It’s getting real for high-stakes APEC summit talks, as President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping both touched down in San Francisco Tuesday afternoon, and they’ll meet Wednesday at the Woodside mansion Filoli, which served as a setting on the old prime-time soap opera Dynasty.

Are you feeling the APEC excitement? Me either. But it certainly seems historic that U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping both arrived in San Francisco Tuesday afternoon, according to the Chronicle's mess o’ APEC updates news tracker. Let’s examine the dignitary arrival of each, and what’s at stake for their high-profile summit Wednesday, before we got down the pop culture rabbit hole of how they’re meeting at the mansion that served as the setting for the 1980s primetime soap opera Dynasty.

President Biden arrived at SFO at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to KPIX, and was greeted on the tarmac by Governor Gavin Newsom, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and SF Mayor London Breed. According to Axios, it is believed Biden is staying at the “White House of the West,” the Fairmont Hotel, so expect security to be off the charts in Nob Hill. Biden is scheduled to remain in town until Friday, with plenty of APEC on his plate, according to a KRON4 schedule of Biden’s San Francisco visit.

For his part, Chinese President Xi arrived at SFO around 3 p.m., and was greeted by Newsom, Siebel, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. He then motorcaded straight up to SF, and Bloomberg reports he’ll be staying at the St. Regis Hotel, outside of which you can imagine there will be protests galore, none of which are ever likely to be visible to Xi.

Biden and Xi will hold their behind-closed-doors summit early Wednesday, but it won’t be in San Francisco. Instead it will be in San Mateo County’s upscale small town of Woodside. A separate Bloomberg piece has informed speculation they will discuss and announce a joint fentanyl crackdown, and the Associated Press adds the two nations might reestablish military communication.

And they will meet in Woodside at the historic mansion Filoli, according to a scoop from Voice of America. Also known as the Bourn-Roth Estate, Filoli was built by gold-mine baron William Bowers Bourn between 1915 and 1917, and it was designed by Willis Polk — the same architect who designed several mansions in San Francisco, as well as the Hobart Building and the grand Hallidie Building on Sutter Street downtown.

As mentioned, Filoli served as an exterior shot on the old TV show Dynasty (the mansion is seen in the opening credits above at the :12 and 1:29 marks). The mansion really only appeared in the credits, and hardly any of the show was ever actually filmed there — except for the three-episode 1981 pilot, whose interior and exterior shots were largely filmed at Filoli, according to the Filoli website. Filoli also served as the setting for the 2006 CBS special Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar.

Though Filoli is trying to play it off sly, as their homepage currently reads, “Filoli is closed November 13-15 while we deck the halls for the Holidays!”

Related: Gavin Newsom Throwing Big-Bucks SF Fundraising Event for Biden During APEC [SFist]

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 14: U.S. President Joe Biden (C) talks with California Governor Gavin Newson (L) and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (R) after arriving at San Francisco International Airport ahead of the APEC summit on November 14, 2023 in San Francisco, California. The APEC summit is being held in San Francisco and runs through November 17. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Evacuation orders are in effect in parts of the incorporated small San Mateo County town of Woodside, and the sheriff’s office is not mincing words as they tell residents to “LEAVE NOW.”

Fortunately for much of the Bay Area, it’s now the calm after the storm after Tuesday night’s panoply of weather disasters brought by heavy rains and winds of nearly 80 miles per hour. But the situation is still trending in the wrong direction in the small San Mateo County town of Woodside, as KRON4 reports that mudslides are cutting off roads in Woodside, and “Highly Recommended Evacuation” orders have been in effect since Wednesday morning.

“If you live in this area, please pack your ‘Go Bag’, with necessary essentials: insurance policy, pets, medications, a change of clothes, and LEAVE NOW,” the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office tweeted at 8:10 a.m. Wednesday morning. “Once the road gives out completely, residents in that area will not have access to emergency services. Evacuation location TBD”

Notice that they did not say “if” the road gives out completely, they said “once” the road gives out completely.

The affected area is the 600-800 block of Patrol Road in Woodside, and the sheriff’s office estimates that “approximately 30 homes” are cut off, or at risk of being cut off.

KRON4’s Will Tran was on the scene in the video above where “highly recommended” evacuation orders are in effect, but SFGate reports that two homes were given “mandatory evacuation orders, as in the words of sheriff's office spokesperson Sergeant Javier Acosta, "These homes are in direct proximity to the mud.”

You may not be familiar with Woodside, and perhaps that’s how Woodside would prefer it. It’s one of the wealthiest communities in the United States, and among its homeowners are Larry Ellison, Charles Schwab, and musician Neil Young. Also, it's where Elizabeth Holmes and fiance Billy Evans have been holed up for the past year or two, in a wildly pricy rental, when they're not having to appear in court.

