Last night in the Outer Sunset, San Francisco Police detonated a suspicious device found in a home behind the Western Sunset Market at Judah and 46th Avenues. That is so many avenues. Who would bomb that neighborhood?
Firefighters on roof extinguishing fire from explosion 46th & judah pic.twitter.com/NQcILwnCSc
— cbogart (@cbogart) January 15, 2014
Equally baffled, the local media descended on the block to investigate:
ABC7 has more from the scene:
Relatives had been going in and out of the house cleaning it out. They noticed something suspicious that looked like a fire extinguisher. They had second thoughts about it and called police around 6 p.m.SFPD Police say they detonated a "suspicious device" tonight at 1400 block of 46th Ave.
— Joe Vazquez (@joenewsman) January 15, 2014Police detonated the device, causing a loud explosion, inside the house around 8:45 p.m. The police captain told us they evacuated homes around the residence they were investigating the device at. No one was hurt in the explosion. Police are still trying to determine what the device was.
Western Sunset Market had significant damage inside. Glass was broken, windows were shattered and a lot of plaster on the back wall fell.
In other words: the quiet Outer Sunset probably looked like a warzone for a moment.
EXPLOSION/FIRE: nearby resident @cbogart describes "load bang and debris all over the street, then smoke billowing from the upper floor”
— Emergency_In_SF (@Emergency_In_SF) January 15, 2014
The fire was under control by 9 p.m. but it was already too late, the local branch of the Twitter hivemind had already descended onto the quiet neighborhood, whose previous claim to fame included being the cradle of $4 toast and a "bleak" New York Times profile from 2010.
ALL OF A SUDDEN EVERYONE IS INTO THE SUNSET
— Richie Nakano (@linecook) January 15, 2014
For toast-mongering purposes: we should also note how close the mysterious explosive device was to original $4 toast outpost, Trouble Coffee at Judah and 45th avenue. The N-Judah was also rerouted temporarily, but when isn't it, really?
Meanwhile, in glitzier pockets of the city, HBO was lighting up the Castro Theater for their big premier of Looking:
Coming out party. @HBO is proud to premiere #Looking at SF's historic Castro Theater tonight. pic.twitter.com/lg2jXSHqc5
— Looking (@LookingHBO) January 15, 2014