The 174-year-old “Abner Phelps House” at Oak and Divisadero streets is considered the oldest house in San Francisco, and it has just changed hands, with plans to make it the headquarters of local music promoter Noise Pop Industries.

A fun San Francisco fact is that a 174-year-old house at 1111 Oak Street is considered the oldest house in San Francisco. Or as the National Registry of Historic Places describes it, it’s the “oldest unaltered residence in San Francisco,” meaning it hasn’t been torn down or remodeled. It’s known as the Abner Phelps house, named for its original owner, and was reportedly shipped here in pieces from New Orleans.

It’s been moved around Oak and Divisadero streets a few times over the centuries, and is no longer a residence, but instead now serves as office space. And it was listed for sale this past January.    

On Tuesday, the Chronicle reported the place has found a buyer for $2 million. They noted this buyer was affiliated with “a company linked to an artist management firm.”

We now know that management firm is Brilliant Corners Artist Management, with clients including Death Cab for Cutie, Toro y Moi, and last month’s hit Outside Lands act the Postal Service. And the buyer is that firm’s founder Jordan Kurland, the manager of local music promoter Noise Pop Industries (of Noise Pop Festival fame), and a member of the Stern Grove Festival board of directors.  

In a separate Chronicle interview, Kurland said the property will now serve as headquarters for both Brilliant Corners Artist Management and Noise Pop.

“Our lease was up at our space in the Mission and we had spent some months looking for a new space,” he told the Chronicle. “The possibility of buying was in the back of my mind given the state of the current real estate market but wasn’t what I initially set out to do. When I saw the listing for the Abner Phelps House I was, of course, curious, and once I toured it I was sold.”

The house is reportedly 3,483 square feet, with three levels, and a balcony on the uppermost level. It’s equipped with five parking spaces, and Kurland told the Chronicle he hopes to find another tenant in the arts or music scene.

One remaining question is the fate of the big Hearts in SF heart that sits on the front lawn. It’s one of those oversize hearts placed around San Francisco every year in February, and then sold in a fundraiser for the SF General Hospital Foundation. The Chronicle reports that the building’s previous owner was “uncertain about the future of the large metal heart sculpture in the front yard.”

Related: ‘Full House’ House Back on the Market, Asking $6.5 Million [SFist]

Image: San Francisco Heritage via Facebook

A highly unpleasant odor is causing a stink in the Lower Haight, as a sewer repair effort permeates a chemical odor throughout the neighborhood, but the SFPUC insists there’s no public health hazard.

San Francisco has never been known as a particularly pleasant-smelling city, especially during the muggy months we’re heading into. But as the Chronicle reports, an unusually foul odor is percolating through the Lower Haight, as well as parts of the Castro, Duboce Park,  and the Panhandle, with the smell drawing comparisons to acetone, burning plastic, or paint thinner.

“You know it's a chemical when you smell it,” Lower Haight resident Augie Phillips told the Chronicle. “You’re like, ‘That's something nasty.”

But there’s apparently no foul play to this odor, it’s a smell being caused by a city-sanctioned project to fortify century-old underground sewer pipes. The SFPUC more specifically describes the effort as the Panhandle and Inner Sunset Large Sewer Rehabilitation Project, and as seen in the map above, this is also happening on a small stretch of Seventh Avenue between Lawton and Judah streets. The smell comes from a “polystyrene resin adhesive” that will reline the sewer pipes to make them more stable, a method the SFPUC feels is less obstructive than digging up the street.

SFPUC spokesperson Joseph Sweiss insisted to the Chronicle that “there are no concerns for public health,” adding that workers have been regularly gathering real-time air quality data to ensure that the air is safe. He said that the odor will “typically dissipate quickly,” though just how quickly can depend on the weather that day.

The SFPUC also recommends that residents in affected neighborhoods can cover their sink and shower drains with a towel to keep the stench from getting indoors, which does not sound reassuring. Of course, an inconvenient odor is probably a better alternative to having sewer pipes burst into disrepair. But Lower Haight residents who think this arrangement stinks to high heaven will not be thrilled to learn that the SFPUC says this project is slated to last until  “Spring 2024.”

