Pictures Or It Didn't Happen: Skiing in Noe Valley

“It started as a thoroughly mundane Wednesday afternoon in Noe Valley in 1976. Chuck Cihak was in a garage on hilly Alvarado Street, watching a friend work on a car, when he heard the unusual sound of ice hitting the ground.” So begins Peter Hartlaub’s story of how the 22 year old Noe Valleyan skied from his house on Alvarado to Bud’s Ice Cream on 24th at Castro and into the San Francisco history books. Read the whole story and catch some other great photos here.

Update (1/15): Peter Hartlaub made a video of his interview of Chuck Cihak. Check out The Big Event for more.


[SFGate: Once-in-a-lifetime ski trip in Noe Valley, 1976]
[The Big Event: San Francisco man skied six city blocks during 1976 snowstorm]
[Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle]

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]

Video: Elizabeth Street Brewery

The second episode of Brew Age highlight's Noe Valley's Elizabeth Street Brewery. Check it out because it's awesome (and because it has the best three-word motivation for launching a passion we've ever heard).

Brew Age is a new series from Oct28 Productions featuring Bay Area homebrew and craft beers. Good beer and local? We're in.

[Brew-Age, @brew_age]
[Elizabeth Street Brewery]

Video: Thief Empties Box Left By OnTrac

This video via the Noe Valley Parent email list, while lacking drama, captures an OnTrac delivery and subsequent pilfering of said delivery. The loot? Kids vitamins.

So much for the convenience of Amazon Prime.

This Week In Noe Valley: Tuggey's Clearing Out, Angry Birds Hit Big Time, Pup Photos

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

• ABC7 gets emotional, highlights bathroom graffiti and can't spell "Tuggy's" [KGO; Also: KGO six months ago]
• O'Greenbergs to become Palladin with ABC license transfer [Grubstreet]
• NoPa, Outer Richmond and Parkside edge out Noe Valley for competitive bids [SFGate]
• Noe Valley's angry birds make the national news feed [MSNBC]
• Photos of your pup by Jesse Freidin tomorrow [K9ScrubClub]
• Set your child on the path to effective cyber security [NewsBiscuit]
• Insane promo filmed on San Francisco's streets [YouTube]

A Day In The Life Of Billy Goat Hill

Via Burrito Justice comes this slightly haunting and totally cool 360 degree "pan lapse" shot from Billy Goat Hill. Ken Murphy is the same artist who shot the three-and-one-half-day time-lapse of the Muni rail replacement at 30th/Church. And also the mesmerizing History of the Sky.

[Vimeo: Ken Murphy]

Tidbits: Cause, Cosmetics, Cops and Chicken

Benefit: The 7 Squared Project: "...a community-based video adventure that aims to raise awareness for 14 organizations that are doing purposeful, socially responsible work in San Francisco. This project is a collaborative endeavor between Seven Summits Productions, 7 non-profits, 7 businesses, and you."

Elizabeth Street Cosmetics: Kelly Crispen announces: "I'm a longtime resident of Noe Valley [and] I just launched my boutique line of lipsticks and lipglosses in honor of our beloved neighborhood!" All lipsticks and glosses are named for streets in Noe Valley. Currently available at Rabat on 24th St and through the website.

Meeting: Vicki Rosen (the "Upper Noe Valley representative on the Ingleside Station Police Community Advisory BoardPolice") Sends this meeting announcement: "Chief Suhr will be hosting a community meeting to solicit input from your community on a new Community Policing General Order on July 26 at 826 Shotwell, The Cesar Chavez School, at 6:00 pm. Ingleside and Mission Stations will share the venue. Please advise your respective community members and I encourage as many as possible to attend--this will be an excellent opportunity for the Chief to hear from you regarding YOUR ideas on Community Policing."

Fried Chicken Tuesdays - Frustrated that Firefly doesn't have their Famous Fried Chicken when you go? Try Tuesdays. "When it came to our ever popular fried chicken, however, we had to be satisfied with pleasing all of the people only some of the time. But now, we have committed ourselves to pleasing all of the people all of the time…sometimes."

And finally...it's been around a while but the above video - with a section on Noe Valley - is worth (another) look.

Video: J-Church Rail Replacement

Ken Murphy lives on 30th at Church and put together this 13 minute timelapse video of the last weekend's J-Church rail replacement from 18,520 images.

Also check out Streetsblog's writeup of the weekend's work. Best line: “Just as I was thinking it, a neighbor nearby noted with happiness, 'Hey, it doesn’t make noise anymore.'”

[Vimeo: Ken Murphy Via Streetsblog]
[Streetsblog: Replacing the Rails on the J-Church Line]

Video Shilling: "Trust Your Agent"

Not one, but two Noe Valley "neighborhood guide" videos showed up in our email this morning. The first is from Zephyr, and is one of 28 videos they've packaged to highlight San Francisco neighborhoods. Too much to pick apart line-by-line, but we can't get over the total disconnect between what the narrator says and what is on screen.

The second is from Vanguard by way of SFGate. Actor/Salesman/Handyman Buzz Leer implores you to "trust your agent" (in this case Amanda Jones). Better yet -- take his other advice and "do your homework."

Video: The Story Of The Noe Valley Farmer's Market

Found on Google.

Fun with Video: I Spy

You'll have to follow the link to this Guide to Noe Valley, as there's no code to embed it here. Let's play I Spy - how many errors can you find? Our favorite bit? Describing Noe as "a nice sunny spot" while dressed for a gray winter day.