This Week in Noe Valley: NōVY Preview, Lost Pet Bird, And A Photo Tour Of Baja Noe

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

• A sneak peek at NōVY [Tablehopper]
• Missing: Pet cockatiel last sighted near the Seward slides responds to whistling the song Tequila [Mickaboo]
• Upper Noe Valley "momiforms" [Far Out City]
• Noe Valley Bakery is 20 years old this week [@noevalleybakery]
• A photo tour of Baja Noe Valley [Mission Local]
• Noe Valley teardown lists for $859K, sells for $1.38M (and will sell for $4M in 2 years) [Curbed]
• Inside an unusual Noe Valley "Ship in a Bottle" home [Inhabitat]
• Philz Coffee has $30M in funding for nationwide expansion [TechCrunch]

[Photo: Tippy house via sfgirlbybay]

Foodie Bridge To Valencia At The Edge Of Noe Valley

There are three new restaurants opening on the edge of Noe Valley that promise to be welcome additions to the dining options between here and Valencia Street. Valencia St. has become a go-to for some of the most innovative (and fun!) restaurants in the City, and now it looks like local chefs are looking for spaces nearby that promise to expand the number of quality restaurants for a great night out.

22nd and Guerrero isn't downtown Noe Valley, but according to the map we use for our 'hood it's right on the edge. Some sources call it the Mission, but that's not quite right. Let's go ahead and call it Noe Gulch. The new restaurants there ...

The restaurant formerly known as Company (and at one time home to the foodie Mecca Flying Saucer) has become Hoffman's Grill & Rotisserie. Chef/owner Karen Hoffman, who has worked at Spago and the Four Seasons, has created a casual restaurant "serving comfort food at its finest." Everything is made in-house including bread, pasta and sausages and the focus is on "the quality of the ingredients." Early visitors on Yelp give it 4.5 stars.

Across the street in what used to be Beast and the Hare, Brett Cooper (formerly of Outerlands and with help from the Daniel Patterson Group) is working on Aster, which Inside Scoop reports is a 45 seat restaurant that will serve ingredient-driven Californian fare sourced from small but emerging local farms. (Fittingly, the name Aster means small local flower.) Opening date was reportedly this November, although on a recent walk past the space it didn't appear an opening was imminent.

Slightly south, but still close by, former Ubuntu chef Aaron London is planning to open an as yet unnamed restaurant on Valencia at 26th (formerly Toad's and more recently South End Grill n' Bar). Inside Scoop has the lowdown here too: It seats 49 and will cater to more than vegetarians (although "veggie heavy") and will serve fish, meat and seafood too. Look for that to open this Spring.

All told, Noe Valley dining options continue to attract attention. Add the above to La Ciccia, Contigo, Firefly, Saru Sushi and other options, and it's looking good for quality fare expanding on the edge of Noe Valley.

[Photo: Hoffman's Grill & Rotisserie on Yelp]

This Week In Noe Valley: Expensive Real Estate And Those Who Pay For It

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

• A typical Noe Valley condo featured in The New York Times [NYTimes]
• Maybe you're not ready to buy? Here's a 2BR apt for $4000/month. [Curbed SF]
• You say you're not part of the tech boom? You'll need a roomate and multiple jobs to afford that apt. [SFist]
• Oh snap! Some of these wealthy newcomers might want to shop in nice places [The New Yorker]

[Photo: @markoniel74]

This Week In Noe Valley: Panoramic Views, a Secret Garden, And Other Reasons To Love Noe

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

• SF architecture, part 2 - 1915 to today [dpaul]
• Are your neighbors hurting your property values? And is this your Noe neighbor wandering around naked in the back yard? [InsideSFRE]
• Bill Goat Hill makes a great unique date spot: "excellent views...less glass than Tank Hill" [SFist]
• Panoramic photo of San Francisco from Noe Valley [@atomjack]
• Learn to ride to school the right way (and how to stop for stop signs) [Noe Valley Rec Center Event]
• A secret garden door in Noe [macleanisnine]
• Scott Wiener's July/August newsletter [Scott Wiener] 

[Photo: Barbara T]

This Week In Noe Valley: Another Stuck Truck, Noe Valley History, And A Debate About How To Help Restaurants Thrive

