News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
PLANS WILL BE unveiled this month for the revival of the historic home of Fillmore Street’s Clay Theater. The project is on the agenda for the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission, which will review plans for the restoration of the historic elements of the theater protected by city ordinance. That includes the facade and its neon…
REVIEW | FRAN MORELAND JOHNS “If two hours of Beethoven won’t lift your spirits,” said conductor Michael Conley, “then nothing will.” He was not wrong. At a Saturday evening concert — billed as “Beethoven!” — a full house at Calvary Presbyterian Church on Fillmore was treated to the Mass in C Major, plus the Fantasy…
LIFTING THE VEIL a bit on plans to restore Fillmore Street’s historic Clay Theater, the new owners have begun offering small groups of neighborhood residents a look inside — and a preview of what’s to come. Last week project director Cody Allen — point man for local investor Neil Mehta, who put up the money…
AN APPRECIATION | JASON OLAINE Kaz Kajimura’s passing marks the end of one of the most notable eras in all of jazz history, and not just Bay Area jazz history. When jazz clubs across the country were struggling in the ’70s and ’80s, Kaz and his partners Yoshie Akiba and Hiro Hori were growing a small Japanese restaurant…
FINALLY BREAKING A long silence, the new owners of the historic Clay Theater will today unveil plans for its return as a single-screen theater in its familiar but updated home on Fillmore Street. When the renovation of the century-old theater is complete, it will include approximately 200 seats and host more than 500 film screenings…
By FRAN MORELAND JOHNS Members of Calvary Presbyterian Church’s choir are on a two-week tour of Europe, taking the high-level musicianship of the Fillmore Street church to historic sites in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The choir joined singers from other choirs in commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day in the Normandy region of northwestern…
REMEMBRANCE | ELEANOR COPPOLA (1936-2024) By ALISON OWINGS The sad news spread fast among her friends: Ellie Coppola died. She was 87, and died at home in Napa Valley on April 12. For years she and her creative family lived near Fillmore Street, first on Webster Street and later up on Broadway. Late in life,…
IT WILL BE a night from the past, still relevant today. On Thursday, January 11, Sheba Piano Lounge will present “The Fillmore Eclipse,” a one-night evening of immersive theater that brings to life a familiar neighborhood story. It’s a recreation of a 1950’s underground jazz club, called the Eclipse, at a time when Fillmore Street was alive…
IT’S NOT EVERY DAY that a photo from the neighborhood is published in The New York Times. But today is that day. Alongside a review of Cosmic Scholar, a new biography of anthropologist/artist/filmmaker/mystic/music collector Harry Smith, is a photograph of Smith before one of the murals in the legendary Fillmore jazz club Jimbo’s Bop City.…
NEW NEIGHBORS | CHASE ROBERTS There will be no jazz festival on Fillmore this Fourth of July weekend, but Victoria Wasserman is determined to bring music back to one block of the street. Wasserman is opening Vic’s Winehouse at 1870 Fillmore and turning the Wine Jar into a wine bar with music. “I was devastated…