1) Girl with tennis racket and knee high tube socks? Check!
2) Dude with gold-plated mixtape necklace? Check!
3) Activate. Party. Now.
I love that dog.
And look at that, plenty of parking at 1PM. How beautiful is that?
I’m kind of biased since this is The Outer Sunset part of Golden Gate Park, but I really like this part of the park. This bend in particular reminds me a lot of postcards from Hawaii. Almost to the point of being a manmade reflection of what people think paradise is suppose to look like. That and the fact that I keep expecting to trip over Spock’s body from the end of Wrath of Khan whenever I go exploring out here.
It’s amazing how much fun you can have for free in this giant multi-billion dollar back yard.
Sundays in the park really do make it all worthwhile.
It’s neat how skaters can power up like that. That’s a move you’d normally see superheroes do right before they switch into their uniforms to go fight crime. The superhero analogy works really well with a lot of the park regulars. D has been throwing Skatin’ Place for over 30 years (!) now in Golden Gate Park and a lot of the regulars have their own unique look and signature moves.
People watching on a sunny day is like channel surfing.
Everyone’s body language is telling a different story.
D has excellent taste in music, as is evident in this special 6 hour version of Rapper’s Delight. Seriously. This song went on forever. It was the perfect soundtrack to a perfect day in the park.
Now it’s just a day later and the weather is crappy and overcast. Weird how bi-polar Mother Nature can be out here. It’s funny also how if she’s in a good mood she’ll save the sunny days for the weekend and then dump the crappy days on the start of the work week.
You must grab as many of those sunny days in the park as you can.
That’s an imperative to your urban survival.
UPDATE # 1
Local San Francisco architect Glenn Robert Lym just released an amazing documentary on the history of Golden Gate Park.
How weird, there used to be a public park on where now stands Kink. I had no idea.
How even weirder to think that a good chunk of Golden Gate Park was created and maintained just an excuse for the bourgeoisie, like that psycho motherfucker De Young , to show off all of his toys.
And there was a temporary artsy type Disney Land on the west end of Golden Gate Park that looked like Burning Man at night? How odd.
How weird to think of Golden Gate Park as not only this battleground between the proletariat and bourgeoisie, but also an organic, man-made artifact that both sides have kept alive for generations.
I’m not sure if it’s a battle where only one side can win, all I can testify too is the fact that you can be broke and still have a whole world of fun in Golden Gate Park.
GGP is larger than Central Park, Narnia, and Middle-Earth combined. That’s a fact, you can look it up on wikipedia. I’ve spent over a decade exploring GGP and there are still parts of the park that are new to me and fun to get lost in.
So this is my homage to the year 2009 in the greatest, free, multi-billion dollar, urban backyard that mankind has ever created.
That and I somehow managed to make it through another year without getting bit by some homeless kids dog. Yeah!
Rad chanting at Hippy Hill in Golden Gate Park on a sunny day.
Check out the football game in the upper right corner during the last few moments.
That’s what’s really weird about this part of the park. It’s a magnet, kind of like the chaos magnets in LOST, that attracts all of these stark contradictions/ opposites hanging out right next to each other.
Alpha-male team-sports guys next junkie homeless guys.
20 year old college kids next to 60-year-old guys that have been talking about nothing but Woodstock for the past 20 years.
Violent unleashed dogs and small children.
And then once in a while you’ll see something truly unique and amazing, like a Jedi Knight practicing his skills in the park.
Right around the corner you also have several different little league (I’m talking grades 1-6 little league) soccer games going on a stones throw from a permanent homeless crusty-punk encampment where people are openly selling drugs and getting wasted in broad daylight. It’s like at any moment you expect to turn a corner and ride your bike straight into the beginning of a CSI or SVU episode.
That West Fest Woodstock day in Golden Gate Park was kind of a mess.
Here are some tips to help the promoters move forward when they plan their next, inevitable, Woodstock reunion party.
1) Make sure you have your DJ Tent, that you advertised online as being part of the line-up, set up under the boundaries of your park permit. That way they can actually play more than a few records before being shut down.
