Emma’s Coffee Shop on Geary. Photo by Alan Turkus

Happy Wednesday everyone! Here’s some local links to keep you clicking…

• Thursday is Bike to School day so be mindful of more tots than usual out and about on two wheels.
• Just desserts: There’s a new dessert cafe in the outer Richmond, located on Clement near 32nd Avenue. It’s called Akiba, and reader Jason tells us: “Went in to check it out and was pleased to see that Japanese dessert does indeed mean crepes! Very fresh and yummy.” 50 Yelp reviews so far and they’re at a solid 4 out of 5 stars.
• EaterSF reports that Vietnamese restaurant Perilla is opening in the former Pho Clement 2 location at 5423 Geary. Like its other two locations, “the menu is pho-and-bun-centric, but also has a large selection of garlic noodle or rice plates with charbroiled meats and vegetables.” Owner Tin Truong also runs another restaurant in the Richmond District – PPQ Dungeness Island (2332 Clement).
• The Bold Italic has a colorful feature story on the ladies of Paul’s Hat Works. “As proprietors of a relatively new business, the four gals serve as their own best advertising, strutting their wares along with impeccable outfits. They temper Al Capone’s smooth outlaw style with a dash of feminine whimsy.”
• ScoutMob SF has a good deal for free treats at new Cassava Bakery on Balboa in the Outer Richmond
• Coyote hysteria? We had great pics of a Golden Gate Park coyote on Monday, but one woman’s scare with them is prompting the city to close off some trails in the park.
• A place for your next BBQ party: RichmondSFBlog reader Carolyn tells us that the Bazaar Cafe (5927 California) is renting out their lovely garden and new BBQ for group gatherings. You bring your own BBQ fixings, and buy your beverages from the cafe, plus pay $10 an hour to use the BBQ.

Sarah B.

This Saturday from 10:30am until 3pm, Frank McCoppin Elementary school will host an e-waste recycling drop-off. This is a great chance to get rid of those old electronics that have been cluttering up your office, garage or living room.

For every pound of e-waste they collect, the school earns $.05 which will go towards buying new computer equipment for the students.

Stop by McCoppin Elementary on Saturday, located at 651 6th Avenue near Cabrillo, to drop off your old computers, televisions, printers and small appliances this Saturday.

And in case you missed the news, McCoppin was one of the Distinguished School Award winners for 2012.

Sarah B.

The San Francisco Unified School District announced this week the winners of the 2012 California Distinguished School awards, awarded by the California Department of Education (CDE).

Of the nine local schools that won, two are located right here in the Richmond District: Frank McCoppin Elementary (651 6th Avenue) and Lafayette Elementary (4545 Anza).

The 2012 California Distinguished Schools Program focuses on California’s students and their entitlement to an equitable and rigorous education. The program identifies and honors those schools that have demonstrated educational excellence for all students and progress in narrowing the achievement gap.

“The schools we are recognizing today demonstrate the incredible commitment of California’s teachers, administrators, and school employees to provide a world-class education to every student, in spite of the financial hardships facing our state and our schools,” said State Superintendent Tom Torlakson. “Their dedication is inspiring, and I applaud and admire their passion and persistence.”

Elementary and high schools are recognized in alternate years for the Distinguished Schools award program. This year focused on elementary schools.

Schools earning the Distinguished School title agree to share their signature practices with other schools and serve as mentors to other educators who want to replicate their work.

Congratulations to the staff and students at McCoppin and Lafayette!

Sarah B.

RichmondSFBlog reader Claudine sent me the news last week of a new mural that is brightening up the Star of the Sea schoolyard on 9th Avenue.

The mural is a collaboration between USF student artists and the first graders at Star of the Sea School. In September, the two groups met to brainstorm ideas for a mosaic/mural and came up with the theme “underneath the sea”.

In October, the artists held community work days in which all members of the community were invited to help mortar, set tiles, and grout.

“The kids had a wonderful time seeing the mosaic come to life and getting dirty in the process,” Claudine said. Her son is in the first grade class that worked on it.

Thanks to the USF student artists and the hard working first graders of Star of the Sea for helping create this nice mural for our neighborhood!

Sarah B.

