By Stedman F. Matthew More than 60,000 people visit the St. Jude Shrine at St. Dominic’s Church every year to light a candle, say a prayer and seek solace from their suffering. The shrine — founded by the Dominican friars in 1935 in the middle of the Great Depression to bring hope to a world [...]
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So Ruth Dewson was told when she opened Mrs. Dewson’s Hats on Fillmore Street 38 years ago. For decades she has been the unofficial mayor of Fillmore Street. But she has been missing from the neighborhood in recent months, sidelined by ill health. We caught up with her at her shop and found her spirit [...]
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NEW NEIGHBOR | Yuni Salon A bright orange awning at 2434 California Street heralds the arrival of Salon Yuni. Owned by local resident Yuni Cho, the salon manages to be both homey and starkly modern, with a mostly white interior accented by fuchsia touches and eight orange client chairs. Cho says the decision to open [...]
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FILLMORE JAZZ FESTIVAL | July 3 & 4 A decade ago, the artist Ken Auster became enamored of some artistic cowboy boot sculptures. He didn’t buy them, but they stayed on his mind — ones that got away. Then about a year ago, Auster was stunned to see what he thought were the same boot [...]
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A group of locals gets together for a walk on Saturday mornings at Crissy Field — as some of them have been doing for 25 years.
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Neighbors in search of Fillmore Street’s famed make-up artist to the stars Nellie Muganda needn’t look far. She’s followed her muse — and a more favorable lease — down the hill to 2118 Union Street.
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The lingerie shop My Boudoir blazed the trail from Fillmore to Union Street last November. The boutique, which debuted at 2029 Fillmore in 1998, is a family operation run by mother Geraldine Nuval-Weibull and daughter Delilah Nuval. Inside its tiny new space at 2285 Union — which is half the size of the Fillmore location [...]
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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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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 [...]
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By Donna Domino “There’s a very special energy here,” says Kathy Nelsen, longtime director of the Kabuki Springs & Spa, explaining why the cultural fixture has endured for nearly 40 years. “The communal baths are really what differentiates us. We have some of the only ones in California and the U.S.” Nelsen, who has carefully [...]
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STARBUCKS OPENING
A FILLMORE JUICE BAR
Farewell to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, one of Fillmore’s many coffee shops, which closed on March 25 at the corner of Fillmore and Sacramento. . . . And hello to Starbucks, which is taking over the busy corner for its new chain of juice bars called Evolution Fresh, offering fresh and bottled juices, smoothies and food.
Even though this is the beginning of a new chain from Starbucks, it squeaks in under the ban on chain stores because it’s just starting and has fewer than 11 outlets. So far.
FURNITURE GIVES WAY
TO YOGA WEAR
The end is near for the Danish furniture store BoConcept, which opened less than two years ago at 1928 Fillmore. It’s retreating to its larger showroom in the design district and will be replaced by Prana, a brand of activewear for yogis, climbers and other sports enthusiasts.
SOLVING THE PUZZLE
OF FLOOR COVERING
A welcoming carpet in jaunty shades of brick, brown and purple on the sidewalk at 2226 Bush Street beckons buyers into Flor, a new store selling a modular system of floor covering that can be assembled as rugs, runners or wall-to-wall carpeting.
The floor covering is offered in 20-by-20-inch carpet tiles that range in cost from $8 per square for short nylon pile to $40 for plush wool. The squares can be assembled and changed to fit space and use needs.
ROAM BURGERS
MOVING UP TO FILLMORE
At 1923 Fillmore, Roam Burgers has signed a lease to succeed Osaka, the long-running Japanese restaurant operated by three Chinese sisters. Roam has established a big following for its gourmet burgers down the hill on Union Street.
MORE FASHION
SHOPS OPENING
Three Fillmore shops that have closed in recent weeks — Blu, Her and Ruby Living Design — will be replaced by new clothing boutiques. Alice + Olivia is already open at the corner of Fillmore and Clay Streets, former home of Blu. Look for Roberta Freymann and Steven Alan, coming soon.
DUMPLINGS & BUNS
CALLS IT QUITS
It was a dream come true for May Lee, whose family has owned the building at the key corner of Fillmore and California for many years. She’d take over the space at 2411 California and open a shop serving Chinese dumplings and buns based on her own family’s recipes.
Despite a stylish storefront and authentic offerings, the dream turned into something of a nightmare and the shop closed on February 26, barely six months after it opened.
A number of potential new food-related tenants are said to be circling, even though the space has no kitchen.
DECORATOR SHOWCASE
AT 2020 JACKSON
The Heller mansion at 2020 Jackson Street — on the market for $20 million — has been selected as the location for this year’s Decorator Showcase.
Designed by Julius Krafft, 2020 Jackson was built in 1902 by Wells Fargo Bank President Isaias Hellman as a wedding gift for his daughter, Clara, and her husband Emanuel Heller, founder of the Heller Ehrman law firm. After the 1906 earthquake, it served as the temporary headquarters of Wells Fargo.
This year the Decorator Showcase will run from April 28 to May 28.