2) Invite the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to help with bicycle parking. I’ve been to several of these festivals over the years; some with 80,000+ people, and this was the first one where there was almost no regard what-so-ever for the thousands of people that rode their bike there. West Fest goons were threatening some people that locked their bikes to fences and steel barricades that their bikes would be towed and prevented others from trying to park there. I saw thousands of dollars worth of bikes locked to shrubbery and small trees. Get it together people …
Living in and surrounded by concrete & road rage, human beings need a place to balance that energy out. A place without cars and where there’s still some nature that we haven’t managed to destroy just yet. Everyone in San Francisco has access to this amazing multi-billion dollar backyard and I never have to worry about mowing the lawn. I don’t care if I sound like a crusty hippy, but Man. I love Golden Gate Park.
The Bandshell is a pretty interesting part of the park. You have The California Academy of Sciences to the south and you have De Young Museum & The Japanese Tea Gardens to the North. It’s very much a tourist magnet because of those structures but it’s kind of interesting to spend the day having a picnic at the Bandshell and overhearing conversations in several different languages. This place really is a magnet that attracts people from all over the world.
And it’s also where the local natives have had some amazing free park parties over the years. I think you could do an entire coffee table book on the free outdoor park party scene in the Bay Area. It’s a very unique and visually interesting not-so-secret club. I remember coming to my first party in the park when I moved here 14 years ago. I was living at the dorms at SF State and found myself surrounded by all these interesting, older, and experienced urban locals. I remember thinking to myself, “This is where I want to be.”
Parties like this used to happen all the time with nowhere near the level of online marketing machines that exists today. There were days that I would be riding my bike through the park and hear beats coming from the Bandshell and think “That sounds like House. Let me go investigate” And then I would spend the rest of the day dancing my ass off in the park. Here are just a few of the flyers that I saved over the years.
The Bandshell has beautiful architecture.
(The old) Funky Tekno Tribe used to dominate with their Organics in the Park.
I distinctly remember they had one to promote their upcoming Halloween Massive. It was Jeno and DJ Dan in the park and Dan spun this remixed version of Aretha Franklin’s Respect. And what’s amazing is that it was on the exact same day as Sunset’s last park party of the year at Berkley Marina. Not only did free park parties like this used to happen all the time, but sometimes you would even have different ones happening on the exact same day.
To my knowledge, this is the only time the 4 of these guys have gotten together to do a Wicked in the park.
That alone would make this party unique, but the day that it happened to fall on also cements it as a very unique gathering.
This was a really infamous party. The “special guest” was suppose to be Supastar DJ Keoki. Some big 1015 type of club had flown him out from New York and paid him suitcases full of cash to spin at their club, but when he got out here he was so annihilated on drugs he was unable to perform and unable to do the surprise park party the next day. Legend has it, someone was walking around selling a box of mixtapes at the park party (This is how old this story is, we were all listing to cassette tapes back then) when this spun-out kid rushed the mixtape seller and asked “Do you have any Keoki tapes?”
And the guy responded, “Keoki’s ego couldn’t fit into my cassette tape box.”
And then the kid looked depressed, stared at the ground, and was all “I’m Keoki”
Sunset has since taken on the tradition of parties in the bandshell. This is a really well put together video by Jayson Yagi I love how he captures the feeling of walking back from the bathrooms, through those midget trees, and into the party. You can see the cranes to the south that were building the California Academy of Sciences during this period. That was a glorious day in the park.
This day was a bit more overcast. But, hey. Welcome to San Francisco.
I love this video by Mr. Holehead because it does a great job of showing the constantly changing characters and energy right by the DJ booth that’s spinning New York Techno in Golden Gate Park.
The free parties at the Bandshell in Golden Gate Park used to happen all the time but lately they have become an endangered species. I find myself feeling very lucky to have been a part of that history and grateful that I live in a city where people will spend hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars to make free events like this happen.
Thank you, San Francisco.
UPDATE # 1
8 minutes of video from DJ Apollo 2K of yesterdays Sunset party, the last Sunset park party of 2009, at the Bandshell in Golden Gate Park.
New Belgium Ale had their annual free bike, carnival, and beer party this weekend.
It was fun, like Homer Simpson Day in Golden Gate Park.
