Phillip Maisel Artist, Student

What are you up to these days?  My first exhibited video piece is up now at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts as part of the John Baldessari: Class Assignments, (optional) group show. I’m pretty excited about it. 

SF is... like all that beautiful and delicious candy at Miette. You love it to pieces but feel kind of steamed that you have to pay so much for it.

Where would you have your last meal on earth? I’d probably get ten orders of soup dumplings at Shanghai Dumpling King. Ten? Really? Yeah. That way, I could get totally sick of them and would be able to leave this world not feeling like I was going to be missing soup dumplings. 

Who's your favorite quintessential local character? Chris Carlsson . Not only is it always a treat to see his smiley Santa beardy face, but he also leads a number of pretty amazing and unconventional historical bike tours of San Francisco on topics ranging from the History of Transit in San Francisco to the Ecological History of the city.

Where's your secret spot?  It was introduced to me as The Red Rock, but most know it as Corona Heights. The journey from my house to this windy, craggy spot passes through old tennis courts, skinny sidewalks between houses, meandering overgrown pathways, and a steep jaunt up a street called Beaver. Oh yeah, and the view from the top is pretty good too.

What's your favorite SF institution? I’m going to give a big shout out to City College of San Francisco. If you’re a resident of San Francisco and haven’t taken a class there, what are you waiting for? It’s such an incredible and inexpensive way to supplement your education or interests. 

What do you get obsessive about here in SF? Oh god, motorcycles. I got a little taste of having one in the city, and now I fantasize about owning one almost every day. Anyone have a pretty little Honda they are trying to get rid of??

What would you change about SF? More Jewish delis! Seriously, what does this half-Jew gotta do to get a decent kreplach around here??