Seasonal homage to the bright lights next door

The season has passed, but at least one of its charms bears a post-holiday mention: Tom Walton points out that just to the right of the house at 1326 Oak St. in Napa’s Old Town, “one of the most holiday-decorated buildings in town,” is a house with a one-word, one-symbol message written out in lights: “Ditto” with an arrow underneath pointing to the neighbor’s display at the left.

Muriel Maffre, who retired after 17 years as principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet in 2007, was welcomed as chief executive officer of Alonzo King Lines Ballet with a holiday party at the Sea Cliff home of advisory board member Betty Louie.

Maffre danced with Lines “on and off through the years” while she was with SFB, especially during summer breaks. Often she would dance all day at San Francisco Ballet, then head off to Lines — on nearby Oak Street then — to take a class from King. In 2008 and 2009, after leaving the Ballet, she was a guest artist with Lines.

She said that at first her relationship with Lines caused some grumbling at SFB, where some worried about conflict of interest or disloyalty to the bigger company. Eventually, however, everyone came to peace with it, so much so that for SFB’s Unbound Festival of new works in April, King has choreographed some of the work to be performed.

After leaving SFB, Maffre enrolled at John F. Kennedy University, where she earned a master’s of museum studies. She comes to the new gig after serving as executive director of the Museum of Performance + Design. “I am honored,” Maffre said of her new gig, “especially coming in on the 35th anniversary of the company. It’s really exciting to create a vision with Alonzo going forward.”

Around here, “unusual” is a compliment.

In response to a preholiday item about local eccentrics, several readers made additional nominations for the honor roll: Tom Ammiano names the Cosmic Lady (who used to say the rent was due on the planet); the Berkeley Naked Guy; Brownie Mary (“an icon and pioneer for marijuana and patients’ rights”); and Peter Berlin, described as a “model not shy about endowment” (and happily, still among us). Herb from Oakland suggests Human Jukebox Grimes Poznikov; Scott McKinzie nominates “cheerleader extraordinaire” Crazy George, sometimes credited as inventor of the Wave; and Lori from Marin suggests Norman Hobday, a.k.a. Henry Africa.

At 46th Avenue and Wawona, Vicki Duffett reports that Thursday’s earlymorning earthquake was not preceded by audible warnings from the furred and feathered neighbors who live in the Zoo. Once the quake happened, however, the animals “were agitated and called in choruses for an hour afterward. She emailed about this at 4:14 a.m., at which point, she said, “They’re starting to settle down now. Guess I can go to sleep.”

Perusing the papers a few days before Christmas, Isadora Alman was surprised to find a Tiffany ad for necklaces, pairs of which were arranged to spell out “Ho,” as in “Ho, ho, ho!” In other seasons, notes Alman, it’s the rare women who would want to wear diamonds proclaiming her a “Ho.”

As to “Who Killed Hunter S. Thompson?” the anthology of essays edited by Warren Hinckle, Linda Corso, Hinckle’s longtime partner, notes that all royalties are going to 826 Valencia, via the Hunter S. Thompson Gonzo award.

Dave Heventhal poses a daring question: “Am I the only one who sees Steve Bannon asthe Warren Hinckle ofthe right?”

And a heartfelt thank-you to Jane Rehm and Remy Nelson, whose Mojo Bicycle Cafe — which closed on Dec. 22 — was our favorite Saturday morning hangout. In 2010, the cafe was the site of the city’s first parklet, a place that was coffee grounds zero for the newly emerging Divisadero Street cafe society. It wasn’t fancy, it wasn’t pretentious, it was welcoming to untattooed customers who were the age of the parents of its main clientele. To someone who’s lived in the neighborhood for decades, and has experienced it being engulfed — happily in most cases, but not all — by the rushing river of gentrification, the Mojo was an island of neighborhood bonhomie.

PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING “I let you buy my ticket today, so I’m being nice to you. So please remember to be nice to me.” Woman to companion, overheard at a performance of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by Thomas Matson