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Oh, the summer… We’ve had a few shootings and it looks like the SFPD is going to do something about it, and today, Gavin walked over to our hood (it’s like 3 blocks away from his office, so it’s not THAT big of an effort) and announced that they’re going to increase foot patrols in the hood.

Woohoo.

In other Hayes Valley news (found whilst looking for the police stories).. Hayes Valley is the epitome of cool.

So, 7×7 magazine just posted their annual “Eat & Drink” awards for San Francisco.. Hayes Valley restaurants scooped up 5 out of 20 of the awards:

best dessert: Citizen Cake
best pre-theater: Jardiniere
best for a large group: Sauce (woohoo! congrats you guys!)
best CA cuisine: Zuni Cafe
best restaurant cocktails: Absinthe

Woohoo.. go Hayes Valley. My hood rocks. Well, it’s definitely “up and coming” at least… And, it’s getting better — we’re getting at least two more new restaurants in this year, so that’s exciting. As Michelle excitedly reported last week, Miette Patisserie opened up here, which should give Citizen Cake a run for its money. I actually am not a huge fan of Citizen Cake — their desserts are WAY too sweet for my taste.

That said, I’m still a little disappointed with the eating choices we have here. It seems like we have either expensive fancy places, or disturbingly mediocre ones. Grr. I just want places that are cheap and super good… Like Hotei, Weird Fish, Citrus Club, and Hard Knox. Mmmmmm.

Oh yah.. this reminds me, but if you’re in San Diego and are looking for a good place to eat, check out sandiego.eats.it. Doug just launched it, and it’s looking pretty good. I’m waiting for him to launch sanfrancisco.eats.it — I’m all over that.

As previously reported, David Best (of burningman temple fame) was planning on building a temple in hayes green…

Well, it’s there now… and it’s basically a mini version of the temples that he’s built for burningman, with the intricately cut-out shapes, all nailed together… people have already started to leave bits and pieces of themselves all over the temple.. flowers, messages, change, etc…

it’s great to see a bit of burningman culture right in the middle of the city — audris, andy and i walked over to the temple around sunset yesterday and it was great to see a good sized group of hayes valley folk wandering the green at magic hour…

It’s great to see how nicely Hayes Green is coming together..

David Best, who is reknowned in San Francisco for building a series of “temples” at burning man, is looking to build a temporary structure in Hayes Green — the new park being created by the Octavia Street Boulevard project. He’s looking for $25,000 to be donated for the project. The city balked at the pricetag for the project, which some are callinf the “Gates of The West”. So, now he’s looking for private donations. Christo and Jean-Claude self-funded the $20M for “The Gates” — and made a tidy profit for themselves by selling the original prints and sketches associated with the project. Does San Francisco not have the same patron base to support a project 1/800 the size (monetarily, at least)? I’ve seen “The Gates” and Best’s work at Burningman — both were equally inspiring to me, so I would hope that we San Franciscans are not put to shame by those New Yorkers…

So.. go donate if you can.