On Tuesday, June 4, the Golden Gate Park Senior Center is hosting their “Cooking with Kids & Grandparents” event from 9:30am until 12noon.

The event is a great chance for grandparents and their grandchildren to enjoy a day together of cooking, culinary exploration and eating. The event is hosted by the students of the Nutrition Assistant Program of City College SF, under the supervision of registered dietician Lisa Yamashiro.

The workshop takes place at the Senior Center, located at 6101 Fulton Street. Cost is $5 per participant, and children must be accompanied by an adult.

Please reserve your spot in advance by emailing lisa.yamashiro@mail.ccsf.edu.

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

[Reprinted from The Richmond Police Station Newsletter of May 30, 2013. To be added to the station's mailing list, email sfpd.richmond.station@sfgov.org.]

CAPTAIN SHARON FERRIGNO’S MESSAGE
This week in the Richmond District we have had a few incidents of car burglaries where thieves are taking the garage door opener from the car and then using the remote to burglarize the home. If your car is broken into please check immediately for your remote. Consider stowing your door opener in your purse or pocket and bringing it in your home rather than leaving it in the car. If your remote is taken reprogram your opener immediately. It is not difficult, there is a code on the overhead mechanism that you can change.

We have also had a few incidents of lock box key theft. Some residents leave their gate key in a lock box for letter carrier’s to access the mail box. Thieves are breaking into the lock box, taking the key and burglarizing the home. If this sounds like a practice your family prescribes to, you may want to rethink that strategy and talk to your letter carrier. In past newsletters we have spoken about blessing scams that target elder immigrants. This week the District Attorney’s office gave away shopping bags to warn against such scams. There was a misprint which should read “If the scammers approach me what do I do? Leave immediately and dial 911. Follow up with the District Attorney’s Office later by calling 415-551-9597. If you are the loved one or caregiver of an elderly person in our community please take a moment to let them know their first step is to call 911.

Our next Community meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 6pm. It will be in the Community Room, here at Richmond Station, 461 6th Ave.

NOTEWORTHY ARRESTS
On 05/24/13 at 12:37am, the driver of a vehicle was traveling west on Geary Bl and made a U-turn at 24th Ave, to go eastbound. The driver hit and went over the center median, back across the westbound lanes, struck a park car and two parking meters. The 21 year old male was charged with driving under the influence.

On 05/24/13 at 5:40pm, officers were called to a business on the 3200 block of California St on a call of a person trying to cash a stolen check. The bank had called the owner of the check and he confirmed that his checks had been stolen in February. The officers detained the woman attempting to cash the $3600 dollar check. She was on probation and had an outstanding warrant for her arrest. The 35 year old woman was charged with fraud, burglary, possession of stolen property and a probation violation.

On 05/24/13 at 7:50pm, officers responded to a call of a possible fight or purse snatch at 9th and Geary. The caller was then reporting that the two people involved apparently knew each other and had gotten into a gray Toyota and left south on 9th Ave towards Anza. A responding officer located the vehicle at 9th and Anza and detained the two occupants, a male and female. The fight was apparently over the woman’s’ drug use. Officers observed that the woman appeared to be altered and showed signs of being under the influence of narcotics. As the male was driving with a suspended license, the vehicle was going to be towed. Officers located numerous drugs and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle along with prescription medication in other person’s names. The two were charged with narcotic violations.

On 05/25/13 at 3:15pm, officers were called to the Baker Beach Parking lot in the Presidio on a call of a male sleeping on a 29 Line MUNI bus that the driver couldn’t wake up. The officers were able to get him up and he told them he had too much to drink and passed out. The officers conducted a warrant check on the male and determined that he had two warrants for his arrest for indecent exposure, one from San Mateo County, the other from Alameda County. The 38 year old male was booked on the warrants.

On 05/25/13 at 9:50pm, officers went to a call of two roommates in a fight on the 1400 Baker St, with one roommate threatening the other with a knife. The caller had locked himself in his bedroom. When officers arrived the male threw his keys to them so they could enter the apartment and told the officers that the roommate was at his bedroom door with the knife. Officers entered and located the suspect and detained her. The victim told the officers that he had heard noises in the kitchen and found the suspect throwing dishes around. When he questioned this behavior, she picked up a kitchen knife and threatened him. When she advanced, he ran to his room and locked the door. Officer located at least ten holes in the wall that the suspect had made with the knife. The suspect kept screaming at the officers and said she welcomed going back to jail. The 35 year old female was charged with threats, brandishing a weapon and aggravated assault.

On April 24, 2013 a victim met up with the suspect on the 400 block of Walnut to sell a watch and bracelet that he had posted on Craigslist. The victim was robbed at gunpoint by two suspects who took his property. Through the investigation, officers were able to identify one of the suspects and issued a warrant for his arrest. On 05/28/13, the 21 year old male was located taken into custody. He was charged with robbery.

