We finally lost ACE Junkyard to the ravages of an unreasonable San Francisco landlord. She won only on a technicality, after a long expensive battle by Bill Kennedy, proprietor extraordinaire of ACE Junkyard.
I hope many of you know the wonders of San Francisco’s ACE Junkyard. If not let me clue you in to the significance of what we are losing. Bill who is also known to some of as Billy the Junkman, Junkman or even Belinda, has been the purveyor of fine junk in San Francisco for over 25 years and ACE has been THE resource for playa artmaking in Bay Area for over 15 years. Let it be known Bill has provided an incalculable about amount of funding for playa art in the last 15 years, in the form of JUNK – wondrous, glorious, re-usable, transformable, JUNK!
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Over the years this junk has evolved into many ground-breaking forms of art. Junk from ACE has been transformed into SRL’s machines, SEEMEN’s interactive work and Cyclecide’s pedal-powered carnival. The list of artists doesn’t stop there. The following incomplete list of artists can all thank Bill for his uncanny ability to find that essential widget or for donating his Junkyard venue to events like the famous Power Tool Drag Races: Flaming Lotus Girls, Rich Humphrey, Jarico Reese, Laird Rickard, Paul the Plumber, Big Daddy, John Law, Jim Mason, Michael Michael, Simone Davalos, Kimric Smythe, Shannon O’Hare, Sue Glover, Dan Das Man, Karen Cusolito, Scott Gasparian, Charles Gadeken, Kal Spelletich, Mark Perez, and Chicken John.
Come celebrate and say Goodbye to our favorite Junkyard on Saturday October 31st, Halloween at Cellspace 5020 Bryant Street. The Junkyard will be gone, but Bill remains and I’m sure he will figure out other ways to enrich us.
“The other side of it is…. well it was and is worth ever penny of it. The people, events, art, and most importantly to me the parts of myself that I found, and the person that I have become. A large part of who am now is because of the love and support on my family of friends I have made from this place.” -Bill The Junkman
Do you have a favorite ACE or Bill memory?
Thanks for posting this Jess…. there’s a lot of us that are going to miss ACE and sunny days at the PTDR… See ya at Cellspace…
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good post! was actually looking for something else on plumbing on a google search and found your article, much more interesting than what I was looking for lol, thanks, bp.
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Hey Jess! Thanks for posting this!
I am making a documentary film about Ace junkyard called “Ace in the Hole” and you can find out more about it here: http://aceintheholefilm.com
If you loved Ace, check my project out. It’s all about how awesome this place was for us artists!
Yasi xo
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