We have sad news for barflies everywhere—the bar John Barylecorn's will close this weekend after a desperate attempt at keeping it open. The bar became in trouble when local restaurateur Luisa Hanson purchased the building that held the bar and told the owners she was not looking to keep the place open. A campaign was started to save it, complete with petitions, a Great Pub Toast, and proposed legislation from Aaron Peskin but it was all to no avail. ...

When I slap you, you'll take it and like it, see! Negative portrayals of Asian-Americans and gays aside, we do still love Humphrey Bogart in the Maltese Falcon -- so you know we're avidly following the news that someone has stolen the famous jewel-stuffed bird from the John's Grill restaurant on the edge of the Tenderloin, where Dashiell Hammett used to hang out. There's a $25,000 reward for the bird's return. (We're just giving this......

-If you want to feel old, consider this: it was twenty-five years ago to the day that the Niners won their first Super Bowl. To celebrate, the Chron reprints stories about the game and the reaction from 1982. They also have some Herb Caen goodness. And finally, they catch up with members of the '82 49ers and detail all of the physical problems they're facing these days as a result of playing football. ...

With the death of Gerald Ford has come renewed interest in the various events in his life, including (for SFist's purposes, anyways) Sara Jane Moore's attempt to assassinate him in San Francisco on September 22, 1975 outside the St. Francis Hotel. It was 17 days after Squeaky Fromme the Manson follower had tried and failed to kill Ford in Sacramento, and Moore was a mentally unstable leftist active with the Symbionese Liberation Army (the ones......

Looking at the Green Apple site the other day, we were struck by their Staff Picks section, which describes said staff as "helpful and friendly book and music lovers without the indie attitude." Any reader of Box Office Poison (thanks for the recommendation, SFist Jeremy! We love it!) can tell you that working in a bookstore is oftentimes a thankless task. Props to those Green Apple kids, who do their jobs with a casual grace,......

More Mission woe -- over the weekend, there was a drive-by shooting on 26th and Mission on Friday 8:30 p.m., a stabbing at that same corner a day later, and a shooting at 19th and Guerrero. Kamala Harris came by to check things out (and get a burrito). In other weekend crime news, a man stabbed his ex-girlfriend in the neck in the Haight at the McDonalds on Stanyan, and three men were stabbed in......

Herb Caen, SFist's idol and mentor, called us (in a play on President Taft's quote) "The City that Knows Chow." And how. In San Francisco most of the food press arrives on SFist's doorstep on Wednesday. The Chron, The Weekly, The Bay Guardian - first, second and third helpings of food in print. Why do we obsess? I'm not sure. But the eats around here are the best....