Blocker: 800 Divisadero

Up a bit from Everlasting Tattoo, a man in his 60s sports a long, gray stunt-beard as he walks his golden retriever past African Beauty Supply & Salon. Three would-be MUNI passengers wait anxiously for a 24 Divisadero bus that isn’t even in sight 15 blocks up the road. A few minutes later, a woman who’s been waiting gives up the ghost and takes off walking south, towards Fell.

Heading back down the same side of the street, Bar 821 wants us all to know that neighborhood locals are the priority drinkers here, as rule number three on the window proudly states: “Neighbors are seated & served first.” (We’ll assume the guy we see walk in wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers T-shirt isn’t just visiting from Ohio.) And while presently signless Café Abir, at the corner opposite Eddie’s Café, may be in the midst of an interior facelift of sorts, its popularity hasn’t ebbed much since the folks with the power tools showed up earlier this year.

A few free-standing apartment buildings are scattered up and down the block, but this section of Divisadero isn’t as residential as around Eddy or Ellis, just north. A peek inside the window of the San Francisco Muslim Community Center, wedged between Little Star Pizza and a vitamin/herb market, reveals a modest lobby with several copies of the Muslim Journal on hand. At the opposite end of the block, a few copies of last week’s edition of The Onion remain amongst the army of newspaper racks outside Café Abir. The Western Addition remains one of San Francisco’s least segregated areas, and if the tabloid offerings on its main north-south artery’s are any indication, the neighborhood’s in balance.