It’s the dead of San Francisco winter and 46 degrees — 46 degrees! — but that’s not stopping certain hardy residents of the sizable apartment structure at 1214 Polk from opening their windows and drying their laundry au naturale. We’re impressed. 46 degrees in San Francisco, particularly along this gusty urban corridor between Bush and Sutter, feels like autumn in the Yukon. This is the southern edge of Polk’s transitional zone, where it emerges from the sleazy chic of “nitespots” like Vertigo and Blur and slowly crawls toward more prim territory northward up into Russian Hill. The upstairs residences on this block are decidedly ordinary, but there’s a dichotomy at work between, for example, the stained glasswork at O’Reilly’s Holy Grail and the $5 haircuts and $20 facials across the road at the International College of Cosmetology II. Of course, Polk St. has always been known as one of San Francisco’s more diverse business thoroughfares....

Check out Ms. Siebel's latest filmic effort, the indie-ish romcom Till You Get To Baraboo. According to IMDB, it's about a young man learning how to "let go of worn-out dreams in order to make room for new love." One man, it seems, while attending a wedding in Vegas, comes across all of the snatch he's had over his life, learns about love, finds the Holy Grail, smells the scent of a woman, etc.,......

Here's todays sports news...

Just in time for 4th of July festivties, we can fawn all over Bunrab's Burger Holy Grail, billed as "the ongoing quest for the finest burgers in the land." Bonus points for breaking it out into two logical categories, fast-food and posh ("you get to eat these before you pay for them"). More beefy inspiration comes from Chez Denise Et Laudalino and Food Notebook. Cate's back online at Burritophile with another, non-meaty breakdown for......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 56. Total number of people pictured whom we recognize: 11. Minority count: 4 (7%). Hats, capes, tiaras:13, 0, 1. Hat count includes three wimples; tiara count does not include the festive plumage shooting out behind Elvis's head. Getty v. Traina: 2-0. The day next month's W magazine appears on newsstands, with an article exposing the SF social scene: 12/22. We're so excited! This week's......

As fall settles in and another calendar page gets turned, thoughts turn from bbq's and vacations to holidays and the realization that '06 is coming to an end. With all that going on, with change in the air, we wonder what is it that made that makes the -ists ponder? ...

Yeah, we know. It's a Monday. And not just any Monday, but the five-year anniversary of That Day with all the attendant beating over the head that comes with it. So to cheer you up, dear readers, SFist presents to you, the Holy Grail of awesome music videos-- Journey's "Separate Ways." ...

We're going to talk about something we rarely talk about-- hockey. Why? Because the San Jose Sharks are now up 2-0 against the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the playoffs, after winning last night 2-1. The Sharks, who have won six playoff games in a row, won on a game winning goal by MVP candidate Joe Thorton (check out the great video of it from a fan in the stands). Then there's how they did it, winning last night's game despite, incredibly, being down two players in a 5-3 matchup, only to have two of those players lose their sticks, and still-- somehow, inexplicably-- kept the Oilers from scoring for over a minute. That's studly. Even better is the fact that in describing the whole thing, Sharks coach Brian Wilson referenced the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. How can you not give some props to a Monty Python quoting coach? ...

For 127 of the best road cyclists in the world, it was five minutes of pain. For Americans Levi Leipheimer, Bobby Julich, George Hincapie, and Floyd Landis, it was a little less. For the American cycling peloton, veteran cycling announcer Paul Sherwen called it the Holy Grail they've been seeking. For the spectators, it was an instant classic....

So, yes, yesterday was Gavin's big State of the City speech. In a speech entitled "Why it matters to be a San Franciscan," a question that answers itself if ever there was, in the fact that only in San Francisco would that question even be asked (for instance, we bet there’s never been a speech entitled "Why it matters to be a Topekan"), Gavin pronounced the city "strong and getting stronger." Just wondering, but has......