Divisadero Art Walk: Pics from Early Visit

A warm Thursday night along the Divisadero Corridor for the best Art Walk yet. I visited early without staying late with my friend Mariana, listened to the steel drum on the sidewalk, joined the crowd with the band outside Mojo Bicycle Cafe, chatted up the stunning face and body painter, checked out the rock-era photos at Madrone Lounge, stopped by the Wigg Party outpost, smiled at the the artist wearing her digital art around her neck, looked in at the Workshop on McAllister at Baker, and then crossed the street to the Matching Half Cafe to see new photos of street scenes from Portugal. A perfect walk, art and all.

Here's the visual sampling: no names, no locations, just the scene on a very livable Divisadero.

Thursday night's Divisadero Art Walk promises even more. If you've sampled, sipped, savored, and strolled previous Art Walk extravaganzas, you already know Divisadero the night of June 3rd is a must. For newbies, this dynamic scene is too good to miss. Consider the discounts, specials, and free performances provided by more than three dozen merchants up and down the corridor. Just a sample, randomly selected:

• Ziryah Mediterranean Grill: free appetizer with purchase of 2 entrees or 2 cocktails
• Country Cheese Company: 10% off all day
• Candy Bar: $4 sparkling cocktails and art show
• PACT, Inc.: art show and raffle
• Little Star Pizza: one pizza @ 50% off
• Bar 821: Happy Hour Half-Off Draft Beer and Champagne Cocktails
• Madrone Art Bar: art reception for Rock and Roll photographer Larry Schor
• Matching Half Cafe: extended Happy Hour, $1 espresso shots, art show
• Capricorn Framing: 20% off all day

For all of the above, see Divisadero Art Walk for details and restrictions.

You can get a special sneak peek at the art here.

Then there's the action on the sidewalks: sales, promotions, more art, performances, the Wigg Party (wear your wig!), and cool neighbors. NOPA's streets don't get much more livable than this (opening the street itself to art walkers seems inevitable).

Divisadero Deserves Better Than This

Eyesore along revitalized Divisadero corridor

With all the city-wide buzz about the much-improved Divisadero corridor and its smooth pavement, roadside enhancements, Sunday Farmers' Market, and new parklet, the ragtag, graffiti- marred billboard that looms over the Grove Street intersection seems a throwback to a less-well-cared for thoroughfare.

The problem billboard has been reported to Clear Channel Outdoor Advertising, both to the company's corporate headquarters and its Oakland office. A representative of the company told BIKE NOPA that she thought someone would take a look at the situation within the next two days. How about a pro-bono display advertising the Farmers' Market or the Divisadero Art Walks or the upcoming Sunday Streets through the neighborhood?

Art Walk Rocks Divisadero

NOPA neighbors filled the sidewalks Thursday night for the Divisadero Corridor Art Walk, a celebration of art, food, drinks, and shopping from Geary to Haight Streets. More than 40 shops, restaurants, cafes, galleries, and bars participated in the event. With street trees strung with holiday lights and a bit less rumble on a much smoother Divisadero, no one seemed to mind the chill in the air.

A few highlights:

• Patrick Prescott playing steel drums that transported at least one listener to Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain, Trinidad
• Mojo Bicycle Cafe packed with tables even in the bike shop for the live performances and the "all I want for Christmas" bike hanging in the upstairs window
• photographs by G. Gole Aillee at Refractions, the gallery at 537 Divisadero
• photographs of rooftops and buildings in Copenhagen at the photo show hosted by Skin City
• the light of the nearly full moon casting shadows

NOPA continues to re-connect with its public spaces making them more lively -- certainly more livable -- and all the city benefits. Thanks to the Art Walk organizers, merchants, and neighbors for their hard work organizing this great event one more time.

Seen While Biking: NOPA NEON

Ads and Art, Day and Night. What will you see during the Art Walk?

Next Sunday Streets in 2010; Perhaps We Won't Wait

A real San Francisco day: fog and sun, depending where you went. Warm but foggy along the coast for the Great Highway car-free experience and sunny and warm at the east end of JFK Drive for car-free park strolls. Today was the last Sunday Streets of 2009 with a promise, by the Mayor, of more to come next summer.

Perhaps we won't wait till 2010. There's a buzz about San Franciscans using public space differently. The Divisadero Art Walk organizers imagine taking the Walk into the street next time out. The city is transforming four blocks around town into mini-parks. Neighbors are planning different uses for streets, and permeable sidewalks seem to be multiplying. Change is in the foggy, warm, sometimes sunny air.