Related: Mysterious Stench Returns With A Vengeance, Chevron Facility In Richmond Suspected Culprit [SFist]

Image via Google Street View

San Francisco police have reportedly launched a search for Chelsea Tamulevich, a 38-year-old woman suspected of abducting her 1-year-old son, Caspian, from a residential facility on Friday evening.

Authorities have issued a public appeal for help in locating the missing child and his mother, who apparently has no custody rights over the boy and was not authorized to leave the facility with him, according to the Chronicle. The facility was situated on the 200 block of Ashbury Street in the Panhandle neighborhood.

Tamulevich is described as 5 foot 6 inches tall, 130 pounds, with blonde hair, brown eyes, and was last seen wearing all-white clothing, ABC 7 reported. The child, meanwhile, has brown hair and brown eyes, but his clothing is unknown. Caspian was last seen at around 5:30 p.m. Friday night, and police reportedly responded to the scene around 7 p.m.

The San Francisco Police Department is urging anyone who locates Tamulevich or Caspian to immediately call 911 and report their current location.

The department is also encouraging anyone with information about their possible whereabouts to contact the SFPD Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444 or send a text message to TIP411, starting with SFPD.

Image courtesy of SFPD.

San Francisco cyclists accustomed to the mixed-use path through the Panhandle to and from Golden Gate Park may someday be granted a lane of their own. Sure, protected lanes on Fell and Oak might not be as pretty as the current route inside the Panhandle itself, and the switch would make room for more riders and eliminate conflicts with pedestrians, joggers, etc, who also vie for use of the mixed-use path. But taking the temperature of cycling advocates and the neighborhood, StreetsBlog registers some tensions. A preliminary SFMTA study found that "Protected bicycle facilities parallel to the Panhandle have potential to provide additional capacity for travel by bicycle between San Francisco’s eastern and western neighborhoods, but would come with trade-offs in terms of on-street parking supply and/or vehicle travel delay on Oak Street." That would look like this:

As you can see, that would take what is currently four lanes of traffic and two lanes of parking and make it three lanes of traffic with two lanes of parking, including one lane of parking that serves, partially, as protection for cyclists.

One other option would be a single, two-way protected bike lane on either Fell or Oak, rather than two one-way protected bike lanes, one on each. That, the SFMTA postulated, would be more logical for Fell Street, which carries lower peak traffic volumes than Oak. The total cost for the project, they estimated, would be between $1.6 million and $3.9 million.

According to NOPNA News, a publication of the North of Panhandle Neighborhood association, that was all well and good. A survey of neighbors suggested that residents were in support of the addition of a protected bike lane. “After two months of gathering input, 700 plus responses came back with more than 70 percent of the respondents supporting a protected bike lane,” the newsletter claims.

To refute that, enter a new survey, covered here by Hoodline, which seeks more input from neighbors in the area. That's from a group called PRO SF, or Panhandle Residents Organization / Stanyon-Fulton, and the survey is supposed to be for residents only.

PRO SF's community organizer Tricia Stauber told Hoodline that "We felt it imperative that we become involved because the residents of this neighborhood will feel their impact directly... The goal of this survey is to gather information regarding neighbors thoughts and ideas about how they feel about having three lanes of traffic instead of four going from Baker to Shrader streets."

But a source close to StreetsBlog claims that PRO SF and their survey are just "trying to gather information to make a case for keeping Fell and Oak as they are — with four traffic lanes and two parking lanes."

On this subject, the parody account Bob Gunderson, who portrays an anti-cycling curmudgeon in the same way Stephen Colbert embodied a staunch conservative on his show The Colbert Report, couldn't help but weigh in.

