Well, this is enthralling/depressing. A new Tumblr account (noted in today's Morning Links) called Lower Haight Sleeping Bag Lady asks obnoxious Lower Haight residents and its fans to submit photos of a presumably homeless lady noteworthy for carrying around her sleeping bag and sleeping in it. The unidentified woman might be mentally ill (again, presumably), and she looks downtrodden... to say the least. Ha ha? Anyway, it would be nice if the owner(s) of the site had some sort of donation page for their target of amusement/ridicule. Or whatever. Just a thought. more ›

Sometime last week, spontaneous pieces of outdated playground equipment started appearing in the Lower Haight, spreading some holiday mirth and merriment through the neighborhood. According to neighborhood watchers, the rope-and-wood swings were first spotted at a few different locations along Steiner Street, each hand-painted with the cryptic, yet ever-so-playful word, "Unless". more ›

A new mural went up on Abe's Market at Page and Fillmore Streets and no one complained about it. more ›

Sirens and choppers around the Lower Haight this evening as we are getting reports of a 3-alarm fire on the 400 block of Waller Street. Neighbors have spotted 8 fire trucks on the scene between Fillmore and Steiner and adjacent residents have been evacuated. Also, police are apparently not directing traffic around the area, so there's a backup on Fillmore from Haight to Waller. Best to avoid the area and the 22-Fillmore line if you can. more ›

Funky, fresh Lower Haight boutique P-Kok will close shop at the end of May. Haighteration has the scoop: "Owner Pat Pkok tells Haighteration that she has decided to consolidate the store with the P-Kok Eden location across the street at 776 Haight. A third shop, P-Kok Planet (which opened just last year at 1445 Haight), will remain open." Further, everything in the closing store is on sale for 50% off. Hop to it. more ›

As the Lower Haight Art Walk approaches (from 6pm to 9:30pm on Friday, folks), so does the annual tattoo roulette tradition at Idle Hand Tattoo Studio. See, each year they offer "$60 Get-What-You-Get Tattoos" night. It goes something like this: They have a large gumball machines filled with tattoo designs, you fork over a comparatively scant $60, turn the dial, and outcomes your new tattoo. Whether you like it or not. But, since the artists at Ide Hand are taop-drawer, you're bound to like it. more ›

The Lower Haight's only true nightclub, Underground SF, is up for sale. In fact, the entire building can be yours for around $1.5 million. According to Haighteration, the owner is "looking to part with either the property, the business, or both." So, if you want to buy a nightclub and, say, change its name to something that isn't mentally-challenged (there's no logical reason to use "SF" in the name of an establishment that's already in San Francisco), check out this listing. more ›

Around 3:30 a.m. last night firefighters responded to reports of a burning car at Webster and Rose Streets (between Page and Haight). A two-door gray Pontiac was fully engulfed in flames, and after putting out the fire they discovered a body in the passenger's seat. KTVU is reporting that the body was female, though was very badly burned. more ›

Andrew Dudley from Haighteration brings our attention to a budding grassroots effort to have Ike's Place move to the Lower Haight. They even crafted a grassrootsy Facebook page, which reads: more ›

Those lovable kids at The Citrus Report are throwing an on-going "office party" sporadically for the next two weeks in their e-mag's storefront space in the Lower Haight, featuring typewritten Google search results, a post-it map of the Lower 48 states, and lots more analog fun. more ›

Haighteration, a glorious blog focused on the Lower Haight, brings to you the area's "nine sexiest" vacant storefronts on the lower half of San Francisco's most famous street. While fearing the empty stores might turn into dreaded "healing centers," Haighteration directs your attention to the former Delaney Laundromat ("it deserves happiness -- even if not with us"), the former Maire Rua Hair Salon ("What's hiding behind all that newspaper, we wonder?"), and the former Ceiba Records ("so freaky-deaky...the previous owners had to move to the Upper Haight"). Check them all out. [via Curbed] more ›

Brazen drive-by shooting in the Lower Haight this afternoon. We're told the shooting happened at around 12:30 p.m. at Webster and Haight. Around five shots were heard. No word yet on any injuries or arrests. more ›

