News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
By CHRIS BARNETT Maybe the best bargain at Mollie Stone’s uber stylish Pacific Heights supermarket on California Street is the Mollie Bus shuttle. It provides a free ride from the parking lot to your front door, providing you buy $25 of the store’s pricey vittles — usually no problem at Mollie’s. Yet on recent shopping visits, regulars noticed the bus was not…
Story & Photographs by CYNTHIA TRAINA There’s a new stop at the top of Lafayette Park: Native Twins Coffee, a mobile cafe pouring espresso drinks, serving homemade baked goods and offering plenty of neighborhood spirit. It’s open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, and until 5 p.m. on weekends. Identical twins Jennifer…
AFTER YEARS of darkness … the corner spot at Fillmore and Clay is only days away from opening its doors as Palmer’s Tavern. The permits and licenses have been secured, the staff hired, the clubby interior shined and polished. The menu promises high-quality tavern fare, classic cocktails, local craft beers and affordable wines. So we…
By THOMAS REYNOLDS For more than a year and a half, a public silence has surrounded investor Neil Mehta’s plans to remake a prime stretch of Fillmore Street. A fund he created with a $100 million investment quietly acquired eight buildings containing 11 storefronts, including the historic Clay Theater, and christened itself the Upper Fillmore…
FIRST PERSON | CHARLES BUSH My latest novel, The Boy with the Jade, published today, is historical fiction set in 18th century China. It tells the story of Baoyu, a boy growing up amidst the extravagance, tumult and cruelty of a high aristocratic family. Trapped by expectations that he pass the Imperial Examination and continue…
By HANNAH BLAZEI If you look closely at The Fillmore’s sign you will see an apple at the bottom. You also can find apples as a main theme in the Bill Graham mural on Post Street. That is because Graham famously always handed out free apples at his Fillmore shows. It was a unique symbol…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA A younger Mayor Daniel Lurie was, for years, a familiar face on Fillmore Street. He first began making his mark on public life in San Francisco when he lived just a few steps from Fillmore — directly across the street from Florio restaurant. Lurie and his family lived at 80…
By ALISON OWINGS A few months ago, I called 911. I am not often an alarmist, but in front of my apartment building at Fillmore and Washington, I reported, was a pair of legs sticking out from under a pile of left-behind furniture. Lacking the moxie to find out on my own if the legs…
FLASHBACK | BARRY GARELICK A few weeks before the Vietnam war ended, I met the poet ruth weiss without knowing who she was. The meeting occurred at Minnie’s Can-Do Club in the Fillmore district of San Francisco on one of the weekly open-mic poetry nights. A melange of all sorts of people with all sorts…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA As locals flee the summer fog, retailers are taking the opportunity to spruce up their digs, or close up shop and make a move. The prime retail stretch of Fillmore Street between Bush and Jackson is under construction. Mellow and Barbers is moving its four-chair barbershop at 1906 Fillmore over…