A fight between some middle-aged goons and a 40-year-old victim almost turned in to a case of vehicular manslaughter in Nob Hill Wednesday evening. According to Bay City News, the victim suffered life-threatening stab wounds after one of the two suspects got out of the El Camino and picked a fight just before 6 p.m. yesterday. During the tussle, the second suspect ran over the victim with the Chevrolet. more ›

Back in June, news broke that Nob Hill's loved/hated/occasionally pigeon-inhabited neighborhood grocer Cala Foods would be disappearing to make way for a Trader Joe's. At the time, the neighborhood was positively rocked by the news that parking at California and Hyde would soon become the same nightmarish hellscape that pops up outside the grocery chain's Masonic Avenue location. Now, a couple months later, we have word that Cala Foods has started clearing out their final shipments of foodstuffs and notifying customers of their last day in business: next Saturday, December 3rd, about a week after the huge Thanksgiving belt-loosening. more ›

Developer plans to replace Nob Hill's aging, dusty Cala Foods with roughly a hundred condos and ground floor retail have been scrapped in favor of a new Trader Joe's location, the San Francisco Business Times reports this afternoon. Like the condos that were originally slated to sit atop the latest Whole Foods location on Stanyan Street in the Haight, developers ditched plans for new housing in favor of simply renovating the current space. more ›

The city's Fairmont hotel is being put on the market "after city officials failed to approve a proposal to convert some of the building to condos," reports Business Times. The hotel is currently owned by Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff, investor Philip Maritz, and -- who knew!? --Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the 26th richest person in the world. The plan, if you recall, was to nix the existing hotel tower, built in the 60s, to build residential spaces.The mighty hotel workers' union, however, got involved because it would've cost hotel jobs, which obviously it would have, and voted no on the thing. [Biz Times]
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Live Nation, well-known for their evil ticketing practices, have been trying to do something decent by giving the Nob Hill Masonic Center a proper rock venue upgrade ever since the event promoting company lost booking rights at the Warfield back in 2008. Although the Board of Supervisors approved using the venue for concerts last May, the neighbors are still fighting plans to upgrade the venue with more seats, more bars and room for - horror of horrors - a mosh pit. As the Examiner reports today, the hill top crowd have employed all the usual NIMBY Tactics: suing the city, calling out the Planning Department for not doing a proper environmental review. But this quote from the president of the Nob Hill Association really ought to be framed in some kind of NIMBY Hall of Fame: more ›

Police are investigating a series of robberies involving pepper spray throughout San Francisco. The first attack happened on the 200 block of Florida Street in the Mission District around 9 p.m. on Wednesday. "Two men grabbed a 41-year-old woman's cell phone, sprayed the chemical irritant in her face and kicked her before running away." more ›

Police are looking for a pair of thirtysomething African American men who robbed a liquor store on the 1100 block of Leavenworth last night. As the Examiner reports, the two threatened the 27-year-old Asian man behind the counter, emptied the cash register, and went into the dude's pockets as well before taking some stuff off the shelves and fleeing. The cashier was not injured. more ›

A friend of SFist shot this photo of the two-alarm fire that took place yesterday afternoon on Bush Street between Mason and Powell. It was contained in one apartment (although it looks like a few other apartments might have seen some damage as well), and crews were able to put the fire out within fifteen minutes. No one was injured. more ›

What with Valentine's Day around the corner, Nob Hill Gazette (a local publication whose motto, "...an attitude, not an address," lets you know that Nob Hill is the neighborhood in SF) released its Annual Eligibles List, a directory of crestfallen, lonely locals, which was made famous back in the day by SF Weekly's Laurel Wellman. more ›

After a woman was attacked by a dog in Nob Hill's Huntington Park, residents of the swank arrondissement grew heated over the park's leash law enforcement, or lack thereof. Before that presumably horrific event last November, park rangers, according to reports, were clamping down too hard on park revelers with dogs, even going so far as to chase one woman "out of the park and down the street, where the Park Ranger attempted to force his way into her home as she fought to close her door." more ›

Yesterday, if you recall, an employee of Bellissimo Pizza in Nob Hill was stabbed to death. Police arrested Maryam Achekzai, the woman they suspect of killing 38-year-old Lassaad Bokri. more ›

On viscous news days such as today, we reach into our inbox to see what readers have on their minds. Here's something: more ›

While some Valencia Street merchants and Geary Boulevard business owners would have you believe that San Francisco is a bastion of overpriced boutique stores and inaccessibility, respectively, most of you are too smart to believe such tripe. A city is, arguably, meant to grow. Onward and upward, right? Right. more ›

