San Francisco News

U Street is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. located in Cardoza, just up the street from downtown D.C. The neighborhood is very culturally rich as it was once a very important place for jazz culture and African American history in the early 1900s. The streets here were roamed by jazz legends such as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. As a result, there are great music halls in this area.

Restaurants
There are a few famous restaurants located in the U Street corridor. Ben’s Chili Bowl is extremely popular among tourists and locals alike. This neighborhood is also home to a number of Ethiopian restaurants, which give the area its nickname of Little Ethiopia. The food is cooked with intriguing spice blends and lots of flavor but the food is all eaten with your hands! If you like dc rooftop bars, be sure to check out Takoda DC, a popular whiskey bar in the area with a rooftop lounge, just off of Florida Avenue.

Sightseeing
There is an enormous statue of Duke Ellington who has been nationally recognized as a symbol of Washington, D.C. Be sure to check out all of the Victorian-era houses built shortly after the Civil War. The presence of so many jazz musicians led the area to create a number of music venues, many of which are still standing today. Lincoln Theatre, Bohemian Caverns, U Street Music Hall, and a couple other venues all call this area home.

Farmer’s Market
The farmer’s market is a great way to enjoy the atmosphere of the neighborhood. The produce is fresh and brought in early Saturday morning to be sold between 9a.m. and 1p.m. It is a must see attraction for anyone interested in food. The market is only open from May until November.

African American Civil War Museum and Cemetery
The memorial is a great bronze statue paying homage to the two hundred thousand soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. At the museum, you can learn about the contribution to the war effort made by African-Americans at a time when their freedom was at stake.

When it comes to choosing a place for a pick-me-up, there is no shortage of coffee shops around San Francisco. Whether you’re all about the signature drips, looking for a comfy spot to work with WiFi or just want to people-watch, there is always somewhere to go for a cup of Joe. Here are the contenders for best coffee shops, all delightful for different reasons.

Blue Bottle. What started out as a beloved neighborhood joint has blown up into a national phenomena, with people lining up for the freshly roasted offerings at locations on both coasts. But let’s focus on the coffee shops in SF–Ferry Building, Mint Plaza and the Hayes Valley Kiosk. At each and every one of them, coffee connoisseurs can expect a cheery ambiance along with flavorful and fragrant craft brews, espresso drinks and selections such as the Burundi Kayanza Ninja featuring hints of honey, nectarine and hibiscus.

La Capra Coffee. Those of you who like very strong coffee need to stop by this stylish Fremont Street shop. Here you’ll find sleek, simple interiors, perfect for enjoying espresso and artisan blends inspired by Italian tradition with interesting blends from Brazil, Guatemala and Ethiopia. The menu also features savory selections like the Avocado and Togarashi Toast or the Country Ham and Red Pepper Jelly, so you might want to linger a little longer. Maybe, you may find their services appealing or just how creative the place is, in regards to the previous ones you have been to.

Red Door Coffee. San Francisco is blessed with two outposts–111 Minna and 505 Howard–of this coffee haven known for being conducive to both work and just sitting there and thinking the day away. There is plenty of room to sit and sip on Four Barrel Coffee and David Rio Chai & Tea, and if you’re hungry there are sandwiches and soup from 1601 Bar & Kitchen in the house. Perhaps you’ll go for the Pork Banh Mi or the Free-Range Chicken Salad. If you’re craving sweets, Dynamo Donuts never disappoint. Trying them, in a way, will always keep you needing more.

Trusty Tiger. If you aren’t in the mood for a coffee shop, you can pick up a cappucino maker from Trusty Tiger and make your own. The DeLonghi coffee maker is their favorite machine for personal use, and when it comes to Nespresso pods they’ve also weighed in on the Inissia vs Pixie debate.

Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters. What started out as a popular pop-up is now a bonafide brick and mortar coffee purveyor in the Cow Hollow neighborhood. This “coffee roasting company” has attracted plenty of buzz from NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times and other media outlets because of the “third wave coffee” approach to lighter roasts. Owners Trish Rothgeb and Nicholas Cho know what they’re doing and regularly speak about their techniques all around the world. They also take great pride in offering sustainably sourced, and expertly roasted coffee. As for the vibe, stark white interiors are quite the contrast to the more woodsy, darker settings at other shops around town. For some loyalists, walking in is like stimulating the senses with enticing aromas from the pour over bar adding to the excitement of waiting for their order.

So have you been to any of these awesome coffee shops in San Francisco yet? What is your go-to-spot?

Resources:

Trusty Tiger. http://www.trustytiger.com/delonghi-coffee-maker/

Wrecking Ball Coffee. http://www.wreckingballcoffee.com/

I’m not going to lie. There are some big advantages and big disadvantages to starting a business in the San Francisco Bay area. On the one hand, this region is home to an immense amount of talent. There’s a very good reason that lots of tech companies like to have their headquarters in Silicon Valley or the Bay Area. Our community plays home to Facebook, Apple, Google, Instagram, Yahoo, eBay, and many other big names in the tech industry. Additionally, the area is home to tons of tech startups.

But all of those advantages come with a heavy pricetag. San Francisco is, by far, the most expensive metro area in the United States, beating out the likes of New York and Washington DC. One of the things I miss most about living in Ohio was being able to rent a 2-bedroom townhouse apartment for about $500 a month. Here in San Francisco, $500 a month will barely buy you a parking space.

If you’re going to locate your business in San Francisco, make sure you have the capital to do it. For the emerging technology startup company, you want to be sure that you have a good office phone system. According to this site, Grasshopper is a good choice for startups in the SF Bay area. With so many workers who are mobile, working from home, or otherwise on flexible schedules, it makes sense to get a voice-over-IP phone service that accommodates this flexibility and allows them to take calls from anywhere.

