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....

You get a very special blotter today. Alas. Carrying on San Francisco's lightning-hot crime wave, a drive-by shooting occurred on the Hayes Valley/Lower Haight nexus last night. At around 6:40 p.m. at Oak and Fillmore, "[a]s many as eight bullets rang out in rapid succession during," three of them hitting a Department of Public Works truck. Yikes. The vehicle is described as a "light-colored SUV" in hot pursuit of another car. Charming. Oh, and......

Photo of a daylight graffiti artist on Haight Street...

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......

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!) Ross Mirkarimi, the supervisor for the Western Addition/Lower Haight's District 5, was out for a jog this morning around 9:45 a.m. (guess Ross doesn't......

-- 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. -- Joan Rivers Theatre Project: Though you're sure to hear even more about her pendulous, sagging breasts, her new project is......

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: --Shots at Page and Buchanan around 8 p.m. last night. --Shots in the Lower Haight (from SFist Dan -- not sure if this......

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......

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. ...

In your Non-Gavin news.... -About 500 people walked around the city counting Homeless people last night. -Mirkarimi doesn't want any more liquor stores to open up in Lower Haight. -Caltrans to send transportation bond money to rural areas and less money our way. -Boy who was first thought of as a suspect, then a victim of recent shootings at the Hayward BART station, now under arrest for assault and gun charges. -Berkeley is about to......

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....

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. ...

You don't have to write the SFist Blotter to notice that we've had a disturbing uptick in violent crime over the last few weeks -- we've now had 14 murders in the last 17 days, with six 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......

-Cecilia Vega loves those chickens. -Matier & Ross recap Choirgate, saying pretty much nothing that hasn't been covered here. -The T-Third line is open for business. -Ron Dellums holds a "Hands Around the Lake" event to bring unity, remind everybody of awful 80's benefits. -More baby boomer porn. -All UC employees have to take an ethics course. Ha ha. -It's cold but not record-breaking cold. And finally...we have no information on this, but SFist......

It's a slight variation on our Who's Attacking/Defending Newsom Now columns -- Gavin goes on the offensive! The gay-focused Bay Area Reporter runs a column this week in their Political Notebook about the post-Halloween fallout between Gavin and new father District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty. Apparently the wounds from Gavin's attack on Bevan about the Castro Halloween shooting and his vote to override the veto on the foot patrol issue are still smarting, as......

The SFPD has put out a missing persons bulletin on a local Noe Valley family, who haven't been heard from since last week. James and Kati Kim, along with their two daughters Sabine and Penelope, drove to Seattle to spend Thanksgiving with James's family. The Kims were scheduled to be in southern Oregon last Saturday night, and had called the inn where they had reserved rooms and asked for a key to be left at......

Heading to the SF neighborhood that unrightly generates a mix of anxiety and anticipation in those that rarely leave their own comfort zone, we made a point to dip into a piece of Lower Haight avant-garde that goes to show that speculative creativity and drinking might actually go hand in hand. Noc Noc is the establishment. At 557 Haight (between Fillmore and Steiner) some industrious folks have created a room to satisfy your inner Flintstone,......

Burritophiles' Cate Czerwinski, Aaron Best, and Dan Johnson We were invited to attend a party celebrating the ascension of the gang at Burritophile into the Rulers of All Media. Indeed, after appearing on these esteemed pages, then being quoted extensively by the Chron's taqueria coverage article, Burritophile's Dan Johnson made it onto the television this weekend--on beloved local show Bay Area Backroads to be exact. The show was met with hoots and hollers from......

Aslam's Rasoi sounds a bit like Occam's razor, especially with our thick French accent, which has us straining our little brains to find a relationship here. We know that if we don't, the next reviewer will steal our shtick. But Aslam, first name Mohammed, does not keep things simple: every dish which comes out of his kitchen is a multi-layered, sophisticated, refined dish with a list of ingredients long like the arm. Yet, he achieves......

Summer is heating up (or cooling down, depending on how close you are to the Pacific) so don’t forget to pack your sunscreen and pooch to take your dog with you on your adventures. You can start this Sunday at the W Hotel’s party for dogs cosponsored by Bark Magazine. Come meet the author of “TAILS OF DEVOTION A Look At The Bond Between People And Their Pets” from 4-6 p.m. This is a......

Submissions go to Yvesdroppings at gmail dot com. Girl in Brown Velour Jumpsuit: "I haven't been alone for 4 years. How long were we friends-with-benefits for -- 3 years?" --From Luisa/On a flight up to Oakland Very Audibly Ranting Old Guy: "All of San Francisco is one big psycho ward." blah, blah, blah... "San Rafael, they got their stuff together. This place? It's just one big nuthouse." -- From Mark/Cafe Triste in Northbeach He Wasn't......

We have a winner in our Fake Tales of San Francisco contest! As you may recall, we're giving out "The Heart Is Deceitful" movie swag to the person who came up with the best, most fakest San Francisco story. After disqualifying Matier and Ross when the Gavin dating a Scientologist actress thing came true, our winner is...... KWillets, for this tragic tale of San Francisco gone very, very wrong. "Speak up Patrick", I said breathlessly......

A weekly review of high class wine tastings with appetizers of cured meats and various cheeses. Just replace the wine with dive bar-Pabst Blue Ribbon and the meats and cheese with one of those 'jerky cheddar' combo packs from the corner store. Brought to you each week by barrespondent Drew. Several areas throughout the city could be referred to as 'pitstop' locales, their primary purpose being to provide a slight rest when you're on your......

Those of you living in the Lower Haight might have had some trouble getting your Wal-tussin on Saturday -- an emotionally-disturbed customer tried to set the Walgreens on fire by spraying lighter fluid on the newspapers and teddy bears and lighting a match, after waving a set of reindeer antlers menacingly at the pharmacist and attempting to jump behind the counter. The cops submited the man with beanbags (since guns might have worsened the fire). Meth, man, it messes you up. A settlement in favor of African-American farmers with the Department of Justice, and several criminal defendants' guilty pleas and sentences in Monterey County are in jeopardy after the state bar found out the attorney of record on those cases was not actually licensed to practice law. The "attorney," who was working in Monterey County as a PD, quit her job when she got caught. And in our very own Ocean's Eleven (or Twelve), the FBI has announced a $50,000 reward for the biggest jewel heist in San Francisco history, when about $20 million of jewelry was stolen in broad daylight in Union Square last year. While two of the three suspects have been found, the last one, Devin Smith, has been taunting the authorities since 2003. After being featured on America's Most Wanted, he wrote a note to the producers of the show, saying it was too hard to find an attorney so "I'd rather take my chances with hypertension as a fugitive." Smith, who played football in Europe and used to frequent the SF club scene, is considered armed and dangerous. ...

SFist is thankful that San Francisco has the greatest live music venues in the country, despite the bad news SFist Isaac gave us about the closure of seminal Lower Haight club The Top. If you're looking for an excuse to get away from visiting relatives, or a fantastic place to take them for some entertainment, read on for our suggestions. Tonight you can get your punk rock served up stadium-style with hometown boys Green Day......

Andrew covers the local bar scene. This week, Mad Dog in the Fog....

summary of crime in the Bay Area....