I saw that Frank Chu was nearby so I went over to say “Hi” and talk shop.
I was all, “Frank, have you ever thought about getting another reality TV show? One where you actually get paid for this time and one where you can work out all the details beforehand? I think it could be a really unique show.”
First off, it would be a show about the Bay Area. Think of San Francisco as being one of the main characters of the show. Everyone loves those travel shows where you have an Anthony Bourdain type of guy who’s keeping it real and showing you where the locals hang out off the beaten path. I can’t think of anyone else more qualified or who knows San Francisco better than Frank. The guy has an amazing work ethic and hasn’t missed a single photo opt in the past 15 years. Also, it would be kind of funny to see a professional camera crew try and keep up with Frank. You could easily film enough footage in 1 month to fill up an entire season.
Second, it’s a show about the most famous Bay Area personality of the past 15 years and who will probably continue to be the most famous Bay Area Internet personality for the next 15 years. It’s something real, not one of those scripted teen drama shows, or looking for scripted love contest elimination shows, it’s something real and real life doesn’t always have easy and convenient answers.
Third and finally, it’s a show about how those characters play off each other. It’s a buddy show about a man on a mission and the relationship he has with Oakland or the relationship he has with San Francisco. San Francisco has a history going as far back as Emperor Norton of taking care of its eccentric types, but we expect you to have personality. Anybody who has ever traveled to LA to make a name for themselves could relate to that show.
I think Bravo or A&E could really do a show like this justice.
I told Frank I would run some of those ideas up the flagpole and see what people think.
My favorite website is now sponsoring Frank Chu by buying the advertising space on the back of his protest sign.
File under Brilliant Urban Marketing Move
UPDATE # 2
Recent picture and words from local icon Plug 1
I left work yesterday with 2 extra tix to the 7:15 pm Giants game….and….then….ran into my friend Frank Chu around 6:45pm….
“Hey, Frank. Wanna free ticket to tonight’s game?”
“Sure”
“Here Ya Go”
Frank and I find our seats and sat down. We talked sports for a bit. You gotta give him a chance: he’s got more to talk about than intergalactic mayhem, that’s for sure. After the sixth inning, we headed down to Acme Chophouse to enjoy a cold frosty one. He informed me that most of the Local Media is against him, but I already knew that. After my beer, I left. Frank said he was going to stay and have another beer before heading back to Oakland.
I’m not a big fan of Michael Franti’s music or his ego. That’s kind of funny because I tried really hard to be into his earlier band, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, but it just didn’t work out. I think I liked the name of that band more than any of the music they actually made. I also distinctly recall watching The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy host 120 minutes on MTV and Michael Franti spent the entire 120 minutes talking about how great and deep his music was. The other half of that band, Rono Tse, just sat there looking lonely and depressed. It was painful experience, it was like watching an early version of Jon & Kate plus 8 where you have one overbearing personally that’s doing all the talking and the Asian kid who’s just sitting there looking lonely and defeated.
That and the fact that when you look at a Spearhead CD booklet it’s all glamour shots of Michael Franti posing and showing off his tattoos. He’s like the Bay Area Rastafarian version of Zoolander. We get it Mike; you’re on an ego-trip. Just take a time out every now and then and let the Asian kid talk for a change.
I’m not a big fan of Michael Franti’s music or his ego but the guy throws a great free / $5 donation party in Golden Gate Park. It’s the week directly after Burning Man so everyone still has this post-Burn glow. It’s also in the same place that the Human Be-In was in 1967. That only happened once with 20,000 – 30,000 people and it’s become a legendary event. The Power To The Peaceful has been happening for a decade or so now with crowds of 50,000+ people and yet it still manages to slip under most people’s pop culture radar.
Also, there was an amazing thunderstorm this morning. Check out the video over HERE
Buildings shook; car alarms cried out in terror, it was a massive shock and awe exercise. If those thunderstorms and the intense rain showers that followed had kept up for the rest of the day there’s no way this party would have gone through, but amazingly enough the party did see the light of day.
I didn’t see as much Obama gear as last year. Last year Obama was hands-down the most popular brand label of clothing. There were several booths selling his images, he was more popular than Adidas and Puma combined.
The Outer Sunset 