Last August, Woody Allen was in town filming scenes for a new film starring Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins, and Peter Sarsgaard. Shoot locations included our own Gaspare’s Pizzeria at 5546 Geary.

The film now has a title – Blue Jasmine – and a trailer. Check it out above. You’ll catch a peek of the Ocean Beach promenade at the 1:22 mark (on a suitably overcast SF day).

Blue Jasmine is due in theaters on July 26, 2013. I think we have to see it – because it takes place here, and it’s got Alec Baldwin in it. Oh and my Mom loves Woody Allen.

Sarah B.

The view at Lands End

We’re cross-eyed after reviewing the dozens of awards that SFWeekly handed out this week in their annual “Best of San Francisco” poll. Below are the local winners in the roundup – yay for the Richmond District!

Best Aquarium Turned Dance Floor: California Academy of Sciences
Every Thursday evening the museum converts into a makeshift discotheque, using its various rooms to host DJs pulled from the city’s best parties. Venture downstairs to Steinhart Aquarium, and, on select nights, you can dance next to a stunning variety of tropical fish. More

Best Funhouse: Buckshot (3848 Geary)
This bar and game room out in the Inner Richmond puts a whole new twist on the term “drinking games.” Forget the college classics like flip cup, beer pong or kings when you’re putting back the booze. Instead, travel back further into your childhood and play a slew of arcade games, including hipster favorite Big Buck Hunter. More

Skee ball at the Buckshot. Photo by Joey the Cat

Best Feat of Culinary Strength: The Challenge at Pho Garden (2109 Clement)
we’re probably not the best candidates to take The Challenge at Pho Garden, wherein contestants must eat 2 pounds of rice noodles, 2 pounds of combination beef and tripe, and 4 quarts of broth in less than an hour. More

Blogger Madison tries her luck with the Pho Challenge

Best Place to Get Lost: Mile Rock Beach
…with a little more effort on the Lands End hike – over 100 stairs, to be precise – it’s possible to find a place where on a foggy day not even Marin County across the water can be seen from a stretch of sand tucked in between cliffs west of the Golden Gate. More

Best Housing Metaphor: Golden Gate Park’s Tiny Door-in-a-Tree
Whether art project or public statement or another sad escapee from UCSF’s Super-Intelligent Squirrel Development Lab, the door attracted national attention before it got filled with trash, at which point the city intervened, citing (as always) some permitting thing. More

The mini door at the base of a tree in Golden Gate Park. Photos by Erica Reh

Best Amateur Historian: Woody LaBounty
The self-described “Big History Guy” — he is 6-foot-5 — is the executive director of the Western Neighborhoods Project and the keeper of the mesmerizing OutsideLands.org. If ever there were a more surefire way for a history-minded San Franciscan to blow an afternoon perusing amazing old photos and reading insightful essays than visiting this site, we haven’t found it yet.

Best Place for a Mani/Pedi: Aqua Spa (14 Clement)
Before your toes hit the water, the friendly staff offers you tea, puts a warm wrap around your shoulders, and turns on the massage chair. There’s an endless supply of tabloid magazines, but there’s a good chance you’ll never get to that Brangelina story, because they do foot and hand massages that are so relaxing it’s hard to concentrate on celebrity gossip. More

Best Place to Take Small Kids on a Bike Ride:
Ocean Beach Promenade
…there’s no better place, day-in and day-out to pedal along with the wee ones than the flat, forgiving terrain of the Ocean Beach promenade. More

Best Hike to Ruins of an Astronomical Observatory: Summit of Strawberry Hill, Golden Gate Park
You won’t find strawberries atop Strawberry Hill anymore. Nor will you find the Sweeny Observatory, a grand, castle-like structure erected in 1891. Sepia-toned photos reveal a wondrous, circular structure sprouting atop the hill and reflected in Stow Lake. More

The Sweeny Observatory atop Strawberry Hill lay in ruins after the quake of 1906. Photo courtesy of calisphere

Best Marathon Sporting Development Battle: Beach Chalet Soccer Fields
After five years of wrangling and approval by four city agencies, the state’s Coastal Commission finally approved proposed Astroturf fields under 60-foot light towers on the far west of Golden Gate Park. It was a long and odd road; a city document actually argued that the turf-and-lights plan was best because the area had fallen prey to “undesirable uses such as camping and sexual activity.” Turf opponents claimed that artificial grass conflicted with the natural state of a park created atop rolling sand dunes. Barring legal redress, the turf and lights are coming. Whether the camping and sex go away remains to be seen.

