Question: Innes Ave. is in which area of San Francisco? A) Hunters Point: San Francisco’s notorious waterfront/hilltop ghetto, adjacent to a naval shipyard-cum-Superfund site. B) India Basin: Hardscrabble home to industrial businesses galore. C) India Cove: Cozy-sounding name marketed by area developers. D) Hunters Point / India Basin Historic District: Once “India Cove” takes root, the little brown “Historic District” signs won’t be far behind. E) All of the above. Answer: E, or at least that’s what we think. Few San Francisco streets rival the 800 block of Innes Ave. between Arelious Walker and Griffith for wide-ranging Blocker fodder. The immutable racket of welding equipment and other power tools punctures the Monday afternoon air out here along the shores of the bay. The day’s action at Zebra Awning and Nueva Castilla Metal Fabrication is in full noisy swing. Protective eye goggles are often part of the work uniform along this part of Innes - and on Sundays, so is prayer: At the eastern end of the stretch of small warehouses stands MarketPlace Fellowship. It’s an unlikely spot for a place of worship, but no less likely than one for a castle-turned-brewery-turned-studio. And speak of the devil, that’s the old Albion Ale & Porter Brewery behind the ivy-lined walls and iron gate at 881 Innes, across the street. The ornate, 137-year-old stone structure – updated in the 1930s after years of Prohibition-inflicted neglect – is now a private home, with space rented out to working artists. A peek through the Wonka-reminiscent gate reveals a lavishly landscaped front area that looks more South Yorkshire than southeast San Francisco. We have it on good authority that invitation-only parties occur here on occasion, oompa loompas and rivers of century-old beer be damned. more ›

Every once in awhile, SFist likes to get out of their little burrtito ghetto and enjoy the finer things of life. Like the new oyster bar at Farallon. Put into the restaurant in November, they finally have the thing up and running. So it was yummy seafood, more oysters than we could know what to do with, and the spending of lots and lots of money. And more money on top of that. Did we say it was expensive? more ›

This, the first week after the holidays, is traditionally where Hollywood dumps all the crappy flicks that weren't good enough to release during the holidays. So any movie opening this week has to be viewed with suspicion. more ›

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Opening at the Lumiere tonight is Larry Clark's latest, Wassup Rockers. Larry has made a career of getting under the skin of American teenagers, from his photography work in "Tulsa," through movies like Kids, Bully and Ken Park. Like Kids, Rockers attempts to blend straight fiction with cinema verite. The protagonists of the movie -- young latino boys living in South Central -- portray themselves, and many of the situations in the movie were derived from their real life experiences. If you get the feeling that it sounds like "Kids II: Electric Boogaloo," you wouldn't be far off the mark. more ›

How less Berkeley can you be? The Phoenix Pastificio will move out of its Shattuck ave. location in Berkeley and has already stopped serving lunch. We don't know all the details, but it looks like a greedy landlord has other plans for the space and served them a notice to vacate the premises. Owner Eric Sartenaer, dubbed "the nicest man in the universe" by our significant other, who used to live a block away, would not say anything mean about the situation, so he said very little. more ›

There's a lot going on in this picture, snapped last night in the Castro Muni station (click it for a larger version), so let's begin our reading with the original author's intent. Those irritating PSP ads (as opined about on Gothamist, discussed by a commenter, and complained about by lots of local bloggers) have finally been put in their place -- a billboard. Rather than being slapped up on peoples' walls in their neighborhoods, Sony's finally figured out that advertisements go, duh, in advertising space. more ›

What do Holocaust dramas, hip hop and weddings have to do with each other? Nothing, but we've got all of them crammed into a mere weekend. more ›

SFist reviews Aqueduct and Why? at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco more ›

This week we bring you a crucifixion, ghetto Shakespeare and mean people in love. more ›

After two hours of debate, BART voted to raise its fares again, starting in January 2006, upping the minimum fare from $1.25 to $1.40. South Bay fares are going up an additional 10 cents, since South Bay residents don't pay additional taxes to the BART transit district (the classic free-rider problem), the disabled discount is going from 75% off to 62.5% off, and $1 parking fees are going into effect in various popular East Bay stops, with West Oakland going to $5. BART's trying to close its $51 million deficit This is an interim proposal, to be revisited in July after BART renegotiates its labor contracts. First Caltrain, then MUNI, then this. It's enough to make man-of-the-ghetto Jake McGoldrick cry out, "Sheriff!" more ›

We're so excited to hear that Alex Clemens, the dude who had the genius idea to buy up the ad space on the back of Frank Chu's sign, will be appearing on the next Real World [PDF] along with the rest of the Barbary Coast Consulting crew. From the press release: more ›

Our idea of being a foodie outlaw is eating ribs in front of a vegetarian or putting chicken on pizza (which we're still not entirely comfortable with). Cheap thrills, we know -- but with thrills, you get what you pay for. more ›