OK, not really. But while VP candidate Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, the area (specifically the Matanuska-Susitna area) won the title of Meth Capital of Alaska. (An aside: check out the SLOG today to see Palin get ripped to shreds, you know, if that's your thing.) We recommend you read this article out about the tweakiest city in Alaska during '02-'03, which features kids going hungry, the authorities doing very......

This ancient picture (1999!) of this contributor blasting a wallie off this sketchy bump-to-wall was taken on 15th Street, between Mission and South Van Ness. He was 20-years-old at the time. The angle on the run-up at this spot was a little awkward and clearing that sidewalk gap was quite a leap, but from what we recall, it didn’t take us too many tries to land it. In fact, we pulled it a couple......

Yesterday we mentioned how we often see lots of crack being smoked in the boarded-up window across the street from our Tendernob window. But after thinking about it some, we realized we haven't seen any such riff-raff in quite some time. Does anyone know the deal? Did they do a sweep of all the dealers in the Tenderloin recently? Are they in jail or just in a different neighborhood now? When can we expect things......

SFist James caught a crack smoking couple over on Stevenson Street (near Market) this morning. Aw.......

Gay men and uppers go together like peanut butter and chocolate. It's just the way God wanted it. But that hasn't stopped Joel Schumacher's "I Lost Me to Meth" campaign from saturating San Francisco, even though meth use is down as of last year, before the campaign began. Addendums to the anti-drug campaign posters have reflected all kinds of sentiments to the most recent effort to get the homosexuals off the crazy crack. Here are......

And speaking of methamphetamines, this above always unleashes a big brouhaha in the bent community: to chastise or not to chastise zippy drug use. The most recent ad campaign--a four-month media blitz produced by the California Methamphetamine Initiative called "Me, Not Meth"--can been seen throughout the city, mainly in the Castro and SOMA arrondisments. And those ads you've seen on TV, featuring men sitting at their desks and talking into webcams? Part of the same ad and directed by Joel Schumacher. SF Aids Foundation has more info here....

Better than a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow or a bowl brimming with Lucky Charms, crack retailers in Marietta, Ohio, dyed their cocaine rocks a festive green for St. Patrick's Day this year. OMG, fun! The Smoking Gun has the full report and mugshots galore, going on to say: Asked by TSG if he had ever seen drugs marketed in such a fashion, Mincks said that several years ago some......

"Architecture of Density" -- Fox Plaza Apartments First, this a phenomenal shot, found in balmes' Flickr page. He or she managed to make crack towers look almost aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Really, a great picture. Second, "crack towers." As someone already mentioned in the comment section here, "some of those people up there must be clinically brain dead already to actually decide to live there." Close. replace "clinically" with "chemically" and you're in......

-- At Long Last Love (1975): At last -- the fecal matter-fest that is Peter Bogdanovich's career-killing, Cole Porter-infused musical. Starring Cybill Shepherd, Burt Reynolds, and Madeline Kahn, how did it all go wrong? Find out for yourself tonight at 7:45 p.m. at the Castro Theatre; $6-9. (Psst: Best Little Whorehouse In Texas screens at 9:45 p..m.; Smokey & the Bandit at midnight -- it's a Burt Reynolds extravaganza!) -- Bumpin' Uglies: Hey there,guys......

Image: EFF The secret room at AT&T's Folsom Street facility is in the news again. Staffers from the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation are in DC this week and next, trying to convince Congress that telecoms shouldn't be given retroactive immunity for their cooperation with the NSA's secret (and illegal? or illegal-ish?) wiretapping programs. Mark Klein, the AT&T technician who spotted the NSA's wiretapping room in the AT&T building and blew the whistle, is......

It was with absolutely zero shock that we read yesterday's article in the Examiner about a police sting aimed at drivers who cruise through the crosswalk when people are trying to cross the street at Taraval and 21st. The sting continues, as San Francisco police are conducting undercover pedestrian sting operations to cite drivers “blatantly violating the pedestrian right of way.” On Wednesday, officers at Taraval Street and 21st Avenue cited 45 drivers in......

-- Ross Mirkarimi, sole supe against Clear Channel. [SFBG] -- Out-of-town drug dealers bring their goofballs and china white to SF. [Examiner] -- Stupid TV can't ever get us right, or so says the Streets of San Fauxcisco. [Culture Blog] -- San Jose kills cigarette smoking at city parks. [SJ Merc] -- SF is numero uno according to Conde Nast Traveller. [The Snitch] -- And yet we can't crack the top-ten as a prime......

Wondering why you can't get your dealer on the phone? Well, last week 103 (suspected) drug retailers were pinched in a good old-fashion crackdown in the TL and Mission/Market Street areas. Similar to the one that happened in July, these crackdowns mean that the price of poisons are going up, and so is drug-related crime. The Chronicle reports that "the narcotics unit seized $1.5 million in methamphetamine in the first six months of the......

"A deep and powerful earthquake beneath the Pacific in the Northern Mariana Islands" sent waves a rollin', reaching as far as Emeryville today with a total score of somewhere between 3.8 to 4.2. Nothing to freak out over. Yet. Alarmist alert: as always, you should be prepared for the big one, and 72 Hours is a good place to start.......

There's big legal news concerning the Barry, none of which involves Curt Schilling or Grand Juries. Oh no. Barry has just been slapped with a lawsuit by an inmate in a South Carolina prison, Jonathan Lee Riches (aka "the White Suge Knight), for fraud. No, not for breaking the record while on the juice, but for perpetuating a "Fraud Against Mankind," which Lee Riches calls "Batman and Identity Robbin." The Smoking Gun has the details, but from a quick perusal here are some of the claims made: ...

