Extinct manzanita saved in the Presidio

A rare Franciscan manzanita long thought to be extinct was transplanted to a protected location in the Presidio this week after it was discovered along the Doyle Drive rebuilding project by a biologist who happened to be driving by. “It’s an incredible find, like Christmas morning when you’re five,” says Mark Frey, an ecologist with [...]

Share

The one that got away

Check out these stunning images of an upscale soul food restaurant called Mississippi Blues designed for the Fillmore Jazz District by hot-shot architect Stanley Saitowitz. “Like the river, a single table meanders through the space — here everyone sits around and eats as a family,” reports Arch Daily. Unfortunately, it’s old news, says Eater SF: [...]

Share

At Vivande’s auction, timeless treasures

At 9 this morning, Vivande opened its doors to the public for the first time in three weeks. At 11, an auctioneer began selling the furnishings and equipment. Most of the two dozen people milling around seemed to be dealers in used restaurant supplies, although there were a few neighbors, too. Back in the kitchen [...]

Share

To Haiti on a medical mission

Neighborhood physician Dr. Eduardo P. Dolhun is with a team of doctors in Haiti treating earthquake victims. Here is a portion of his first dispatch from the front: “Within a matter of minutes we were presented with a wide assortment of severe illnesses, all of them traumatic and now nearly six days old. “The first [...]

Share

A master in our midst

A local gallery is presenting “Theophilus Brown: Nudes,” spotlighting one of the pioneers of the Bay Area Figurative Movement, which helped change the course of art history in the 1950s. Brown, now 90, moved to the neighborhood in 2001. He still works daily in his nearby studio and recently joined a new drawing group. “I [...]

Share

Opening night at Via Veneto

FIRST PERSON | Andre Bolaffi It was a Friday night in January 1990, exactly 20 years ago. We had been in our new home on Bush Street for five years. My wife Janice suggested we walk up Fillmore to the Clay Theatre to see a French film, “Claudine-Claudel,” about Rodin, his work and his mistress. [...]

Share

Brooks Brothers spinoff approved

They hoped to be welcoming holiday shoppers to their new store on Fillmore Street, but instead staffers from Black Fleece—a new brand from Brooks Brothers—were at City Hall December 17 seeking permission to proceed. Because it is part of the Brooks Brothers chain, the opening was delayed by the city’s formula retail ordinance, which requires [...]

Share

At Vivande, the last supper

Suddenly, although perhaps not for them, the owners of Vivande decided at the end of the year to close the restaurant. After 29 years at 2125 Fillmore, Vivande served its final meal at dinner on New Year’s Eve. “The decision to close Vivande is based on several factors,” said co-owner Lisa Middione, “but the chief [...]

Share

1300: a saloon with a soul

By Chris Barnett His coolness, former mayor Willie Brown himself, walks in around the cocktail hour, making 1300 on Fillmore the first stop on his nightly round of drop-bys to schmooze with friends and cronies. “This is one of those bar-restaurants that instantly became a landmark of this great city,” says Brown, sounding as if [...]

Share

Photos from the 50s see the light

When Gerald Ratto was a student at the California School of Fine Arts in the 1950s, he would hang out in the Fillmore with his camera and a bottle of brandy, which sometimes made it easier to make friends. “I wasn’t documenting anything,” he says. “I was just photographing the people who lived there.” Ratto [...]

Share
Powered by Tivix