Dear Rain,

I haven't lived here my whole life, but it has been a good long while (23 years!), and while I can't remember where I first heard it, it seems like there's always been some kind of consensus that "San Francisco hates Los Angeles." So, I'm wondering: do you hate LA? If so, why? And do I need to hate Los Angeles to be considered a "true San Franciscan"?

Signed,
Maybe I Hate LA?

Dear MIHLA,

I don't hate Los Angeles. But I DO hate the Los Angeles Dodgers, and that's a requirement for true San Franciscan status. (And I don't care if you don't give a shit about baseball. You still just have to hate the Dodgers. Period.)

In all seriousness, I do think the general opinion that San Francisco Hates LA is, at its heart, just a baseball rivalry. But for some people it's since extended into a general dislike of Los Angeles, with the irony being that while some of San Francisco may spend a lot of time hating Los Angeles, I don't think LA spends much time thinking about us at all.

So, why would a non-baseball fan bother to hate the city of Los Angeles? I can think of a few reasons. There's the general claim that Los Angeles is shallow, full of face-lifts, boob jobs, and midlife crisis convertibles; that you can't live in LA without a car, which results in its ugly sprawl being filled with never ending bumper-to-bumper traffic; and it's a one industry town, and can get pretty boring having to talk to people about self-branding, auditions, and their screenplays every place you go.

But a lot of those criticisms could easily be made about San Francisco. There may not be as many face-lifts and boob jobs, but ask any single person here and they'll tell you, San Francisco is plenty shallow. Traffic here has gotten worse and worse, and while it's still not as bad as LA, (because the city is just smaller), it's still a nightmare. And it's also a one industry town! LA talks about screenplays; SF talks about killer apps.

The one place San Francisco definitely has Los Angeles beat is in the beauty of the city itself. Even the highest mountain in Los Angeles won't give you a view to match the one you'd get at the top of any hill in San Francisco.

For a long time, I only thought of Los Angeles as the wall of traffic that prevented me from getting to Disneyland as soon as possible. But as I've spent more time in the city itself, I've begun to like it more. As a visitor, I get the feeling it has a little more appreciation for history; there are so many restaurants and bars and buildings that have remained virtually unchanged since their beginnings. Perhaps the reality is they're just as willing to bulldoze history to make way for an ugly metal stack of condos, but as a non-resident, I'm, luckily, able to remain blind to that.

And as a movie fan, I love that the entire city is basically one giant movie set. It's pretty cool being able to visit settings of films shot decades ago, and still recognize them. And, because the city is such a sprawl, and real estate isn't at as much of a premium, I love that there are still neighborhoods filled with 1930s bungalow houses scattered all around Los Angeles.

But the drawbacks are still there. Whenever I visit, it always feels like the places I want to see are always at least 30 minutes away. In San Francisco, if worse came to worst, and I was stranded, I could walk home, regardless of where in the city I was; that is virtually never an option in Los Angeles. And as thrilling as it can be to see movie stars just walking around the city, pretending they're regular people, it does get tedious that no matter where you go, people are talking about their showbiz careers.

So, maybe this general "SF hates LA" thing is based on a notion that Los Angeles, with all of its (so-called) glamor, and movie stars, and fame, somehow thinks it's better than us. And fuck anyone who thinks they're better than us!

But as more and more people move to San Francisco from places afar, I think that feeling has begun to fade a bit. I could be wrong, but I personally don't hear complaints about the suckiness of LA as much as I used to. So, I think you can have any opinion about Los Angeles you want to... at least between the months of November and April. But then, once the first pitch of the season is thrown, you'd better have one and only one opinion.

And that's to BEAT LA!

Rain Jokinen was born and raised in San Francisco and, miraculously, still calls the city home. Her future plans include becoming a millionaire, buying a condo complex, and then tearing it down to replace it with a dive bar. You can ask this native San Franciscan your questions here.

