All the of drama surrounding Coit Tower, as well as June election's Prop B, are over after Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor David Chiu announced a $1.7 million fund to repair Coit Tower and, more importantly, renovate the tower's historic murals. "I have directed the Recreation and Park Department and the Arts Commission to work with the Board of Supervisors to find ways to restore historic Coit Tower," said Mayor Lee. "Together, we are building the momentum to further protect a treasured San Francisco landmark." more ›

The slowly crumbling face of Telegraph Hill lost another chunk of rock this morning as some boulders set free by weekend rains apparently slid down the hill and crushed a parked vehicle near Lombard and Montgomery Streets. more ›

We live in an age when a news story can become the stuff of legend — and fodder for balladeers — within days. And yes, the story of the wily burglar of Telegraph Hill, who we thought had for sure screwed himself by getting stuck on a cliff and subsequently surrounded by cops, but who managed to slip away into the night just as soon as police packed up their stuff and gave up their stakeout, has already become a ballad by local musicians Taylor Brown and Brian Bergeron. And it's pretty catchy! more ›

Er, scratch that. The (alleged) robber perched on a Telegraph Hill cliff escaped at around 10 p.m. Wednesday night, soon after SFPD left the scene per the suspect's request. SFPD sent out the follow missive: "[A]t approximately 10pm, a neighbor who was aware that a burglary suspect was possibly hiding on the hillside, heard noises coming from the hillside area and observed a male sliding down the hill toward an opening in a fence. The neighbor observed the male subsequently peer through the fence and then walk out. The neighbor contacted police who responded to the area to search for the male but were unable to locate the subject." more ›

That (allegedly) thieving dude we discussed yesterday, the one who was chased until he jumped a wall and found himself on a sheer, brush-covered cliff on the eastern side of Telegraph Hill, remains stubbornly on that cliff more than 36 hours later hoping cops will just go away. Police have been reluctant to go in after him out of concern for their own safety, and because of a 2008 incident in which a thief fell to his death from a cliff at the end of nearby Alta Street while running from cops himself. more ›

A bumbling cat burglar managed to get himself trapped, and surrounded by cops, while trying to escape down a brush-covered cliff on the eastern face of Telegraph Hill last evening. The drop is about eight to ten stories, and the SFPD decided just to wait out the dude, who remained on a ledge hidden among the brush into the wee hours refusing assistance. more ›

Tis the season for muggers to return crucial pieces of identification to their victims. Take, for example, a Telegraph Hill mugging victim who has his wallet returned to him after sobbing during a mugging. SF Examiner reports, "The 29-year-old victim was robbed around 10:30 p.m. [Thursday night] as he was walking upstairs in his apartment building on Grant Avenue in Telegraph Hill. The crook, who had snuck inside, crept up behind him and demanded his stuff." more ›

We don't usually read the Op Ed pages of the Chronicle, because it's always either rehashed columnists from other papers or something like "give birth control pills to deer in Point Reyes" -- but can you believe it? The Chron actually got someone local to write about a local issue today -- if we're going to build out the MUNI underground, why not actually build it out and have a subway that runs to Fisherman's Wharf? more ›

No, you didn't dream it! There was a 4.2 temblor this morning at around 4:42 a.m., centered two miles east of Oakland on the dreaded Hayward Fault. It knocked out power in Oakland (poor PG&E, it's been a busy week), and broke the windows of the Safeway on Shattuck and Rose in Berkeley, and at a doughnut shop on College and Ashby (but with no interruption in donut service, they added) -- but in SF, we didn't notice anything other than some shaking, and in San Jose, they didn't feel anything at all. more ›

You know you’re dealing with an isolated stretch of Montgomery St. when a driver can’t reach it without first leaving Montgomery St. And in an addressing quirk that must drive new workers at the North Beach post office bonkers, the northernmost apartment building on this block is actually 303 Greenwich, even though Greenwich as a cross street doesn’t exist here. After all, the only cross traffic up here on the precipitous eastern slope of Telegraph Hill is on foot. Stunning bay views, folial grandiosity, and hill-hugging construction schemes dominate this block of Montgomery, bookended by the famed Filbert and Greenwich steps. The street itself is a bi-level roadway divided by a tall center wall lined with numerous pine trees, not dissimilar to Lawton St. in Golden Gate Heights, or Arlington Ave. in the Berkeley Hills. It’s designed for neither speed nor mass amounts of auto traffic. Aesthetically, however, it’s nearly unbeatable. more ›

