This Week in Noe Valley: Mystery Hearts Return, Great Local Spanish Food and The Bar Robbers Are Arrested

The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• The Podolls are celebrating one year in Noe Valley this month [SF Chronicle]
• Omnivore Books’ spring food and chef book event lineup is here and it's impressive as always [Omnivore]
• The former Video Wave spaces is becoming a clothing store and salon called VOILA [Hoodline]
• The Fairmount mystery hearts are back [Google maps]
• Contigo named one of 16 best Spanish restaurants in U.S. [Time Out]
• Suspects arrested for recent bar and restaurant armed robbery sprees [SFist]

[Photo: Sunset via mitali]

This Week in Noe Valley: High End Homes Languish, More Bar Robberies & Fires, Gentrification 1977 Style

The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• 24th Street Luxe townhouses not selling [Curbed]
• More SF homes sit unsold as inventory grows [SFGate]
• Revamped and modern Little Chihuahua reopens [Hoodline]
• More bar robberies in the Mission - which sound a lot like the recent Noe Valley incidents [Mission Local]
• The helicopters you heard this week were for a fire at 24th and Valencia [Hoodline]
• Don't let the inactivity fool you: New beverage director named at Uma Casa (in the former Incanto space) [Eater]
• By 1977, Mission gentrification was framed as middle class spillover from Castro & Noe Valley [@enf]
• A good start: 60 news-rack pedestals will be removed from San Francisco sidewalks within the next month [SFGate]
• Cool old maps of SF [Curbed]

[Photo: Bougainvillea doorway via Beyond Ordinary]

Visual Stroll: The Hidden Doorways of Comerford Alley

Here’s a fun visual tour of a hidden corner of Noe Valley. Comerford Alley is a rustic quasi-paved alley that runs from Sanchez to Church, between 27th and Duncan streets. It’s named after Joseph Comerford, a developer who built a bunch of single-family homes in 1870s, ‘80s and ‘90s in Noe Valley. Comerford built so many houses in this corner of Noe Valley that at the time it was known as Comerfordville.

Most of the houses Comerford designed were simple one-story flat front Italianates with central entrances flanked by windows. Some Comerford houses are still around, including the ones built in 1879 at 225 and 227 27th Street.

Today, the alley is a favorite passage for dog owners to walk their pets and a garden backdoor for many of the residents on that street. Photographer Ted Weinstein recently snapped some great shots of the doorways of Comerford.

It’s a charming collection of secret entryways and a fun stroll down the alley. You can see the full collection in a slideshow on Ted Weinstein's site - thanks to the reader who sent us the link!

[Top photos Google Maps, bottom photos Ted Weinstein]

This Week in Noe Valley: Eviction Shaming, Not-So-Humble Bragging, and It Really Is Sunnier Here

The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Noe Valley’s next 5,000 square foot home on Duncan [Socket Site]
• This won’t end well: Serial evictor tech CEO gets eviction-shamed [Beyond Chron]
• Another $5 million “epic” home hits the market, this one on 28th St [Curbed]
• Inside a precious Noe Valley home [Cup of Jo]
• First Tesla Model X spotted in the wild – in the Noe Valley Whole Foods, of course [@danz32]
• The bathroom at the Noe Valley Rec Center is really nice, but the homeless guy who lives there says it has too many bugs [@bestestname]
• Bash at the Lick film premiers at the Sports Film Fest in LA [@scottkanesf]
• Don’t let this happen to your car (leave nothing behind) [@rosewinegal]
• St. Paul’s School celebrates a centennial of educating Noe Valley kids [Catholic San Francisco]
• PROOF! The Mission and Noe Valley really are sunnier than the rest of San Francisco [@rod11]
• Remembering the Castro-Noe cable car line with cool photos [Hoodline]

[Photo: Deck with a view via gloriazhu_]

NVV April 2016: 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.

April 2016

Front Page: A profile of Jesse Walkershaw, owner of WalkershawMan clothting store on 24th; six bike share locations are coming to Noe Valley; a profile of Noe Valley hand surgeon and artist-entrepreneur Robert Markison; the proposed Town Square owl art is considered too "skull-like" and is back on the drawing board.

