At long last, temple retrofit begins

Take a last look at the majestic pink temple glowing in the late afternoon sunlight at the corner of California and Webster.
It is quickly being enveloped by scaffolding for a seismic retrofit that will strengthen the hundred-year-old home of Congregation Sherith Israel. And it will lose its distinctive salmon pink paint job and emerge next [...]

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The promised land: right here

Among the work now under way at the Sherith Israel temple at California and Webster is the restoration of the stained glass windows. In the grand western window, “Moses Presenting the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel,” Moses is depicted on the granite rocks at the gateway to Yosemite, with Half Dome and El Capitan [...]

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Brooklyn Circus is reborn

RetroTV: The Brooklyn Circus SF ‘Rises Above The Tide’ from The Retrospective on Vimeo.

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Int’l film fest opens

Its 53rd incarnation opens tonight at the Castro Theater, but most of the action at the SF International Film Festival — and the box office — is down the block at the Sundance Kabuki at Fillmore and Post.
Schedule and full details.

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Let there be light at the Elite

Theyyy’re baaaack . . . The two crystal and brass lamps circa 1938 vanished last summer, plunging the west end of the Elite Cafe’s bar into darkness. Regulars missed the elegant touch and the lumins; the faux candle replacements never cut it. Ace servers Abby, Jenna and Kate practically needed miner’s helmets to ring up [...]

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Fillmore loses a familiar face

Longtime Fillmore resident and noted artist Bill Shields died Wednesday, April 14, just a week shy of his 85th birthday.
Shields and his wife Denise in recent years have owned and operated the Artists Inn at 2231 Pine Street. The inn is housed in his former studio, which faces a sunny patio behind their home.
Until the [...]

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‘It almost seemed impossible to disappoint him’

William Stephens Shields Jr.
April 23, 1925 – April 14, 2010

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The art of flowers

F loral designer Kaori Imaizumi is preparing for a museum exhibition this month, as she has every spring since she opened her flower shop in the neighborhood in 2006.
She’s participating once again in “Bouquets to Art,” the annual extravaganza in which floral arrangements interpret and comment upon works of art in the DeYoung Museum in Golden [...]

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Jazz giants in the jazz district

April is jazz appreciation month, all month long, and there’s something special to appreciate at the Fillmore Heritage Center at 1330 Fillmore. “Jazz Giants: the Photography of Herman Leonard” is a collection of some of the finest jazz photographs ever taken by one of America’s greatest living photographers. In addition, there’s a full program of [...]

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Polo's promises go unfulfilled

By Barbara Kate Repa
Almost exactly two years ago, when Polo Ralph Lauren became the first business to encounter San Francisco’s new ordinance limiting chain stores in the neighborhood, the company’s leaders promised that their Fillmore store, if approved, would become engaged in the neighborhood and support local causes.
They even put it in writing.
“We feel the [...]

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