This Week In Noe Valley: Similar SF Neighborhoods, Noe Valley Stereotypes, And War Breaks Out On Vicksburg St

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Photos of Billy Goat Hill [7x7]
• Google Shopping Express has arrived [@timpapandreou]
• Gas leak on 25th St [SF Appeal]
• OH: horrific travel story [@kevinchlo]
• Curbed's new associate editor thinks Noe Valley is like Sesame Street [Curbed]
• "Noe Valley is a poor man’s Russian Hill" [Anson Whitmer]
• Philz Coffee wants to be a good neighbor [via @Percysperson]
• An uprising on Vicksburg - #WarOnRats [@jane_e_nevins]

[Photo: Mosaic at Cradle of the Sun, by deemanator]

This Week In Noe Valley: Growing Up Here, Weird Burglaries, And Other Signs of the Times

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• A Sacramento transplant remembers growing up in Noe [Adrift in the Sound]
• La Ciccia wins reader’s choice best Italian restaurant [7x7]
• Chris Cosentino of Incanto taking over the old Zuppa space in SOMA [Eater]
• Sign of the times on 24th St [Can It Happen Here]
• Tensions rising at the Google Bus stops [Here Is the City]
• Some ideas for stopping the Google Bus protests: tech CEOs need to pay their taxes says Noe resident Kathy Lipscomb [TechCrunch]
• If you ride Muni downtown, be prepared to help clear the tracks [Haigheration]
• Weird garage burglaries in Noe and Glen Park [SF Gate]
• Bay Area Reporter sports columnist attacked on 30th Street [BAR]
• Horner’s Corner is now serving brunch [Horner’s Corner]
• RIP Josh Epple Of Drewes Brothers Meats [NVSF]

[Photo: Cool Sky Over Noe Valley SF via Peg Wolfe]

RIP Josh Epple Of Drewes Brothers Meats

Tragic news hit this morning that Josh Epple, the co-owner and iconic butcher of Drewes Brothers Meats on Church St. died early this morning in a fatal motorcycle accident. From the SF Gate:

The rider, 42-year-old Joshua Epple of San Francisco, was traveling southbound on Highway 101 near 10th Street just before 2 a.m. when he lost control of his motorcycle for unknown reasons, according to the California Highway Patrol. Epple hit the guardrail, was ejected from the bike and fell 30 feet to a parking lot below, sustaining fatal injuries, the CHP said.

A note on the Drewes website confirmed the sad news: "It is with heavy heart that we announce that our friend, boss and owner of Drewes Meats, Joshua N. Epple was taken from our lives early this morning." Josh is survived by his brother Isaac who is also co-owner of Drewes.

Update (3/3): Friends and family have set up a fund for 6 year old Justice Epple.

[Photo: Stacy Ventura via Edible San Francisco]

This Week In Noe Valley: Bitcoin Cookie Stand Redux, Inside ESB Ale, Good And Bad Noe Neighbors

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• The story behind 'Milk Road' - the Bitcoin cookie stand on 24th St [Forbes]
  
• Transit researchers want your videos of tech shuttles at Muni stops [SF Streetsblog]
  
• Inside Noe Valley's wacky and wonderful private museum, the Pritikin Mansion [SF Gate]
  
• Scenes from the city: An interview with Richard Brewer Hay of Elizabeth Street Brewery [7x7]
• Notorious NIMBY wants out of his big beautiful house - asking almost $7M [SocketSite]
  
• Good neighbors pay it forward [stevebkca09]

[Photo: #rain via daydayhurls]

NVV February 2014: We Read It So You Don't Have To

The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year and has been a neighborhood fixture since 1977. Here are notable highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered here on NVSF or other resources. Follow the NVV link at the bottom for full articles and all the ads.

February 2014

Front Page: A profile of Glen Evans, a former Vicksburg resident who now finds himself homeless, and the merchants and neighbors who are trying to help him; an overview of the 5th annual Tech Search Party on February 8th benefiting local schools; info from the October/January meetings about planned changes to 24th St aimed at improving traffic flow and pedestrian safety - some Noe St residents are already sure it will be "mayhem" [Ed.-- it's deja vu all over again from the parklet protests and predictably Mary McFadden is against improving 24th St].