An immediate change to the cycling infrastructure around the busy panhandle may not be necessary, but it won't be long before it's imperative, claims Melyssa Mendoza, a Bicycle Advisory Committee representative for District Five. "San Francisco’s population is growing more rapidly than our infrastructure and cycling is increasing rapidly as a method of transportation, according to the SFMTA," she wrote to StreetsBlog. "The mixed use path is adequate, for now, for commuters, pedestrians and more leisurely cyclists, but the path is getting more crowded as the population grows."

Related: Report: Cycling Up Across San Francisco

On Sunday evening at around 6 p.m. in the Panhandle, a huge cypress tree branch came crashing down onto the bike path that runs along Fell Street. Fortunately, there are no reports of any injuries, but be careful — I personally didn't see it at first and almost went flying off my bike. Pokemon Go enthusiasts will want to be doubly careful, of course. The branch remains there blocking traffic on the path in both directions and has been cordoned off.

Guerrilla Garden Booted From DMV, Moved To Oak Street https://t.co/xw0dPH1xOQ by @LightExposures pic.twitter.com/aKjOCCQVUW

— Hoodline (@HoodlineSF) July 7, 2016

Calling to mind those Guerrilla Grafters, a self-styled "guerilla gardener" named Brian Poppyseed has been planting succulents and wildflowers all along a block of Oak Street in various patches of dirt beside the sidewalk, and a couple of weeks ago he started the largest of his pocket gardens, a triangle of land on DMV property at the corner of Oak and Baker, bordering the DMV parking lot, as Hoodline reported. Now, predictably, somebody at the DMV decided this was against policy, or something, and Hoodline just got word from Poppyseed that his plants, including a pretty patch of California wildflowers, would have to be removed.

It of course makes little sense that this former patch of bare mulch should be de-prettified, but Poppyseed does include junk objects in his creations, in this case a large piece of decorative steel, perhaps from the top of a gate, and some painted bike gears.

Poppyseed says he's lived at the corner of Oak and Broderick for 27 years, and he tells the site, "I now have 'guerilla gardened' nearly the whole block of Oak between Baker and Broderick."

You can go and see his creations, which include a new sculpture made out of scavenged bike gears and small toy figurines to please passing children.

Hopefully none of his other guerrilla gardens will be deemed "illegal."

Related: Deranged Maniacs With Green Thumbs Actively Adding Random Fruit Tree Branches To Trees Near You

In #SF right now a major fire on Fulton between Baker and Lyon pic.twitter.com/SBp4YziJaD

— Chris Golden (@chrisgolden) February 14, 2016

Sixteen people have been displaced and a young boy injured following a three-alarm fire on Fulton Street between Baker and Lyon Streets Saturday evening.

The San Francisco Fire Department alerted followers to the fire via Twitter at 8:22 p.m. Saturday. The blaze, which encompassed buildings at 1565 Fulton Street and 1571 Fulton Street, was raised to three alarms by 8:59 p.m.. It was contained at 9:27.

The only injury, according to SFFD, was an 11-year-old boy whose foot was cut during the incident.

Hoodline reports that the building at 1571 Fulton "is the 'Sunshine Castle,' a communal living space that's the unofficial headquarters of the Wigg Party."

Nick Brown, a Sunshine Castle resident, says that the fire started on the first floor of a structure at 1563-1567 Fulton Street, then spread to the neighboring building.

The fire was smoky enough that area residents were urged to "close windows and turn on fans" to avoid inhaling the fumes.

Though initial reports stated that the fire included a Baker Street address, and that 50 people had been displaced in the fire, the SFFD tweeted updates revising the location at 10:03 and reducing the number displaced to 16 as of at 10:52 p.m.

According to the SFFD, the Red Cross had been dispatched to assist the displaced residents. As of publication time, the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Coyotes are taking over San Francisco, you guys. Though coyote sightings in the city are not new, they seem to be getting a lot more common this past year, suggesting that our local coyotes are both bolder and hungrier than they used to be — and there are probably more of them, though that's not confirmed. As Hoodline reports, via some postings on Nextdoor, there have been multiple coyote sightings around Corona Heights Park and the Panhandle, and dog owners especially are being told to be careful and keep their dogs leashed.

