News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
“LOVE WAS IN THE AIR,” says Fred Martin of the days when he and Browser Books were both young. And on many nights, it still is. “This place is magic,” he says of the bookstore, where he has worked for 36 of its 40 years as it grew into a landmark on Fillmore Street. “People…
By FRED MARTIN, KEN SAMUELS and ERIN MESSER of the Browser Books staff Browser Books, a neighborhood fixture since 1976, has no doubt sparked countless anonymous instances of romance. The store’s staff, however, has been especially susceptible to this phenomenon. Perhaps it’s because we spend so much time in the store — or perhaps it’s…
FIRST PERSON | CHRIS NICHOLS My day job in the tech world is rewarding, but music is my passion. And much of my musical journey has played itself out on Fillmore Street. It started two decades ago with a friend’s invitation to a Thursday night rehearsal of the choir at Calvary Presbyterian Church at Fillmore…
BODY & SOUL | BARBARA KATE REPA There was a message on my phone marked urgent: “There’s a new spa in the neighborhood — and it looks really, really nice.” The alert came from Melody Sams, a friend who had spied the newly opened Pearl Spa & Sauna on Post Street, just a few doors…
LANDMARKS | BRIDGET MALEY The Vedanta Society of Northern California was founded in 1900 by visiting Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda, who earlier gained fame and admiration at the Chicago Parliament of World Religions in 1893. The society owns two neighborhood landmarks: the “old temple” at 2963 Webster at Filbert, completed in 1905, then further expanded…