A 2 Clement Muni t-shirt available at Park Life (220 Clement). $26

Some local links to get you through your Wednesday…

• Turkish / Mediterranean restaurant Troya (349 Clement) will be opening a second location on Fillmore in the former Vivande and Citizen Cake space. EaterSF reports that it will be more “modern and hipper” than the original. Troya Fillmore is targeting an April 2012 opening.
• Oozora Sake House didn’t last, so veteran shabu spot Shabuway will be taking over the space at 5120 Geary according to GrubStreet. It will be the fourth opening for the Shabuway chain, and let’s hope experience wins out. The last two shabu concepts in that space have failed.
• How many people are needed to truly make a meeting “public”? SFCitizen says more than one but that’s all that showed up at the recent meeting about the upcoming renovations at the Stow Lake Boathouse which includes a new cafe. There was some buzz about it in the Chron but in reality, they’re the same plans and drawings we saw in July of last year. Still, exciting that it’s finally happening.

Photo by Elijah Ellis

• Free adult classes start at the Richmond Village Beacon on January 30th. Ballroom dance, yoga, tai chi, knitting, computers and English (ESL) instruction – all free! View class schedule
• Kisha Studio (210 Clement) has a spring sale event this Saturday. Free champagne, and hair mini makeover sessions from 1-5pm (call 422-0468 for an appt). Plus 10% off any purchase when you mention the Richmond Blog.
• Supervisor Mar’s latest resolution to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday was about the Grammy Awards and their limited selection of musical genres. No word yet on the Board’s reaction.
• SFCitizen reports that there will be a public meeting on January 26 about the remodel of the Stow Lake Boathouse. Hall of Flowers, 7pm.
• SF Rec & Park is planning a free tribute concert to Warren Hellman on February 19 from 11am until 5pm. Location will be either Hellman Hollow or Ocean Beach parking lots, depending on the weather. Organizers also hope to stream it live online.
• Feeling lucky? Enter to win a Green Apple $20 gift card from FunCheapSF.

Event Co-Chairs Eva Monroe and Ernie Ng at Thursday’s press event.

This Saturday from 10am until 4pm, the Botanical Garden in Golden Park is hosting their annual, free celebration and show in honor of the Chinese New Year.

This year’s program includes classical stringed instruments and cultural dance performances by Alice Fong Yu School, lion dancers, magician Jaden Huang, and a puppet show from the Chinese Historical Society of America. There will also be a raffle with prizes given away throughout the day.

You can also attend a talk by Chinatown historian Lyle Jan, or taste in the Tea Room thanks to Vital Tea Leaf.

For the kids there’s story time, educational activities, an Asian Art Museum center for the kids, plus learning activities with the 826 Valencia writing center.

Saturday’s schedule:
10am – West Coast Lion dancers
11am – Alice Fong Yu School Performance
11:30am – Rosa Parks School Performance
12pm – West Coast Lion Dancers
12:15pm – Magician Jaden Huang
1:30pm – SFBGS Story Time
2pm – Chinatown history with Lyle Jan

While there, grab a map for a self-guided tour of the Asian Plants in the Botanical Garden, or join a docent tour at 10:30am or 1pm.

Also expect to see some beautiful and exotic flowers. The photo below was taken at the press preview on Thursday.

The celebration takes place on Saturday from 10am until 4pm at the County Fair Building in the Botanical Garden. Admission is free.

Sarah B.

Looking over the Richmond District from the de Young Museum tower. Photo by andertho

For the foodies out there, here are some local links about our neighborhood eateries. Eat up!

• The always funny Beth Spotswood visits the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, seeking zen and tea. “Sitting there with my tea/sandwiches, listening to music and looking forward to a fresh new year ahead, I was able to remove myself from nasty annoyance at their dumb conversations and European cargo pants.”
• Chron food critic Michael Bauer says you should check out the French Onion soup at Chapeau!
• The Chronicle’s Food & Wine staff finally discover popular Korean spot Han Il Kwan
• The Moss Room restaurant at the Academy of Sciences closed on January 1. But it will re-open, under the management of Charles Phan who already runs the upstairs Academy Cafe.
• Anthony Bourdain, host of the The Layover show on the Travel Channel, dined on fish head at Korean restaurant To Hyang (3815 Geary) during a recent San Francisco episode

The vandalized trees on the 500 block of Funston. Photo by Kay Voyvodich

In the past week, two incidents of tree vandalism were discovered by residents that live along the 400 and 500 blocks of Funston Avenue, just on the other side of the greenbelt along Park Presidio Boulevard.

Recently, the city planted three new trees on the 500 Funston block near Anza Street. Less than three days later, the trees were torn in half and left broken on the grass.