It's been some time since the last shooting in the Lower Haight, but tonight, sadly, the neighborhood woke up with nine or ten bangs. Right around 9:30 there was a drive-by at Rose and Webster. Scuttlebutt around the neighborhood is that one young man was hit and taken to the hospital, and the perpetrators drove off in a car right after. No details yet, but the block is cordoned off and the police presence is beyond heavy. more ›

Within a minute of Team Blocker’s arrival on Steiner between Haight and Waller, a mammoth tour bus rolls south down Steiner. Hunh? Clearly, it’s coming from Alamo Square up the hill a few blocks...but where it’s headed, we’re unsure. Duboce Park for a game or two of slobberball? Perhaps a little exercise up and down the Sanchez steps? Seems an odd route for a tour coach, seeing as how the Lower Haight has always been one of San Francisco’s most locally geared neighborhoods — as homegrown as its natty sibling, the Upper Haight, sometimes isn’t. more ›

You get a very special blotter today. Alas. more ›

Photo of a daylight graffiti artist on Haight Street more ›

Too real, if you ask us. Election night will soon fall upon the city like a blanket of darkness. But that doesn't mean you should celebrate or grieve alone. Ripping off Inspired by SFBG's Election Night Parties, we present to you SFist's...election night parties. Ta-da. -- Gavin Newsom's (Victory) Party: Pros: at the Ferry Building, the thrill of victory, Gavin's form Cons: at some point you will be snubbed by someone in the society... more ›

WE LOVE IT WHEN ROSS MIRKARIMI SAVES THE DAY!!!!!! Remember when he stopped a robbery? And then when he saved the life of a guy in Buena Vista Park? And today, he caught two people involved in a drive-by shooting!!! (Thanks to commenter Rah for calling our attention to the story!) more ›

-- Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers: Not only does this "Basie-esque" outfit perform lush jazz and blues tunes, but the chanteuse is pretty funny in between songs. Check them out tonight at 7 p.m. at the Top of the Mark, InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, One Nob Hill, (999 California); $10. more ›

Of course, we can't find any info about any of these alleged incidents in the usual online places, but here's a compendium of what's in the SFist Tips line and SFist itself for yesterday. We haven't confirmed if any of these are true, but thought you might want to see them anyways: more ›

As we were dozing off our hangover this morning after the wild party we threw when we found out we were named the Guardian readers' "best local blog" (did you hear us? The "we're number one!" chants even drowned out the random shooting in the Lower Haight last night), we found ourselves perusing the letters section of the Examiner. Specifically, the two letters from today from one today claiming that the case against Ed Jew is a witch hunt. Our favorite is from one Patrick Monette-Shaw, who says that "if Newsom files an ethics complaint, it will again call into question his judgment." more ›

As we all know, there's been a huge upswing in shootings in this city, especially in the Lower Haight/Western Addition area. We also know that the Powers that Be don't seem to know what to do about stopping it all As a result, people in the neighborhood are in full "mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore" mode and organizing. Their request? Send cards, letters, and e-mails to Gavin, Kamala Harris, and Police Commission Heather Fong telling them to do something, anything, about the violence. Like, now. more ›

In your Non-Gavin news.... more ›

Last night was a meeting about the spate of violent crime and shootings in the Lower Haight. In attendance were various officials from the SFPD, including Heather Fong, as well as supervisors Ross Mirkirami and Bevan Dufty. Dan From Burritophile was in attendance and gives us a report, after the jump. To see photos of the event, click here. more ›

We've gotten several e-mails about a shooting in Lower Haight, around 9:30 or so this morning on Webster Street between Page and Haight. We don't know much of the details but we do know there was a lot of police in the area and a bus was pulled over, probably to see if there were any eyewitnesses. more ›

murders taking place this weekend. Two parents were shot in front of their children on Friday night in Mission Terrace (the five-year-old knocked on doors in the neighborhood until someone came out to help), a man killed his wife and then himself in the Excelsior, and then two men were killed in the Lower Haight Saturday night. We think that count doesn't include the two burned bodies they found this week too -- one woman's body was found Friday afternoon on a pier near Monster Park, and another body was found in a burning building in the Bayview on Wednesday night. (Readers, let us know in the comments if the count includes those two now as well.) more ›