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

• Nailed it! [The Bold Italic]
• Pictures of stuck trucks on our hills never get old [Mitchell Fox]
• A brief history of Noe Valley [Yahoo!; better: Bill Yenne]
• Upper Noe Rec Center's April newsletter [UNRC]
• A benefit at St Aidan's Church in Diamond Heights [St Aidan's]
• More debate about whether the hot hot hot Valencia St restaurant scene needs a moratorium like the one that Noe Valley (finally) discarded [Uptown Almanac]
• Not the brightest blowtorch wielding ATM thief [SF Examiner]

[Photo: inger]

This Week In Noe Valley: Condo Sales Insanity, Homegrown Hostess Cupcakes, and Word Week Begins

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

• Field trip envy: check out the view from the cupola atop City Hall [Hayeswire]
• Noe Valley condo sales are on fire - $998,000 is average (if you can find one)  [Downing & Co.]
• The gentrification of San Francisco 2.0 [Marketplace]
• Lusting after Hostess-style cupcakes from scratch from Noe Valley Bakery (with photos) [love from the bay]
• Noe Valley Word Week featuring local authors starts today [FONV]

[Photo: j_gail ]

This Week In Noe Valley: Phone Grabbing, Foodie Events, And Scott Wiener Is Winning

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

• J-Church phone grab. Again. No seriously - AGAIN. Put your phone away. [Mission Local]
• Bingo Night at St Paul's [SFGate]
• How to find adventure in San Francisco: "Throw a little glitter on it, Honey!" [DesignStudio]
• More on how Caskhouse ended up in Noe Valley [Gorilla Analytics]
• Scott Wiener makes the far left mad. Whatever. [7x7]
• Noe Valley Bakery makes a mean birthday cake [Red Tricycle]
• Omnivore Book's March foodie events [Omnivore Books]
• Omnivore's Celia Sack also knows a thing or two (or three) about crab [Edible SF]
• Average January single family home sold for nearly $2M [Downing & Co]
• And yet...words fail. Probably "good bones," but the last three photos... [James Maxwell via Pac Union]

[Photo: Tamar Hurwitz]

Photo: Sutro Tower Work At Night

If you were up late last night you may have noticed some activity on Sutro Tower. Noe Valley resident trophygeek sent the above photo with this explanation:

Was headed to bed at 3am when I noticed strange lights coming from Sutro Tower. Guess they were doing work up there. The shot is of the mid-platform all lit up. First time I've seen it since moving to this neighborhood 3 years ago.

So what sent workers up the Tower on a cold night in December? Trophygeek heard from friends around the City that "they heard a massive bang last night from all over town. I think it was related to this work." Can anyone point to more info or speculation? Google isn't helping.

Regardless, we think the comments posted about this GIF provide the most likely explanation: epic lightsaber duel.



[Flickr: trophygeek]

This Week In Noe Valley: Holiday Conversation Starters

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

• Trip Advisor users define "real" Noe Valley [Trip Advisor]
• And what does Airbnb say about Noe Valley? [Airbnb]
• But living in Noe Valley isn't always puppies and butterflies [Curbed SF]
• Nor is it cheap: $1.39M average sale for single family homes in October [Downing & Co]
• Yet people will do anything to get here [@tessde]
• Meanwhile, the kittens at Macy's recommend getting out of the house [SF SPCA (live cam)]

[Photo: papahazama]

Perseid Meteor Over Sutro Tower

[Photo: Sent to us by trophygeek]

Photos: The 2012 Solar Eclipse From Noe Valley And Beyond

We asked for photos highlighting today's annular solar eclipse on Twitter and here's what we have so far (though not all are from Noe Valley). Got a great shot? Send it our way and we'll add it to the post.

