Irving Street Crime Beat: Junior Edition

Donna and I were walking home the other night and found this abandoned car (I didn't check to see if the keys were still in the ignition- I didn't want to tamper with a possible crime scene).

I hope this kid had insurance.

Donna thought maybe it was some drunken toddler. I wondered if this was perhaps the work of a delinquent gang of preschoolers: they "jacked" the car (I think that's the term), drove it madly along Irving Street and then wrecked it; Callously, they walked away from the not-burning wreckage.

They were probably hopped-up on the Cap'n Crunch...

This neighborhood ain't what it used to be

Mohawk Gas Station, SF, CA

Here's my favorite abandoned gas station: The Mohawk Gas Station on Irving and 16th Ave. I walk past it every day on my way to work. Time seems to stand still behind that chain link fence. And then there was that one time with the elephant...

I've snapped a few pics over the years. Please click on them to get a better view.



From the the Western Neighborhoods Project website...

Mohawk Station (SE corner of 16th)—One of the last truly "old" gas stations in San Francisco, dating from the years around World War I. Built of brownish-orange brick, with just a single island for service, it's been a long time since they dispensed gasoline. History buffs should go and get a look before "progress" does the place in for good. This was just one of many gas stations (Texaco, Richfield, Flying A, etc.) that used to dot Irving and so many other business streets in the western neighborhoods until about the 1980s when they began to disappear, one by one. Streetwise- Irving Insights

Here's a photo of the station from 1978- when the gas pumps were still there.

Previously:
Morning In An Elephants Graveyard

7th Annual Sunset District Autumn Moon Festival, SF, CA 9/3/11

On Saturday I took my weekly walk down Irving Street to fetch supplies (Old Crow & cheap wine) and came across the 7th Annual Sunset District Autumn Moon Festival.

Among the many attractions was this lil Dukes of Hazzard General Lee car ride (it ran on what appeared to be a lawn mower motor).

Alas, the car-horn didn't play "Dixie". I was a little bummed...

Straightening the Curves; Flattenin' the Hills...

Someday the Mountain Might Get 'Em; But the Law Never Will.