COMING UP THIS WEEK:

The saga of Parcel 36: the Mission’s last railroad right-of-way
The “Old Main Line” dates back to 1863 and it persists today as an anomalous, deedless parcel of land amidst the Mission District’s sky-high land valuations. This corner of San Francisco history may be obscure, but it’s definitely not LOST. Anyone who drives by 22nd and Harrison will notice the distinctive Atlas Stair Company building which is right beside the under-utilized lot. Freight came in on that line until as late as 1990. But since then the payload has been confusion and obscurity as to who owns it–and a resulting lack of property tax profit for the city on a 7-figure-valued empty lot. Come out to hear a local historian from “The Department of Memory” explicate this confusing history. There’s limited space at Alley Cat Books. So be sure to reserve a spot via the Facebook link to track this story down. Doesn’t look like there’s a charge to attend; but like much in this story, that’s a bit unclear.
THU JUL 25, 6:30 PM; Alley Cat Books, Mission SF; free?

William Binzen and John Law in conversation
Last century a group of Bay Area artists expanded their creative playground to a prehistoric lake bed in Nevada where they could make big weird art and explore radical ideas about community and self-transformation. Only hundreds, not thousands, attended Desert Siteworks and it didn’t aspire to or become a world famous arts event. But there were overlaps with the Burning Man Festival… who did. William Binzen was the driving force behind Desert Siteworks, and he has stunning large format photos from the early 90s to prove it. In conversation with John Law, a co-founder of the Burning Man Festival (who subsequently walked away from it), Binzen discusses his “experiment in site-specific art-making” and ideas of “temporary desert community” which have been influential on many artists and cultural endeavors including the principles that underlie Burning Man today. Takes place in the context of the SIGNMAN gallery show, a showcase of artifacts from John Law’s career of renegade art and subterranean mischief with groups like The Suicide Club, Billboard Liberation Front, and Cacophony Society (among others).
THU JUL 25, 7pm Pro Arts Gallery & Commons, Oakland; $8

Harold And Maude in 35mm at The Roxie
A true San Francisco classic: dead-pan 20-year-old suicide-obsessed Harold (Bud Cort) meets lively eccentric 80-year-old Maude (Ruth Gordon) at a funeral. And it’s a wild romantic ride from there! Filmed in San Francisco featuring the Sutro Baths, Marin Headlands and more. The Roxie, an iconic SF indie movie theater, tips its hat to a fallen comrade: Haight St’s long-running little rebel the Red Vic Movie House has been gone for 8 years. An annual showing of Harold And Maude was one of their traditions. Wow, hard to choose what to do on Thursday, huh?
THU JUL 25, 7PM; The Roxie, Mission SF; $13

Gray Area Festival 2019
Now in its 5th year, the Gray Area Festival continues to collide creativity and technology and throw crazy big sparks. This is tech of spectacle, not staring at your phone. Including machine-powered exoskeletons which will be installed on the bodies of participating audience members at Gray Area’s home base in the Mission, while at a specially built “Hexadome” at Pier 70, a series of “360° Audiovisual performances” featuring spatialized sound and projected visuals which surround/bombard attendees with special designed multimedia art by the likes of Thom Yorke of Radiohead. There’s also a daytime conference and a Creative Coding workshop, for those who want a little less skeleton in the game. Lots to do over the fest’s 4 days. All the details on their site.
THU JUL 25 to to SUN Jul 28; 7pm Gray Area Art + Technology & Pier 70, SF; $20 to $250 (for individual tickets vs festival pass, see the site for details)

Wonder Women of SF: Chinatown walking tour
Herstory can get kind of twisted, that’s where Wonder Women walking tours come in. I’ve highlighted two tours by the group this weekend, one on either side of the Bay. There are amazing stories to tell of the women of San Francisco’s Chinatown through history. The first female Chinese-American physician was a cross-dressing gal who mingled with the military & movie stars alike; another woman sparked a revolution for worker’s rights; while another saved thousands of girls from slavery. It’s about a 1 mile walk, including some steep hills. You can  contact them to ask about accessibility concerns.
FRI JUL 26, 10 AM; Cameron House, Chinatown SF; Free

The Billion Year Walk
A walkable time portal will conveniently manifest around Lake Merritt for the day, this 3-mile outdoor trek is designed for the whole family to stroll through a cool billion years of Earth’s history. Docents will show off fossils,  demonstrate photosynthesis, and there’s fun stuff for kids like dinosaur toys and time travel passports. Though in the end, they drop you off in 2019. Sorry about that.
SAT JUL 27, 10AM – 4PM; Lake Merritt, Oakland; Free

Wonder Women of the Bay Area – Berkeley walking tour
The second Wonder Women walk of the weekend covers 1.3 miles of the University of California Berkeley campus (it tends toward down hill) and will highlight the lives of lady artists and all manner of female revolutionaries who shaped the University (and beyond).
SAT JUL 27, 1PM; Bancroft Hotel, Berkeley; Free

Zines!: Tell your story, arrange your artwork, and more…
I’m here to tell you that zines are the best. While I’m a believer that you can make a ‘zine anytime, anywhere… well you aren’t, are you? And neither am I. So maybe we need an inspiring reminder of how fun, easy, and pleasing it is grasp the most basic means of media production and get newsprint on our hands. San Francisco’s Mechanics’ Institute is a member-based organization, but this workshop is open to the public (it’s $10 cheaper if you are a member). It’s a “whirlwind hands-on workshop focused on the history, culture, and practice of zine making. Zines are a form of self-expression and documentation created through a do-it-yourself approach to bookmaking.” That sounds awesome. And it could be creative inspiration you need to become a fold-and-staple media mogul.
SAT JUL 27, 11AM; Mechanics’ Institute, downtown SF: $49 to $59

The Berkeley Kite Festival
This festival has surpassed 30 years now, and it does have it all in terms of kite stuff. If you like to watch, there will be pro kite competitions in the air which you can peep while you enjoy life at Bay level in the Berkeley Marina. There are kites for sale and free kite flying lessons for tricksy models like dual-line and quad-line aerobatic kites. Do you or the kids want to build a kite, that’s an option. In fact the whole thing is free. And while there’s a charge to park at Golden Gate Fields, there’s then a free shuttle to the festival. And I mean, seriously, just look at those awesome Dragon kites up there. Plus there’s a dinner cruise, and kite competitions to join, if you are so inclined. For both of those you’ll need to look go to the site and register ahead of time. Tempted to say something about kids of all ages here. But I’ll spare you.
SAT JUL 27 + SUN JUL 28, 10AM – 5PM; Berkeley Marina, Berkeley; Free

Hellboy Board Game Night
Now for something completely different… the fine folks at Mission: Comics & Art have been hosting game nights for the co-operative experience Hellboy board game for a while now. Great for board game geeks, and especially fans of the comic who will recognize HB’s nemeses when they stare ’em in the tentacles. That’s the right plural for nemesis, by the way. I looked it up.
SUN JUL 28, 6PM; Mission: Comics & Art, SF; Free

Nerd Nite East Bay: Rock Posters, Mushroom Materials, Antikythera
It’s happening again: nerds unite, on a nite! This time, it’s cooool, man. As Ben Marks of The Rock Poster Society will “Reassess the Golden Age of California Rock Posters”; there’ll be history from the bottom of the ocean as Jeff Herzbach unpacks the facts about the “Antikythera” device which might be “the World’s First Computer”; and Sonia Travaglini of UC Berkeley explains novel chemistries of fungi that can digest plastics and build houses.
MON JUL 29, 7PM; The Uptown, Oakland; $8 online, $10 door