Letters: No love from one reader for Neutraceuticals (owner of the blighted Real Foods building); a list of water conservation tips from the SFPUC.

Short Takes: Upper Douglass Dog Park to remain closed until Spring for more repairs; San Jose Ave will shrink to two lanes for a traffic pilot in late Spring or early summer.

Cost of Living in Noe: The average cost of a single family home was $1.893 million in December - up more than 18 percent from 2012 [Ed.-- The median cost of the nine homes was $1.75M]; condos average $1 million. New renters should expect to shell out an average of $4,253 for a two bedroom apartment.

Store Trek: La Nebbia (1781 Church St at 30th)

Rumors: So far $560,000 has been pledged to the Noe Valley Town Square and $330,000 has been collected - in the meantime, the team has also been busy with a film for the project called Our Town Square (you can watch the trailer here); Cardio-Tone has added a second location at the old Kohler Jones space on Church St; 1513 Church St is home to a new startup called BackerKit - a company that writes software for Kickstarter project creators to track their backers [Ed.-- Is this Noe Valley's first actual tech company?]; La Tira waxing studio opens in the old Dermalounge space; the most popular fiction books in Noe right now are The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and Dear Life: Stories by Alice Munro; the most popular non-fiction is Gray City of Love by Gary Kamiya (via Folio Books); Omnivore reports the favorite cookbook for the neighborhood right now is Jerusalem by Yottam Ottolenghi; the favorite movie for rent is The Butler (via Videowave); Mazook says reliable sources also report that Bliss Bar will not be rebuilt; a new title company comes to 4126 24th St (next to Barney's where B.J. Droubi Real Estate used to reside); Sway consolidates to the Haight and the commercial space and two residential units have sold for an expected $2.2 million - the store space is still for rent $12,000 a month; RIP Mike Skoufas who opened a Noe Valley barbershop in 1953 called Mike's (his daughter owns and operates Of Barbers and Bears on 24th St.).

[The Noe Valley Voice]

Closed: Café Ponte / Opening: Diamond Café

A reader tipped us that Café Ponte closed suddenly yesterday. We walked by today and sure enough – the windows are papered over and the corner café at 751 Diamond St at 24th is closed. We heard from another reader today who spoke to the new owner and learned this:

The new café will be called Diamond Café – a nod to the former name of the neighborhood spot. It will serve crepes, omelets and basic brunch and lunch fare. The new owner (Mike) is also an employee of Squat & Gobble so that gives you an idea of what will be offered. The space is currently being painted and spruced up – Mike expects to open in 2-3 weeks. There will still be outdoor dining space, too.

Café Ponte has been for sale (and not) several times in the last few years, so it's not a surprise to see it change hands. It is nice to see it will still be a local lunch and coffee spot and reopening soon.

This Week In Noe Valley: The Soda Tax War Kicks Off, Remembering The Winter Of Love, And More Photos Of Snow In The City

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Scott Wiener and other supes support the Soda Tax ballot measure [scottwiener.com]
• Opponents of the Tax argue it makes SF more expensive; 6 people hired to canvass neighborhoods, including Noe Valley [SF Gate]
• Why housing costs keep rising in SF (short version: there isn't enough of it) [Michael Rhodes]
• Ellis Act perpetrators are the evil ones, not the Google bus riders says this op-ed [Beyond Chron]
• To be fair, the Ellis Act was a "problem" long before the Google Bus [NYTimes]
• It's the 10th anniversary of the Winter of Love [Bay Area Reporter]
• The Cesar Chavez project is wrapping up - and neighbors already feel safer [SF Gate]
• More reader photos of the great 1976 San Francisco snowstorm - including fun ones of Noe Valley [SF Gate]
• A profile of Noe resident Christine Schmidt, author of Yellow Owl's Little Prints and some photos of her charming apartment [SF Gate]
• The Tech Search Party returns to Noe Valley on Feb 8 [Tech Search Party]

[Photo: #blossom #spring via oiseaul]