NO

Vote for an economically stronger San Francisco on June 3

2014 Voting Guide

SF Forward is the Political Action Committee (PAC) of the San Francisco Chamber of CommerceSF Forward is comprised of local business owners and residents who support sound economic policy and exceptional quality of life in San Francisco. The PAC is dedicated to insuring that political reforms strengthen the local economy, improve the business climate, and streamline the operation of government.

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5wx4.pdf 1 4/11/14 8:46 AM

By Lindsay Adams

“A lot has changed,” said Nikki Cooper, owner of Two Jack’s Nik’s Place restaurant, 401 Haight St., as she smiled softly with faraway eyes while looking at the black and white photographs on the darkly painted walls that surround her. It’s past the lunch rush and too early for the dinner crowd, so the Lower Haight restaurant is empty. There is a certain hush about the place, yet the snapshots on the walls radiate with life. Groups of people – some smiling and some serious, some squeezed into booths and some standing with arms around one another – all stare back intently. They are in the same room, stuck in moments 40 years in the past

“They’re all of family,” Cooper continues, nodding to the pictures.

Originally called Two Jack’s Seafood, the restaurant first opened in 1977. Cooper’s parents, Stephen and Almeta Perry, owned Two Jack’s Liquor Store on the opposite corner. Cooper’s mother, Almeta, wanted to expand the business and preserve fish frys, a popular tradition in African-American culture so the restaurant was born.

Perry’s original 1977 menu, which features all fish options, along with a couple of side choices, still hangs - a large, wooden sign -above the restaurant’s counter.

As a child, Cooper would go to her parents’ businesses after school every day.

“There was a real rich community-feel,” she said in recollection about the Lower Haight District.“There was a lot of black-owned businesses. You could hear music from people’s homes playing out in the street. I would catch the bus and go visit customers at their homes. It was a strong community.”

Another Lower Haight businessman with a long memory is William “Mac” McElroy, owner of the Aquarius Barber Shop, located about a block down the street from Two Jack’s Nik’s Place. He still

remembers most of the businesses that existed in those days.

Mac’s shop is large, but cozy, lined with worn brown, black and red chairs. There is a faint smell of leather and the wood-paneled walls of the shop soften the harsh glare from the sun that cuts through the glass front door.

According to McElroy, the neighborhood meat market with a neon sign used to be a Bank of America, and next door on the corner was a Rexall Drugstore. A once black-owned liquor store is now a freshly painted CVS Pharmacy, and the cafe directly across the street from Aquarius had been a Chinese-owned cleaners.

During the late ‘60s through the ‘70s, the predominantly black-owned businesses in the Lower Haight thrived. About a decade earlier, in the ‘50s, most of white residents moved out into the suburbs of the City. Following their exit, black residents began to move into the neighborhood and formed a community.

Over time, the vibe continued to change. With the ‘80s and ‘90s came drugs, prostitution and rent price increases, which made it hard on businesses in the area, McElroy said.

Then, it became fashionable to live in city downtown once again.

“Prices went up and everybody came back from the suburbs. Rent used to be $150, $175 a month,” explains McElroy. “Then it shot up.”

Still, Two Jack’s Seafood and Aquarius Barber Shop maintained their presence.

In 2006, Cooper took over the restaurant, revising the name to Two Jack’s Nik’s Place. Having learned to cook from her mother, grandmother and aunts, she expanded the menu to include more variety, adding her own favorite dishes and flavors. Today, many of the original customers, considered family by Cooper, still return, boasting about memories of her as a little girl running around with her mother.

McElroy still tends to many of his original customers, as well, although hair trends have changed a great deal. Back then, he styled a lot of perms and afros, while today, fades and close trims are more popular. Still, the reviews from his clients remain the same – he’s an excellent barber.

As a tribute to her own loyal patrons and as a way of giving back to her

Pioneers Vs. Haverlys, October 9, 1887

HATCH Beat 7HATCHBEAT.COMMay 2014

community, Cooper highlights the original New Jack’s 1977 menu on Throwback Thursdays and Secret Saturdays. Every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., diners are treated to chose items from the original menu at their original 1977 prices. The same special is available on one Saturday a month, deemed Secret Saturday, in which customers are given a secret password on the restaurant’s Facebook page or webpage to unlock the 1977 menu prices.

Both Cooper and McElroy acknowledge the fact that their businesses are one of few in the Lower Haight that have survived since the ’60s and ’70s. They stand like two proud and dusty soldiers

among quirky boutiques and hipster bars, remnants of a much different time.

“San Francisco is always evolving. I’ve seen it change from the old days of the beatnicks, then the hippies, all the way up to now,” McElroy said. “It doesn’t remain the same.”

Despite the constant changes, community support for McElroy and Cooper remain.

“I’m so full of gratitude for this neighborhood and its continued respect and support,” she professes.“I’m blessed to be here. We have an amazing staff that works hard. I’m grateful beyond measure.”

The Haight Street Grounds ran from 1886-1895 and were located between Stanyan, Waller, Shrader and Frederick streets. The grandstands would seat 14,000. In 1887, both the Pioneers and Haverlys were making strenuous efforts to win the California League pennant, but the smallest margin divided them. A close and exciting game was expected on October 9. It was reported that every seat was occupied at some point before the bottom of the ninth inning at a time when interest in baseball in San Francisco was on the rise. The Haverlys managed six consecutive safe hits in the sixth inning, but did not make any runs in any other inning of the game. The Pioneers won eleven to six, putting them in first place standing in the California League, and making them favorites to win the pennant, with the Haverlys a close second and the Greenhood and Morans anchored in the last rung. The season ended on November 21, 1887 as predicted; the Pioneers won the pennant with 24 wins to the Haverlys 23.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Business owners reflect on Lower Haight’s past

DISTRICT

Haight-Ashbury

Hayes Valley

Buena Vista

ADDRESS

1781 Oak St. #11775 Oak St.

49 Scott St.8 Buchanan St. #805112 Clifford

BDR

1

2

22

3

BA

1

1

11

1

SQ FT

671

-

1,4701,104

1,626

SALE $

$643,000

$1,085,000

$1,365,000$1,399,861

$1,400,000

April neighborhood home sales

Partial listing of homes sold provided by multiple listing services courtesy of John M. Lee

HAtCHBEAT.COM May 2014 2 HATCH BEAT

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NOW OPEN SUNDAYSVisit the Park Branch Library

SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.Effective on May 10, 2014

Sunday: 1-5

Monday: 12-6

Tuesday: 10-9

Wednesday: 1-9

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Saturday: 10-6

1833 Page Street

(at Cole)

(415) 355-5656

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