Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day. In honor of the day, Coit Tower and City Hall will be turning red come nightfall. So, be sure to check them out on your way home tonight. To learn more about World AIDS Day, which looks suspiciously like a Gap and/or Nike ad, visit joingred.com. more ›

Turning 72-years-old today, the Golden Gate Bridge celebrates another year as San Francisco's most notable landmark. The bridge-opening party kicked off on May 27, 1937, lasting for one week. more ›

"Coit Rail" by Generik11, found in SFist's Flickr pool. more ›

That "Lights out SF" bullshit was a huge success! A couple of local landmarks switched off some lights for a few hours, one night out of the year, so now the whales are all saved. Hooray! more ›

-- Oh noes: local homes sales are in the crapper. [SJ Merc] more ›

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! more ›

We were originally going to put a cursory summary of Partners in Preservation's program in Day Around The Bay, but after poking around on the website, it's so cool that we've elevated it to a stand-alone post. American Express, in connection with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the World Monuments Fund, will give $1 million to historic sites around the Bay Area. The way they'll determine who to give the money to and how to divide it up is by online voting. more ›

If we were to name our column again, we'd go with "the SFist on the table" or Get ur food on or whatever witticism we did not come up with when we settled on Gastronomique. Snacks on a plate? We'd try to convey what we attempt to do: inform and show off our camera phone food pictures and maybe squeeze in a joke here and there. We assume that restaurant owner face the same conundrum, trying to achieve the right balance in how they name their place. more ›

DCist is screwed in the event of an oil crisis. Not that we're not all screwed in the event of an oil crisis, just D.C. is more screwed. Don't sell your car yet, District resident, a cabbie can kick you to the curb if he doesn't like your address. Not even Metro can save you now. more ›

We'll be straight with you -- we're having a hard time following the whole "is Annemarie Conroy qualified" debacle that's been afoot for the past few days -- something about a report being released and how the Office of Emergency Services isn't really prepared for an earthquake? C'mon, guys, all they need is enough water and power bars to get through the first 72 hours! more ›

Residents in North Beach are not very happy about the fact that one of the historic buildings in the N.B. might be bought by the Church of Scientology. The building is the Colombo Building on Columbus Ave. and Washington Street. In typical San Francisco fashion, the residents aren't upset because of the beliefs of the Thetan lovers, but because they tend not to mind their business and go out on street corners and try and recruit people. Hey, does this mean we can go after the people passing out the Daily Worker's on 16th & Valencia? Anyhoo, in response, Aaron Peskin is proposing legislation that will limit religious organizations from owning property in North Beach. At this point, the legislation looks like it has a chance to be passed especially as the Scientologist's don't really have an in with the Mayor. Oh, wait.more ›

So maybe the folks back East were all over Fake Writer JT Leroy first, but San Francisco-based author and journalist Jack Boulware has a piece in Salon on Leroy creator Laura Albert (aka Laura Victoria) that looks at the person behind the persona while also painting a pretty vivid picture of what it was like to live in San Francisco in the 1990s. more ›

more ›

Since there’s so many places that went to all the trouble of getting a liquor license, Barrespondent Drew feels like it’s his responsibility to try them all out. And even if he doesn’t get a Nobel Prize for it, getting drunk is an acceptable consolation. more ›

Hey, you know that cabaret-drag performance duo, Kiki and Herb? Oh, you don't? Well, then, you might not really care for and Penn & Teller. (Thx to friend-of-SFist Jessie for originally making that spot-on comparison.) Loud, boozy Kiki hollers outlandish reimaginings of bizarrely related songs and regales the audience with sordid stories and shocking comments. (Upon being told of a skyscraper in London that's shaped like a pickle, she muses, "let's see them fly an airplane into THAT;" of her sister, dying of cancer, she says, "it humbled her. She's a lot more fun. ... I think more people should get cancer.") Meanwhile, quiet Herb holds things together behind a keyboard, leaking out snippets of songs for Kiki to accompany that slide unpredictably from "Rock to the Boat" to Radiohead's "Creep". Click here for a far more literate examination of their act than we are capable of writing. more ›

Awwww. We're feeling all soft and snuggly after reading this sweet Gawker post that says kinda nice stuff about San Francisco! more ›

Ever since SFist has lived in San Francisco, we've heard one complaint more than any other--"why can't we get a decent bagel in this town?" Well, that and. "why can't we build more housing in this city?" For a closer look at the reason why we can't (build more housing, not get better bagels), one just has to look at several recent stories to see why it is that we're all paying way too much for a way-too-small-apartment that hasn't had its rent-controlled walls painted in way too long. more ›

In a not surprising maneuver, the Board of Supes yesterday passed a resolution calling for that old church on Van Ness and Broadway, St. Brigid, to be turned into a landmark. This despite the fact the Archdiocese of San Francisco has basically been saying from the get go, thanks but no thanks. And this despite it being California state law that the state can’t go around deeming houses of religions landmarks and what not (that whole separation of church and state that everyone’s so keen about). To get around all that, our State Senator, Carole Migden, also proposed legislation yesterday to exempt that and only that church. more ›

Okay, we try not to pull story ideas from the front page of the Chron too often. After all, you can scan the headlines above the fold in the box without actually having to pay for the thing just like we do. But this is just so creepy, we had to do it. Matier and Ross report that Eric Steele, who asked to set up a number of cameras to film the middle span of the bridge constantly during the day for most of 2004, had received permission to do so based on his idea to create a documentary about noble American landmarks. more ›

It looks like Indian summer may be over for good what with the wind and the rain and the whining about the wind and the rain. So SFist recommends that you stay indoors and enjoy some of San Francisco's local landmarks on the small screen. more ›

We at SFist love the City. But did you know we love it so much that when we aren't outside exploring and enjoying it, we are inside exploring and enjoying it on TV? Hell, sometimes we even prefer the TV version. It's only on those Streets of San Francisco reruns (Sundays at 10:00pm on KBHK channel 44) that the streets are relatively free of cars, and full of available street parking. Not to mention the fact that Michael Douglas and Karl Malden aren't afraid to pair plaid jackets with firearms, a combo that would no doubt lead to their severe beating these days. more ›