News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
By FRAN MORELAND JOHNS Contemplating moving from her Cow Hollow home, Jeanne Lacy checked out retirement communities of all sorts — from medium range to posh — but couldn’t find a fit. Some apartments seemed great, but she was unsure about group dining, or turned off by long narrow hallways, or vexed by one thing…
The Bay Citizen — the new nonprofit news website financed by neighborhood investor and philanthropist Warren Hellman — launched today. Its lead story focuses on the wildly varying property taxes paid by the owners of the mansions on Outer Broadway. Included is an interactive graphic that is something of a star map to Pacific Heights,…
President Obama stopped by the neighborhood for dinner this evening. After a fund-raiser for Senator Barbara Boxer at the Fairmont Hotel, Obama motorcaded to Ann and Gordon Getty’s double-mansion on outer Broadway. Price of admission: $17,600 each, cocktails, dinner and photo included. But the looking was for free, and lots of locals lined Pacific Avenue…
Longtime Fillmore resident and noted artist Bill Shields died Wednesday, April 14, just a week shy of his 85th birthday. Shields and his wife Denise in recent years have owned and operated the Artists Inn at 2231 Pine Street. The inn is housed in his former studio, which faces a sunny patio behind their home.…
William Stephens Shields Jr. April 23, 1925 – April 14, 2010 By WILL SHIELDS I’d like to thank everyone here for coming to pay our respects to Bill Shields, a wonderful friend, husband, father and grandfather. It’s always sad when someone we care so much about passes, but this was a man that by his…
F loral designer Kaori Imaizumi is preparing for a museum exhibition this month, as she has every spring since she opened her flower shop in the neighborhood in 2006. She’s participating once again in “Bouquets to Art,” the annual extravaganza in which floral arrangements interpret and comment upon works of art in the DeYoung Museum in…
By Anne Paprocki Tucked in an unassuming office behind two Fillmore boutiques, longtime local residents Elise Papazian and Scott Pritikin hope to expand the horizons of coffee connoisseurs everywhere with their recently launched online service GoCoffeeGo. “Nobody should be drinking the same cup of coffee every day,” says Papazian, “It’s just boring. Would you eat…
After more than two decades of offering up good cheer and wry observations while ringing up groceries and restocking the shelves, Allen Brandstein has retired from Mollie Stone’s. His last day was March 31. Stoking his decision to leave were two life passages: a bout with colon cancer last year and his first Social Security…
A taste of the old Fillmore will be on display today at a special celebration being held at Jones Memorial United Methodist Church honoring local residents Norman and Mable Stewart on their 70th anniversary. “We are so proud of their accomplishments in business and marriage and we want to share it with everyone,” says granddaughter…
Q & A | ROSE ROLL R ose Roll, a local resident and occasional contributor to the New Fillmore, is involved in creating the Bay Area News Project — a new nonprofit venture funded by neighborhood philanthropist Warren Hellman that is being heralded by some as a reinvention of journalism. With The New York Times signing…