Related: There Were Two Storm-Related Deaths In San Francisco, At Least Two Others Elsewhere In Bay Area [SFist]

Image: @SMCSheriff via Twitter

The fur is flying in the fashionable tech billionaire quarters of Woodside, where the mansion-dwellers argue they can’t comply with a new state housing law because it’s a mountain lion habitat.

San Mateo County’s toniest district of Woodside is famed for its number of tech billionaires and investment bluebloods who choose to reside there. Steve Jobs famously tore down his historic mansion just to build another one there. Oracle’s Larry Ellison has one of his many estates there (on which he blew $200 million, and per Forbes, has ten buildings, a lake, and a koi pond). And according to Bloomberg, retired investment legend Charles Schwab lives there too. There are but 5,500 people living in Woodside, and with a median home price of $4.5 million, they are all wealthier than you.

Which is why it seems implausible that Woodside now says it cannot comply with a new state housing law called the California HOME Act (SB 9), because the unincorporated town is supposedly a mountain lion habitat. According to the LA Times, town planning director Jackie Young backed the town council’s rejection of the housing expansion, writing in a memo that  “Given that Woodside — in its entirety — is habitat for a candidate species, no parcel within Woodside is currently eligible for an SB 9 project.”

SB 9 advocate State Senator Scott Wiener, is understandably growling back. “It’s a ridiculous argument,” Wiener told the Bay Area News Group. “This is not really a loophole. If housing wasn’t such a serious crisis, this would be a joke.”

(SB 9 is sort of a statewide version of SF’s proposed fourplex legislation, allowing up to four units on a single-family lot.)

And even the Mountain Lion Foundation has jumped in to call out the ridiculousness of the claim.

“Concern for mountain lions is not what’s driving that policy, because it’s not what any mountain lion expert would recommend doing,” foundation spokesperson Josh Rosenau told the LA Times. He notes that housing exemptions would actually paradoxically push more residents to rural areas, creating more — not fewer — threats to the cougar, puma, and mountain lion populations.  

Certainly freeway collisions and urban sprawl are dwindling the mountain lion populations, yet Woodside’s objection to splitting its precious parcels seems motivated by something else. But this is the oddest version yet of the cat and mouse game to evade the latest state housing regulations — and it's not likely to be the last time we see a city or town making weird excuses for why nothing new or affordable can be built there.

Related: Mountain Lion Returns to Bernal, Gets Tranq-Darted and Captured [SFist]

Image: Andy Holmes via Unsplash

Given the median income in Woodside these days, you'd be forgiven if you found it strange that the affluent Peninsula town still hosts a July Fourth rodeo that celebrates its Western culture. And now one traditional part of that rodeo, a "pig scramble" — in which dozens of little piglets are freed in a rodeo ring and gangs of children chase them around trying to grab one and win a prize — could be getting the axe. Some residents say the event amounts to animal cruelty, and is stressful for the baby pigs, while others say it's all in good fun.

The debate was discussed in the Peninsula paper The Almanac and subsequently picked up by The Chronicle. Calls for canceling the event go back a while, and the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA submitted a letter in January 2016 calling the pig scramble "barbaric" and an "inhumane activity which is passed off as some form of entertainment."

Woodside resident Dr. Bonnie Yoffe, a veterinarian who was the former medical chief of staff for the humane society, formed The Humane Woodside committee to try to encourage the town to put a stop to this part of the rodeo, which she calls "archaic."

The arena manager for the rodeo, Michael Raynor, tells the Almanac that those from "urban backgrounds" who see this event as cruel simply don't understand it. "The livestock is less stressed when it is exposed to handling, exposed to being caught and released," he said. "The premise of [the pigs] being terrorized and becoming harder to handle is erroneous. It doesn't work that way. They are easier to handle after the experience, not harder."

Other residents have pointed to what what the pig scramble is teaching kids. A San Rafael child psychologist also weighed in for the town council saying, "If [children] are taught that tackling and dragging a squealing pig is 'fun,' they won't understand why pulling a yelping puppy's tail and pummeling a crying boy in gym class are not also 'fun.'"

But Woodside resident Bill Gilbert also weighed in for the Almanac saying that pig scrambles are "better than video games and smoking marijuana."

The San Mateo County Mounted Patrol puts on the annual event, and Patrol Captain Victor Aenlle tells CBS 5, "I think this is just lack of tolerance and disrespect for people’s rights." And, he adds, "We’ve been doing this rodeo for 40 years and there has not been once incident where a pig has been hurt or killed."

It should also be noted, Aenlle says, that whether the pigs are subjected to this scramble or not, they're still all going to be slaughtered for roasting whole within a few weeks of the event.