In one case just this past Sunday, a dog owner reported running face to face into a coyote along a trail in Corona Heights Park with her off-leash dog, at which point she "zapped into protection mode and made myself very large and waved my arms and screamed and barked like a maniac" to scare the coyote off. This worked, however she still nearly lost her dog who instinctively started running after it. Luckily, she was able to catch him/her and get the leash back on.

This follows on a coyote sighting in tony Pacific Heights last week, marking the first known case of upwardly mobile coyotes moving beyond the ghettos of our city parks.

Back in 2014, Chronicle nature writer Tom Stienstra estimated that SF's coyote population was about 100 strong. At the time, warning signs had recently gone up around the Presidio golf course because of a new den, or dens, of coyotes spotted in the vicinity, as KRON 4 reported.

But then, as now, Animal Care and Control assures us that coyotes don't really want anything to do with humans, and it's just your dogs, especially small ones, that you should worry about if they're running around off-leash — something, I hope, that dog walkers in Stern Grove have learned by now, after two small dogs have been mauled by coyotes there in recent months, one of them fatally.

Carol Singleton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, has been saying as of last summer that coyotes were roaming more into residential areas in search of food and water (in the drought), but now that we've had plenty of rain, water would not seem to be so scarce.

Pupping season, when coyotes tend to be the most aggressive in protecting their dens, is from April to August, so the coyote activity we're seeing now may simply be a result of lack of resources. They prey they're looking for: rabbits, raccoons, rodents, small pets, and ducks.

Coyote activity, also, tends to be concentrated in the evening and early morning.

Below, a video of a coyote yelping/howling one morning in 2012 in Glen Park.

Previously: Coyote Attacks Another Small Dog In Stern Grove, Big Dog Saves It 'Like Rin Tin Tin'

Two pedestrians were struck and injured by a driver as they crossed a dangerous Panhandle intersection against a red light.

According to Bay City News, two men were running across the intersection of Oak Street and Masonic Avenue at 7:15 Wednesday evening when they were struck by the driver of a silver Toyota Prius.

The Prius was traveling southbound on Masonic (that's towards Haight Street) and the pedestrians were headed westbound (that's towards the ocean) on Oak, Hoodline reports.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the runners, both described as men in their 30s, were crossing the street against a red light when they were struck.

The collision left one of the men with a life-threatening head injury, for which he was transported to San Francisco General Hospital. An update on his condition was not available at publication time.

The second man "suffered an abrasion and complained of pain," and was also transported to SF General. His injuries are not considered life-threatening.

Esparza says that the Prius driver was not arrested or cited, and that the crash remains under investigation.

Hoodline notes that another runner who also allegedly crossed against the light at that same intersection was struck and seriously injured in April, inspiring comments and requests for a change to the design of that intersection. It's unclear, however, what design changes can be made to protect pedestrians, cyclists, or even drivers when one of the parties fails to follow the commonly-accepted rules of the road.

A Panhandle pup is in the doghouse this morning after it took a bite out of an infant Wednesday, but before you freak out and close the tab, don't worry: the baby should be OK.

San Francisco Police spokesperson officer Albie Esparza says that police were told that the dog, described as "a mastiff mix," bit an eight-month-old boy "in the face or head" at 8:02 a.m. Wednesday while both were inside a residence on the 800 block of Masonic Avenue.

According to Esparza, the baby was taken to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital to be treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

As is standard procedure following a dog attack, the mastiff in question will be quarantined for the next 10 days, Esparza says.

SFPD's department’s vicious and dangerous dog unit and San Francisco Animal Care and Control were notified of the incident and will be investigating, Esparza says. Child Protective Services will also be performing an investigation of the circumstances that led up to the attack.

Related: Richmond Cop Shoots Police Department Dog After Shocking Canine Attack

A homeless man who said he was beaten by police after a July, 2014 altercation in the Panhandle is back in custody today, this time for allegedly knocking a cop unconscious as he assembled a shotgun on a Lower Pacific Heights street corner.

