Faves and raves by Mario Rubiano Yedidia (Click on the picture to see Mario’s faves)
Personal stats
AGE: 26
YEARS IN THE CITY: All 26 of ’em — save the five years he spent at school in New York and knocking on doors for presidential candidates in Florida and Wisconsin
NEIGHBORHOOD: Buena Vista
OCCUPATION: Worker and policy advisor — supporting young people to make legislative change at City Hall
SELF-DESCRIPTION: “Stranger! If you, passing, meet me, and desire to speak with me, why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you?”
FAVORITE PLACE FOR A PICKUP BASKETBALL GAME
Dolores Park
WHERE: 18th Street, between Dolores and Church streets
WHAT: Go-to spot for pickup games
INFO: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolores_Park
My go-to spot for pickup games since I was a prepubescent A.P. Giannini Middle School student in the ’90s. The same ballers move back and forth between here and Mission Playground, and it’s always a mixed crowd — S.F. natives and dot-com/startup transplants.
FAVORITE OUTDOOR SPOT TO READ A BOOK
The Bernal state of mind
WHERE: Bernal Heights
WHAT: The lone bench on the east-facing side of Bernal
INFO: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_Heights,_San_Francisco
When the wind isn’t whipping, that lone bench on the east-facing side of Bernal is pretty incomparable — if you can keep yourself from being distracted from the view.
FAVORITE CHEAP EATS RESTAURANT, STAND, FOOD TRUCK
El Tonayense Taco Truck
WHERE: Harrison and 19th streets
WHAT: Authentic
INFO: www.eltonayense.com
Gonna keep it old school here. Al pastor. Enough said.
FAVORITE PLACE TO GO FOR A RUN
The southeast neighborhoods loop
WHERE: Portola to McLaren Park to Mansell Avenue through the Bayshore Avenue corridor
WHAT: A cool loop
There’s a pretty cool loop I came up with when I was living in Bernal and Glen Park: through the Portola into McLaren Park, south through the park’s trails that skirt the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater and run parallel to Mansell Avenue (where there’s a dramatic view stretching from Sunnydale to Brisbane), and back through the Bayshore Avenue corridor.
MOST LIKELY PLACE TO RUN INTO FELLOW SF NATIVES
Costco
WHERE: 450 10th St.
WHAT: Where the natives go
INFO: (415) 626-4388 or www.costco.com
I don’t know why, but despite the fact that there’s one in South City, Richmond and Hayward, even those folks who’ve moved out of The City still come back!
FAVORITE PLACE TO GET A BEER OR MIXED DRINK
Buck Tavern
WHERE: 1655 Market St. at Gough Street
WHAT: Not pretentious nor divey
INFO: (415) 874-9183
Solid, San Francisco hops on tap; neither pretentious nor hella divey; a good place to talk about pragmatic local politics, too.
FAVORITE PLACE TO GET LOCALLY DESIGNED THREADS, JEWELRY & ART
Artillery Apparel Gallery
WHERE: 2751 Mission St., between 23rd and 24th streets
WHAT: Fresh, affordable, locally designed … everything
INFO: www.artillery-ag.com or (415) 374-7841
Fresh, affordable, locally-designed kicks, clothes, accoutrements, canvases and sculptures — along with some great, semiregular art openings — to be found here. Owned and operated by Ivan Lopez, a Mission district/Excelsior native, son of the family that founded and still runs the venerable soccer shop Elite Sports (just down Mission Street), he’s using his industrial design degree from a certain Brooklyn art school to the fullest.
FAVORITE PLACE TO SPEND AN AFTERNOON ON THOSE THREE DAYS A YEAR IT’S 80 DEGREES UNTIL DARK
Alice Marble tennis courts
WHERE: Greenwich and Hyde streets
WHAT: The most incomparable view in The City
This is the San Francisco of cable cars and grandeur that I grew up watching in movies like “Bullitt” and “Dark Passage,” but didn’t know still existed. Quite simply, this is the most incomparable view in The City (the basketball and tennis courts are also very nicely redone — thank you, city-funded capital improvements!).
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