Related: Someone Is Spiking Roads In Woodside To Bring Down Cyclists

This seems really, really stupid, but the SFPD is now investigating the August 18 appearance of that Trump statue in the Castro — and several other locations around the nation — as a case of felony vandalism. And they're holding the artwork hostage while they try to find the individual(s) responsible for installing it. As CBS 5 reports, the issue is that the industrial glue they used to affix it allegedly caused $4,000 in damage to the sidewalk.

As we learned the day of its unexpectedly prompt removal, August 19, Union Square bar Lefty O'Doul's wanted to take custody of the thing, and this was supported by Supervisor Scott Wiener who also became a fan of the piece — a move some saw as ironic given the nudity ban he sponsored related to the very plaza next to which the statue stood.

Lefty O'Doul's owner, Nick Bovis, has offered just to pay the four grand so he can take the statue to the bar for a planned event this Friday. For publicity's sake, Bovis was planning to fly in the artist behind the statue, a Las Vegas-based haunted house and theatrical artist who goes by the name Ginger, whom he thinks deserves more credit for the work. They were also only planning on displaying the statue for a couple of days, and then sending it home with Ginger.

Lee Houskeeper, who serves as spokesperson for the bar and several other longtime SF businesses, said in an email to SFist today, "Hopefully [DA] Dennis Herrera will tell us today if pending SFPD charges will be dropped in time for [us] pay the fine and safely bring the artist to San Francisco to receive the controversial political protest art piece he created as a gift from Lefty's at a free to the public event planned for this weekend."

The grotesque, naked depiction of Trump caused some delight for locals and tourists alike, but it also — because: San Francisco — prompted calls of transphobia and, sort of strangely, transphobia. The latter may be a leap for many, but the Chron's C.W. Nevius is actually sympathetic to this charge, saying, "My theory of what’s offensive is if someone feels offended, it should be considered."

That seems antithetical to the regularity with which Nevius himself offends local progressives and homeless advocates especially, but he goes on to relay that one trans male activist, Shane Brody, took to the streets last week to put his own naked body on display in the spot where the statue stood, proclaiming with a sign, "I love my fat body."

While it's unarguable that the group behind the statue was looking to be controversial, and to poke fun at Trump's presumed naked form, sans balls, I think we should probably look to intent here, and politics, rather than try to make a leap here between an adolescent joke about a baby dick and perceptions about trans bodies — though, sure, anyone has a right to feel offense to anything. Gothamist spoke with one of the members of INDECLINE, the group behind the statue effort, who responded thusly to the calls about body shaming. "America wants to see his tax returns. INDECLINE wants to know if he’s got a small dick. Simple as that."

Trump, meanwhile, has refused to utter a peep in response to the statues, which Nevius attributes to the fact "that one thing a bully cannot stand up to is being laughed at."

And that, in itself, might be the greatest power of the statues as a work of guerrilla political art — for all the publicity the one-day stunt garnered, the usually defensive and publicity-obsessed Trump went totally silent.

Meanwhile, as Lefty O'Doul's continues to try to give the statue one last exhibition, Trump just landed in the Bay Area Monday evening for a Republican fundraiser at a private home in Woodside, and another happening maybe today, in the Napa Valley.

ABC 7 got a Chopper 7 shot of tents set up outside the home of Saul Fox, the CEO of a private equity firm, and they report that the $25,000-a-head event also featured Rudy Giuliani, who arrived with Trump, and only about 40 wealthy guests.

And here's what his arriving SUV motorcade looked like at 7:05 p.m. last night.

Previously: Nude Trump Statue Removed, May Get New Home At Lefty O'Doul's

Many in San Francisco love to rant and rave about the city's cycling community. Either the two-wheeled fiends go too fast or too slow. They either never stop at stop signs, or stop for too long at stop signs. However, when it comes to just plain over-the-top crazy in responding to the sight of a sweaty middle-aged man in Lycra rolling by, the town of Woodside has us beat — by a long shot. Someone in the peninsula community has been setting traps for cyclists in the form of strategically placed carpet nails along the popular Kings Mountain Road cycling route.

That running over these nails could cause a biker to lose control and fall under the wheels of a passing vehicle appears to be a feature of the plan, not a bug.

According to The Almanac, the California Highway Patrol is taking that possibility extremely seriously.

The California Highway Patrol has an officer and a sergeant assigned to the investigation, said CHP Officer Art Montiel. They have no leads, Mr Montiel said.

Depending on the person's intent in spreading the tacks, charges could range from something very minor to aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon, or even attempted murder, Mr. Montiel said.

"It’s a booby trap…the tacks have been laid out in cracks point side up so they are essentially a spike strip," cyclist Walter Cook told KRON 4 News.

Even more disturbing is the fact that this is not a new problem. One cyclist interviewed by The Almanac said he'd first encountered these spike traps in 2012.

"Some people don't realize they have a (tack) in their tire right away, some (tires go) flat immediately. Getting a flat tire going down KMR, with both oncoming traffic and an unforgiving road surface, is a frightening prospect," Nate McKitterick told the paper.

