A documentary is being made about the intersection of Oak and Scott Streets.

The film, titled “Oak and Scott: Pausing at High Speed,” is described as “an urban tale about the changes over the years as seen through street life, community, friendship, bike and car traffic, residents young and old, economic transformation and neighborhood associations… An attempt to sort through the city’s fading memories by documenting a slice of life in this city we love at an intersection we thought we knew so well.”

Featured in the trailer are several local residents and merchants, including Wakeem “Jack” Shehadeh of Oak Fair Market, Wade Wright of Jack’s Record Cellar, and Joel Pomerantz of the Thinkwalks Tours.

Here’s the trailer:

The film’s editor, Sinem Yilanci (who lives near the intersection), tells us they’ve already done a lot of work on the film, but still need to conduct more interviews, buy extra equipment, and submit the film to festivals, all of which costs money. As you might expect, they’re running a Indiegogo campain to raise funds to finish the project.

We’ll let you know if and when the documentary makes its SF debut.

Sometimes leftovers are the best meal of the week. Today is no exception.

From Portuguese pastries to putt putt, here are some tasty news items to add some flavor to your Friday.

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Tomorrow, swing by DSF (520 Haight), where you’ll find a day-long Pop-up Party. The shop is teaming up with Storenvy to host a trunk show featuring a dozen independent brands. In addition to the featured merchandise, there will be music, drinks, discounts, a skee-ball competition, and apparently some putt-putt golf. That’s 11am to 11pm tomorrow at DSF.

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On Sunday, Bay to Breakers stampedes its way across the city. As has become the norm, the race’s organizers are looking for neighborhood ambassadors to take 2-hour shifts in the Alamo Square area between 9am and 3pm. Here’s the job description:

“These volunteers will assist with monitoring conditions at local hot spots and report unsafe conditions. Volunteers will also welcome participants to their neighborhood, and give instruction on the location of restrooms, trash receptacles, EMS services, general event information, and provide the event hotline number to neighbors and participants. Communicate with local merchants and neighbors on race conditions. Periodically report to central command on race conditions in their area. Assist with clean-up efforts. Document during race activities for after race debrief.”

There’s no pay, but you’ll get a t-shirt for your troubles. If you’re interested, click here.

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Over on Inside Scoop, Paolo’s got some new details on La Urbana, the Mexican restaurant and mezcal bar coming to Divisadero and Grove this summer. Among the new nuggets: each space has a name — “La Urbana” for the restaurant, “La Mezcaleria Urbana” for the mezcal tasting room, and “Mercado Urbano” for a more casual space serving tacos and street food. The Scoop‘s also got a couple of renderings of the two dining areas.

Garduño Arquitectos via Inside Scoop

Click on through for more info.

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Speaking of La Urbana, artist Zio Ziegler has posted a video documenting the creation of his latest mural at the restaurant’s future location:

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And while we’re on restaurants, Andrea de Francisco, who formerly managed The Grind, has informed us that she’s fulfilling a lifelong dream by opening a cafe and bakery of her own. It’s called Cafe St. Jorge, and it’ll be located at 3438 Mission, at the base of Bernal Heights. The cafe will feature Stumptown coffee and an array of sandwiches and salads, including many items with a Portuguese flair inspired by Andrea’s roots. If you’d like to support her, check out the Kickstarter campaign she’s running to raise funds for the cafe’s completion.

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In Hollywood news, it was announced this week that two TV pilots recently filmed in the area were picked up, meaning they’ll be turned into actual series. “About a Boy,” which filmed on Broderick in March, and the untitled gay twentysomethings project which filmed on Haight a week later, got the green light from NBC and HBO, respectively. So, watch for them this fall.

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A reader alerts us that 595 Waller is now for sale. In case that address doesn’t ring a bell, it’s the bottom unit in the mansion at the corner of Pierce and Waller, which we’ve covered here in obsessive detail. Back in October, the 3-bed, 3-bath unit was up for rent, but now it’s being offered as a TIC for $1,395,000. Sigh.

