Leisure

Good Times...

The Most Dubious Moments of 2010

Ah, 2010. A year of ups and downs of a magnitude we haven’t seen since 2009. And we’ve had a few headliners of our own here in San Francisco—some involving gadget leaks in beer halls, traveling mammals and a naughty Santa. And that’s the way it was...

FEBRUARY 22

Sea Lions Slowly Return to Pier 39

You generally leave Pier 39 to the tourists, though it’s comforting to know that the sea lions are always there. So it was particularly disconcerting when after about 20 years of making the pier their home, the sea lions disappeared. Apparently these jet-setting beasts needed a quick jaunt to Oregon and back, as many jet-setting beasts do.

MARCH 18

The Case of the Missing iPhone 4

We’ll never know if it was a plant, but left right there on a deserted bar stool at Redwood City’s Gourmet Haus Staudt was the lost, unreleased prototype of the highly anticipated iPhone 4. Gizmodo bought that piece for $5,000 and posted the first photographs of it. The bar got popular. Apple still sold millions. Everybody wins.

OCTOBER 26

Brian Wilson and the Machine

It’s hard to know when the black-bearded cult-closer Brian Wilson is kidding or dead serious. So when a barebacked, black-masked, leather-strapped man appeared in the background during his TV interview, nobody knew what to make of it. Some things are better left unknown.

NOVEMBER 24

The Bikini Traveler Versus the TSA

Sometimes, less is more. Case in point: 31-year-old Sonoma native Corrine Theile, who mocked the heightened airport security measures over Thanksgiving by donning a little black bikini under her coat and boots. Mocking is best done in a little bikini.

DECEMBER 10

Lefty O’Doul’s In-House Santa

After being fired from Macy’s for telling a few dirty jokes, full-time Santa John Toomey landed a position at Lefty O’Doul’s as the in-house Santa. Not only that, but at Lefty’s, he has doubled his salary and can tell all his jokes, all day long. He even got chair time on The Tonight Show. Once again, Santa comes out a winner.