The Bold Italic

Perfect City Cruising with Public Bikes

Jun 6, 2011, 2011, 11:04am

I recently stopped by Public Bikes' South Park headquarters to check out their office/store and was impressed with the beautifully designed, European-inspired urban bicycles and biking gear.

The bikes have lots of cool design-y details and they're also super easy to ride. In fact, if you stop by Public, you can take a leisurely test spin around South Park.

The entryway features a library of biking books and magazines, along with a photo gallery of satisfied customers. The space is lovely and feels more like a design studio than your typical bike shop.

Public is still a relatively new business, gearing up to celebrate their first anniversary later this summer. Their unique approach (for instance, they recently celebrated biking in heels on their blog) is perfect for me, a casual cyclist at the other end of the extreme from the the fixed-gear, no-brakes daredevils.

Categories: SOMA, Sport

Sunday Flea Market Finds

Sasha Gainor

Jun 3, 2011, 2011, Midnight

This past Sunday, in my attempts to avoid the Carnaval craziness of the Mission, I escaped to the mecca of vintage treasures, the Alemany Flea Market. This Sunday institution is a great place to find shabby chic home decor, cowboy boots, vintage photographs, Buddha heads, and plenty of other random goodies you didn't know you wanted. Whenever I'm at a flea market, I'm usually in search of two things: vintage serape blankets (Mexican blankets) and gaudy old picture frames. Alas, I found neither, but there was still plenty of treats to be discovered. Here are a few of my favorite finds:

old jazz records

Mannequin heads all named Sarah!

The seller of these heads joked about how people to take a lot of pictures of these but no one ever buys one (I wonder why...). That said, this market does offer a boatload of photo opportunities, so bring your camera!

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People Magazine featuring New Kids on the Block

Air Plant Terrariums

These terrariums by the Scorpion Sisters were my favorite find of the day. You can buy a terrarium and pick out your own air plant to go in it.

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Each terrarium is made inside of a recycled jar. Fleamarket5

This is the one I picked! Fleamarket6

Pupusas

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Salvadorean food, a Pupusa is basically a stuffed tortilla, filled with meat, cheese, vegetables, or a variation of all three.

I had the zucchini pupusa; it was made to order and served with cabbage salad. Yum!

The Alemany Flea Market is open every Sunday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. (Get there early for the best selection)
For more information call (415) 647-2043.

Categories: Bernal Heights, Shopping

This Weekend's Rut Busters

Jennifer Maerz

Jun 2, 2011, 2011, 11:07am

Photo of Churchill by Alex Martinez for Haighteration

It's getting to be that time to start making plans that separate the same-oldness of the week from the weekend's free-for-alls. A couple years ago I created a column for another blog that was a list of all the good stuff to do for under $10. I can't seem to shake the habit of scouring events postings for the most fun and interesting stuff to check out, so I'm thinking of bringing a different sort of best-of list to The Bold Italic. This one's focused on scouting out new or unusual adventures. This weekend's picks:

Get Free (Jazz) at Explorist International

Every Friday from 7 to 10 p.m., this awesome little 24th St. record shop hosts Free Jazz Fridays, an excuse to have a fine soiree inside the shop and showcase local improv artists.

Spend the Night in Church(hill)

Haighteration recently gave us the heads up about Churchill, the new 1940s-inspired bar that opened at the corner of 14th and Church. It's owned by the folks behind Bloodhound and Double Dutch, so you know the decor's gonna be real nice.

Get Lost in a Yeti Forest

Local artist Aaron Terry is obsessed with the urban yeti to the point where he turned the Ever Gold Gallery into a cave where various artists' interpretations of the creature roam freely. His exhibition, "Resistance to the Indignities of Modern Life," opens tonight with a party from 6-10 p.m., but you can escape into the identity of this furry mammoth for the whole month of June at Ever Gold Gallery.

Glam Up Happy Hour

There's long been a bit of Television's Tom Verlaine in Oakland's Andy Human. The former Cuts frontman has a great new act, Lenz, that's equal parts T-Rex glam and '70s New York grit. They play Amnesia for a 7 p.m. happy hour show on Friday.

Have a Good Cry

Southern Exposure is experimenting with a series of Saturday "cries," or art markets based on ye olde tradition of sellers hawking their wares vocally. This weekend's Market Day Public Art Event has shifted from a public square in Mint Plaza to Southern Exposure's gallery space due to all the damn rain we've been having, but it still should be an interesting spot for a local art market.

Bond at an Underground Dinner Party

ForageSF is all about the community experience, from the way they set up the tables at their dinners so folks eat together family style, to the local ingredients that go into their eight-course meals. Friday you can get your fill of new friends and great food at their latest Wild Kitchen event.

Categories: The Mission, The Tenderloin, Art & Design, Food & Drink, Music, Duboce Triangle

Randy for Rand + Statler

Nicole Grant Kriege

Jun 1, 2011, 2011, 8:17pm

Rand + Statler in Hayes Valley has been open for a couple of months, but they only put their sign up recently. Turns out this boutique is owned by the gals who run Azalea next door, and they needed a new space to expand their ever growing selection of high-end men's and women's clothing. You may remember that Azalea also opened up a beautifully curated men's shop on Gough called Welcome Stranger. They must be doing well!

One of the most amazing things about this store is the SHOE WALL. See if you can spot my dream pair of white, leather oxfords.

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I noticed a large selection of Acne denim for men, which is hard to come by. Acne is a design collective in Copenhagen that produces art, advertising, toys, clothing, and whatever else tickles their fancy.

Rand + Statler also has a surprisingly large selection of fashion books. One of my favorites was the American Fashion Cookbook, with recipes and illustrations by 100 designers.

They don't carry much by local artisans, but they do have some stunning pieces (like the ring above) from Lauren Wolf in Oakland. She studied jewelry-making in the mountains of Mexico, and there is certainly something magical about her work.

I'll be back to Rand + Statler sooner rather than later to see what else I can find!

Photos by Nicole Grant

Categories: Hayes Valley, Fashion, Shopping

Carnaval 2011: From the Sidelines

Sarah Han

Jun 1, 2011, 2011, 12:53pm

One of my favorite local photographers, Travis Jensen, went out on Sunday with fellow photog Brad Evans to check out this year's Carnaval parade. Although Travis has been to the parade a few times, this was his first time shooting it. It's a good thing he went with Brad, a Carnaval veteran, who knew that the best shots are often taken on the sidelines, and not of the actual parade. Brad warned Travis that the light is usually "too toasty to shoot in the street," and that it's something of a photography circus. Lo and behold, at 7:30 a.m., Travis says there were "swarms of photographers already on the scene. A good chunk... were traveling in packs of five to ten, all donning two-to-three camera bodies each, long lenses, flashes with huge diffusers on them, safari attire, and some event sporting knee-pads (yes, knee-pads)."

Setting them apart from the pack, Travis and Brad took photos of the performers posing and preparing on the sidelines, spectators, and locals gearing up for the action, rather than of the parade itself. Travis shot his photos in black-and-white. As he says, "It would have been far too easy to create a series of bright, punchy photos."

Check out these eight images from the day, and visit www.allcitysf.com for more photos by Travis, Brad, as well as Stuart Dixon and Bob Horowitz.

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