Cafe Flore Lives!

On Saturday I ran into former Grand Duke Brian Busta at a friend's birthday BBQ, and he told me that he had been at the Planning Commission meeting for Cafe Flore, where they got everything they wanted and more.

Cafe Flore (located in the heart of the Castro at the intersection of Noe and Market) has been on a mission to expand into a 24-hour food service operation, with the ability to serve drinks and have DJ music until 2AM and to have outdoor seating all night. There were the usual neighbors (most of whom live over a block away), who complained that this would mean more noise, more crime, and more stuff they generally didn't want (just read the comments over on eater.sf to get a sense of the flavor). Meanwhile, JD Petras, the owner, waged a bit of a campaign of his own, raising fears that Cafe Flore would have to close if it wasn't able to expand in these ways.

I'm glad this one got through; as the boyfriend and I discussed last night, it means that now there's someplace other than Sparky's and Orphan Andy's to go for food after the bars close, or when we're feeling just generally a bit too stimulated to go home and lay around the apartment. I'm especially anxious to see what this scene will look like in the warm months; maybe it will give us back a littl of the old school Castro flavor, when you didn't go home to your computer afterhours to hook up.

Ducal Doin's: Mr. Royal Bunny is Crowned

The Royal Mr. Bunny contest concluded yesterday at Café Flore with a large number of Sisters, bunnies, trannies, and general kooky people in attendance. The event started at 4.00, just as things were winding down at Dolores Park, so many Sisters made their way up to their unofficial Castro hangout. I was there mainly to support Kitty, who has been selling raffle tickets as best he could over the past several weeks. Going in we knew that Mr. SPCA, aka Oliver, would probably beat him, since he was raising money for the same organization he worked for, but I had it from the Duke himself that Kitty would get recognition for his efforts. And, indeed, he was named Royal Baby Bunny Boy, given a lovely framed certificate, a pair of blue bunny ears decorated by the Duke, and a blue bunny plushie. Though Kitty told me he was in the contest primarily to support the Duke and to get himself more involved with community work, I still know that he appreciated the recognition and was very happy to receive it. That he lost out to someone wearing a pastel blue muscle shirt with “Celine Dion” printed on the front was thus a little easier to take. When everything was tallied up the various Mr. and Miss Bunny contestants raised over $2900 for the SPCA's Hearing Dogs for the Deaf program, completely selling out all the raffle tickets and breaking the previous fundraising efforts.

Ducal Doin's: The Mr. Bunny Contest Rages On!

The contest for Mr. and Miss Bunny continued on Sunday at the Cinch, where Diamond Disco Duke Brian Busta convened his court once again for an Easter Basket auction to benefit the SPCA’s hearing dogs for the deaf. This time there was extra fun in the form of Gotcha, a shepherd mix dog who demonstrated for the crowd all the neat things she has been trained to do, like picking up keys when they get dropped, or making sure her companion knows that the phone is ringing.

The Cinch up on Polkstrasse was a great venue that brought out such luminaries as Miss Anna Conda and, making command performances, Juanita Fajita and Frieda Laye. In between performances various Easter baskets were auctioned off, and yours truly, feeling inspired by Gotcha and disinhibited by three of the strongest drinks I’ve had at a bar in a long time, walked off with two of them, including one that came with a painting created by the Duke hisself. The Mr. and Miss Bunny contestants, meanwhile, continued to sell raffle tickets in an attempt to boost their standings in said contest. And here’s where I’ve a bone to pick with the workings of the Ducal court.

So here’s the deal: contestants actually pay for the books of raffle tickets they sell, so essentially what happens is that if they have enough money of their own, they can buy the tickets straight out and don’t really need to worry about the re-sale. But my good friend Kitty, who is competing against Mr. SPCA whom I mentioned in the last Ducal post, is an underemployed graphic designer who is doing all he can right now to pay his rent and meet his other financial obligations. He got into the contest because of his personal friendship with the Duke, whom he wanted to help out, and because he wanted to do some community service work. Mr. SPCA, on the other hand, is fully employed and, no doubt, has plenty of friends with money as well. As I pointed out in my last post, there seems to be some conflict of interest with him competing in this contest when it’s being used to raise money for the non-profit that he works for, but I’m more concerned that this whole court business devolves, eventually, into classist system that favors people who have money, and move in moneyed circles, rather than people who are there because they want to do something for their community. I certainly hope that the final decision will be based on something other than just fundraising. I’m sure Mr. SPCA is a nice guy, and I will refrain from catty comments about things like hair coloring and how only Polk Street hustlers walk around with the middle button of their jeans undone, but I think the cards are being stacked in an unfair way against Kitty. The crowning will take place on Easter Sunday at Café Flore, so we’ll see how it all works out by then,

Ducal Doin's: Mr. and Ms. Bunny

Among my many social acquaintances I count some San Francisco nobility, the Diamond Disco Duke Brian Busta of the San Francisco Ducal Court. The Duke's main activity is fundraising, and on this past Sunday the Duke gathered together his court at Marlena's, in Hayes Valley, to begin a fundraising effort for the SPCA which will be spearheaded by the contestants vying for the title of Mr. and Miss Bunny. Here's the deal: they sell raffle tickets (for actually good prizes, I'm working it for that 5.1 surround system and DVD player), and whoever sells the most and smiles a lot wins the title. My friend Kitty decided to go out for it since the Duke actually asked him to do it, only to find himself up against a guy from the SPCA who, by virtue of being part of the group that the fundraising is being undertaken for, should probably bow out, ya know? Along with the raffle selling and drink swilling, there were also the inevitable drag performances, including one each from the inimitable Juanita Fajita and Frieda Laye. This will culminate on Easter Sunday with the bestowing of the royal ears upon the royal bunny, so I'll keep you up-to-date on our Kitty's progress toward becoming a bunny.