Here's another chance to win a pair of tickets to the Asian Art Museum's fabulous Matcha event on Thursday, featuring New Indian cuisine. The fifth person to email us at sfistevents@gmail.com with their full name, along with Matcha in the subject line, wins! Update: Contest Closed. Congrats, J.G.! more ›

The California Academy of Sciences launched its new Shark Lagoon Cam on Thursday, which features a lovely mix of Blacktip Reef sharks and Bamboo sharks, Cownose rays, Honeycomb rays, and Blue-spot stingrays, along with Mono fish, Longnose Butterfly fish, and Raccoon Butterfly fish, all swimming amongst mangrove trees and a colorful Philippine coral reef. more ›

This goes out to all of you who get clammy-palmed as soon as you see your favorite F-car rolling up to your stop. Oh Milano, you come on smooth with that designy orange and classic woodtone, but you're so heavy on the rails. No matter; we love you with all our hearts and Clippercards. Blackpool, you're a topless show-off and you know it. more ›

SFMOMA announced in a press release this afternoon that it has received an unprecedented number of promised gifts of art from nine leading Bay Area collectors as part of a donor-lead campaign to strengthen the museum's collection. 195 works from artists as diverse as Cy Twombly, Cindy Sherman, Jackson Pollock, Jeff Koons and Richard Tuttle will now be become part of the museum's permanent holdings. more ›

Let's face it, museums are dull. They're quiet, full of old photos and paintings, and demand an attention span that isn't rife with ADHD tendencies. The San Francisco's de Young Museum, however, is one of the best, and people agree. According to an article in today's Chronicle, the de Young ranks fifth in attendance for U.S. museums, placing it "after the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago." An impressive feat for a museum that doesn't even have one of those cool static electricity balls that make your hair stand on end. [Chron] more ›

For some time now we've been following the progress of the amusingly titled Superb Art Museum of America, which remains papered over but with an impressive new, neo-classical facade at 1025 Market (between 6th and 7th). Curbed became intrigued early last year when the building's name got engraved, they connected it to some Buddhists, and then in December revealed the bizarre, cavernous interior which appears to have a large water feature with a foot bridge. We're now connecting this to the rumors we heard over the last couple years about Buddhists taking over the Hibernia Bank (a deal which must have fallen through, if it was ever a reality). more ›

On Saturday, the first major retrospective of the photographs of Richard Avedon since his death in 2004 opens at SFMOMA. San Francisco is the only U.S. stop on the tour for this show, and Richard Avedon: Photographs 1946-2004 focuses primarily on the artist as portrait photographer, featuring some of his best-known portraits including Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Marilyn Monroe, Bjork and William S. Burroughs. We saw a preview of the show yesterday, and it's both a gorgeous collection of images as well as a moving document of the faces of the late 20th Century. more ›

In case you missed last weekend's Big Idea party at Yerba Buena, or in case you still haven't made it over to see the amazing exhibit "Meet Me at the Center of the Earth" by the artist Nick Cave (not to be confused with Nick Cave the musician), we give you this quick interview with him and a look at some of his "sound suits" in motion. more ›

Last Saturday night, the YBCA opened its doors for a large-scale, mixed, queer-friendly, *very* San Franciscan party called "What's the Big Idea?" featuring food from the Mission Street Food "taco" truck, galleries open until 3AM (including the Sisters' archive show, and the amazing collection of "soundsuits" created by Nick Cave, which are basically like enormous, haute couture muppet costumes from another planet -- see video of them here), a Sisters' fashion show called Project Nunway, live tattooing, performances by drag queens Anna Conda and Monistat, and music from DJ Dirty Knees and the DJ collective Honey Soundsystem. SFist was there, and fairly wasted, so all we have are these few lousy pictures (look out for a full video of the event from the SF Appeal). But trust us when we say a good time was had by all, and the food -- particularly this deep fried fennel sausage slathered in aoili and onion jam, and a pork belly "taco" that was pure grease heaven -- was fucking fantastic. The museum also may have found a few new devotees after this event, since they were offering free lifetime memberships to anyone who agreed to get the YBCA logo tattoo'd on themselves.* more ›

Get 'em now! For those who like to plan ahead (we do not) tickets for the exhibit of Egyptian stuff at the deYoung Museum are on sale now, even though it doesn't open for another 71 days. You may want to buy them for after the huge July 4th weekend rush -- the show's going to be up for like a year anyway and there's nothing more annoying than a crowded museum. In related news, a team from the deYoung is in Cairo right now shooting documentary footage to be used in the exhibition. more ›

SFist interviews artist Misako Inaoka more ›

While the pairing seems unlikely (despite San Francisco being the "Paris of the West"), the Legion of Honor has received the, uh, honor of hosting the Marie-Antoinette exhibit. The show specifically focuses on Petit Trianon—Marie-Antoinette's personal retreat in Versailles—as well as the life and times of the lady herself. Paintings, furniture and anything else not bolted down in her house have been flown over here for display while the "cottage" (ahem) is being renovated. more ›

