This Week in Noe Valley: North Bay Fire Sadness and How to Help

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

• How to help people affected by the fires [SF Chronicle]
• Omnivore is collecting donations of pet supplies for Sonoma animal shelters [@omnivorebooks]
• Local chef Richie Nakano is raising money, buying food and helping to deliver meals to evacuees and rescue workers. [@linecook]   
• More SF businesses pitching in to help [Eater]
• Local artists supporting relief efforts [7x7]
• So many eerie pictures of all the orange smoke and ash in the air [ariawave, mystarpower, @ssgeek , sfgrecia, surfseafamily, bestbayareatours, peaceofhair]
• Bay Area experiencing worst air quality ever [SFGate]
• Police investigating Noe Valley armed vehicle robbery [Hoodline]
• Noe Valley’s Contigo gets a rave from SF Chronicle's Michael Bauer [@michaelbauer1]
• Ardiana is the pizza church [SF Weekly]

[Photo: Smoky sunrise via monsieurbecco]

NVV Nov 2013: 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 outside sources as the Voice doesn't post stories online until the middle of the month.

November 2013

Front Page: Valley Tavern hosts "Pub Quiz" Nights every Tuesday; Aesthetic Dentistry participated in Give Back a Smile to help a battered woman; Phoenix becomes Folio; Noe Valley Ministry remodel is on schedule and will reopen with ¡HolaKids! preschool next fall; Mazook gets 4" of Rumors on the front page.

Letters: The NVMPA wants you to know that 24th between Castro and Noe made San Francisco Magazine's top ten blocks for gift buying; Poet Tom Peck is angry Scott Wiener helped shut down the Market Street Recycling Center.

Short Takes: Plans to renovate Noe Courts stalled when tennis players showed up in force at last meeting, so there's a new final meeting on Nov 13 from 6-8pm at St Philip's.

Cost of Living in Noe: Low inventory, relatively lower prices for homes in September; 1 bedroom apartment average hovers around $2,700/month.

Store Trek: Buttons Candy Bar.

Rumors: Scott Wiener and Carol Yenne went to Utah and met with Nutraceutical Corp, which plans to demolish the Real Foods building next year and construct an unspecified replacement that won't include one of their own stores (start dreaming); Tom Taylor and Jerry Goldstein of the "Christmas Tree House" on 21st St got married once the Supreme Court struck down DOMA and Prop 8 - 40 years after they hooked up at the baths; Be Yoga has opened; "Best of" lists recounted; La Ciccia offshoot La Nebbia plans to open by the end of November; Firefly celebrates 20 years.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

This Week In Noe Valley: The Home Of Lux Homes, Another Stuck Bus, And The History Of San Francisco Street Names

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

• Noe Valley was king of luxury home sales in SF for first quarter of this year [SF Biz Times]
• New to SF? From SF? This map will make you smarter [Noah Veltman]
• "Another great moment in corporate busdriving" [@bwalsh]
• Yet another realty company's video guide to Noe Valley [ClimbSF]
• Want to donate perishable food? This week we learned how. [@dolface]

[Photo: soniafaleiro]

Japan Disaster Hits Home In Noe Valley

The Japan tsunami/earthquake/nuclear disaster is still unfolding but plenty of local merchants are finding ways to help:

Hamano Sushi (1334 Castro @ 24th) is matching donations to relief funds - and will put your name on the wall with one of these cards pictured.

Patxi's Pizza is holding a fundraiser on April 5: "Ten percent of all proceeds will be donated to the Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund established by the JCCCNC, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, based in San Francisco. Purchases from dining, delivery, pick up, or gift cards at lunch and dinner are all included. Patxi’s is hosting these fundraisers as a part of our ongoing “52 Weeks of Giving” campaign for 2011."

Know other local groups pitching in? Please post them in the comments.

Update (3/23): Shoe Biz is hosting a benefit on March 26th - buy TOMS  Shoes and Shoe Biz will match (x2) with a donation to tsunami victims.

Benefit: 30th St Senior Center 30th Anniversary Auction

Yes it's late notice, but this Saturday is the 30th Anniversary of On Lok's 30th St Senior Center. Big Party and silent auction at Patio Español. Items for auction include everything from handmade paper notebooks to tickets on Southwest Airlines. Luminaries in attendance (and also auctioning their time) include Supervisors Bevan Dufty, David Campos and John Avalos; Senators Leland Yee and Mark Leno; and Capt David Lazar (SFPD, Ingleside). (If you'd like a cleaner copy of items for auction send us an email.)