Not everyone loves Banksy. When the only graffiti artist with big-name recognition stenciled a giant, Che-beret-wearing rat on the side of the Haight-Ashbury's Red Victorian — the recently sold hippie bed-and-breakfast, not the dearly-departed hippie movie theater, rest its soul — the building's late owner Sami Sunchild blasted the act as "vandalism."

Unlike most of what Banksy left us during his April 2010 vandalism/street art spree around town, the rat has been neither painted over nor appropriated by art merchants with visions of six-figure sales dancing in their heads. Its fate is much, much worse: the rat has been kidnapped and is now being held against its will in Los Angeles, where it is on display in the lobby of that city's tallest building, the U.S. Bank Tower, as our sister site LAist is reporting.

Despite her initial ire when the rat first appeared on her building, it was the Red Victorian's Sunchild who allowed former KRON4 manager Brian Grief to remove the rat from the building as long as he would not sell it. He complied, but now you see the catch.

City law required that the Banksy pieces be removed or painted over unless the property owners wanted to pay penalties for the joy of being defaced by a famous person.

A deal to house the rat in San Francisco at the SFMOMA "fell through," the Guardian reported, and since then the rat has made the rounds elsewhere in the art world, even appearing in Miami behind a velvet rope.

Beginning Friday, the rat can be visited in that Los Angeles lobby, where it will be on display until November 28. But just like Brian Wilson, it'll never be the same down south.

[LAist]

All previous Banksy coverage on SFist.

In exchange for plea bargains, Marvin Norwood and Louis Sanchez received four and eight year sentences, respectively, for the brutal 2011 beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow outside Dodgers Stadium. Several noted Giants had something to say about Stow's attackers.

Jeremy Affeldt has been one of the victim's biggest supporters, visiting Stow multiple times and speaking to the crowd at AT&T Park nine days after the attack.

"I don't know the mentality of the two gentlemen who were sentenced, but to sit in a cell for four and eight years [over the outcome of a game], it really doesn't make a lot of sense and I hope that's what people start to see," Affeldt said after Thursday's sentencing.

Tim Flannery, who raised money for the family with a benefit concert, had this to say: "I know they feel relief but it still doesn't change the fact that they're full-time caregivers for the rest of their lives, and they need support. You think about how many peoples' lives were changed on both sides. You wonder how many peoples' lives were destroyed over a hate crime."

Regarding the jail time, the Giants third base coach added said, "Maybe this is a step in the right direction."

Team manager Bruce Bochy hoped yesterday's sentencing would help give the family some sense of peace, saying, "You still can't take back what's happened, but hopefully for the family, it gives them a little sense of justice for what happened to their son."

For their part, the Dodgers released a statement as well: "We are pleased that the culpable parties have finally accepted responsibility for their actions and have been sentenced for their crimes." The Stow family has a civil lawsuit pending against the L.A. team, which could explain their brevity.

As for the small amount of time each cretin received, MLB notes: "According to deputy district attorney Michele Hanisee, Norwood could be released immediately because his credit for time already in custody seemed to account for at least the majority of his sentence. However, federal authorities have charged both men with weapons possession, which could add 10 years in prison to their sentence."

After last night's opening game in Los Angeles, LAPD are looking for two men who beat and seriously injured a Giants fan in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. "Sgt. Sanford Rosenberg said Friday that two men in Dodgers clothing followed three men in Giants gear as they walked to their car after Thursday night's 2-1 Dodger victory," Associated Press reports. "Rosenberg says the attackers yelled slurs against the Giants and began kicking and punching the men. One victim suffered a head injury and was hospitalized in critical but stable condition."

Awful. Banners are one thing, physical attacks are another. Some LA fans, we should point out, are notorious for treating Giants fans like crap inside Dodger stadium. So much so, in fact, that stadium security sometimes must ask SF fans to leave for their own safety. That said, Giants fans don't have the cleanest record against LA.

Anyway, police have no suspects and are asking anyone with information to call LAPD.