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Everyone loves the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, right? This poor little girl doesn't. And actually, we don't blame her. This video looks like something right out of The Birds
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-Everyone in Hayward mourns the shooting of two four year old cousins. more ›

-San Francisco is only the 41st most expensive city in the world. -The Parrots of Telegraph Hill get their tree back, still pine for the fjord. more ›

-There was a protest in the Mission over the the latest bit of immigration raids. -Flaks o' Gavin on gay porn proclamation: we did what? Oopsie. more ›

We always thought Chinatown would be a great place to do a Treasure Hunt as we're pretty sure you could find anything there-- artwork, toys, opium, you name it. Well, there is an official Chinatown Treasure Hunt, the 17th annual Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt, and we just happen to be holding a contest to giveaway tickets to take part. more ›

For most of the day it looked like a total Cinderella story for unknown Jason Donald, but when the very last rider of the 2007 Tour of California (TOC) prologue crossed the finish line Sunday, it was Levi Leipheimer who had tears in his eyes.

A Credit Agricole rider suffers his way up the last 300 meters to the finish line atop Telegraph Hill. Photo from SF_Chris.

Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the national anthem, Jean-Marc Marino of team Credit Agricole rolled down the starting chute at 1:00 p.m. sharp and the prologue was on. In a time trial like Sunday's prologue, riders race alone and against the clock rather than against each other en masse. Following Marino, 144 more riders attacked the course at one-minute intervals for the next two hours.

Clip in sports fans, between the weather and the Amgen Tour of California (TOC), it's going to be a great weekend for cycling in the Bay Area.

Whether you're tackling Mt.Tam on your Saturday morning club ride or comparing yourselves to the pros with a summit of Stage 3's infamous Sierra Hill climb, pack the sunscreen today and leave the rain shell behind.

On Sunday at 1:00 p.m., the TOC starts with the prologue, a 3.0 kilometer time trial from the Ferry building to Coit Tower.

Housing maybe the hardest thing to find in the city but there's one group who won't have to worry about finding housing-- the Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Thanks to proposed legislation, they might not have to fly the coop or whatever it is you call it. more ›

That's right Cutters, the Italians are coming, along with the French, the Spaniards, the Americans, the Germans, the Dutch-- yeah, even the Dutch. They're all going to be in the City this weekend to compete in this year's Amgen Tour of California.

We're talking the real deal. This isn't some club-level Saturday morning crit for free tubes at the local bike shop (no offense), this it the best road cyclists in the world, competing for top-tier elite international cycling teams like Discovery Channel, CSC, T-Mobile, Rabobank, and more, in serious competition.

Quick -- which one of those pictures above is of Valencia Street in SF and which is of Williamsburg in Brooklyn? more ›

Two stories from last week are still being stories this week, so we thought we'd update everyone on what the latest has been. First up, North Beach, where yet another big, fun festival has had the fun taken out of it. This time it's the North Beach Jazz Festival which also got it's liquor license revoked by the Parks & Rec Department. That means no booze will be allowed. Once again, it's at the bequest of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers and their Errand Boy, Aaron Peskin who are upset about the possibility of the peasants running around all drunk and ruining their jazz music & wine drinking. The vote had the usual not-quite-on-the-up-and-up shenanigans and suspicions that Peskin is sticking it to Marsha Garland of the North Beach Chamber of Commerce again. Organizers of the Jazz Fesitval are claiming that they'll have to close up shop because most of their money comes from booze sales. more ›

With the sun finally appearing, it's time to think about our favorite springtime city activities. Like street fairs. Our favorite street fair? The North Beach Festival. Nothing we love more than hanging out in Washington Square Park, downing some brews, then drunkenly stumbling into the maelstrom for more food, booze, and White Boy Blues. Man, what fun. Oh wait, there's going to be no booze allowed this year? Nevermind. more ›

