World’s largest rubberband ball

Featured in “Weird California”

Tourists of San Francisco will undoubtedly think to grab some crab at Fisherman’s Wharf, or take a stroll after eating egg roll through Chinatown. Many sightseers are inclined to pay a visit to Alcatraz, just to see what the Birdman was trying to escape from; but somewhere above the blue and windy sea, and beyond the average visitors travel plans is the Mission District.

  The Mission District is the oldest neighborhood in the City of a Hundred Hills, but it simply just doesn’t get the out-of-towner’s dollar. That is until now.

   Forget the seafood, disregard the storied history, put the sports teams out of your mind. The new and only reason to swing by the City by the Bay is rubber.

   Not the fetishistic kind of rubber that this sexually liberal burg has also been know for either, pervert… we’re talking rubber bands, or more to the point….. rubber band.

   The largest rubber band ball in the entire world is located at 3398 E 22^nd Street in a narrow convenience store called, “Pride Superette”

   Brothers Samir and Nabil Keishk are the proprietors of the shop, and more importantly, the owners of the oversized orb of elasticity in question.

   The siblings started working on the 4 foot tall bouncy sphere in 1999, and it has been guestimated to presently weigh over 2850 pounds.

   According to Nabil, there was another contender to the throne, but that rubber band ball was tossed outside of a helicopter in a stunt to see how high it would rebound off the ground, and while Nabil didn’t know the heights attained, he did cackle with unbridled glee, “That ball is fucked up now.”

   Should you decide to stop by the Mission District and check out San Francisco’s greatest hidden treasure, beware. The ball is half- covered in a garishly colored beach blanket and atop sits a sign that ominously reads “Do Not Touch, and No Photos.”

   The brothers are very protective of their construction, and depending on which Keishk you talk to, and what mood they are in, the family member’s can be either overly gregarious about the creation, or downright surly. It is however wise to remember that heavy is the burden of shouldering such an undertaking.

   Heck, even Atlas shrugged, and he wasn’t even concerned with the tourist trade.