Barack's new SF HQ opens...

Catching up with Tesla Motors...

Mayor Gavin Newsom says that one of his "top priorities is to ensure that every San Franciscan has a safe and happy New Year. Riding Muni is a smart and green way to ring in the new year." (Thanks, Gavin!) And with a firm flick of his wrist, this New Year's Eve, starting at 8 p.m., Muni will be free all night, which is about what it's worth. The free rides come to a......

Have a rant against Muni? This week, our Muni Driver rants too, all in a response to a comment from last week. And remember, folks, if you got a question, send them to jon@sfist.com. We may not get to your question automatically, but we'll get to them as soon as we can. ...

This week we want to focus on the local music scene even though it seems that Portland natives' Blitzen Trapper and Stephen Malkmus have captured San Franciscan's hearts - Wednesday's show is sold out. (There aren't even any tickets available on Craigslist!) Friday night you'll want to head over to Slim's to catch six bands: Perfect Machines, Fyre Away, High Like Five, the Paper Sons, Punch Face and Bob Hill Band. We're most excited about......

Starting out this week, Peck the Town Crier is celebrating his sophomore CD, Groundhog's Day by performing at Pier 23. You can hang out with this San Franciscan native from 7:30-10:30 for absolutely nothing - it's free. "Recorded at the famed Hyde St Studios in San Francisco, Groundhog’s Day blends Peck’s unique story-raps and verbiage with hand played instrumental arrangements that pull from the gambit of [great] American music..." It's a bit weird, a bit......

Anyway, the real story here is that it's an uninteresting race, but that that shouldn't matter. With Gavin Newsom running unopposed in the minds of many a San Franciscan, the city sheriff having no serious challengers, and the district attorney running unopposed, we can see why. And according to Alex Clemens in today's Examiner (AP), "[w[]"ithout a good fight at hand, a lot of people are worried that many San Franciscans will opt out of the process and just go to work instead." (That what they want you to believe, man! Wheels within wheels.)...

How to stop the some of the ads appearing in your mailbox...

Due to yesterday's Day Around the Bay, SFist received the following, like, totally awesome request today. It touches on an issue that will one day have Northern Californians and Southern Californians battling it out in a blood-soaked, brutal massacre to the end: using the article "the" before freeway numbers. I have been enjoying SFist. Thanks for the neat articles, links, etc. As a native San Franciscan, one of the things that I would like......

Since we barely digest our own food, much less eat in public for fear people might find us shoveling heaps of it into our mouths, maybe you, dear readers, can help this rookie San Franciscan find a place to take the parents out? He or she is looking for a tasty, semi-semi-formal, non-Stinking Rose-y, yet inexpensive Italian place, and we can't seem to be of any help. What about you? -----Original Message----- On 8/10/07,......

Since dogs on Muni has been such a topic of heated conversation lately, we asked our Muni Driver for his thoughts....

You know how sometimes we point out when an out-of-town publication takes an outside-in look at our fair city? We've pointed to such pieces in the L.A. Times and the Economist even recently. Well, our lovely sister site, LAist, did much the same, criticizing San Francisco Chronicle Food Maestro Michael Bauer's recent take on the L.A. Food scene. ...

Today we explore when and why Muni Drivers leave people in the lurch at bus stops. ...

Our beloved Muni Driver has been sick for the past few weeks so we haven't been able to do our little feature. Well, he's back this week with an answer given to us by a reader. Question: "Why do bus drivers pass up stops and what goes into the decision-making process?" ...

In today's installment, our new Muni Driver gives us his views on how to improve Muni. We'll get things started right away but first, a reminder. If you got any questions you'd like asked, send them to editor@sfist.com. ...

Please allow us to let our geek flag fly for a few moments. If you've never read a comic book, never participated in a pen-and-paper role playing game, or if you don't know who any of Robert Asprin, George R.R. Martin, Wendi & Richard Pini, or Glen Cook are, maybe just skip to the next entry. But if any of the above apply to you, please read on. We've recently encountered the most wonderful comic book anthology -- it's called "Elfworld." ...

--Does architecture critic John King ever like anything? --Sad! The San Franciscan speller in the National Bee got the dreaded misspelling bell of death this afternoon in the quarter finals, on the word "ursigram." --Giuliani's in town. Lock up your wives, cousins, and ferrets. Good thing Chron political writer Carla Marinucci loves him. --They reconvicted medicinal pot grower Ed Rosenthal, but he doesn't get any jail time. --BART may run more frequently, if they......