The Star of the Sea first grade class with their USF student artist mentors

A closeup of the tile mosaic in the new mural

The beginning, middle and end of the mural

From Monday through Friday of this week, Argonne Elementary School (680 18th Avenue) is hosting their annual “Holiday Book Fair”. Shop their large selection of preschool through middle school grade books and gifts, in addition to adult titles including many cookbooks.

The sale is on daily in the school library from 8am until 3pm, and on Thursday night, they are open late until 8pm.

Proceeds benefit the Argonne Parent-Teacher Organization whichs support the school’s extracurricular programs.

Sarah B.

There are a couple of fun holiday-themed events going on this Sunday in the neighborhood.

From 11:30am until 3:30pm, St. Monica’s School is hosting Santa’s Village, a community event where you can have brunch with Santa, get your photo photo with Santa, let your kids become an elf in Santa’s Workshop, and do a little Christmas shopping list in their Christmas Boutique.

Entry is $13 per person. St. Monica’s School is located at 5950 Geary Blvd near 23rd Avenue.

Also on Sunday is the first of two Tal-y-Tara Christmas Teas, held at their shop on California Street near 27th Avenue. Tal-y-Tara is an English tearoom with high-tea service, as well as a polo and equestrian shop.

They serve a full tea service with sandwiches and scones, featuring live musical performances and sing-a-long, lots of games, and even Santa Claus will be on hand to read stories to the children (you’ll have to ask Santa how he’s managing to be at St. Monica’s AND Tal-y-Tara at the same time!).

Christmas Tea at Tal-y-Tara is offered this Sunday, Dec. 11 from 12noon until 6pm, as well as next Sunday, Dec. 18. The price is $25 per person – make reservations by calling 751-9275.

Sarah B.

A curious pooch looks into the Internet Archive on Clement near Funston. Photo by mike dillon

One happy hawk: Remember the hawk who had a nail shot through his beak? He was released back into the wild a couple weeks ago and was seen this week in Golden Gate Park’s Botanical Garden, doing quite well.

Richmond resident does good: Richmond District resident Anwar Ghanem was honored at City Hall for helping rescue a man from a burning car. “Ghanem’s 3-year-old daughter, Jasmine, watched her dad receive his awards. She shrugged when asked if her dad’s a hero, but Ghanem seemed to acknowledge that he is. “I feel kind of like a hero. It feels good,” he said.”

Muppet mania hits Argonne School: Mention Argonne School at the Balboa Theater this Sunday and save on your ticket to see the new Muppets movie. Mention Argonne during either of the afternoon showings (2:20pm or 4:35pm) and you will receive a special ticket price of $6 per person plus a free goodie bag.

Surf’s still up: Check out this nice set of pics in Surfing Magazine from the 2011 Rip Curl Pro Search contest that was held at Ocean Beach:

Mom & Pop school supply store shuts down: The Educational Exchange store on Balboa, one of the Bay Area’s last family-owned teacher supply stores, is closing this Wednesday.

Last week, the students at Argonne Elementary School at 18th & Cabrillo got a lesson in how to beautify their campus. Step 1: remove some of the concrete and replace it with a garden.

For the past 10 years, Argonne students have been visiting the Children’s Garden at the San Francisco Botanical Garden as part of their Youth Education Program. From that came a desire for Argonne to start its own garden on campus.

Then in February 2011, the Botanical Garden announced a new program called “Grey 2 Green”, designed to teach residents how to transform their sidewalks into attractive, landscaped areas. “Less concrete. More jungle.” is the program’s theme, which is a joint venture with the Department of Public Works.

Argonne School was selected to pilot the program and after 3 months of work, 240 square feet of sidewalk along Cabrillo near 18th Avenue was converted into a garden with 15 varieties of California Native plants, as well as bee and butterfly habitats.

The garden celebrated its grand opening last Friday which included a ceremonial planting of a Strawberry Tree (Arbutus Marina) by the students.

“Our school community has been transformed by this partnership with Grey2Green,” said Tina Eshaghpour, Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) Green Argonne Chair.

“We have seen concrete sidewalk, where people dump trash, transformed into a learning and community meeting place, where students delight in the butterflies that visit and neighbors pause to give us a smile and express appreciation for making our street more beautiful.”

Interested in transforming some of the grey outside your home into green? The Grey 2 Green program is still underway. Around 250 residents have attended the workshops so far this year, and the final one for 2011 will be held on Saturday, November 12 at the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park from 9am until 10am.

Sarah B.