The New Fillmore

You too can have a Victorian mansion

Posted on March 1st, 2012 by editors

Up the sidewalk to the imposing Victorian mansion at 2007 Franklin Street — the historic Haas-Lilienthal House — walks a group of senior travelers who call themselves road scholars. They are greeted by a gentleman in a vested suit and bowler hat, carrying a silver-headed cane, who welcomes them inside. It’s not John Gaul’s home, [...]

Filed under: Home & Garden, Landmarks, Locals, Neighborhood History | No Comments »

From Fillmore to Jonestown

Posted on November 18th, 2011 by editors

On November 18, 1978 — 33 years ago today — 918 people from the Peoples Temple died in Jonestown. Most had followed Rev. Jim Jones to Guyana from the Fillmore. The Peoples Temple stood on Geary Boulevard just west of Fillmore Street where the post office is now located. In a new book of poems [...]

Filed under: Neighborhood History | No Comments »

Booty-shaking at the Boom Boom Room

Posted on August 1st, 2011 by editors

SALOONS | Chris Barnett A t the Boom Boom Room, the divey-looking 78-year-old live music club on Fillmore at Geary, the best seat in the house is off limits to customers. The tufted red leather booth, with its perfect view of the band and dance floor, is permanently reserved for legendary blues guitarist John Lee Hooker, [...]

Filed under: Food, Drink & Lodging, Landmarks, Neighborhood History | No Comments »

Was it really John Lee Hooker’s joint?

Posted on August 1st, 2011 by editors

So did swashbuckling blues guitarist John Lee Hooker really own the Boom Boom Room as a side gig? If you believe the sign above the door, he did. And if you listen to the current owner, Alexander Andreas, he did. But don’t bet your booty on it. Fillmore jazz genealogists Elizabeth Pepin and Lewis Watts, [...]

Filed under: Food, Drink & Lodging, Landmarks, Neighborhood History | No Comments »

The Elite Cafe: aging gracefully

Posted on July 11th, 2011 by editors

While 30 years can be more than a lifetime in San Francisco’s ever-changing restaurant world, Fillmore’s venerable Elite Cafe on July 14 will celebrate three decades of serving up New Orleans cuisine in its historic Art Deco home. And that’s only its third incarnation. The woody, warm and welcoming spot at 2049 Fillmore is rich [...]

Filed under: Food, Drink & Lodging, Landmarks, Locals, Neighborhood History | No Comments »

Old friends, new faces at JazzFest

Posted on June 30th, 2011 by editors

For the 27th time, Fillmore Street will celebrate the Fourth of July by hosting the Fillmore Jazz Festival, this year on July 2 and 3. It’s by far the largest street party in the city, stretching from Jackson Street in Pacific Heights south through the Fillmore Jazz District to Eddy Street. Ruth Dewson, the long-reigning [...]

Filed under: Locals, Music, Neighborhood History | No Comments »

School’s out forever at St. Dominic’s

Posted on June 30th, 2011 by editors

St. Dominic’s School closed for the final time at the end of the school year after more than a century of educating economically disadvantaged children in the neighborhood. Yet the future for both the school and its Gothic home on Pine Street, erected in 1929, seems filled with promise. The school has been known as [...]

Filed under: Landmarks, Neighborhood History | No Comments »

Before Paris, the Steins were locals

Posted on June 2nd, 2011 by editors

A rt patrons Michael and Sarah Stein lived in the Fillmore, then primarily a Jewish neighborhood, before they joined his sister Gertrude and brother Leo in Paris in the early 1900s. So did Gertrude Stein’s longtime companion, Alice B. Toklas. The Stein family owned and operated some of San Francisco’s many cable car lines, which Michael [...]

Filed under: Art & Design, Locals, Neighborhood History | No Comments »

Dental school moving downtown

Posted on June 1st, 2011 by editors

For more than 40 years, the School of Dentistry of the University of the Pacific has called the neighborhood home, providing no-cost and low-cost dental care through its clinics and enlivening the area with more than 1,100 students, faculty and staff. But that may soon change. School officials have signed an agreement to leave their [...]

Filed under: Locals, Neighborhood History | No Comments »

From old Fillmore photos, a rebirth

Posted on February 1st, 2011 by editors

PHOTOGRAPHY | Thomas Reynolds Singer James Brown may have been the hardest-working man in show business, but David Johnson is surely the hardest-working 84-year-old in the photography business. In recent months he’s had four major exhibitions — mostly photographs from the heyday of the Fillmore’s jazz era — including one in Atlanta and another at [...]

Filed under: Art & Design, Locals, Neighborhood History | 2 Comments »

STREET TALK

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.

Subscribe

Departments

Topics