After a water main broke early Sunday morning near Van Ness, leaving three apartment buildings between Vallejo Street and Pacific Avenue without H2O for the day, three northbound lanes of San Francisco's main artery were closed down. This morning, however, at 8 a.m., Van Ness reopened. With many of the water lines in the area being "nearly 100 years old," an 8-inch pipe snapped due to years of wear and tear. The rupture, CBS 5 / BCN goes on to report, "the rupture caused the pavement on Van Ness Avenue to bulge and crack due to water pressure below the surface of the roadway." more ›

Why, here's a shot from this afternoon's PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) protest against McDonald's, over on the 600 block of Van Ness. Not nearly as erotic as we had anticipated, but effective. Yes? No? more ›

When asked what newspapers and magazines she reads, Sarah Palin replied, "all of them." All of them! And so, a meme is born. -- mattymatt, "Sarah Palin Engages in Perverse Journalistic Orgy of Excess"

How could we forget such a vapid, transparently-evasive comment?

We can't. We shan't. So let's go. more ›

Can you believe Flashdance is turning 15? Not in years, but in incarnations. The fifteenth in the irregular series of dancing flash mobs happens tonight at 7:30. Where, you ask? In the seat of power! Or at least, right outside the seat's window, on Van Ness by City Hall. more ›

Oh my God, we might all blow to bits. Well, some of you in the Mission might, that is. According to Curbed: more ›

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At first, before reading this story, we were ready to shake our finger at the Vespa rider in question. Lord knows we worry about you kids. But it seems she wasn't at fault. You see, last night a 24-year-old San Francisco woman was put in the hospital with life-threatening injuries while riding a Vespa on South Van Ness Avenue. It seems that "a 1994 Honda Accord, which was traveling southbound, tried to make a left turn onto 21st Street and struck the Vespa...The Accord then struck two other cars on 21st Street, Mannina said. One of those cars was pushed backward into a fifth car," according to CBS 5. more ›

Remember Vawanda? The Muni bus driver whose bravery many of you refused to believe in? Well, as fate would have it, local treasure Jameth, who uses her ad image as an avatar, finally found her! Driving the 47-Van Ness with aplomb and nerves of steel, she even has her testimonial poster next her. Nothing short of adorable, folks. more ›

While Oakland received tons of press over the weekend for its recent spate of murder, this Mission murder, which happened near 25th and South Van Ness (be careful, Phone Booth patrons!), went all but unnoticed. Around 6:45 p.m. last Friday, two men approached 21-year-old Jose Reynoso and shot him in the head and chest. He was taken to SF General Hospital where he died the following day. more ›

We had a little San Francisco Polyphony of our own on our way to the SF Symphony concert yesterday night to see Gyorgy Ligeti's shimmerily-dissonant orchestral piece of the same name -- the driver of our MUNI bus finally got fed up with people sneaking in through the back door, stopped the bus smack dab on Mission Street, and announced that the cops were coming to bust all the fare jumpers when we got to Van Ness. Alas, we got to Davies Symphony Hall before we could see if he'd made good on the threat. more ›

It's time again for another Love on Wheels event more ›

Attention criminals: as of this week, your swashbuckling days of villainy and misbegotten Muni rides have become easy and breezy. Muni has "decriminalized" citations, which means that you won't have to go to court to deal with them. Now, you can contest or pay them through the Customer Service Center at 11 South Van Ness, just like parking tickets. You can also deal with citations via phone, or mail; and allegedly you can pay them via Internet, although we searched the CityServices site and couldn't find it, nor could we find any mention of it on Muni's site. The program starts Feb 4, so the links might just not be up yet. more ›

Those Ron Paul People are Everywhere more ›

-- On Saturday Friday at around 10:40 p.m., Jan. 26, 24-year-old Ernesto Williams was shot and killed while standing outside his car at the Chevron station at Sixth and Harrison streets. While waiting with his 26-year-old girlfriend, police claim a suspect drove up to the couple, exited his vehicle, and then "approached the victims and started shooting," killing the Oakland man and wounding his female companion. The suspect then "returned to the vehicle and fled the area," driving off in a "drove off in a gold-colored car." Cops have neither suspects nor description of the assailant(s). more ›

It's the new year so it's a new Ask a Muni Security Guy question. This one was inspired by seeing some lady eat chinese food on BART while also reading a magazine.... How do you handle food on MUNI? Technically it's not allowed but everyone kind of does it. more ›

Pollan is ready to serve at 8 p.m. at the Herbst Theatre; 401 Van Ness; $17-19. SOLD OUT

If you took Coolidge Corner and moved it to San Francisco, you'd wind up with something very much like West Portal, a nicely-kept secret neighborhood with folksy shops and restaurants and a theater, about a 10-minute subway ride from the Castro. And get this: it's about to get even nicer, thanks to some sprucing-up by Muni. more ›

A city worker ignores city policy more ›

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. more ›

Alas. more ›

Every year at Thanksgiving, you're bound to forget one or two critical items. A shallot, cooking twine, mushrooms, Ketel One -- something will slip your mind and you run the risk of having your Thanksgiving dinner collapse in on itself. And then you've ruined everything. Everything! But who can we prevent such yellow wallpapered hysteria? This is where you come in: do you know of any grocery stores that stay open late on Thanksgiving... more ›

This lifted our sad, oil soaked hearts. The Craft Gym will be hosting their 2nd annual Craft-Off competition this Friday. Following the model of Iron Chef, there will be a secret 'ingredient' revealed to teams before the 30-minute DIY battle begins. A random assortment of craft supplies and tools will be available for teams to use in the creation of their creative masterpieces. Prizes will be awarded to the winning team, who will be... more ›

As much as we bitched today about the unexpected free-shuttle service on Halloween night, they're actually a nice thing for the city of San Francisco to have. The problem is: where have they been? As mattymatt's weekend guides demonstrate, the city has disruptions like (though not as large, but similar to) the one coming on Halloween night. Why can't we see more of these shuttles for every large to medium-large city event? And while... more ›

There's a money room in the basement of 1 South Van Ness, where the Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, is headquartered. Workers literally count by hand bags of cash and coins taken in as fares from passengers throughout the day. After we finished bashing our heads against the windows and swearing, we read on:

When Muni recently needed to pull some of those unionized bean counters away from the money room to staff kiosks around the city where transit passes are sold, its managers hoped to replace them with workers from a private contracting outfit.

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-- San Mateo Bridge shuts down, then opens. Ta-da. [Examiner] more ›

Do you have any information? A Fremont family is trying to get some answers about the circumstances of their father's mysterious death. The father suffered a heart attack at Van Ness and Market on June 5, and died five days later without ever regaining consciousness. The mystery is that they cannot find the car their father drove into the city that day. They have a garage parking ticket they found in his pocket, but it doesn't have a location printed on it. They've searched all the garages they can find, and the city towing lot, but to no avail. So, if by any chance you remember seeing a blue 94 Honda Accord in a garage somewhere, with a UC Berkeley alumni plate holder, they'd love to hear from you. Plate number's 3HJS376. more ›

-- Benefit Show Honoring Erno "Tattoo" Szabady: Local rock bands Slowfinger, DickDusters, and the Walker Brothers get together to raise money for a burial "niche" for well-known, recently deceased tattoo artist, Szabady. Show starts at 8 p.m. at Peacock Lounge, 552 Haight Street (at Fillmore); $10-$15. more ›

-- Giants vs. Brewers: Shouldn't beer be half-priced when we play Milwaukee? Alas. Game starts at 7:15 p.m., AT&T Park, King and Third Streets; $20-$98. more ›