July 9, 2008
Go Walk The Presidio Grounds
Hey, have you gone on that walking tour of the Presidio's Main Post, including the site of the proposed modern art museum? If you haven't, you're basically just talking out of your ass whenever you complain about CAMP. You should take the tour -- it happens Wednesdays and Sundays from 2pm to 3:30, from now until the end of July, and you'll learn lots. And if you go on a Wednesday, you'll meet lots of nice retirees.
As you may know, there's big plans underway for that part of the Presidio (you know, the part the nobody ever goes to). It's not just a proposed museum: they're excavating some old buildings, renovating others, and trying to extend the park all the way down to the bay, over what's currently a highway. They're also stepping up PresidiGo service, because, according to Presidio officials, they "can't rely on Muni." Which is basically SFist's motto.Take the tour to learn more.
Gavin's people are totally gung-ho for CAMP -- they sent out an email today that plugs the project. We're still sort of meh about it, reserving our excitement for some of the other proposed projects in the area (like razing that hideous YMCA). Go take the tour, and then if you find yourself siding with CAMP, Gavin wants you to do the following:
1. On July 14 at 6:30 p.m. join us at the Presidio Officers Club to show your support for CAMP (Located at 50 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco). 2. Write a letter of support for CAMP and send someone to the meeting on July 14 to read the letter on your behalf. 3. Visit www.CAMPToday.org and send an online letter to the Presidio Trust expressing your support for CAMP.
Whew! So, get to work, everybody.
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ugh, the city's last decent bowling alley would be gone... in addition to replanting any trees cut down by the project, they should be required to replace the bowling alley. and don't start talking to me about the bowling alley at moscone center. that place feels more like a dentist's office. I'm talking about a bowling alley with pitchers of beer and nachos and a little of the beer spilled on the floor. but I digress. I'm all for art and all that, but it bums me out that has to come at the expense of the city's last decent alley.
There is a bowling alley more easily accessible by most city residents than the usually empty (except weekend nights) Presidio Bowl. Serramonte Bowl has probably 100 lanes and is a short walk from the Daly City BART station. Tell me when was the last time you went to the Presidio Bowling Alley? I work 100 yards from it and haven't been inside in more than a year.
do you bowl?
I wish I knew what CAMP is? Maybe helpful to define the acronym (assuming that's what it is) at least once.
Excuse me, the Colma BART station
Candlepin only
As for going to the presidio bowl, look at it this way, there are 5 places that serve food, easily accessible from the Presidio Main Post; La Terrace, Acre, The Film Building, the Bowling Alley, and Chrissie Fields Something or other. The 2 closest to my office are the Film Building and the Bowling Alley. The only one that I haven't eaten at in more than a year is the Bowling Alley, because, frankly the food makes me sick.
yeah and there's a whole foods up the road too.
You are missing the point of a decent bowling alley: a good bowling alley is a place where one can go and bowl and drink budweiser and eat foods that make a certain type of person sick. This what I like about Presidio Bowl. French restaurants in this city are a dime a dozen, but good bowling alleys are an endangered species.
If the demand for bowling alleys is high, then surely when this one closes a new one will open somewhere else. And if it doesn't, then it probably means that the enthusiasm for bowling just wasn't high enough. It's not like there's a cabal of anti-bowling activists throwing up unusual obstacles to new alleys being built.
I've been to this alley a number of times, and it's never been what I would call "crowded."
yeah, you're probably right. it probably wouldn't be profitable to build a new bowling alley. (and who wants a new alley anyways - that's what we have at the moscone center. in my world view, a decent bowling alley has been around for longer than me and you would know from the smell once you walk in the door.) Knowing that another decent bowling alley will not (and could not) be built is the reason why I am bummed out.
Look, I don't have any illusions that the new fancy museum will open and it will be beautiful and there will be fancy wines and goat cheeses being served where I once enjoyed my budweiser and chili cheese fries over a few frames with some friends. I'm just saying that I'm bummed out about the situation and letting me know about all of the other fine eating establishments in the area and giving me an lecture in free market economics will not change that fact.
If someone wanted to build a new bowling alley in san francisco, they would have to devote 25 percent of the lanes to "affordable bowling."
Oh -- that is actually an angle that did not occur to me: that you know it's making way for something nice, but you'll still miss it because you liked being there. I know how that feels. I'm sorry. That is kind of shitty.
Some people really liked the food at the bowling alley, so it qualified for KQED's show.
But this "Textile Painter"'s low expectations were not met, necessitating supplementary sustinence on nearby Chestnut Street.
http://blogs.kqed.org/food/2007/03/29/presidio-bowling-center-grill-reviews/
According to some marketing/lobbying letter I received today, CAMP stands for Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio. They even have a web site ready to go ... www.CAMPToday.org I'm siding with the bowling alley sentimalists on this one...
What do you have against the YMCA? Geez.