The 3 million people of the San Diego metro area are served not just by a single airport but by a single runway, making it the 2nd busiest single-runway airport in the world (behind London's Gatwick). But where to put a new one? How about 10 miles out to sea?
posted by FfejL on Oct 24, 2009 - 40 comments

San Francisco's largest residential landlord is refusing to give back security deposits. CitiApartments is possibly going broke and, according to the head of the San Francisco Tenants Union, refusing to refund many tenants security deposits (he says they're getting three to four complaints a week). CitiApartments' buildings are filled with vacancies because their business model is purchasing buildings and then harassing and intimidating tenants into moving out so they can raise the rent. [more inside]
posted by Stephen Elliott on Jul 2, 2009 - 79 comments

Bluegrass Grows in Golden Gate Park. The line-up for the 8th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival has been announced for the first weekend of October in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, its traditional location since its inception in 2001. [more inside]
posted by Senor Cardgage on Aug 17, 2008 - 22 comments

The Bullitt chase entirely geocoded. (Previously.)
posted by miss lynnster on Jun 30, 2008 - 38 comments

In 1974 - or 1976, depending who you ask - Armistead Maupin began writing "an extended love letter to a magical San Francisco” in the form of a serialized, fictional drama published originally in the Pacific Sun, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner, originally called "The Serial" which then became collectively known as Tales of The City. It is a suprisingly beautiful, deep, emotional, cosmopolitan and lasting tale about life in San Francisco in the turbulent, heady days of the 1970s and 1980s. Widely credited with and cherished for helping spread a little of the openess, tolerance and acceptance that San Francisco is now famous for. It then became a series of books - Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Babycakes, Significant Others, Sure of You - and lastly, the spin-off tale of Michael Tolliver Lives. Almost exactly twenty years after first publishing, it then became an excellent miniseries from the United Kingdom's Channel 4, which aired in the United States on PBS, but not without protest or limitations. [more inside]
posted by loquacious on May 4, 2008 - 39 comments

Sneaky subterfuge! At the "last minute," the torch is re-routed miles away from the tens of thousands of people waiting to see it. Mayor comes 'under fire" for lying to the people.
posted by aacheson on Apr 9, 2008 - 97 comments

The Mayor of San Diego has a change of heart. GOP Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego comes out in support of gay marriage.
posted by fourcheesemac on Sep 22, 2007 - 118 comments

San Jose, CA - then & now - a decent collection of old photos, matched up with recent photos taken from the same vantage point. An interesting look at how things have changed around here. (Found in a reddit comment earlier today)
posted by drstein on Aug 23, 2007 - 17 comments

The Bushmen get to go home! "Lady" Tonge said they were "holding the government of Botswana to ransom" by having the gall to keep on living. Others recognized genocide for what it is. They used the internet to tell us how much they wanted to go home and now, in one of those few moments where something goes right, they can go home.
posted by jefgodesky on Dec 14, 2006 - 8 comments

Ima Gangsta -- the motivation and the regret. "San Francisco has an out of control gang violence problem, but what motivates young people to join gangs? Ruben City Palomares -- in his first film -- explores the reasons young homies choose to get jumped into a gang and reveals the lifetime of regret older gang members carry as a result of their fateful decision to be a gangsta. Palomares, 16, is a filmmaker with Conscious Youth Media Crew."
posted by derangedlarid on Oct 4, 2006 - 23 comments

It's that time of year again. Zombies. San Francisco. Vancouver. And in case you missed the big one last year, Vancouver 2005.
All this right on the heels of another, and bigger, Skytrain Party, celebrating robots and the new station.
When you live in No-Fun City, you gotta make your own.
posted by Extopalopaketle on Aug 19, 2006 - 21 comments

sony tries counter culture to sell playstations - and gets beat down
or was it all part of the plan?
posted by specialk420 on Dec 8, 2005 - 42 comments

Poguetry: "The Parting Glass: An Annotated Pogues Lyrics Page".
posted by mwhybark on Mar 17, 2005 - 16 comments

There is nothing wrong in this whole wide world. Artist Chris Cobb convinced Adobe Bookshop in San Francisco to allow him to reclassify 20,000 books based solely on their color. The result is like something out of a dream. Here are some pictures, and here's an interview with him.
posted by O9scar on Nov 16, 2004 - 39 comments