23-year-old Joshua Boling was allegedly putting a shotgun together while standing on the sidewalk at the corner of Bush and Octavia Streets at 10:30 Sunday evening.

When a San Francisco Police Department officer approached the gun-assembling Boling, Boling grabbed the officer by the waist and slammed his head into a nearby wall, knocking him unconscious, SFPD spokesperson Officer Grace Gatpandan says.

As additional police officers "swarmed" the scene, Boling allegedly punched another officer in the face. Eventually, police were able to subdue Boling and to take him into custody, Gatpandan says.

The officer who was hit in the face suffered minor injuries but didn't require treatment, Gatpandan says. The officer who was knocked unconscious was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was treated for a concussion before being released.

This isn't Boling's first brush with SFPD: last October, the San Francisco Public Defender's office issued a press release (I've uploaded it for you to read here) announcing Boling's acquittal after a July, 2014 altercation with police officers.

In that incident, Boling had been accused of "eight felonies—two counts of assault on an officer, one count of brandishing a knife on an officer, and five counts of resisting arrest."

From the PD's release:

San Francisco Police Department bicycle officers were on routine patrol in the Panhandle area of Golden Gate Park on July 11 when they spotted a familiar homeless woman sitting alongside Boling and a broken bike. The officers engaged the woman, who they knew by name, and asked her how she was doing. Boling, meanwhile, got up and walked away. One of the officers followed Boling, telling him to stop so they could talk. Boling then ran into traffic on Fell Street.

The two officers pedaled across Fell Street and approached Boling on the sidewalk, where he had stopped. Officer James Tacchini drew his baton and commanded Boling to get on the ground. Claiming Boling took a “fighting stance” and believing he drew a folded pocket knife from his pocket, Tacchini then hit Boling in the knee, causing Boling to stagger. Boling then ran back into traffic on Fell Street and cut through the Department of Motor Vehicle parking lot toward Oak Street. By this time, six to 10 officers were in pursuit.

Officers tackled Boling on Oak Street near Divisadero Street, where Sgt. Joan Cronin testified that she put Boling in a carotid chokehold when he tried to stand back up. Tacchini testified that he punched Boling six times in the face with a closed fist and kicked him in the shoulder.

During the court case, "a use of force expert brought by the prosecution testified that in involuntary psychiatric hold would have been preferable to an arrest," the PD's office said.

After "less than a day" of deliberation, a jury moved to acquit Boling of all charges. He was released from jail on Monday, October 27.

On Sunday, Boling was back in San Francisco County Jail, this time on suspicion of resisting officers causing serious injury, two counts of battery on a police officer and resisting arrest, Gatpandan says. A call to the District Attorney's office to determine when Boling would return to court was not returned at publication time.

"Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies," wrote Honoré de Balzac who was probably thinking of the San Francisco DMV on Fell Street. And yet an optimistic new project asks if there might be a way to improve the experience at this most unfortunate of destinations with a "DMV Concierge."

The experiment is part of the Pandhandle's new NOW! festival, a series of events currently in full swing to "co-create the best possible version of our community for one extraordinary week." Everything from free yoga to volunteer 4/20 clean up has been a part of the schedule, and, at last, someone is taking aim at the looming evil seated at the Panhandle's eastern tip.

"The DMV is usually the worst place in the entire city," writes the DMV Concierge, "But on Friday the 24th, it will be made to be a little bit more tolerable." Yes, it's just for a chunk of the afternoon, and, "It will probably still be a factory of sadness inside." Still, for a bright hour, expect free flowers, chocolate, and "perhaps some wine and other goodies!" to get you through your fool's errand.

You might recall the NOW! festival from news of the "Wiggle Referee" stunt. That equally futile effort to get area bicyclists to cooperate and even use hand signals is happening tomorrow.

Previously: Busy Wiggle Intersection To Get A Self-Appointed 'Referee' Next Week

In at least six separate instances this fall, cyclists making their way through the Panhandle at night were attacked by men who knocked them off their bikes, then stole those bikes and rode off on them. Now a significant arrest has finally been made in the case.