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And finally, remember that Volkswagen commercial that was filmed on Waller a couple of months ago? Well, it’s finished:

(Thanks to @clowntraps for the heads-up.)

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Anything we missed? Let us know. tips [at] haighteration {{dot}} com.

Many Lower Haighters know the Castro restaurant Frances for its delicious and unpretentious food (bacon beignets!), its top-notch service, and how hard it is to get a reservation.

Few realize that the award-winning chef and owner, Melissa Perello, lives in our midst.

Eleven years ago, after a long citywide search for a home, she wound up buying the first place she had seen — a TIC near Page and Fillmore. She even redid the kitchen herself before opening Frances. A sledgehammer-wielding chef? How very Lower Haight.

“Between [working at] 5th Floor and the three years it took me to get Frances open, I was doing private dining stuff, but not really working,” Melissa tells us. “So I took advantage of the time and my dad came out for a while and we gutted and rebuilt my kitchen. It’s fun. It’s educational, you learn the process.”

This experience came in handy recently at Frances, which just underwent some renovations. “We’re not able to add any seats,” Perello reports [Ed.: dangit], but “We made some modifications in our kitchen and added some new details to the dining room, including a new art installation by ReCheng Tsang – a porcelain artist based out of Berkeley.”

Finding a space for Frances so close to her own home was just luck, Perello says, but she admits that she drives to work.

“I shop at the farmer’s market three days a week, and I’m always buying other random stuff for the restaurant, so I’m always shlepping stuff. There are crates of produce in the back of my car right now,” she says, laughing. She also notes that she needs to buy a new bike – anyone have suggestions for a chef hauling ingredients?

The Lower Haight, Perello says, is definitely different now than when she moved in.

“Nickies was a change, it got a little bit more upscale, if you can call it that. When Uva came it was a big difference, and Maven has been a big tide change. I love the direction of what’s going on around here.”

In fact, Perello says, “I’m thinking about starting to think about Frances #2. I love Nopa, the area and the restaurant both, and everybody wants me to look in that area, but it’s becoming saturated. I think there’s interest in what’s going on here” in the Lower Haight.

What does the Houston-raised chef have in mind?

“I’m looking to replicate [Frances] on a larger scale. I’m just contemplating it. 18 months into Frances” – which opened in 2009 – “I was like, I’m never going to do this to myself again, this is torture. It was hard. But now the kinks have been worked out and the systems are in place and I’m finally taking a deep breath and thinking it would be fun to do something else. I’m sure I’ll curse myself.”

So no promises, but Perello’s goals when she began planning to open Frances are a good indicator of what she might look for in our fair neighborhood.

“My biggest focus in looking for a space was finding something that had a neighborhood feel, that wasn’t too big, and was in a cute area.”

Connecting with the locals was also on Perello’s agenda. She says they have a strong base of regulars who have been coming to Frances since day one.

“I came from a fine dining background, special occasional dining where you see someone once a year. To see the same people, the same faces on a regular basis is a pretty cool feeling. They become part of our family.”

frances-sf.com

Despite all the accolades Frances has gotten, pretension is not in its DNA.

“I would never put on my menu, ‘Substitutions and alterations politely declined’… I don’t fucking care if you want the vegetables that are on the beef with the fish. If you want something I think would taste horrible together, I don’t care, whatever, that’s what you want… What you do as a restauranteur is you aim to please people, to give them what they want to have a great evening. That’s what they come and pay for…”

Perello adds that the dining experience shouldn’t be a challenge, either.

“It’s not about, how should I eat this dish? It’s not, the chef recommends you first dip your fork in this specially seasoned salt. I’m not into that. I’m not one of those chefs who’s there to put art on a plate. I love cooking, I love cooking the food I would want to eat on my night off.”