Letters: A vote for a Janis Joplin historic marker to commemorate her stay in Noe Valley at 22nd and Noe (ed note - she lived in a lot of places in the city); a complaint that the San Jose Ave road diet has increase congestion and carbon emissions; a rebuttal to a letter last month about the languishing Real Foods spot asserting that downtown Noe Valley is "alive, well and thriving." Bob Roddick wants you to know that Elle magazine and Trulia have named Noe Valley as the neighborhood with the best family amenities (ed note - we weren't able to find a link or confirm) thanks to the efforts of the NVMPA to create things like the hayride, Easter Egg Hunt, Garden Tour and more. The board of the Noe Valley Farmers Market encourages you to support local businesses near the Farmer's Market on Saturday. And one neighbor decries the use of commercial sidewalk scrubbing in a drought.

Cost of Living in Noe: Home sales average $2.9 million - the most expensive house that  sold was a $4 million home on Valley St.

Store Trek: Yoga Mayu, 4159B 24th St. at Diamond; Hamlet, 1199 Church St. at 24th

Rumors and Tidbits: Patxi's is riling up it's neighbors again by using the public parking lot as the pit stop for pizza delivery vehicles; the space vacated by In-House will soon become a Golden Gate Urgent Care outlet; Go Health Urgent Care is also looking to rent in down town Noe Valley but no space has been confirmed (ed note - ugh, Union St. here we come). The Lotus Method (yoga for expecting moms) is taking over the old Ambiance space; and the surely a hoax butler listing for $175,000 gets a mention. See Jane Run is sticking around for at least another 6 months; next door to SJR, the pop-up art store has had a good run - and Jan Van Swearingen, formerly of Common Scents is looking to pop-up in the additonal space next door at 3904 24th St. The former Video Wave space on Castro is becoming a women's clothing store called Aline's Closet which is relocating from Lower Haight. Zephyr is rennovating it's offices and expects to reopen on 24th St in 3-4 months. Hahn's Hibachi on Castro will soon become Bistro SF Grill which will serve lunch, dinner and lots, and lots of burgers. Noe Valleyeon Ben Fong-Torres (a founding father of Rolling Stone) launched a radio show in late 2015.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

Crime Beat: The BAR On Dolores Robbed At Gunpoint TWICE This Week

On Sunday at approximately 10:45pm two gunman entered The BAR at 1600 Dolores St and made off with about $3000 in cash from the register and a safe on site. SF Bay reports one patron was injured:

About a dozen patrons were in the bar when the pair entered. One man was assaulted when he tried to reach for one of the suspect’s weapons, a patron who was at the bar at the time of the robbery told SFBay. The man was treated on scene for a wound on his head by responding paramedics.

Today's police blotter from the Ingleside Station provides a few more details:

A group of customers celebrating Easter at a local bar were interrupted by a robbery. The victims told Ingleside Officers Zhao and Shih that two suspects, with handguns, walked into the bar and announced, “Where is the money?” One of the patrons, sitting near the entrance, grabbed one of the suspect’s arms and wrestled him and his weapon to the floor suffering a laceration to his head. The other suspect retrieved bank bags of money, plus cash in the register, before both men fled out the door and west on Dolores Street. The patron involved in the struggle was transported to Kaiser Hospital for treatment of his injuries.

Then on Thursday night at about 11:15pm three young men in ski masks hit the same bar with the same tactics. Police haven't said if they think it's the same group. More from SF Bay:

Police would not confirm the amount stolen Thursday, though money was taken from both the register and a tip jar, according to [SFPD spokesman] Andraychak.

Police are seeking surveillance footage from nearby homes or businesses that may help identify the suspects. Anyone with information about the incident can contact San Francisco police at (415) 575-4444. Tips can also be sent by text to TIP411, using SFPD at the beginning of the message.

In both incidents, suspects fled on foot. Police are asking for neighbors to check the footage of any camera pointed at the street. SF Bay adds: "anyone with information about the incident can contact San Francisco police at (415) 575-4444. Tips can also be sent by text to TIP411, using SFPD at the beginning of the message."

The BAR - on Dolores changed hands last summer. It became Dolores Corner in 2012 when O'Greenberg's closed after 36 years. It is the only bar on Dolores St.

[SF BAY: Gunmen rob Noe Valley bar twice in one week]
[Photo: Google Street View]