Sure, temporary holiday arborists can send their dry and withering Christmas trees to the wood chipper starting this week. But why put DPW and Recology through all that trouble for just a tiny bit of biofuel material, when you could instead send it all up in a furious ball of atmosphere-choking pine particulates? Which is exactly what one group of Burning Man types and other assorted pyromaniacs plans to do this Sunday at Ocean Beach. more ›

Yesterday at high noon on Ocean Beach a group of about 25 otherwise warm people, brought together by social media and a shared desire for a meaningful beginning to 2012, jumped in to the Pacific Ocean. While the Ocean Beach plunge might not have had quite the attendance of our counterparts at Coney Island back East or the stamina of the Dolphin Club's Alcatraz swim, it did offer something decidedly San Franciscan. By which we mean there were naked butts. Possibly NSFW video of the new tradition, after the jump: more ›

The San Francisco is asking for the public's help to retrieve a reportedly stolen squirrel monkey. "This morning zoo staff discovered a 17-year-old male squirrel monkey, 'Banana-Sam,' was missing from an exhibit that had been breached by vandals," reports BCN. "Banana-Sam weighs approximately 2 pounds and is more than a foot tall." more ›

Beautiful weather and favorable conditions out at Ocean Beach allowed the Rip Curl Pro Search competition to kick off on schedule, with the first heat of pro surfers paddling out at 8 a.m. this morning. more ›

Although weak surf stalled the big wave surf competition at Mavericks this year, professional surfing fans will get another chance to see their heros out on local waters this week. Starting tomorrow, November 1st, the competition window opens on the Rip Curl Pro Search at Ocean Beach. more ›

In concurrence with the Occupy movement, folks will be forming a human banner at Ocean Beach tomorrow morning, which will spell out "TAX THE RICH!" Over 600 people -- and counting -- have signed up to take part in the event. more ›

The U.S. Sailing Association announced last week that they'll be honoring a group of three kiteboarders for making an exhilarating rescue that sounds like something out of a Vin Diesel movie. During the incident back in April, Tugboat Captain Roger Christiansen and his single crew member were forced to abandoned ship as their boat sank in the rough waters off of Ocean Beach. The three extreme rescuers were taking advantage of the conditions when they spotted the captain in an inflatable raft, who directed them to search for his shipmate stranded in the water with nothing more than a life ring. Two of the boarders flagged down a Coast Guard rescue vessel while the other used his kite to pull the second sailor to safety. A spokesperson for the Sailing Association told the Examiner, "Nobody could have done that in those conditions. The mastery of their gear is truly impressive.” more ›

A surfer was spotted floating unconscious in the water near Ocean Beach around 1 p.m. yesterday. He was later identified as Jonathan Luhn, age 44, after being pulled from the water by another surfer, or someone on the beach. The Mercury News says he was a resident of San Jose. more ›

At around 9:30 a.m. this morning, a developing funnel cloud touched down at Ocean Beach. There's mildly jarring footage of it, too! NBC Bay Area explains: "The tornado on the water was captured on video off Ocean Beach in San Francisco by Rick Gutierrez. He posted it on YouTube with a caption that explained it was taken Friday at 9:24 a.m. 'I was looking outside my window. There was a very dark cloud and there it was,' Gutierrez wrote.The tornado on the water was captured on video off Ocean Beach in San Francisco by Rick Gutierrez. He posted it on YouTube with a caption that explained it was taken Friday at 9:24 a.m. 'I was looking outside my window. There was a very dark cloud and there it was,' Gutierrez wrote." more ›

"On the beach" by Darwin Bell. more ›

Meanwhile out by the Cliff House, a "turf war" is raging between the (ahem) artisans who are fighting for sidewalk space from which to peddle their handmade jewelry, crafts and other assorted trinkets to visitors of the city's Western edge. New regulations were recently put in place by the Art Commission so street vendors could formally secure selling locations, but as RichmondSF points out, those regulations only apply to the city's other high-traffic areas at Fisherman's Wharf and downtown. more ›

Via a new management plan from the federal government, a number of coastal spots where dog owners are currently allowed to let their pooches roam off-leash will become on-leash areas, or no-dog areas. This is part of a new management plan for the Golden Gate Park National Recreation Area, which extends from Fort Funston up around to Crissy Field, and north to Muir Beach. The goal is to protect wildlife that lives in these areas. more ›