And where does she eat on her night off? Aside from Nopa, she’s a fan of Rich Table, Zuni, and takeout salads from Ragazza.

So, aside from another restaurant of her own, what would Perello like to see more of in the Lower Haight? A really good restaurant-slash-wine bar, maybe. But, she says, “I wonder what the people in this neighborhood want. That was a big thing for me going into the Frances location. We’re just off Castro, close to the Mission, it’s a cute little neighborhood spot, but there’s no parking, it’s not very big. What do people want from us? I think it would be the same moving into this area. What do people need? What services do we need to provide? Give people what they want and they’ll come.”

It’s officially official: the next Lower Haight Art Walk is heading our way in just a couple of weeks.

The date? Saturday, June 1st. Yep, this one’s on a Saturday, and it’s scheduled from 4pm to 9pm — so it’ll have more of a daytime block party feel.

The earlier timeframe will also allow more merchants to participate. The official map has 45 businesses on board, which is more than we can remember for any previous art walk.

Of course, there will be art shows, live music, food and drink specials, and discounts galore throughout the neighborhood. Go ahead and RSVP on the event’s Facebook page to keep abreast of all the latest news, and spread the word. We’ll post a reminder with all the juicy details a day or two before the Walk.

We have updates on two recent stories you may have read here on Haighteration — the closing of Black Pancake Records, and the missing mailbox at Haight and Fillmore.

Yesterday afternoon, we heard from Black Pancake’s Manny Alferez regarding the closing of the shop:

“So i decided to close BPR since i didnt have time to put in to it, what i really wanted it to be. And it seemed to be to up and down, i did it for eight years and it was time to move on. We will move the Wild Feather the store right next to it. in to the space. So art and fashion will still be in the Lower Haight. thanks for all the support the hood has given us.”

Also yesterday, we received an email from the USPS’s James Wigdel, our point of contact on the Haight and Fillmore mailbox which had been missing since March. James wrote us with good news:

“I am happy to report that the mail box has been replaced and is on the street in operation.”

We checked for ourselves, and sure enough, there it is:

So, we consider these two cases closed. Any other neighborhood mysteries that need solving? Email us at tips [at] haighteration {{dot}} com.

After 21 years in the Lower Haight, Black Pancake Records will be closing at the end of this week.

Tweekin’ Records, as it was formerly known, was opened by Darren Davis at 593 Haight in 1992. It mainly focused on selling electronic and hip-hop music, though as the internet came of age, Tweekin expanded to offer both an online shop as well as record pressing services.

Flickr/laracee

Davis sold the shop in 2006 to a trio of local music aficionados, and in 2010 its name was changed to Black Pancake. The store moved to the corner location at 597 Haight after Lower Haters closed last year.

No word yet on the reason for the closure, or any future plans for the online business, but we’ve reached out to one of the shop’s owners for more information and will update accordingly. In the meantime, in the leadup to Sunday’s close, Black Pancake will be offering new records at 30% off, and used records at half price. So if you want a good buy, or just want to say goodbye, be sure to stop by.

Update May 14, 2013: Black Pancake’s Manny Alferez has emailed us with the news that Wild Feather (currently housed in BP’s old space at 593 Haight) will be moving into the corner location. Manny says that after 8 years at the helm, he decided he didn’t have the time to make Black Pancake what he wanted it to be. He also notes that after Wednesday, most records in the shop will be two for $1.

Three months after Ernesto Xe Acosta was killed at Hayes and Webster, his sister has provided some new details about circumstances that night.

Acosta was walking to a friend’s house around 2am on February 10th when he was gunned down, the victim of a seemingly random drive-by shooting.

As we reported last month, police have released a video of a white Lexus ES350 that they believe was involved in the shooting. At the time, investigators said they believed patrons of Yoshi’s that night might have useful information.

Now, the Examiner reports that Acosta’s family has reached out with more details.

