News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
BOOKS | KEN SAMUELS A customer walks into Browser Books on Fillmore and approaches the counter with a sly smile on his face. “Hey,” he says, “are you guys happy that Borders is closing in Union Square?” “I’m not happy for the people who lost their jobs,” I reply, “but it doesn’t surprise me.” I…
Naturally they’ll have a green living roof on the new eco-conscious assembly building now nearing completion behind Drew School at California and Broderick Streets. But they’ll also have a vertical garden created by Parisian botanist-artist Patrick Blanc — a rock star among gardeners credited with inventing the concept and planting gardens on walls around the…
FOR MONTHS the temple on California Street that is home to Congregation Sherith Israel has been shrouded in scaffolding as the historic building undergoes a seismic retrofit. This week much of the scaffolding came down and the stained glass windows were re-installed — and the temple was no longer pink. EARLIER: At long last, temple…
ARCHITECTURE | Jacquie Proctor Soft-spoken British architect Harold G. Stoner quietly left his distinctive artistic mark on San Francisco, and one of his most important buildings stands proudly at the corner of Fillmore and Pine Streets. The Osada Apartments — including 15 residential units and two storefronts now home to Paolo Shoes and The Grove…
Ambitious plans for a $10.2 million renovation of Lafayette Park have received enthusiastic support from neighbors and a unanimous thumbs-up from the Recreation and Park Commission. In addition, a fund-raising mechanism has been put into place to allow park supporters to solicit contributions to supplement available bond funding to create a more elaborate 13,000 sq.…
After 49 years, Fillmore Hardware closed its doors for the final time on the day after Christmas. Read more: “Fillmore Hardware closing”
FIRST PERSON | Ken Samuels The other day, while selling some books to a couple of young men, I realized I’d known them since they were little kids pleading with their mothers to buy them Berenstain Bears books. That sums up my decade and a half at Browser Books on Fillmore and Sacramento selling books…
One of Fillmore Street’s iconic institutions will disappear by the end of the year when Fillmore Hardware closes its doors promptly at 5:55 for the final time. For 49 years — since 1961 — the store has been the ultimate neighborhood-serving business. Originally twice its present size, it was a full-service hardware and glass company…
There’s been no breakthrough yet, but negotiations are continuing between the owner of the Clay Theater and the San Francisco Film Society, which hopes to make the theater its home. In addition, the owner’s architect has met with the CEO of Landmark Theatres, the current operator, about renovations that might make the theater attractive to…
By Stedman F. Matthew More than 60,000 people visit the St. Jude Shrine at St. Dominic’s Church every year to light a candle, say a prayer and seek solace from their suffering. The shrine — founded by the Dominican friars in 1935 in the middle of the Great Depression to bring hope to a world…