Sponsoring organizations: Liberty Hill Neighborhood Association, San Jose/Guerrero, North West Bernal Alliance, Dolores Triangle Neighborhood Association, Treat 1000, Lower 24th Street Merchants & Neighbors Association, Fair Oaks Community Coalition, Upper Noe Neighbors, Noe Valley Merchants Association, Glen Park Neighborhood Assn, Open House.

Call or email Marianne Hampton if you want to bid on any of these items. Auction runs from 5-8:30 Saturday night 10/17/09. You can call Marianne to check on your bid at any time: (415) 601-7845 or marianne.hampton@gmail.com.

Carrotmob at Bernies

From Rebecca Prozan:

San Francisco’s third Carrotmob at Bernie’s!
3966 24th St · Between Noe & Sanchez
Sunday, October 18, 11am–2pm
Support energy efficiency and conservation while promoting a Noe Valley business owner. Bernie’s is a certified green business already a certified member of the Green Cafe Network and has pledged over 40% of sales during the October 18 event to go even greener.
Carrotmob encourages businesses to compete to see who will do the most good for the environment, and then rewards the business with a mob of consumers.
Check our progress on http://sf.carrotmob.org.
If you would like to volunteer at the event, please email carrotmob@rebeccaprozan.com

Can anyone point us to a list of "certified green" businesses?

Update (10/7): Correction and clarification above from promoter. Here's more info on the Green Cafe Network.

Win a Free Dinner for 6 at Contigo

For the fourth consecutive year, Brett Emerson is donating his skills as a prize for Menu for Hope. Each $10 donation to benefit the UN World Food Program earns you a raffle ticket toward a dinner for 6 at Contigo.

Like last year, I will cook a multi-course dinner for the winner. The exciting difference between this year and last is that that this year the winner will dine not at my house, but at my real live honest to goodness restaurant Contigo. As you read this, we are putting the finishing touches on Contigo and will be opening right around the time that Pim announces the winners.

Check out In Praise of Sardines for all the details.

And in case the bold type didn't catch your attention, Brett hopes to open Contigo sometime around January 12, 2009.

[IPoS: Menu for Hope 2008 - feed the children of Lesotho]
[Firstgiving: Menu for Hope]
[NVSF: Contigo: Upside Down, Backwards & Hopeful]

San Francisco Food Bank Drop Off Locations

Contrary to what we posted in our monthly roundup of news from the Noe Valley Voice, the San Francisco Food Bank has three year-round drop off locations in Noe Valley:

I came across your blog posting where you state that the SF Food Bank has no food drop off locations in Noe Valley. We actually have three locations -- Bell Market, Terra Mia, and Noe Valley Ministry. ...Terra Mia doesn't have a barrel, but Bell Market and Noe Valley Ministry always have barrels... If folks have any questions, they can email us at fooddrives@sffb.org.

As the Events & Food Drive Manager points out:

Also, this is listed under "Noe Valley" on the document you link to from your page.

Quite right! Not sure how we managed that one but there it is.

[San Francisco Food Bank]
[NVSF: NVV: We Read It So You Don't Have To]

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

The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year, and while we love the idea -- it's pretty lightweight. Here's everything you want to know from the latest issue.

December 2008 / January 2009

• Front Page: Noe Valley Farmer's Market 5 years strong; founders/volunteers still lament Real Foods.
• Obits: Historian Paul Kantus; Architect Albert Lanier.
• Planned: Bell Market closes on Valentine's Day, Whole Foods takes over March 1st and plans to be open by September - expect community meetings with the NVMPA and Friends of Noe Valley; FoNV is also meeting with the City to replace the individual news boxes on 24th St with "news-rack pedestals;" Streetlight Record's space may be turning into a clothing retailer.
• Opening: Kookez is slated to become City Grill, according to Stefano Coppola (Lupa), and promises "classic American fare" by mid-December; Just Awesome Games is opening in mid-December at 816 Diamond St.
• Open: Jeff & Eddie's Henry's Hunan; Cary Lane; Jewelry Box.
• Closing: Glare.
• Events: Noel Stroll - Dec 13
• Charity: Drop off toys at Hill & Co; SF Food Bank (PDF) has no drop-off locations in Noe Valley. The SF Food Bank has three year-round drop off locations in Noe Valley: Terra Mia, Bell Market and Noe Valley Ministry. More info here. (Our mistake, not the NVV's.)
• Cost of living in Noe: single-family residences unchanged year-on-year; condos up. And don't forget the new record $5.8M SFR. Rent: slowly increasing.
• Award: Noe Valley Association: "Best Community Benefit District" in San Francisco.
• News of the Weird: John Adams has been reincarnated as NV resident Walter Semkiw (really - there's a full page about it).

[The Noe Valley Voice]