The event at Yoshi’s that was concluding around the time of the murder was a birthday party for LaRon Mayfield, brother of local boxer Karim Mayfield. Rapper The Game was a headliner at the party.

Twitter/@AnkhMarketing

Acosta’s sister told the Examiner that police believe someone who attended the party may know something about the shooting, or may have at least seen the white Lexus.

Anyone with information should contact the SFPD’s anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444.

Remember back in December, how we told you that the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association was fighting a proposed Starbucks at Market and Sanchez?

Well, we have an update.

Yesterday we learned via the Bay Area Reporter (via Eater) that the Planning Commission officially rejected Starbucks’s plans Thursday night.

The arguments against the ‘bucks were twofold: that it would violate the area’s formula retail restrictions, and that there were already plenty of coffeeshops in the neighborhood. According to the Bay Area Reporter, 25 people spoke in support of Starbucks at Thursday’s hearing, and 16 opposed it. There were also petitions submitted on both sides, with 453 people signing in favor and a whopping 4,200 against.

In the end, the Commission sided with the opposition by a count of 5 to 1.

Starbucks can now appeal the ruling to the Board of Supervisors, although it’s unknown if the company will do so. We’ll see…

Hallelujah, it’s Friday.

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, you’ve got plenty to choose from right here in our neck of the woods. Here are some highlights.

Tonight, Push The Feeling returns to Underground SF (424 Haight) from 9pm to 2am. It’ll be a disco-heavy night featuring a DJ set by The Beat Broker and a live performance by Plaza, both of whom have new records to celebrate. As usual, YR SKULL and epicsauce DJs will be taking their turns at the turntables as well. It’s free before 10pm, $5 thereafter, and 21+.

Also tonight, American Tripps ping-pong takes over DSF (520 Haight). Grab a paddle and mosey around the table as you enjoy the night’s Beastie Boys theme, courtesy of DJ Jamie Jams, and drinks from guest bartender Jay Beaman of Dear Mom and Thieves Tavern. It starts at 8pm, and entry will run you $5 at the door.

Or, if jazz is your thing, head up to the African American Arts and Cultural Center (762 Fulton) tonight for the 7th annual Jazz on the ‘Mo event. There’ll be live music, beer, wine, appetizers, and a silent auction, with proceeds benefiting the Buchanan YMCA. The 21+ event runs from 8pm to 11pm, and tickets are $45 in advance or $55 at the door.

Tomorrow, head on over to NoPa (the neighborhood, not the restaurant) for the annual NoPa Block Party. On Lyon Street between Grove and Hayes, there’ll be food, folks, and fun. We’re talking live music, a BBQ, family activities like bouncy houses and face painting, a yoga demo, and a presentation by Supervisor London Breed in honor of NOPNA creator David Habash, who passed away in March. The event runs from 10am to 6pm, and you can get more details here.

Finally, if you’ve got a green thumb, swing by Hayes Valley Farm on Sunday, where they’ll be having a plant sale. The farm, as you’ve probably heard, needs to vacate its location at 450 Laguna by the end of this month, so everything must go! From kale to broccoli to things we’ve never heard of, there are plenty of items up for grabs from noon to 5pm.

Anything else going on this weekend that we should know about (besides Mother’s Day, that is)? Let us know in the comments, or send us an email — tips [at] haighteration {{dot}} com.

Artist Zio Ziegler is currently putting the finishing touches on a new mural at the corner of Divisadero and Grove.

As we mentioned this morning, Ziegler — who also worked on a large-scale mural at 435 Duboce last year — started on the new mural yesterday. Reader Ashley S. sent in the above photo of Ziegler at work, as well as this one:

Ashley S.

The mural thoroughly covers the plywood outside the former Plant It Earth space, which is being transformed into a Mexican restaurant called La Urbana.

Next time you’re on Divisadero — like for tonight’s Art Walk, perhaps — be sure to check it out.