Reader’s Poll Winners
Best Museum: De Young
Best Music Festival: Hardy Strictly Bluegrass
Best Hike: Land’s End
Best Park: Golden Gate Park

A conceptual, overhead rendering of the four renovated fields at Beach Chalet

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Local nature photographer David Cruz had his fifth whale sighting on Sunday while out on a walk at Lands End. The gray whale breached and stayed for a bit near Seal Rocks. Maybe he was communicating with Sutro Sam?

Thanks to David for sharing his find!

Sarah B.

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Local photographer David Cruz was in the right place at the right time again this afternoon…

A sand painter brought his rake brush out to Ocean Beach to create a beautiful design just before sunset.

We’re not sure if this is the same sand artist – Jim Denevan – who painted a design on the beach in March 2012. UPDATE: The artist is Andres Amador – thanks to commenter Amber for the info!

Whoever it is, thank you for bringing a little extra beauty to Ocean Beach. And thanks to David for capturing it, who wrote “He looked like a bull fighter, turning quickly while he made the spirals”.

Sarah B.

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Ah Ocean Beach, you are such a temptress to the surfer with your winter waves and crisp sun-filled skies…

For the second time in three days, a surfer had to be rescued from the rocks near the north end of Ocean Beach around lunchtime.

Being a holiday, it was a slow news day, so media outlets seemed overly interested in the incident (SFAppeal, SF Gate).

In one of the photos taken by David Cruz (below), the stranded surfer can be seen giving a thumbs up to not one, but three news helicopters that were circling overhead (Cliff House diners must have loved that!).

Long story short, the surfer was met by a 47 foot Coast Guard boat that scooped him up after he re-entered the water. He was the deposited safely onto China Beach. The whole rescue effort lasted about an hour.

Thanks to David for sharing his pics.

Sarah B.

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

On Saturday around noon, a group of surfers ran into trouble off Ocean Beach. Big waves trapped the men behind Seal Rock just below the Cliff House, and they were initially unable to make it back to shore.

Local photographer David Cruz was on the scene (keeping an eye out for grey whales), and watched the rescue effort unfold.

Rather than being plucked out of the water by the two Coast Guard boats and helicopter that arrived, rescue personnel instead relied on the incoming waves to help the surfers get back on land.

Lifeguards directed the surfers’ progress through the waves, and met them just offshore to help them get to the beach.

“I saw one surfer smashed against the rocks by a big wave as he approached the shore,” wrote David. The man was uninjured, and was helped onto the shore by a lifeguard.

The Coast Guard helicopter had scuba personnel on board, but they never entered the water.

Glad the surfers are ok! Thanks to David for the report and pics.

Sarah B.

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Photo by Natures Lantern – David Cruz

Last fall, we posted some great shots of a river otter that was frolicking at Sutro Baths. Today, the Chronicle reported that the otter, now known as “Sutro Sam”, has taken up residence in the ruins where he munches on goldfish and entertains visitors.

He’s the first river otter to show up in the confines of San Francisco in decades, according to the River Otter Ecology Project, which tracks otter sightings around the Bay Area.

Sutro Sam’s digs below the Cliff House are ideal for feeding – he’s got access to birds, mussels, and the various pet goldfish that people have “relocated” to the freshwater pool that fills up the old ruins, fed by a spring.

The Chron article starts out with the line, “Naturalists and wildlife aficionados are atwitter about the unexplained presence of a river otter at the ruins of Sutro Baths…”, which may have spawned the idea for the critter’s new Twitter handle – @SutroSam.

Sutro Sam tweeted up a storm today, expressing his desire to find a she-otter to keep him company, and the need to “commandeer plovers for micro-blogging” (his wet furry paws lead to typos in his tweets; another Twitter member suggested the sharp, precise beaks of the snowy plovers on Ocean Beach).

So far he only has 31 followers, but that includes some real heavyweights like the Academy of Sciences, the Ocean Beach Bulletin and well, this blog.

So the next time you’re out at the Baths, keep an eye out for Sutro Sam and be sure to tell him you like his tweeting! Otters need validation too.

Sarah B.

Photo by John Dent

Reader John D. sent us this pic he took of some brave souls taking a dip at Ocean Beach on New Year’s Day. What a way to start the year!

Do you have any neighborhood-related resolutions for 2013? Leave a comment to let us know.

Sarah B.