Winter weather exposes some old stuff at the coasts, and some mysterious tar balls, hundreds of them, appearing on beaches in Marin -- with a large number on Limantour Beach at Point Reyes. Apparently this has happened before, and the source may be some old shipwreck getting stirred up at the bottom of the ocean. As the Marin Independent Journal explains, some tar balls showing up as late as ten years ago were believed to be coming from a 1953 shipwreck, the S.S. Jacob Luckenbach, a freighter that sank with up to 450,000 gallons of oil in/on it. A $19 million cleanup effort in 2002 made an effort to remove remaining oil from the freighter, which was still being blamed for harming local wildlife. "There are hundreds of shipwrecks out there," says a spokesman for the Point Reyes National Seashore. more ›

According to the Examiner last night, one 23-year-old Matthew Leydem of San Francisco mistakenly fell off a cliff above Ocean Beach yesterday. He was OK though, as the Fire Department was able to pull him back up using a harness and no injuries were reported. more ›

Either an endangered fin or endangered sei whale washed up dead on Ocean Beach this week. The whale was buried yesterday. SF Appeal reports: more ›

Brad Newsham, writer, cab driver, and organizer of the "Impeach" message at Ocean Beach from a few years back, is organizing a "Slash Oil" event that will take place on Saturday at 10 a.m. more ›

Tonight's Critical Mass kicks off the Memorial Day weekend. How so? Well, according to SF Appeal, they posted this "suggested route map" for tonight's ride. Said map directs riders to start off at Justin Herman Plaza, into the bowels of the Marina, and end at Ocean Beach where one will find a "memorial OM" (?) for the BP oil spill. more ›

Speaking of surfers, SF Weekly talked to some surfers this week who are pissed about Public Works' plan to dump some boulders along the fast eroding bluffs along Ocean Beach. They're in favor of dumping sand instead, which turns out to be a more expensive plan, and they're calling bullshit on the city's scare tactics with regard to a potentially vulnerable sewage tunnel, which they say is "strong as a seawall" and isn't in danger of rupturing. But yes, the city's saying that all this rain means the potential for raw sewage to end up in the ocean, therefore they must hurry to dump some rocks along the bluff. Anyway, imagine that, surfers attending a town-hall style meeting... more ›

"Get the fuck off that jelly fish and come here!" by Darwin Bell. more ›

Sunday Streets met with a Rock the Bike event at Ocean Beach on Sunday. Some sort of amplifier was attached to bikes, then said listening device was powered by the magic of pedal power. Many revelers from Sunday Streets (an event that's quickly turning into more of a cycling event, rather than a pedestrian-friendly one) stopped by to enjoy the music and dancing more ›

Crab a Ocean Beach by kapshure / BerDerp. more ›

Hand rolling in the wind at Ocean Beach. more ›

On Wednesday afternoon, San Francisco police identified the body of a woman found inside a vehicle at Ocean Beach as Mauvreen Zalaya, 38, of San Francisco. According to reports, "Police are calling Zalaya's death suspicious, but are waiting for the results of a medical examiner's report. Her body was found around 5:30 a.m. near Balboa Street." No signs of trauma or any weapons, according to police, were found inside the car. more ›

Kite flying at Ocean Beach. more ›

After a judge ruled that the University of California can cut down those cumbersome old oak trees, the kids still stuck up in the grove aren't coming down. What else is new, right? But in the end, the protesters have no one to blame but themselves. The twee aesthetics the sitters used to save said trees turned off any fence sitters, and "Dumpster Muffin"'s dilettante-ish and affected temper tantrum earlier this month made some supporters eyes roll. But what the Save the Memorial Oak Grove did accomplished was having fun. They turned lemons into a festive, extended tree-fort playdate. Kudos, guys! But if any of you still want those oak trees to remain standing, there will be an Oak Grove Supporters Plan March at Berkeley City Hall tomorrow. Go here for more details. more ›

Five remaining tree climbers over at the University of California at Berkeley -- you know, the ones who have been protesting the school's plan to tear down the Memorial Oak Grove to put in a shiny new ball-throwing stadium -- are being threatened to come down via 25 police officers and a cherry picker. According to UCB officials, the tree protesters might have to come down as early as today, Tuesday, or be removed by the long arm of the law. Literally. more ›