Yes, folks, we here at SFist are proud to announce that "Ask a Muni Driver" has returned and will run every Monday for as long as we have our new Muni Driver around to answer all your Muni related questions. And, hell, maybe even a few others-- he could be great at all of your relationship questions too. So let's start in with today's question, about our new drivers' thoughts on what's good and what's bad about Muni. ...

Coverage of the safety march in the Tenderloin. ...

Jonathan Richman is the most adorable San Franciscan ever -- he sings! he dances! he votes Green! Look at that sweet face! WE LOVE YOU JONATHAN RICHMAN!!!! So -- how lucky are you, valued readers?? SFist has two tickets to give away to one lucky winner, for a screening of The Phantom Carriage, a spooky silent movie showing at the Castro for the SF Int'l Film Festival -- with none other than Mr. J. Richman......

The Chron ran an article on Sunday that we really, really wanted to write some commentary on after reading it. "Food bloggers dish up plates of spicy criticism"; subhead "Formerly formal discipline of reviewing becomes a free-for-all for online amateurs." We really wanted to say something because, well, we think it's a huge load of crap, and somebody, aside from one of the injured parties, has to call bullsh**. For crying out loud, they upset our beloved Tablehopper. They took her quote out of context. How dare you, sirs. How dare you?...

(Thanks for the tip, GavinWatch! We can't wait for your launch party tomorrow.) The always vigilant GW tipped us off to a heroic, anonymous San Franciscan who puts a question to Gavin about NextMuni. It's obvious that the mayor's knowledge of the system is gathered exclusively from press releases, rather than actual contact with the computer machine; but still, it's nice to hear him acknowledge that it exists and works great and always has. What's......

We've seen some hideous examples of what can happen when a product attempts to combine several things into one. We've also seen some pretty good examples. Well, now there's a pretty stellar one: Mateveza Yerba Maté Ale, a pale ale enhanced by maté, a South American tea that is known for its health and energy benefits. ...

Leslie Harpold has died. A writer, designer, editor, and web pioneer of prodigious skill, she was 40. Her passing is being felt throughout the internet community....

As we've said before, we're ensconced on the East Coast visiting family as like everyone else, we're not from here. It's always kind of entertaining going back east because as a San Franciscan, we somehow take the role as the representative from the (Non War ravaged) Baghdad by the Bay. It's like we're ambassadors. Or avatars. We are, for all intents in purposes, San Francisco. ...

This week Newsweek hops on the "San Francisco Values" bandwagon with a story on Pelosi and what they refer to as San Francisco's "Loony Left." The story makes it seem like we're Nancy's redheaded stepchild. Oh wait, we're probably going to get a comment about saying something bad against redheads and stepchildren so we'll say crazy aunt instead. Oh now we'll get comments about discriminating against aunts and crazy people and, well, forget we even mentioned it. ...

We're assuming that SFist's token native San Franciscan, SFist Rain, will be at the San Francisco Native Jamboree tonight at The Patio Español (2850 Alemany Boulevard) from 5:45 pm to 11 pm. "A fabulous party bringing together native San Franciscans who share the common bond of being born or raised in the most beautiful city in the world," we're perversely hoping that SFist Commenter Kevin will hit the celebration just to shake s**t up. Tickets......

What better way to celebrate Independence Day than with new plays that unapologetically explore the state of the nation?...

If you think the Ma v. Ja race is content-free, you should try the State Senate District 8 race between Leland Yee and Mike Nevin. Yawn, unless you like trying to figure out the byzantine nature of state politics personal relationships. (i.e., why didn't Gavin Newsom endorse San Franciscan Yee over San Mateo County's Nevin? Does it have something to do with the mysterious feud between Fiona and Leland?) However, it looks like Yee's got......

Glowing piece in Inc. aside, we hear that Kepler's may be in trouble again. Folks, when you can, please support your local bookstores. Sure, we all gotta Amazon sometimes, but don't forget to send some money the way of the bookstores in our community, or all we'll be left with is a bunch of Borders and Barnes and Nobles. SFist Jackson is anxiously awaiting the delivery to his local library branch of his reserved copies......