A whopping 7,000 PG&E customers are without power this morning after an outage hit the area. Intersections are affected and parking control officers are controlling intersections. Please be advised. Far worse a fate? SFist associate editor Andrew Dalton, who lives/works smack dab on Divisadero at SFist's western offfice, was unable to watch the fourth hour of the Today Show. Godspeed, Andrew and his fellow Western Additionites. more ›

An unidentified victim (we're not even clear if he/she was male or female) was shot last night around 8:40 p.m. near the intersection of Divisadero and Eddy Streets. more ›

Thursday's five-alarm inferno in the Western Addition torched two residential buildings and one structure, leaving scores of people temporarily homeless for the holidays. Smoke could be seen as far as Colma and Oakland. While the exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined (no, outer space wasn't to blame), only a handful of people were injured due to smoke inhalation. more ›

Over on his Inside Scoop side blog, the Chronicle's insatiable food critic is taking a deeper look at Nopa, one of his perennial favorites today. In the five years it has been open in the (ahem) North of Panhandle neighborhood, he says, the restaurant has, "channeled the spirit of the area more than any other existing business." We here at the SFist Western Branch office, a stone's throw from Nopa on Divisadero, won't argue about the restaurant's quality and welcoming neighborhood vibe, but we'd be remiss if we didn't point out the food critic neglected to disclose one important detail: His guilty fried chicken addiction. more ›

The artisanification of Divisadero moves one step closer after 18th Street boutique food market Bi-Rite nabbed a liquor license for their impending Western Addition location. "This one will be a little bigger than the Mission location; and it looks like a September opening is still within reach," reports Eater, located next to Nopa and across the street from Popeye's Chicken. (Qulle contrast!) The new Bi-Rite will take over the Divisadero Farmer’s Market & Deli at 550 Divis. Tentative opening date? September 2011. [Eater] more ›

As most of you now by now, 21-year-old Nils Linke died while riding his bike southbound on Masonic Avenue near Turk Street on Friday night. He was hit by a car. His body smeared across Masonic, with pieces his bike "strewn about half a block with pieces of shattered wheel under the car," and his shredded bits of clothes found scattered down the street. The driver of the car, who fled the scene after colliding with Linke, was arrested and booked for vehicular manslaughter. It's a tragic and trying tale for all parties involved, but especially for Linkne and his family. What's more, as many of you also know, Masonic and Fell is one of San Francisco more troubled spots when it comes to the tissue-thin relationship between cyclists and drivers. more ›

How to make a White Manhattan using raw whiskey, a.k.a. white dog, a.k.a. moonshine. more ›

Why aren't there more of these around SF? more ›

Trouble is stirring in San Francisco's adorable NOPA district. It seems some residents are none too thrilled with the "large electronic traffic information signs" planned for Oak and Fell Streets. The city wants to install these big electronic signs near Divisadero, directing drivers to parking garages ans such, and the neighborhood's residents don't like it because, obviously, they're ugly. more ›

While we cannot stomach the taste and mouth feel of warm fruit, many of you love pie -- apple pie, especially. Some of you even have recipes. Grandma's famous apple pie recipes, if lore is to believed. So, why not enter your favorite warm slice in this Sunday's Johnny Appleseed Apple Pie Contest. No, not a pie eating contest -- where do you think you are, east of I-5? --but a regular old pie contest. The Divisadero Farmers Market (Grove Street, at Divisadero) will be hosting the showdown this Sunday. more ›

Last night marked the kickoff of this SF Chefs. Food. Wine. event in Union Square, a weekend-long orgasm of culinary grazing, seminar-ing and drinking meant to rival the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. The tent on the Square was filled with wine merchants from far and wide (some from local counties, including the yummy Morse/Il Giollelo wines from Amador County, and a couple Australians), as well as restaurants plying their bite-size wares (including a delicious strawberry gazpacho from former Top Chef contestant and Absinthe executive chef Jamie Lauren -- more on the weekend's food in a later post), as well as a number of local cocktailians including Brooke Arthur from Range, Thad Vogler from Heaven's Dog, and a delicious rum punch from the forthcoming SF Tiki bar, Smuggler's Cove. more ›

SFist reader Greg Ellis writes to us for help. more ›

Real estate agents have always reveled in transforming a neighborhood, or a sub-section of a shitty neighborhood, through the kind of re-branding that turns a place like Hell's Kitchen in NYC into Midtown West. Well, the San Francisco Association of Realtors are releasing their latest map, which is going to affect the official listing location of every property in town, and it includes such creative renamings as Barbary Coast for the Financial District, and NoPa for that section of the Western Addition that's home to a certain popular restaurant. Apparently the realtors stopped short of including TenderNob, because we all know that's kind of bullshit (and there's so few for-sale properties there that the real estate people don't give a shit). Says Matthew Borland, the agent leading the remapping, "the changes had to reflect a true change and feel of the fabric of a neighborhood." more ›