You may have loudly professed your love for food trucks. You may tweet with the utmost convincing gravitas about Occupy SF. You may like to gnaw on a sourdough loaf while taking a tour of urban-tinged street art. You may be a bottle of Fernet. You may even be Herb Caen reincarnate. But you are not a true San Franciscan until you've sat through multiple screenings of The Joy Luck Club. With much respect for Amy Tan's book—an excellent read, by the way—the film version of her acclaimed novel about relationships between Chinese-American women and their Chinese mothers is quite possibly one of the best pieces of entertainment ever made. more ›

Brace yourselves, folks, the October Surprises have started rolling in, albiet a bit late: As the Chronicle reports today, new allegations of money laundering have hit another already shady supporter of Mayor Ed Lee's campaign for a full term. Andrew Hawkins, perhaps best known as an "eviction strongman" (Chron's words) for the notoriously sketchy CitiApartments rental company, offered to reimburse 16 of his associates for donating the $500 maximum to Ed Lee's campaign at a recent fundraising event thrown by his current employer, Archway Property Services. more ›

Mayor Ed Lee and SF Neighbor Alliance, the bogus grassroots effort that pooped out the cringe-worthy Run, Ed, Run campaign, are under fire this week after witnesses revealed to The Chronicle that they had observed workers at a Chinatown voting station on Friday filling in absentee ballots for voters. The Chronicle reports: more ›

San Francisco is home to a robust and vibrant Chinatown. We know this because people often complain about it. Or go to visit it. Or complain about the people who visit it. This week, our friends at the Tenderloin Geographic Society once again pay a visit to other towns, this time with the goal of invistigating other pockets of the Easternized West. Or the Westernized East. We're still not sure. more ›

"Urban ecosystem" by Keoki Seu. more ›

"Rooftop Laundry" by SullyStyle. more ›

The Banksy pieces scattered throughout the city have been continually altered by other graffiti artists and taggers during the past week. more ›

On Thursday, SFist told you about two new graffiti pieces noted British street artist Banksy created on several walls in San Francisco. We now have a third, at least according to Uptown Almanac. more ›

Local street art aficionados are abuzz today after two Banksy pieces were spotted in San Francisco: one in the Mission, one in Chinatown. Erin Archuleta spotted this fresh piece on Valencia between 19th & 20th above Little Otsu. And caughtyouhoney snapped this piece in Chinatown. more ›

"Chicharrón anyone?" by SullyStyle. more ›

"You don't talk to her" by peephole. more ›

What better way to learn about another district than by kicking it for an afternoon with one of San Francisco's chatty supervisors. SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association) will have monthly walking tours boasting one of the rabble rousers who sit on the Board of Supervisors. more ›

Congratulations to the MTA are in order. It appears that the Federal Transit Administration has given the thumbs up for final design work to commence on the Central Subway project. In the works for near on 20 years, the much anticipated Central Subway will provide visiting conventioneers at the Moscone Center with quick, immediate access to Union Square shopping and fine dining in the heart of Chinatown (without, like, the actual hassle of a direct connection to those pee-smelling Market Street lines). Riders interested in transferring between the Central Subway and Muni's existing rail line will be welcome to walk through a 10,000 mile long underground tunnel between the Union Square and Powell Street stations. Exercise makes Muni patrons heart healthy! more ›

Putting aside the fact that the ladies, if you will, involved in the infamous Muni bus fight lacked moral character, tact or basic human decency, community leaders hosted a panel discussion and media roundtable today "to reduce tensions between the city's Asian and African American communities." The discussion was sparked over the videotaped Muni fight that captured the internet's attention a few weeks ago. more ›

"Just another day on Muni... fuc**ng Muni," relents the cameraman shooting this video of a fight between two women on a Chinatown Muni bus. (The 30 line, if we have to guess.) more ›

CHINATOWN/SUNDAY: A man was shot in the city's finest neighborhood, Chinatown. The victim, according to reports, was an adult male, who was shot at Grant Avenue and Jackson Street "a little after 12 a.m. [on] Sunday." more ›

According to KRON 4 News, a restaurant is on fire at 919 Kearny, between Drummond and Jackson Streets. Columbus is backed up to the tunnel. "Traffic is a nightmare" in the area. The block is pretty much closed off. No word yet of any injuries. more ›

The Central Subway plan got a boost yesterday care of a $9.9 grant via an unknown donor. (Though, according to Curbed, the Federal Transit Administration might be the culprit.) MTA spokesperson Judson True tells Streetsblog that "the funds would mostly go towards preliminary design work, since preliminary engineering on the project is essentially complete." The total cost for the SOMA-to-Chinatown underground fun will cost a total of $1.57 billion. more ›

Over the last two days, according to the Chronicle, an arson spree set several vehicles ablaze in the early morning hours. Three of the fiery attacks, it seems, "happened this morning, all of them in different neighborhoods." (!?) One torching occurred on the 700 block of Commercial Street in Chinatown ("damaged two trucks and a minivan about 4:40 a.m.), another happened car on the 100 block of Downey Street (around 4:20 a..m.), and the final one was on the 1900 block of Newcomb Avenue (at about 5:25 a.m.) The report goes on to say that "a motorcycle was set ablaze on the 500 block of Belvedere Street in Parnassus Heights" early Sunday morning. Creepy. No one was injured, no arrests have been made. In other news, whatever happened to the Toilet Torcher? more ›

Chinatown up close. more ›

Braving the rain (which cleared just in time) and visions of Miley Cyrus doing the "ching chong" face, The Year of the Ox was announced in glorious fashion on Sunday. The Chinese New Year's Parade saw tens of thousands of revelers hit the streets. This year's parade also played host to the Hong Kong-born dragon, which was the longest in parade history, stretching at 238 feet long. more ›

There's a lot to love about SF's fantastic Chinese New Year parade -- and a lot of love the parade as well. Marching for the fifth time in a row this year is API Equality, and LGBT advocacy group serving the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. And you can join them! more ›

Timecapsule: January 23, 1897 more ›

Sick of Prop. 8 ranting yet? Too bad. Because we're not. And how could we be with gems like this? See, body cavity cleansing device Bill Tam, a Chinese-American leading the effort in the Asian-American community to pass Proposition 8, is spreading lies amongst San Francisco's Chinatown residents. Tam tells the Mercury News: more ›