The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Slanted Door ranks 21 in the country’s top grossing restaurants. Here in the Mission where the Slanted  Door got its start, Valencia Street is left with three empty buildings and only the promise of a return.

Earlier Today By Mark Rabine

In the Mission Today

6 A.M. 46° and overcast; cool but no rain expected.

OK, we all know it’s April Fool’s Day and Maundy Thursday. But did you know it was also National Fun at Work Day? It’s also St. Stupid’s Day which makes sense if you intend to have fun at work.

A Curious Summer

City College shut down? No jobs? Check this out: Acurious.org has announced it’s upcoming program: A Curious Summer, aimed at “inducing wonder and sparking enthusiasm for the world around us.” Said to be a program for “your child”, but the course descriptions look better than most university offerings. If a workshop is designed for ages 4 and up — how high up?

A Curious Bolivian

Jamie Escalante, the math teacher immortalized by the film “Stand and Deliver,” and satirized in “Stand and Deliver Pizza”, has died of cancer. A colorful and controversial character, Escalante’s death has resonated through the blogosphere. Surprisingly there is little mention of the past decade he spent teaching at the Universidad del Valle en Cochabamba in Bolivia.

Although the Morales government noted Escalante’s death and conferred an honorary title posthumously, we would have expected to see more about his attitude toward the changes in Bolivia and the success or lack thereof of his teaching methods in a revolutionary context. Any info along those lines would be much appreciated.

Alternative Interests

Looking for an alternative to predatory or non-existent lending practices of BofA and Chase? We noted yesterday SF Appeal’s report on bike loans available from the Mission SF Federal Credit Union. But, the Credit Union also offers payday loans at rates 20 to 40 percent below our local usurers and 15 ATM withdrawals a month without charge. 20 to 40 times less expensive than traditional payday lenders)

What a Long Strange Trip (Volume 4)

For more archival pix (like the one above) of Cesar Chavez, without the funny looking dude on his left, our right, go here.

Follow Us

I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still here.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

As founder and an editor at ML, I've been trying to figure out how to make my interest in local news sustainable. If Mission Local is a model, the answer might be that you - the readers - reward steady and smart content. As a thank you for that support we work every day to make our content even better.

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2 Comments

  1. Dear Mark: We also don’t have those wonderful lunches. Instead, we have three empty storefronts. Come back Slanted Door, lc

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  2. O Mon Dieu! At least we don’t have convoys of black tinted-window SUVs shlepping Bill Clinton and his Death Squads around the hood as they wait for a table.

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