This Week In Noe Valley: Holi Color Festival, Best SF Sourdough, Farewell Incanto

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

• If you were wondering about the music today, it was a hipster Holi celebration at James Lick [Bold Italic]
• Realtors renaming neighborhoods meets resistance and derision but sells houses [SF Gate]
• RIP Angus Brunner, landlord and dear friend of Just for Fun, who lost his battle with cancer [@holdn2aces]
• Parents at Alvarado Elementary rally and raise private funds for their kids' public school [KALW]
• Review of the best "destination" sourdough bread makers around the city – Noe Valley Bakery is #4 [Barbary Coast News]
• The Cube House is the current NV real estate hotness [SF Gate; Or it's "an ostentatious bunker" (Socketsite)]
• Photos from the last meal at Incanto – and a preview of Consentino’s TV pilot Chef Unleashed [SFist]
• Locally-owned Easy Breezy becomes a chain - opening another froyo location on Irving [Zagat]
• Women's clothing maker LOLA is back as a pop-up shop in the former Clipper Corner/Be Yoga space [@bncmusic]

[Photo: colleenmcclowry]

This Week In Noe Valley: Town Square Funding, Public Art On Sanchez, And A Rave Review For La Nebbia

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

• Town Square funding update [NVTS]
• NV Farmers Market's El Buen Comer opening a restaurant in Bernal Heights [SJ Merc]
• Scott Wiener's March newsletter [Scott Wiener]
• Growing up in Post-War Noe Valley - a tribute of sorts to Uncle Doug [Kate Campbell]
• Levy Architecture commissions an outdoor art installation on Sanchez [LA&A]
• The Noe Valley Voice - a local paper filled with charming news and lunatic rants [David Spark]
• More proof the housing market in San Francisco is insane [Business Insider]
• A rave for La Nebbia, Noe's "goddamn charming" new pizza and wine bar [SF Weekly]

[Photo: sfgirlbybay]

This Week in Noe Valley: Real Estate Records Smashed, A Chef's Favorite Local Eats, More Parking Snark

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

• Real estate agent carves out a mythical Quad neighborhood for bros [Uptown Alamanac]
• Local safecracker finally able to ply his craft [SFGate]
• Contigo chef Brett Emerson clearly doesn't eat out enough in Noe Valley [SF Mag]
• New record for most expensive home sale in Noe Valley (7 million!) goes to the NIMBY house [SocketSite; also: NIMBY explanation]
• But then check out the jaw-dropping 21% annual appreciation of 465 Hoffman [SocketSite]
• SF is a leader for its innovative management and ambitious park plans (featuring Phil Ginsburg and the NV Town Square) [HuffPo]
• Little Chihuahua adds brunch -- including mimosas [Tablehopper]
• Another local vigilante is tired of your car parked on his/her street [@celesteasaurus]

[Photo: lizhemingway]

Noe Valley Town Square Timeline And Projected Open Date

At the Noe Valley Farmer's Market this morning, the Noe Valley Town Square team unveiled a timeline for the Square development plan. The short version: Ground breaking is slated for August 2015 with a tentative opening date of March 2016.

All of this is still contingent on receiving grant funding for park development in June, but it's nice to see a timeline. Click the timeline image for the large version, or you can view the PDF of the timeline here.

[Image: Concept via NoeValleyTownSquare.com]

Closing? Mike's Of Noe Valley Shoe Repair

We picked up a Twitter rumor that Mike's Shoe Repair might be closing, what with a For Rent sign in the window. We stopped by, and while the there was no sign posted, there was also no sign that the shop will return. It was closed at 4pm and the shelves were looked bare -- the only "inventory" looks to be peoples' shoes. We called and no answering machine picked up - it just rings and rings.