Another important consideration is finding office space. In my opinion, start-ups are better off finding short term office space rather than committing to a long lease. Not only does this put less of a dent in your cash flow, it allows you the flexibility to move to a different location as your business grows and adds more employees. Short-term office spaces are nice because you can rent a desk or meeting room by the hour, so you don’t even need to pay for your office space when you aren’t using it. Craigslist is probably the best place to find office space in San Francisco, because you can get a much better deal than you can from long leases.

What do you think are the most important considerations when you’re running a startup in the SF Bay area?

Links:

• http://officephonesystems.org/grasshopper-phone-system/
• http://www.craigslist.org/

In the next couple months, the San Francisco Bay area is going to have some great concerts. No matter what kind of music you’re into, you can find something that you’ll enjoy. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been to a concert in the Bay area myself, and that was a death metal band. My ears were ringing for days. For the next few days, I didn’t even need my anti snoring devices like Good Morning Snore Solution, because I couldn’t hear myself snore anyway. I could barely even sleep, for that matter.

But not everyone shares my taste for obnoxiously loud music. Here are some of the top upcoming events in the Bay area, according to Eventful:

Justin Timberlake – November 22 at 8:00 – Oracle Arena. Although Michael Jackson will always be the king of pop, Justin Timberlake has proven himself to be a worthy successor. On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, come to the Oracle Arena to see the former N Sync front man perform some of his old hits, as well as some new songs that you’re sure to enjoy.

Tame Impala – November 15 at 8:00 – Fox Theater in Oakland. If you enjoy psychedelic rock, you’ll like Tame Impala. This band reminds me a lot of some of the old psychedelic rock from the 1960s, so if your parents were hippies, you might want to consider bringing them along with you! Although this is a modern band, it might make you nostalgic for the days of Strawberry Alarm Clock anyway.

Bastille – November 17 at 8:00 – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Bastille is probably the most successful band of 2014. A year ago, not many people had even heard of them, but now everyone associates them with their biggest hit, “Pompeii.” Be sure to check out their concert to hear what they have been working on recently. See if you can pick their next big hit out of their lineup.

For more information on upcoming concerts, check out San Francisco’s Eventful page, linked below. You’re sure to find a band that you like.

Links:

• http://antisnoringdevices.net/buy-good-morning-snore-solution/
• http://sanfrancisco.eventful.com/events/categories/music

Well, progressives didn’t have very much to celebrate in Tuesday’s elections. Some national pundits are describing the election as a “bloodbath.” But progressive ballot measures actually did pretty well, even as progressive legislatures lost big.

One such example is right here in the SF Bay area. Berkeley became the first city in America to pass a soda tax, with a whopping 75% of the vote. Soda taxes are pretty controversial in most of the country, and even in Berkeley there was some tough opposition to the idea. Opponents say that the government shouldn’t try to regulate what we eat and drink, and that this is just far too much government intrusion into our lives.

But proponents of the soda tax point out that soda is uniquely bad for people, even compared to other unhealthy foods. The added sugar that it contains has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and cancer. According to Best Whitening Cream, it can cause skin discoloration too. It may thin the dermal layer of skin if you drink caffeine, especially in excess. It may also cause hyperpigmentation of the skin, and caffeine is a known diuretic which can dehydrate your skin.  The surgeon-general has issued warnings about sugar consumption in general, and about soda specifically.

But what really separates soda from, say, candy is the amount of soda that people consume. It’s a lot easier to drink calories than eat them, and soda is often called “liquid candy.” The average American consumes nearly 45 gallons of sugary beverages. Some evidence suggests that soda may be as bad for you as cigarettes.

Supporters of Berkeley’s soda tax hope, and opponents fear, that Berkeley’s new tax will pave the way for other cities to follow suit. But the actual effects may be more modest than both supporters and opponents think. Berkeley’s tax is only $0.01 per beverage, and it doesn’t cover diet sodas.

We will see in the upcoming years what, if any, effects the soda tax has on actual soda consumption.

Links:

• ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/11/04/california-election-watch-2014-bay-area-measures-and-propositions-were-following
• www.bestwhiteningcream.net/

November and December are shaping up to be good months for theatre here in the San Francisco Bay area. If you’re a sucker for Broadway, like me, you’ll find a lot to look forward to. But even if you aren’t, there’s some stuff that’s fun even for non-theatre buffs.

Here are a few of the upcoming theatre events that should be very exciting:

November 7 – Chicago, the musical, opens in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theatre. Even if you’ve never seen a Broadway show, you’ve probably heard of Chicago. You probably know some of the more popular tunes like “All That Jazz.” So be sure to head over to the Orpheum Theatre to see one of the longest-running Broadway shows.

November 11 – I Love Lucy, at the Curran Theatre. Remember the classic TV show? It’s a live stage performance now…but it’s more than that. The stage version of I Love Lucy is a show-within-a-show. It’s performed as though we’re back in the 1950s, watching an episode of the eponymous show being filmed. Head over to the Curran Theatre. Lucy has some splaining to do!

December 12-29 – The Nutcracker, at the War Memorial Opera House. Celebrate the holidays by watching one of the most famous ballets of all time. This is a ballet that can be loved even by people who don’t normally watch theatre. Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece has been running since 1892, and it’s become an annual tradition in San Francisco, having been performed here since 1944.

These are the theatre events that I’m most looking forward to, for the rest of 2014. What shows are you most excited to see? Are there any that I missed that you think deserve to be mentioned along with these three? Let me know in the comments, or by sending me a message on my contact form.

Happy theatre-watching, San Franciscans.