[Mercury News]

"A Strong Earthquake Has Shaken Los Angeles," or so says this jarring single headline on CBS 5. You know anything more? We'll update as soon as we do.

Update 11:45 a.m.: According to Twitter user jamesrocchi, "Earhtquake, fun. 5.6. 29 km from city center, but I felt it fairly well." (And it made him temporarily European! What's a "km"? Oh noes!) More to come.

Update 11:51 a.m.: It's been felt from LA to San Diego. LAist editor Zach Behrens says the quake came in at 5.8. (And he's safe. Whew.) Check out more over at LAist. We'll let them take it from here.

Also, it's moments like these in SoCal that, inexplicably, make us miss the place. Sadly, it's really one of the few things that brings people together down there. Chin up, other half.

Update: 12:19 p.m.: It's centered around Chino Hills, near Yorba Linda, 29 miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles.

Update 12:48 p.m.: According to Eye On Blogs the quake is actually 5.4. The shaker must've photoshopped its size. Typical.

Shakemap credit: earthquake.usgs.gov

In reading the story today about a missing woman found dead in police employees' parking space, we were reminded of a similar tragedy that happened here in San Francisco, where a Leonard Milo Hoskins' body was undiscovered in a van for a month, before being impounded by police and found a week later. While the couple wanted in connection with Hoskins are still at large, we think these incidents bring up serious questions about police procedure in potential homicides.

In both cases, police did not search the vehicles despite both vehicles being connected with missing persons. In the case of the missing woman in LA, since no evidence of foul play was observed on the outside of the van, the vehicle remained unsearched until family members came to claim the car and discovered the body of the missing woman themselves. In San Francisco, the undiscovered body of Hoskins was in police custody for nearly a week and police haven't stated why the suspects' van was not investigated immediately after being impounded.

While we're concerned with privacy laws as much as the next person, it seems unreasonable for police procedures to allow incidents like these to happen. A loophole large enough for bodies to remain undiscovered for days at a time (while in police custody!) should require a definite reexamination of police protocol, especially with these vehicles linked to crimes with possible foul play.

Image credit: blogging.la

Somehow, we thought San Francisco would be the first one to sport these dispensers, but LA has beat us to the punch: two marijuana vending machines will be available for use starting Monday at different locations.

Yes, Mary Jane is now available via vending machine, but just how many hoops will you have to jump through to get at her? First, you must have a medical marijuana prescription. Next, you will need to be fingerprinted before purchasing a pre-paid credit card with your dosage imprinted upon it. Once you have the credit card in hand, you can enter the "standalone room" that is "protected by round-the-clock security guards." Then you can run home in glee at having paid for weed. from. a. vending. machine.

This is a well-timed advertisement for the vending machines, we suppose, given that the California Supreme Court has ruled that medical marijuana users can now be fired from their jobs if tested positive for the drug. In case you don't want to be seen entering your dispensary of choice by your boss, perhaps you can go for a late-night run for your pot strain of choice (OG Cush or Grandaddy Purple, according to Thrillist). If you move to LA, that is.

As seen in the graphic above (pulled from the LA Times), and because of last week's fatal attacks, tiger security improvement is needed. Soon. In 30 days, according to the Gate, SF Zoo will have a brand spanking new tiger-grotto security system. The architect who created the zoo's Grizzly Gulch exhibit, Sam Singer, will also now design the safer new tiger grotto. Although no details of the new tiger grotto designed have been released, we're sure "more safe" will be a bullet point or four.

In other tiger-related news: those damn brothers, Paul Dhaliwal and Kulbir Dhaliwal. Ugh. Ever since the attack, they have "maintained their silence" for some bizarre yet suspicious reason. The duo haven't even contacted the father of the boy who, if reports are accurate, saved their lives during Tatiana's attack. Seriously, what is their problem? Are they just vile human beings? Scared? Working on the movie deal rights?