This shoe repair shop has been in the neighborhood in some form going back at least into the 1940s. Here's some history via the Voice eulogizing a long-time fixture in Noe Valley after her death in 2010:

The whole neighborhood is mourning the loss of one of our most beloved residents, Helen Weinschenk, who passed away on Jan. 19 at age 98. Helen and her husband Arthur moved to Noe Valley in 1949 and bought and operated a shoe repair shop called Mission Renewal, located where Ambiance is now. They lived in an apartment behind the store. Arthur died in 1964, and Helen continued on as the shop's cobbler until 1977, when she sold the business to Barry and Patti Wood, who renamed it the Wooden Heel. The shop moved to its current location on 24th Street near Castro in 1981, and the Woods sold the business in 2002. Helen worked at the Wooden Heel until retiring in 2004 at age 92.

Miguel "Mike" Arqueta has owned the shop since 2002, and while reviews are mixed at best we never had a problem.

One of the things that makes 24th St in Noe Valley a great neighbhorhood strip is that it has services you need. Or had. A hardware store couldn't pull through, movie theaters and butchers are gone from 24th St and now it looks like we're losing our cobbler. We have plenty of clothing boutiques, coffee shops, florists and kitch - just like every other trendy main drag in the City. As one person said, "at least Union Street still has shoe repair!"

It would be sad to lose a useful service in the neighborhood. Has anyone talked to Mike lately?

Update (3/14): A tip from John Downing sent us to Craigslist:

The ad reads:

"This retail store space is located on 24th Street between Castro and Noe Streets on the south side of the street. It measures approximately 800 sf. This space is currently occupied and can be made available with 30 days notice to the existing tenant.

Emphasis ours. It sounds like Mike is going to stick around until a renter is found. We'll try and found out.

[Photo: Adam Fagen]

Crime Beat: Strongarm Robbery

Information is from Mission and Ingleside District San Francisco Police Station newsletters.

March 6

Robbery -- 9:16pm, Church/Valley St.. Two men assaulted and robbed a pedestrian of his wallet, cash, bank cards, and identification. The victim told Ingleside Officers McMilton and Peregrina that he was walking on Church Street near Valley, when two men wearing “Hoodies” approached him and asked for money. When the victim said he didn’t have any funds, one of the suspects punched him in the nose causing the victim to fall to the ground. The suspects then reached into the victim’s pocket, took his wallet, and ran away.

Closed: Be Yoga

Hadn't seen much action lately at Be Yoga other than a sign highlighting their new App in the window, but hadn't thought anything of it - plenty of studios look vacant half the time. But then today a message on Twitter made us take another look:

@NoeValleySF The Be Yoga studio on Sanchez looks eerily quiet. Is it defunct already?
— Inger Hogstrom (@ingerhogstrom) March 12, 2014

The awning has been painted white for a while now, but it's now an obviously vacant space. There is no mention of Noe Valley on Be Yoga's webpage or Facebook. Poof! Gone. Defunct.

Judging by Yelp reviews, the surprise of this closure isn't that surprising.

This Week In Noe Valley: Whole Foods To Offer Wine Tasting, Incanto's Legacy, And "Twerps With 'Tudes"

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

• Whole Foods wants an "Instructional Tasting License" to go with its beer/wine license [CA ABC]
• Noe Valley NIMBY house makes the Wall Street Journal [WSJ]
• "In December, almost 40 percent of the home sales were all cash." [NYT]
• Our post last week prompted a lively discussion of parking etiquette (Curb Your Enthusiasm FTW) [SFist]
• More on the legacy of Incanto [Inside Scoop]
• Can't get over the queueing in this timelapse of shuttle buses loading [Paul Supawanich]
• Techies ruined San Francisco a long time ago and we all survived [Salon]
• Noe Valley is where it's at [@Kitty_Morgan]

[Photo: kslatzlifestyle]

NVV March 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.

March 2014

Front Page: Word Week is March 16-23; Urban Putt, from Noe Valley's Steve Fox and Chris Myers to open in April, and is still looking for investors; Remembering Josh Epple.