Nestled amongst the former mansions of the old railroad tycoons and silver kings on Nob Hill and directly across from the beautiful Grace Cathedral, Huntington Park is an urban oasis for retirees, freelancers, kids, canines, and the homeless alike. more ›

San Francisco firefighters, according to SFGate, are rescuing residents from the windows of a Nob Hill burning apartment building. The complex is on Bush Street between Jones and Taylor streets. (Ack, we love that block of Bush!) No word yet on any injuries or what started the inferno. Update: One person was killed, three others injured. more ›

Nicole Atkins starts this week off strong with some soulful tunes from the Jersey shore over at The Independent, starting at 8pm. She's crazy-cool and has a voice of gold. If you're more of a rocker, than get to Cafe du Nord early to see Cold Hot Crash and Filter play. It looks like the only way you can buy tickets is at the door and there's not too many of them. A Fine Frenzy, an alternative singer-songwriter and pianist headlines at Cafe du Nord on Tuesday night. She'll be supported by the talented Ferras and the English rock band, Ben's Brother. Again, get there early, the only way you'll get tickets is at the door. more ›

Oh good. Valentine's Day is just around the corner. And if the thought of next Thursday's approaching fillet mignon-for-two-free evening doesn't make you want to slice open an artery followed by nap-time in the bathtub, then how about not making Nob Hill Gazette's annual Lucky 13th Annual Eligible's List? (Yes, yes, you and your hipster S.O. are too cool to celebrate a Hallmark holiday, clearly, but what a privileged thing to decide not to do. Wow, that was bitter. Anyway.) more ›

Madeleine Albright, it seems, "will also share her recommendations for the next president." more ›

Image credit: SFist's Leanne Maxwell more ›

SFist interviews Brian Regan more ›

Nice package. more ›

Seeing as how they have nothing else going on, this week the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on a city proclamation honoring John Barleycorn Pub, calling for its preservation. The bar is set to close, and as already mentioned on Yelp, your local watering hole plays a large part in the aesthetics and feel of a neighborhood, so it's a good idea to pay attention to when these things start closing down around you. more ›

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-- 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 ›

Made famous to us plebeians not by the names littering the social registry and its many sad suck-ups (an aside: ahem, our rent is due soon, bitches), but by the much-missed former SF Weekly's "Dog Bites" columnist Laurel Wellman, Nob Hill Gazette just landed another beloved local writer, former Chronicle society scribe Catherine Bigelow. more ›

John Vanderslice is someone you can truly count on. Aside from his incredible talent, we're always impressed with his indie rock work ethic. He keeps his studio Tiny Telephone open as an incubator for top quality recordings, he's always good for a genuine smile and a hug when we run into him, and about once every 18 months or so he releases another incredible album through Seattle-based indie Barsuk Records. His latest release Emerald City offers a somewhat gentler take on his always-unique melodies and music and a move towards even more intricate and adventurous lyrics. In the first song alone, he sings about the kookaburra tree, frangipane, bundestag and terabytes. He builds and inhabits fantastical tales and delivers them in such a convincing way as to make you believe he lived through them. In honor of John playing a free show at Amoeba Records at 2pm on Saturday, we're giving away a copy of Emerald City to two lucky winners. Listen to "White Dove" and enter to win. (Contest ends 8/14; winner will be notified via email.) more ›

Submit your Bay Area finds to found [at] sfist [dot] com, or tag them sfist and found on Flickr! Let us know where and when you found the item and any other helpful info. We thought we'd mix it up today with some of our favorite found photos ever. These are just a few from a whole pile that we found a couple of years ago in Upper Nob Hill neatly tucked under a recycling... more ›

The dapper and dreamily salt-and-pepper Dan Noyes recently culled 911 calls, dispatch tapes, and police and fire departments radio traffic surrounding last year's failed rescue attempt of 27-year-old Nick Torrico. High atop a Nob Hill building, Torrico plunged to his death one sunny afternoon. Apparently, Vic Wyrsch, a fire fighter from Station One, in an appropriate fit of heroism, grabbed Torrico to save him from the ledge. When a struggled occurred, Torric fell and later died; police had Wyrsch arrested before finding out his association to the fire department. more ›

Send your Bay Area finds to found [at] sfist [dot] com or tag them sfist and found on Flickr! Let us know where and when you found the item and any other helpful info. Today's find is courtesy of Greg Dewar of the fabulous N Judah Chronicles, brought to us via the SFist Found Flickr stream. We love the colors and texture in this one. The sink looks like it belongs in some big,... more ›