Credit: @KennethLaslavic

Credit: NishaSF

Credit:@jgc94131

Credit: trophygeek

Credit:Telstarlogistics

Credit: Casto

[Top Photo: NVSF]

This Week In Noe Valley

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

• Seems Saucy Joe has ruined more knives than the two we brought him [Yelp]
• Joe's on 24th St still for sale - now $150,000 [Craigslist]
• NV-based Martha & Brothers may (or may not) be opening a shop in the Haight [Eater SF]
• SF still struggles with medication disposal; here's an update of drop-off locations [SFPUC]
• Views from the Edge: SF General takes shape [Burrito Justice]
• Missed the NV Saturday market? Farmer's markets around SF [SF Weekly]

[Photo: Instagram]

Video: Demolition of 448 Diamond St

Tom sent us this time-lapse video of the demolition on 448 Diamond St:



Here's what it will look like when the new "family-sized 5 bedroom" [PDF] home just outside Noe Valley is completed:

Noe Valley: Home Of Yummy Mummies

Harvest Festival 2010

A hat tip to SF Weekly for pointing us to the following assessment of Noe Valley by the BBC:

Noe Valley is one of the most desirable neighbourhoods in San Francisco right now. It is close by the Castro and the Mission, but it [is] filled with yummy mummies and the stroller set, sidewalk cafes and lovely old Victorians.

[BBC Travel: Living in: San Francisco]

Cesar Chavez: Work Starts In June

CC Puede's Fran Taylor sent the following update about the upcoming construction and redesign of the Cesar Chavez corridor:

The May 11 meeting on the Cesar Chavez Street project drew well over 50 people and was crammed with information, which I tried to note down. Here it is, in somewhat higgledy-piggledy fashion.

The sewer work is scheduled to begin in late June, starting at Hampshire and working west. The construction crews will work on three- or four-block chunks at a time. These blocks will have no parking during the work, which will involve digging a trench 10 to 13 feet wide to accommodate the 72 to 84-inch-diameter pipes being installed.

In addition, on the south side of Cesar Chavez, the existing pipes will be relined. Workers will need to block traffic for this as well.

From Hampshire to Treat, the trench is expected to be closer to the north side of the street; west of Treat, the trench is expected to be closer to the middle of the street. Two travel lanes in each direction will be maintained on Cesar Chavez throughout the project, but the lanes will move according to where the trench is. The existing three lanes of traffic west of the project will be gradually merged into two lanes in the construction area.

For the crossing of Mission Street, workers will avoid digging a trench to minimize disruption to Muni and BART service. Instead, they will dig two pits, one each at Capp and Bartlett, and install the pipe with a trenchless method.

In addition to Cesar Chavez, sewer construction work will take place on the following streets in the area as part of this project:
* Harrison: from Cesar Chavez to 26th
* Valencia: from Cesar Chavez to Mission
* Fair: from Mission to Coleridge
* Coleridge: from Fair to Coso
* Coso at Coleridge

Each block should take five to six weeks, and the first large segment from Hampshire to Folsom should take about nine to 10 months. When each three-block chunk is completed and reopened, the street will be striped according to the new streetscape striping, with parking lanes, bike lanes, two car travel lanes in each direction, and turn pockets or turn restrictions as outlined in the approved plan. As part of the streetscape improvements, the greening, repaving, and median work won’t begin until the sewer work reaches Folsom, about nine months after it begins.

The sewer work on Cesar Chavez would take 15 to 16 months, and the streetscape work another nine months, totaling about two years. Work hours will be Monday through Friday, 8 am to 6 pm, with some possible weekend work. City officials emphasized that residents will have local access, and, on the occasions when driveways must be blocked, the contractors will contact households individually to work with them on solutions.

Notices that will be distributed before the project starts will include a 24-hour number for questions and complaints. The city will conduct meetings similar to the one last Wednesday every three or four months to update and obtain feedback from the community.

Alex Murillo of the DPW Office of Communications and Public Affairs will be the contact person for the project, and he gave out his office phone number (415/437-7009) and cell number (415/627-8106). Brave man! He can be reached at Alex.M.Murillo@sfdpw.org. The project is also up on the DPW website: http://www.sfdpw.org/index.aspx?page=1166.

The project manager for the streetscape aspect is Kris Opbroek, who can be reached at Kris.Opbroek@sfdpw.org or 415/558-4045.

After the presentations, a lively discussion ensued, mostly focused on the approach to combining or separating stormwater runoff from wastewater.

The Mission Streetscape Plan: What It Means To Noe Valley

The Mission District Streetscape Plan advanced out of committee to the full SFMTA board for a vote on Friday after years of community meetings and a full Environmental Impact Report. That's the good news. The bad news is that assuming it passes the Board, it will be 10 years before fully implemented at a cost of $96M.

