So...I made it to Udupi Palace on Wednesday night in spite of my carelessness.  They'd made the address super clear--and more than once--in text messages and reminders, but I managed to key in the wrong number and was told to get off at Market and Van Ness and walk 7 minutes.  But it turned out that it was more like a 30 minutes walk to the correct address, so the SF Vistas that I saw were all a blur as I hurried past them.  They were places like Dave Eggers'-founded 826 Valencia Street and City College's Mission Campus.  I've got to go back when being on Valencia isn't an accident.  
 

I don't think this is the kind of community-provided bench the SF Chronicle was talking about today in its article

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mystery-benches-sidewalks-20418145.php

Yes, there were other articles--many grim, sad, alarming--but this was the one I focused on!