News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
FOR SEVEN YEARS, people walked by the gallery at 1906 Fillmore, looked in to admire the artwork on the walls, but never found the jewel box of a space open. That was exactly the idea. Cassandria Blackmore, who first made her mark in the glass art scene in Seattle, transformed the storefront in 2010 into…
GOOD WORKS | FRANCINE BREVETTI When Luis Garcia was 13, he thought robbing people was normal. Now, at 22, after multiple incarcerations, he sees working an honest job for a decent living as normal. He turned his head around with the help of the Success Center, a nonprofit at 1449 Webster Street providing vocational and…
LANDMARKS | BRIDGET MALEY As the automobile increased in popularity and affordability in the 1920s, neighborhood parking garages and repair shops became the norm in San Francisco. Because private homes were commonly constructed without garages, a new type of building evolved to serve residents with parking needs. Neighborhood garages were often one- or two-story concrete…
By BRIDGET MALEY My predecessor in writing about neighborhood architecture for the New Fillmore, the respected architectural historian Anne Bloomfield, was an amazing researcher and a passionate advocate for maintaining the character of Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights. She died in December 1999, but her life’s work of helping preserve San Francisco’s past lives on.…
“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…
By CHRIS BARNETT On New Year’s Eve, when most wine and champagne purveyors were tallying up their holiday sales receipts, Vino at 2425 California Street closed its doors forever after a 20-year run — the victim of a potential $1,000 a month rent hike, shrinking profits and a retailing strategy that no longer works in the…