Hiroshi Sugimoto's show of giant photos at the de Young leaves S.F. soon...

Well, that was fun. Last night out in the center-left bleachers, each time Barry Bonds came to bat, the crowd rose giddily to their feet. The stands brimmed with grins and shouts of encouragement and nervous energy. Mitts were pulled on. With each pitch thrown to him, photoflashes flared all about the stadium like Chinese New Year firecrackers....

SFist Mihi warns you that this preview clip above may be dull. Sidewalk, the documentary we saw at the Roda Theatre in Berkeley on Sunday for the SF Jewish Film Festival, was billed as a "wry and hilarious" examination by filmmaker Duki Dror as he follows kids on their daily journeys to and from school. "Dror has the same wondrous gift of bittersweet nostalgia that cartoonists Charles M. Schulz and Lynda Barry have," said......

Wow, they work fast at BART! When we started this post, there were 30 minute delays to cross the Bay, and by the time we finished, BART updated its reports to announce that they've fixed the issue with the Transbay Tunnel and all trains are moving again. Turns out there was a crack in one of the tracks in the Transbay Tube (we thought the trains were running a little slow this morning!), so......

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian! Oh, Tim Redmond, we're so sorry to hear about your dad. [Moment of silence.] Okay. The Guardian's with Daly on the budget. They got a letter from someone saying Ed Jew is innocent. More info on the layoffs at the Merc News. A man with psychiatric problems gets no help from the city. More people upset with Newsom's proposed budget. They're going to crack down on pot clubs --......

There's a lot to love about the Tadich Grill, that venerable San Francisco institution. We've eaten there many times before, and there are some things some folks don't get about it that we appreciate. We're not crazy about the cost -- 1849 cuisine, and we're low on gold nuggets. But please indulge us as we share some of the finer points of the Tadich experience, which ultimately make an occasional visit well worth it. ...

Thanks to SFist reader Captain Disco for investigating the truth about the Mike Gravel presidential campaign: the dangerous lunatic shot his horrifying commercials in our very back yards. If you haven't been following along: Mike Gravel is an Eskimo or whatever who wants to spend the next couple years hooting and hollering at the country. His presidential campaign hasn't been doing so keen, so he's turned to the one medium guaranteed to have mass......

Just a reminder that our Help Make AT&T Park the Bestest Ever contest is still going on. Our crack judges (Paula Abdul, Jim Lehrer, and us) will weigh in next Wednesday to announce the winner so you still have about five shopping days left until the contest is over. ...

Simon Says premiered at the Another Hole in the Head horrorfest on Friday June 1st at a midnight showing. Well, an 11:45 p.m. showing. Whatever, it was late for old fogeys like us, but the allure of Crispin Glover was too much to ignore. You know what can really prep you for a late night horror movie showing? Searching for parking in the Mission when your parking abilities are limited to spots that do......

Thanks to some ass-kicking by Matthew Bajko at the BAR, Bevan's taking a bit more time this year to plan for Halloween. Next public meeting: Wednesday, the 30th, at 5:30 in the California Pacific Medical Center, Davies Campus, in the Level B Auditorium in the North Tower Building. Is it just us, or do those directions sound like riddles in a scavenger hunt? Anyway, they'll be talking about the city's plan for moving Halloween......

First bedbugs, then crack addicts, then bone-rattling noise -- that's the sort of bad-neighboring up with which Tenderloin residents will not put. Residents of the Lawrence Hotel have been scowling for a long time now at the deafening noise generated by Club Six -- check out these complaints. Shaking windows and floors, people on medication for sleep deprivation due to noise, doors left illegally open, and crowds so big on the sidewalk that you......

Have you guys seen all those "Click It Or Ticket" signs they've had up on the LED signs on the highway about how they're enforcing the seat belt laws this month? Well, Oakland City Attorney John Russo didn't, and got nabbed on Piedmont Avenue for going beltless. We pretty much always wear a seat belt now because that dinging noise that the dashboard makes if you don't have it on drives us mad. Russo says......

Friend of SFist judy b. is moderating a discussion about San Francisco's criminalization of poverty at the Little Roxie tonight, which is co-sponsored by the People of Color Coalition of the SF Green Party, POOR Magazine, and the SF People's Organization. Sup. Ross Mirkadreamy is scheduled to speak, as is PD Jeff A-Hotty-dachi. 6:30 p.m. and $5-15, but since it's about poverty, no one will be turned away for lack of funds). (Note: the......

You may recall our presence at a lower Haight neighborhood meeting back in January after a spate of gun violence galvanized the area and turned out hundreds of folks along with news cams and Heather Fong. Well, during that meeting Supervisor Mirkarimi promised that he would somehow find the city funding for a security camera at the corner of Haight and Webster, which is kind of the locus of all things crack-deal in the area. Well, the camera went up! ...

We went to our last SFIFF movie last night at the PFA in Berkeley and the house was packed for the 9:10 pm screening. It was a mixed crowd, but once again the gray panther contingent in their nubby-cloth, vegan, shoes made a strong showing. Love for Sale: Suely in the Sky follows 21-year-old Hermila who moves from Sao Paulo, Brazil back to her rinky-dink hometown to wait for her baby daddy. Naturally, the......