With no leads, and with whoever is laying the traps showing no signs of slowing down, one cyclist is taking an old-school approach (with a modern twist): he's crowdfunded a $10k reward to bring the culprit to justice.

Walter Cook, a Woodside resident and the man behind the crowdfunding campaign, took a moment to discuss the situation with KRON 4 (the part with Cook starts around 51 seconds in).

Unless the person laying the tacks miraculously realizes what he/she is doing is totally messed up, or, more realistically, they're caught by police, cyclists are going to have to keep putting themselves at risk every time they ride the frequently-spiked Kings Mountain Road.

To the person that the Woodside community has dubbed the "Kings Mountain Road Tack Vandal," the next time you think about laying out some carpet nails, may we suggest taking a few deep breaths and a nice walk around the block instead? Or hey, how about a relaxing bicycle ride?

This report originally appeared on LAist.com

A Virgin America flight headed from Boston to L.A. Monday had to stop in Omaha because of an allegedly drugged man who was masturbating mid-flight, who later tried to open an exit door.

The Omaha Police Department says that 26-year-old Doug Adams of Woodside, California became increasingly frenzied during the flight, touching himself and attempting to open the emergency door, forcing the crew to land, NBC reports.

Christie O'Toole, a Virgin America spokesperson, said in a statement that the plane had to land because of a "medical incident involving a guest on board." However, Omaha Police say Adams' behavior was due to a drug-related mental breakdown, according to ABC.

Filmmakers Sam Slater and Paul Bernon (both producers of Drinking Buddies) were sitting in front of Adams during the flight, and said that Adams was wearing a hospital bracelet.

Slater, who also shot cellphone footage of Adams being taken off the plane in handcuffs by police in Omaha, told CBS that Adams was muttering about not wanting to be a violent person. Then he began arguing with a woman seated next to him after returning from the bathroom. After a doctor on the flight took Adam's blood pressure, the flight crew and two off-duty Boston police officers moved him to a seat by himself in the back of the plane.

That's when Adams began trying to open the emergency exit door. At one point, Slater tweeted that he helped restrain Adams.

Adams was taken to a nearby hospital after being removed from the plane, according the U.S. Attorney's Office.

After witnessing an apparent drunk driving accident on 280 just north of Woodside, an unidentified man got out of his Jeep to help the victims. While crossing the freeway, though, a driver in an Infiniti SUV struck and killed the man.

The incident happened early Sunday morning round 2:40 a.m. when, according to The Chronicle, a "black Honda driven by a suspected drunk driver hit the rear side of a Toyota SUV. Both vehicles spun out of control, and the Toyota hit the center divider, injuring two people."

The Good Samaritan, a Redwood City man, saw the crash, parked his Jeep on the righthand shoulder, and attempted to cross the lanes. This was when he was fatally hit by the SUV.

At least one person was arrested in connection with the initial crash.

Video below:

[Chronicle]
[KPIX]

For your viewing... pleasure? Here's a photo of President Barack Obama, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Steve Jobs, among other luminaries, having dinner on Thursday night. And, best of all, they're drinking white wine.

Jobs and Zuckerberg were seated next to Obama, so clearly, the two were the most important people at last night's VIP meeting in Woodside. Interesting.

The dinner was "part of our ongoing dialogue with the business community on how we can work together to win the future, strengthen our economy, support entrepreneurship, increasing our exports, and get the American people back to work," said the White House prior to the dinner, "The President and the business leaders will discuss our shared goal of promoting American innovation, and discuss his commitment to new investments in research and development, education and clean energy."

Another image below.

A Woodside man, Pooroushasb "Peter" Parineh, was arrested yesterday in connection with the shooting death of his wife Parima in April, originally believed to be a suicide. Mr. Parineh had reported upon calling 911 back in April that his wife had shot herself, but evidence at the scene and a subsequent autopsy have suggested otherwise.

First Hillsborough, and now Woodside becomes the site of a deadly act — all in the same week! This economy is really taking its toll on the well-to-do!

Look what little SFist found waiting patiently in the inbox.

Sadly, we cannot afford a seat, but, oh my God, won't someone please take us with them as their date? Behold:

We are thrilled to have our superlative Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the Bay Area two weeks from today, Thursday, Sept. 25th for Lunch in Woodside. This will be the perfect and probably only opportunity to meet and visit with her before the November election.

Please join us in showing support for this winning team! Kindly reply to Kristin Hueter at (510) xxx-xxxx.

Howard and Gretchen Leach
McCain-Palin Victory California Leadership Team

Invites you to a luncheon with the Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin

Thursday, September 25, 2008

12:00 p.m. Host Committee Reception
12:30 p.m. Luncheon

at the home of Stacey & Tom Siebel, 3000 Portola Road, Woodside, California