As we reported then, suspects were described after an outcry from cyclist victims as Hispanic males between 18 and 22. The police had chased down several of them, and some bikes appeared on Craiglsist or were otherwise recovered. Weapons of choice included empty bottles and sticks, and in several cases attackers struck cyclists on the head as they were moving.

The Panhandle bike path is usually quiet and peaceful. It's a refuge from a busy section of Fell Street. However, it's poorly lit and lined with trees for potential attackers to hide behind.

Now, says the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, one suspect is in custody and has named some accomplices.

We are relieved to share the San Francisco Police Department’s update on the investigation into the alarming reports of people being attacked while biking on the Panhandle in September and October. The police have arrested one suspect who is making his way through the legal process and identified several others from the group, who are aware of the investigation.

“We do believe that a group was working together, so we do believe that there are other suspects that need to be brought to justice. We are working on that at this point,” officer Gordon Shyy told CBS SF. “Thankfully we have not heard of anymore incidents and that is very encouraging. We definitely talk to folks who ride to the Panhandle regularly and people are feeling comfortable and safe,” said Shyy.

If you are involved in any similar incident, the Bike Coalition has the following advice.

How to Take Action on Future Issues: If you encounter any suspicious or dangerous behavior on the Panhandle, please report it. For emergencies, get to a safe place and call 911. For tips or to report suspicious behavior, call the SFPD Park Station at 415-242-3000. Attend your SFPD Station monthly community meetings. This is a chance to meet with the Station officers directly to make sure they hear the community’s concern about safety in your neighborhood. Check your local station website for dates and locations of upcoming community meetings. Please also let us know about issues in your neighboord by tweeting to @sfbike or emailing eric@sfbike.org.

We mentioned this briefly last week, but now there's been a community meeting in which SFPD's Park Station police confirmed there had been six separate incidents of violent bike thievery in the Panhandle in the last two weeks, the most recent occurring last Friday. As Hoodline reports, three separate attacks happened, both after 1 a.m., on October 3 and 4 at the intersection of Fell and Masonic. In all three cases, male cyclists were attacked by people lurking in the park, made to crash or fall off their bikes, and had their bikes subsequently stolen.

The suspects are described as Hispanic males in the 18-22 age range, and the police said they chased and detained two suspects on Monday who were in possession of a bike, but it's unclear if these are the only suspects, or if the attacks have stopped.

In one case detailed last week, someone riding down Fell along the Panhandle had a stick shoved in their spokes, causing them to crash. In another, an empty glass liquor bottle was smashed over a cyclist's head.

Two more violent thefts occurred, with battery incidents, on Ashbury within five minutes of each other on Friday, October 10 around 10:40 p.m.

Two of the stolen bikes have gone up for sale on Craigslist, and at least one has been recovered by the police. But cyclists in this neighborhood are being told to be extremely vigilant and to look out for any suspicious behavior.

During a Bay to Breakers party at 2040 Fell Street, a man suffered life-threatening injuries after falling from a roof on Sunday afternoon. He fell four stories from the top of the Panhandle-adjacent building.

According to KRON 4 Morning News, the man tumbled while leaning over the roof. (Fell Street runs along the Bay to Breakers route.) The incident happened at around 3:15 p.m. He was rushed to San Francisco General where he later died.

The identity of the victim has yet to be released.

In addition to one fatality, police pinched 21 people for public intoxication, "one for possession of a firearm and one felony arrest for robbery during the race and event. " A reported 16 sots were taken to sobriety centers to recover from the revelry.

Update: The Chron reports that the victim has been identified as 28-year-old David Hamzeh, an employee at the online marketing company DemandForce, according to a company spokesperson. It sounds like many people witnessed his from the sidewalk and from neighboring buildings, and it was pretty gruesome and traumatic. The party was allegedly not very rowdy, but at 3:30 p.m. it's likely Hamzeh had been drinking most of the day. [Chron]

[KRON 4]
[CBS SF]