FIRST PERSON | Tom Bergin Life flies by so fast. It has been almost 10 years since I sold Tom Bergin Goldsmith on Fillmore Street to Eric Trabert. I miss the customers — many of whom became friends. I miss the neighbors who popped in to say hello as they passed by on their daily [...]
Filed under: First Person | 1 Comment »
FIRST PERSON | Amy Bernstein When we started telling friends that we were moving from San Francisco to Boston, we could count on getting one of two responses: an incredulous “Why?” or “Boston’s great. It’s a lot like San Francisco.” My partner Nanette Bisher and I were moving because I had just landed a dream [...]
Filed under: First Person | 1 Comment »
FIRST PERSON | James DeKoven On a recent moonlit night in the neighborhood, darkness having descended much earlier than only a few weeks before, some friends were at my place sipping cocktails and examining life’s more contentious issues: individualism versus conformity, true love, the meaning of life. It was all rather intense. When I tried [...]
Filed under: First Person, Food, Drink & Lodging | No Comments »
FIRST PERSON | Alicia Utter I stumbled into the Fillmore by accident six years ago, enticed by an ad for an apartment on Craigslist. Strolling out on the patio with the building manager, I looked down to see my dog’s tail touch his back as he ran around pots of jasmine. Looking up at the [...]
Filed under: First Person, Food, Drink & Lodging | 2 Comments »
FIRST PERSON | Doug Rappaport Offering handmade bicycles and promising precision maintenance services, Bespoke Cycles is now open at 2843 Clay Street, near Scott, the storefront previously occupied for many years by Tony Kitz Oriental Rugs. As a nearby neighbor and an avid cyclist, I’m excited — because in addition to selling custom bicycles and [...]
Filed under: Body & Soul, First Person, Locals | No Comments »
FIRST PERSON | Julian Guthrie Having lived in San Francisco for nearly 20 years and worked as a reporter first for the Examiner and now for the Chronicle, I have come to see the different ways neighborhoods in the city are defined. For many, the center of a neighborhood is a coffee house, or a [...]
Filed under: Body & Soul, Books, First Person, Landmarks | No Comments »
FIRST PERSON | Charlie Greene The corner of Jackson and Fillmore was the center of the universe when I was growing up at 2449 Jackson Street in the 1950s and 60s. You could get anywhere in the city on four Muni bus lines — the 22-Fillmore, 80-Leavenworth, 3-Jackson and 24-Divisadero — plus the Washington-Jackson cable [...]
Filed under: First Person, Locals | 4 Comments »
FIRST PERSON | Ken Samuels The other day, while selling some books to a couple of young men, I realized I’d known them since they were little kids pleading with their mothers to buy them Berenstain Bears books. That sums up my decade and a half at Browser Books on Fillmore and Sacramento selling books [...]
Filed under: Books, First Person, Landmarks | No Comments »
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. [...]
Filed under: First Person, Food, Drink & Lodging | No Comments »
FIRST PERSON | Bud Johns Consider me a sucker for commemorative plaques. One reason London is among my favorite cities is its many buildings with blue ceramic plaques noting the famous people who lived there. I find it impossible not to pause and read them. So it was inevitable I would stop my car when [...]
Filed under: First Person | No Comments »
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.