On 05/29/13 at 9:30am, the victim was on a westbound #1 California MUNI line. She was standing on the bus, talking on her cell phone with her earpiece in. Suddenly the suspect, who was sitting next to the victim, grabbed the victim’s phone and threw it to the ground, causing it to break. The suspect shouted to the victim that she was stupid and exited the bus at California and Presidio Ave. The victim also got off the bus and watched as the suspect entered a building on the 3200 block of California St. Officers located the suspect who told the officers that the phone had been tracking her and had been for some time. The suspect was charged with battery and vandalism to property.

NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS
Between 05/21/13 and 05/30/13 on the 1300 block of Lyon, a suspect entered an apartment by unknown means and took a TV, desktop computer, bicycle, jewelry and a pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes.

On 05/25/13, between 12:30am and 9:30am on the 2500 block of Post St, a suspect entered an apartment building and entered an unlocked vehicle parked in the garage. The suspect took a laptop.

Between 05/26/13, 11pm and 05/27/13, 10am on the 200 block of 14th Ave, a suspect entered a vehicle that was parked on the street. From that vehicle he took a garage remote and entered the garage. The suspect then took a purse from the vehicle that was parked in the garage and used the credit cards at various locations. There was no forced entry into the vehicle that was parked on the street.

Between 05/28/13, 7pm and 05/29/13, 3pm on the 6700 block of Fulton, a suspect entered a garage through an unlocked side door and took sunglasses and coins from a vehicle parked inside.

Between 05/28/13, 9:30pm and 05/29/13, 4:30am on the 100 block of 15th Ave, a suspect entered a home through an unlocked front door and took the car keys that were sitting at the bottom of the steps. The suspect then used the keys to steal the car that was parked in front of home.

Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget

In honor of their new Impressionists on the Water exhibition that opens this weekend, the Legion of Honor will have a special item on display this Sunday: the America’s Cup trophy.

A little history on the impressive trophy:

In the more than 150 years since that first race off England, only four nations have won what is often called the “oldest trophy in international sport.” For some perspective, consider that there had been nine contests for the America’s Cup before the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens in 1896.

The America’s Cup trophy will be on display on Sunday only, from 9:30am to 5:15pm, in the Legion’s Gallery 12 (on loan from its current home at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club).

Come by to see the trophy up close and have your photo taken with it. Then don’t miss the Impressionists on the Water exhibit, celebrating pleasure boating and competition, and featuring more than 80 paintings and works on paper by Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Gustave Caillebotte, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro and Post-Impressionists such as Maurice Denis and Paul Signac.

Sarah B.

A photo of Sean Sidi, and at right, the last photo taken of Sean from a video capture during
his visit to International School on May 21.

On Tuesday, May 21, 19 year old Sean Sidi called his father around 1:30pm and said he was “catching a bus to the park”. That was the last time that anyone heard from Sean, and he was last seen during a visit to a former high school teacher at the International High School on Oak Street earlier that day.

Police traced the last ping from his phone on May 21 to an area “near and/or around Alvord Lake (Golden Gate Park), Stow Lake (Golden Gate Park), and the Inner Richmond”.

Last weekend, friends and family of the Sidi family gathered at Lands End to form search parties and look for Sean. The family reports on the seansidi.com blog that they are coordinating a formal search with the Polly Klass Foundation and will alert the public soon to details.

Sean’s family is especially concerned because several months ago, Sean suffered a severe traumatic brain injury that has left him medically fragile. And his disappearance and lack of contact is out of character for him.

“Sean has a firm history of informing us of his whereabouts. Sean rarely leaves the house for long periods. He is generally home by 6pm. He has NEVER not informed us of his location or plans,” his parents wrote on the Help Find Sean Sidi website.

Sean is 5′-5″, 120 lbs, and of slim build and Caucasian/Asian descent. Dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. Sean was last seen wearing a black and gray hooded North Face rain jacket, blue jeans and black canvas shoes. He just came out of an arm cast and was wearing a black splint on his left wrist/arm. He has braces on his teeth.

Anyone with information on Sean’s disappearance should contact Sergeant Ann Mackenzie, SFPD at 415-734-3268. You can also leave anonymous tips on the Help Find Sean Sidi website.

Sarah B.

Hip-hop dancers at last year’s festival

This Sunday is the 26th annual Multicultural Children’s Art Fair, taking place at the Richmond District Neighborhood Center (741 30th Avenue near Cabrillo).

The festival runs from 12noon until 4pm and features youth performers, hands-on arts and crafts, carnival games and a bake sale.

The event is free so stop by with your family o Sunday for some fun!

Sarah B.

This Saturday, San Francisco Nature Education is offering free birding classes for both adults and kids at the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park.

Birding for Everyone | 10am – 12pm
A naturalist will lead a hike through the exciting micro-habitats of the SF Botanical Garden and spot a variety of local and migratory birds. Meet near the bookstore inside the main gate of the SF Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park. Free field journal provided to children. Please bring binoculars if you have them, and a pencil for recording bird sightings.

Birding for Kids and Families | 10am – 11:30am
The Saturday walk begins with a mini-class-show and tell on calls and songs, beaks, bones and wings. This monthly program is oriented toward young students and their families. All youngsters must be accompanied by an adults. Please bring binoculars (if you have them) and a pencil. Adults $10, children free.

Sarah B.