Letters: An idea to create illegal housing for local Glen Evans; "If the people who rode the buses actually lived in Noe Valley they wouldn't have to park here to ride the buses;" An Occupy Noe update.

Short Takes: Upper Douglass Dog Park might open eventually with new drainage/turf but no change to operations if all goes according to the new plan; The NVDC is sponsoring a panel discussion on affordable housing in the Bay Area on 19th at St. Philip's; There is $25,000 in sidewalk landscaping grants available to District 8 landowners - contact Andres Power for more information.

Cost of Living in Noe: It's very hot on the surface of the sun.

Store Trek (at least we think it's Store Trek): A website/app from local Pascal Levy-Garboua called SixDoors that offers same-day delivery from small businesses in Noe Valley and across San Francisco (there's even an adult section); Noe Valley merchants are loving Townsquared - "a private online community for businesses" you can't join.

Rumors: Mazook spent Super Bowl Sunday at Elizabeth Street Brewery, loved the beer and learned that Richard Brewer-Hay has scrapped the idea of trying to open a brewery in the Real Foods space - at least for now; Valley Tavern hopes to was approved to reopen the back patio; Diamond Cafe to open opened; Horner's Corner opened and business is brisk with many people ordering pizza for pickup; The Streetlight Records/Sway building has been sold but needs work before listing for a new tenant; The Noe Valley Farmer's Market is matching food stamp purchases with an equal dollar amount of produce to protest the "Republicans' cutting food stamp benefits in Congress."

Bonus: Your pledge dollars at work: an ad for KQED. In Noe Valley.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

Destination-Worthy Incanto Closing, To Be Replaced by Neighborhood-Oriented Porcellino

If you want to visit Incanto, Chris Cosentino's Noe Valley restaurant at 1550 Church St, you had better go soon -- the 12-year-old dining spot famous for its whole beast approach is closing after dinner on March 24th. It will be reopen as Porcellino later this spring for lunch, dinner and  with retail sales. (If you're wondering, Porcellino ("piglet") is the Florentine nickname for the bronze fountain of a boar by Pietro Tacca.)

The menu won't be as adventurous as Incanto's snout-to-tail fare but look for salumi plates, sandwiches, salads and pasta plates that cater to the neighborhood. The retail portion will sell wine, olive oils, pasta and other take-out friendly items.

Cosentino will remain a partner of Incanto and guide the menu, but will focus mainly on his upcoming venture in the old Zuppa place in SOMA. Fellow partner Mark Pastore will remain in Noe Valley.

Paolo Luchese has the full scoop here.

[Inside Scoop: Incanto to close this month and be replaced by Porcellino]
[Image: Incanto]

GiveForward: A Fund For Justice Epple

When Josh Epple died in a motorcycle crash on February 15, 2014, he left behind a six year old son. Friends and family have set up a fund for young Justice. Please consider a donation.

[GiveForward: Josh Epple Fund for Justice]
[Photo: EdibleSF]

This Week In Noe Valley: The Way You Park, Designer Houses, And First Review Of Horner's Corner

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

• Check Please, Bay Area! filmed at The Little Chihuahua Noe Valley this week [KQED]
• Your neighbors are judging your parking etiquette - harshly [eyeanstagram]
• Only in SF, Part 1 [earthtone78]
• Only in SF, Part 2 [smarie825; Follow him here: @norris_pj]
• Two new passive energy houses approved for Noe Valley [Curbed]
• House designed by John Maniscalco closes waaaay over-asking (aka under-listed) [SocketSite]
• ICYMI: One of the steepest streets in the US is in our hood [Gizmodo; Also: disputed]
• Holy Kitchen is opening this Tuesday [Tablehopper; day confirmed by phone]
• First review of the fare at Horner's Corner [SFoodie]
• Google gives Muni $6.8 million hush money to pay for free youth access; will it quiet David Campos? [TechCrunch]

[Photo: Good morning stairs, by margaritaazucar]