The entire 62MB PDF is available here: Of note to Noe Valley residents:

• Making permanent the much-maligned traffic-calming plaza at 28th and Guerrero (pages 50-51). A priority project: "The City will continue to look for funds to create a permanent plaza at this location per the designs shown in this plan."
• 24th St BART station improvements (pages 42-43). A priority project: "The City has received approximately $2.2 million in grant funds through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s TLC program to build improvements to the 24th and Mission BART station, including plaza improvements, new bus bulbs on Mission Street, and raised crosswalks at alleys crossing 24th Street."
• Reducing Cesar Chavez to 2 traffic lanes in each direction from Hampshire to Guerrero with dedicated turn lanes, bike lanes, pedestrian bulb-outs, a 12-foot-wide median and a new plaza at Capp/Mission. All that will sacrifice 30 parking places. (pages 54-55, 66-67) Ironically, there is a lot of hate for the project from the bikes-only crowd commenting on StreetsBlogSF - the project doesn't go far enough to protect cyclists.
• Pedestrian safety improvements to Dolores St and the Dolores St park/plaza at San Jose we reported on last year (pages 42-47, 70-71).

When? A projected time line is on page 96. Work on Ceasar Chavez will begin next summer after completion of a sewer replacement project set to start in the next month or so.

[SF Planning: The Mission District Sreetscape Plan]
[SF Planning: Final draft of Better Streets (PDF)]
[NVSF: Proposed: Gateway Park At South End Of Dolores Street]

Closing: Delano's IGA Market

A reader sent this over the weekend:

It's not exactly Noe Valley but close to [enough to] warrant. Was just at [Delano's] in the Castro and noticed a lot of special 'sales'... Talked to the cashier and she said they are closing up in like 1-2 weeks. They announced this news on Wednesday (just before Thanksgiving). Bummer - she said she did not know why nor what will come into its place.

Then last night the RichmondSF blog posted that the Delano's on Geary is closing, which makes it likely that the South Van Ness location will also close. And with SocketSite reporting that the planned Market St Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are unlikely to pan out we could see more people coming over the hill to the Noe Valley Whole Foods.

[RSF: CLOSING: Delano’s Market at 27th & Geary; possible bankruptcy]
[SocketSite: Trader Joe’s Reportedly "Outed" From The Castro Over Traffic]
[SocketSite: Whole Foods Concerned About Market (Street), Delaying On Haight]
[Flickr: delanosiga]

Blue Skies, Blue Angels Over SF

Click image for full picture.

The biggest Fleet Week in decades is in town and the Blue Angels are flying. While you can see them buzz Noe a few times, it's worth the trip across town to see them at close range by the Bay. The airshow runs from 1-4 and the Angels fly from 3-4.

Noe Valley: Sun Francisco

One of the reasons we live in San Francisco: colorful architecture. Michael, an artist in Bernal Heights, walks with his daughter in the mornings and created a blog called Sun Francisco Art Houses to celebrate some of the sun-related motifs he's found, including some in Noe. Fun.

The Color Project on Duncan Street

Kate of Duncan St is a design student at California College of the Arts (CCA) and wrote us about her latest project -- which sounds very charming:

I am working on a site specific design problem, which happens to be the block I live on. The block is very quiet-no parties, no chatty neighbors, no teenagers, no games on the sidewalk, and no one hangs out on their front steps for any extended periods. All the paint colors fall within a very small palate of beige, off-beige, yellow beige, and a little cream here and there. I am working on an installation of temporary color to encourage a little more engagement and community on our block. Our neighborhood is safe, and our street has plenty of potential- wide sidewalks, big front stoops, kids, and friendly grad students. For the past three weeks I have installed color flags on the street- this week I have made color pendants, which are currently hanging from trees, across sidewalks, scaffolding and from windows. My hope is, with a little playfulness, these flags might inspire more fun on our street.

Unfortunately, not everyone is a fan of the color project, or responding with the right kind of "engagement." The flags have been stolen, the neighbors have complained... you get the picture. She blogs about the project here, here, and here. If you want to help or learn more, you can drop her an email at the address shown on the flyer image (click to enlarge). Our just give her some encouragement in the comments.

[Mi Piace Kate Design]