SFist Sam had a sandwich by our famous Golden Gate Bridge as she closes off the 23rd letter of her ongoing dine-around-the-alphabet series, while SFist Ced also stops by the Ws with a trip to Winterland. In SFist Family news, let's all raise our grande-sized paper latte cups wrapped in little cardboard sleeves in honor of SFist Jeremy and his new son! (And then let's run in fear from SFist Jeremy's wrath that we're going to a coffee place where they call medium-sized drinks "grandes"!) That makes two SFist babies in one month! Moving from babies to pets -- SFist Franny's going to do her doggie best to power San Francisco, and .... would you look at that adorable fat cat? The Tour of California huffs and puffs its way up Telegraph Hill, while down the street in North Beach, Mayor Gavin Newsom huffs and puffs his way through two dates over a whirlwind weekend. Barry Bonds'll be huffing and puffing his way through training camp -- that is, until he drops out again. And we move ever closer to getting citywide wireless internet access, which'll make it that much easier to steal elections in the future. Picture by SFist Sam more ›

For 127 of the best road cyclists in the world, it was five minutes of pain. For Americans Levi Leipheimer, Bobby Julich, George Hincapie, and Floyd Landis, it was a little less. For the American cycling peloton, veteran cycling announcer Paul Sherwen called it the Holy Grail they've been seeking. For the spectators, it was an instant classic. more ›

It's not exactly the Tour, but this weekend the Bay Area plays host to the opening stages of the 2006 Tour of California. This eight-day, 600-mile, multi-stage road race brings the excitement of international professional cycling back to the Bay Area. more ›

Even the rich aren't immune from the laws of gravity -- the folks living in those multimillion dollar homes perched precariously on the edge of Telegraph Hill are all a little on edge themselves with the news of rockslides down the hill. The less-well-off who live at the bottom of the hill are probably not very happy either, but no one seems to be interviewing them. Aaron Peskin raced to the defense of his district, and can probably be seen doing many, many interviews (click on video) on your local news tonight. San Francisco officials have called for the folks at the top of the hill to hire private geologists to evaluate the stability of their homes -- but no one actually had to evacuate because it turns out that of the two houses on that part of the hill, one is unoccupied and the folks in the other are on vacation. Everyone's thinking that the slide is probably due to all that rain we've been getting, but recent construction in the area may have contributed to the general rock instability as well. Fatalistic engineers note that Telegraph Hill, like all of the city, is just going to ultimately fall into the ocean anyways (in like five billion geologic years, we hope!) And oh hey, Standing Room, you'll like this -- the only thing that got hit by the falling rock? A Cushman. Picture from KRON 4 more ›

You know, with all this Bill O'Reilly brouhaha, we totally realized that, as stalwart San Francisco residents, we'd never actually been to Coit Tower. In fact, we only know it as the leftmost icon in the SFist logo. Gotta go before it's gone! Like Daly said, Coit Tower was built on land donated to the city by Lillian Coit to commemorate SF firefighters (with whom she was a little obsessed). The Tower opened in 1933, and our government, flirting with socialism, decided to pay artists to paint public works of art in it. And now Bill O'Reilly wants it destroyed! Parking is always a nightmare on Telegraph Hill Road, so either schlep up on foot or take the #39 bus. The 39 only goes from Fisherman's Wharf to Coit Tower -- and it only runs every 20 minutes, but hey -- you paid for that FastPass, it's free to you! The Tower's open from 10 to 5; it's free to view the WPA murals on the first floor. It's $3 to take the elevator to the top, and you can only see the murals on the 2nd floor on the Sunday 11 a.m. tour. more ›

Fans of fancily feathered fowl were flummoxed a fortnight ago when they awoke to find that the flora that many of the famous parrots of telegraph hill called home was cut down. And yes, the sentence above makes no sense, but go with it. The trees were cut down early Monday morning by property owner John Cowen who said he had to cut down the tree because it was old and falling apart and needed to do so for liability reasons. Cowen's neighbor is Mark Bittner, the subject of the documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, who has been taking care of the birds since they mysteriously showed up one day and started propagating themselves. more ›

In media news, looks like Google got caught with their Craigslist-killer pants down over the weekend when their new database system was accidentally revealed to the public. Their shiny, baggy, flowing pants. Tom Foremski talks to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster about all things classified ad. more ›