Yesterday, Mayor Newsom signed into action the Tommy Ammiano-introduced legislation that requires the city to handout ID cards to undocumented immigrants and other residents who either can't or just won't apply for driver's licenses. The good news is that these IDs will help (formerly) undocumented residents gain access to the wonderful world of banking, a sense of peace before calling the fuzz, as well as "health services at city-run clinics, public library privileges, and resident discounts at museums and other cultural institutions." (Entry fee discounts at the Exploratorium: the American dream realized.) more ›

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.
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What happens when nearly 30 local artists create works of art made entirely from reclaimed and recycled materials? Head over tonight (or sometime this month) to find out at the Market Street Gallery for ReArt: The Art of Reuse. till 5pm, 1554 Market Street,SF. more ›

It's a short Swells this week! more ›

This isn't just tonight -- it's for all month -- but it's so cool we're making it the pick of the day! Bank of America customers, you can flash your ATM card or credit card and you and a guest get into a bunch of local museums for free, free, free! (Wells Fargo card holders, you'll have to pay not only admission but also a $2.50 service charge. Kidding, kidding.) Offer applies to the SFMOMA, the Asian Art Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Dede's DeYoung, and the Legion of Honor. We've been meaning to check out the Picasso show at the SFMOMA and now we've got no excuse! more ›

Peace in our times! Bikers and car drivers, with the help of none other than the Honorable Gavin Newsom, have worked out a permanent solution to the Golden Gate Park Healthy Saturdays impasse. We know, we're totally amazed too -- next, the mayor's office will say they've worked it all out between the Shias and the Sunnis; Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff; and Pat Murphy and Chris Daly. We're nominating Gavin for a Nobel peace prize! more ›

In two weeks, Healthy Saturday comes on a Monday! April 9, City Hall, 1pm: those party animals on the Land Use and Economic Development Committee will be throwing a sure-to-be-fun public hearing about a six-month study on opening up more of Golden Gate Park to pedestrians on the weekends. more ›

It looks like there might be peace in our time as a deal is in the works over the whole Healthy Saturdays thing. Apparently, city officials are trying to work out a compromise between fans of the plan and supporters of the Dede Wilsey Shrine to Her Wilsey-ness. No details have emerged yet, but apparently Gavin has been meeting with both sides to figure something out. more ›

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... more ›

In light of the new study coming out saying that the closure of JFK boulevard on Sundays doesn't hurt attendance at any of the fancy new museums in Golden Gate Park, supporters of the Healthy Saturdays initiative gathered to renew the fight. In a press conference yesterday, Jake McG said he was going to reintroduce the measure to close the park on Saturday for a six month trial run. more ›

Let's take you back on the Wayback Machine to last spring when the Board of Supervisors wanted to close down Kennedy Drive like it is on Sunday. They voted for it, Gavin vetoed it, then sought a compromise on the issue by asking for a study. The study was to see if closing the street down on Saturday's would hurt museums attendance, make life miserable for neighbors, and make it more difficult for people to get to the museums. Well, on Valentine's Day, the report came out and said the effect of closing down Kennedy Drive on everything would be pretty much nothing. In fact, it said that attendance went up on Sundays. How you like them apples? more ›

Sulky, sulky -- Gavin Newsom was sober and mad after yesterday's Board of Supervisors inaugural ceremony, which the Chronicle tactfully described as having a "tone of political contentiousness running just beneath a veneer of polite ceremony." more ›

You may want to metaphorically brace yourself under a solid table (and not in a doorjamb, for crying out loud!) -- 2006 is not only the year of the Congressional midterm elections, but also the 100th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Quake and Fire (April 18, 1906). (Dude, they had orders to shoot to kill looters back then! Gavin better not try any of that!) To kick off the centennial, two local art museums are now featuring 1906 earthquake themed shows -- the SF MOMA is featuring historic photographs of the disaster, along with (starting in March) films from the Library of Congress of the quake itself, and panel discussions about the commemoration of disasters through photography. Meanwhile, the Legion of Honor is sponsoring the show "After the Ruins: Rephotographing the San Francisco Quake And Fire," where photographer Mark Klett has visited sites of famous 1906 photographs and reshot them as they are today: so there's shots of Union Square, the Presidio, Dolores Park, and (as seen above) the Ferry Building, then and now. And before you ask -- yes, both the SFMOMA and the Legion of Honor are seismically sound. Composite photograph of Ferry Building from 1906 and 2006 from the Legion of Honor website more ›

Saturday, January 28, marks the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger's explosion. SFist can't help but think of the ill-fated tenth mission every time we pass Onizuka Air Force Station down in Sunnyvale. We're not the only space groupies with the anniversary on our minds: the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland will feature a special memorial presentation all day, and screen the movie To Be an Astronaut at 11:30 am and 6:00 pm. General admission to the planetarium is $13, but kids under 13 get in for $9; the center is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday. more ›

Doesn't anyone in the 415 want a Keith Haring mural? A local SoMA day care center for underprivileged youth puts its Keith Haring mural on the block, with no local takers. more ›

Saturday: We're heading over to Oakland's Parkway Theater for the midnight & Live Stage Show. The movie plays on the big screen, and the cast from Barely Legal performs it on stage. It's a multi-media extravaganza! more ›