“Just disgusting. Makes me sick,” wrote one member of the Yahoo! Group BoulevardNeighbors, made up of residents that live along the greenbelt. Many of them volunteer their time to care for the greenbelt that sits across from their homes on Funston and 14th Avenue.

Photo by Kay Voyvodich

Just a week earlier, another resident noticed tree branches on the 400 block of Funston had been snapped and torn off. “It was disheartening to see,” wrote group member Jeffrey. “Do we have a deranged tree killer on the loose?”

Tree vandalism is nothing new to the Richmond District. In the summer of 2010, a total of 44 trees and some rose bushes were destroyed in Golden Gate Park. Among them were 17 elm trees that were sawed in half in the dark of night in the Music Concourse. They were later replaced at a cost of $30,000 thanks to a donation from Chase Freedom.

During the summer spree, the Rec & Park Department even offered a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the tree vandal, but nothing ever came of it. At one point, police were staking out potential targets 24 hours a day with undercover and uniformed cops patrolling more than 40 hot spots in the park.

Towards the end of the spree, there were even some bushes destroyed along the Park Presidio greenbelt near Fulton.

Tree branches were snapped off on the 400 block of Funston. Photo by Jeffrey Gray

Who is responsible for these latest acts of vandalism? No residents have witnessed the vandals at work, but some think it may be coming from the illegal campers that reside in the greenbelt.

“There are frequently campers on that block. They can only be seen from the Presidio side,” one BoulevardNeighbors group member wrote.

Illegal encampments are a frequent topic of discussion on the group’s message boards. In November, a longtime encampment was finally removed after one neighbor complained to a passing motorcycle officer.

“I told him how frustrating it was to have to call all the time and that now there were two encampments. He got some fellow officers and they cleaned out two very large encampments and stayed and waited for Public Works to show up to get stuff,” wrote the neighbor.

Members of the group frequently exchange reports of encampments. Police encourage them to call the SFPD dispatch line at 553-0123 whenever they see a new one developing.

Despite the clearing, the camper returned quickly and police had to be called again. “This particular camper is breaking branches off of small bushes and really setting up house,” wrote the group member.

Whether this latest act of vandalism is due to the homeless living close by, or some other anti-tree activist remains to be seen. Let’s just hope it subsides so we don’t have to look to donations to help replace our ruined trees.

Sarah B.

The Academy of Science’s Love Life Photo Competition is back for a second year. This is your opportunity to enter your favorite photos taken at the Academy for a chance to win prizes.

The Academy is looking for photos in any of these six categories: land life, aquatic life, night life, family life, mobile life, and protect life. Five local judges will choose the winners.

The overall grand prize winner receives a dinner and hotel getaway in San Francisco, including a room at Hotel Vitale and dinner at 54 Mint, a Lytro 16GB Light Field Camera, Adobe Photoshop, and an Academy Conservation Photography Excursion.

The winners in each category receive a Lytro 8GB Light Field Camera, Chronicle photography books, and an Academy Conservation Photography Workshop. The awards presentation will take place at the March 1st Nightlife event. Get all the contest details

To enter, upload your photo to Flickr and then tag it with “lovelife2012″. Just by tagging the photo, it’s automatically entered.

The deadline to enter is February 1. Check out the slideshow above of already submitted entries – there are some great ones in there!

Sarah B.

Last Friday, birders in Golden Gate Park spotted an injured gull with a fishing lure caught in its beak at Elk Glen Lake and Lloyd Lake. Since then, wildlife rescue workers have been trying to find the gull to offer it aid.

The gull was not spotted again, so rescuers hoped that perhaps it had shook free of the lure and was on the mend. But on Sunday around 11am, it was seen again still injured, this time at Stow Lake.

The lure could make it hard for the bird to feed and to preen, or clean its feathers, said Rebecca Dmytryk, a spokeswoman for WildRescue.

“Preening is extremely important for water birds, because if they don’t preen their feathers will let in the cold air and water, and they’ll die of hypothermia,” Dmytryk said.

WildRescue is the same organization that successfully captured and rehabilitated the Golden Gate Park hawk who had been shot through the beak with a nail gun last October.

Volunteers with WildRescue will try again today to locate and capture the injured gull. If you happen to see the bird, contact WildRescue right away at (415) 979-9700 and they will send out a trained volunteer to capture it.

Sarah B.

[via SFAppeal]

RichmondSFBlog reader Queenie sent in this foamy pic yesterday of the main fountain in Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse. Looks like someone slipped it some soapy suds to ring in the New Year…

Sarah B.

On Thursday, Santa made a special visit to the Philippines Coral Reef at the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Watch the video to see a bit of his underwater interview and to see how popular he is with the fish.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sarah B.