News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
The legendary poem “Howl” — which had its premiere on Fillmore Street in 1955 and is now the subject of a film showing at the Sundance Kabuki — was 29-year-old Allen Ginsberg’s first published work. But it instantly established him as a vital new voice for rapidly changing times. It all began on what Jack…
By Thomas Reynolds Discussions between Clay Theater owner Balgobind Jaiswal and the San Francisco Film Society began last December after Landmark Theatres decided it could no longer afford to continue to operate the venerable theater, which has been showing films on Fillmore Street for 100 years. The lease had actually expired two years earlier. “The…
By Chris Barnett If you’re looking for a hideout to brainstorm the next Google, hammer out a multibillion dollar merger or tryst the night away, the Hotel Drisco on the hilltop corner at 2901 Pacific and Broderick might fit your bill. A bastion of secrecy since its opening more than a century ago, there…
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,…
Among the work now under way at the Sherith Israel temple at California and Webster is the restoration of the stained glass windows. In the grand western window, “Moses Presenting the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel,” Moses is depicted on the granite rocks at the gateway to Yosemite, with Half Dome and El Capitan…
The Presidio Branch Library on Sacramento Street, now undergoing renovation, became legendary in literary circles after author Richard Brautigan used it as the setting for his imaginary library of unpublished manuscripts in the novel, The Abortion. In Brautigan’s novel, published in 1970, the library was always open for authors to personally deposit their manuscripts. Through…
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…
By Jerome Tarshis By way of calling public attention to its 75th anniversary this year, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is making a major advertising push all over town. The lion’s share of advertising mentions “The Anniversary Show,” a survey of seven and a half decades of painting, sculpture, and photography in the…
After a year behind scaffolding and decades under paint, the red brick beauty of a building at Steiner and Pine was unveiled Wednesday afternoon when the scaffolding came down. Inside it houses the California Pacific Medical Center Foundation. But it’s the outside that commands attention, now returned to its original appearance in 1897 when the…
AT 9 this morning, Vivande opened its doors to the public for the first time in three weeks. At 11, an auctioneer began selling the furnishings and equipment. Most of the two dozen people milling around seemed to be dealers in used restaurant supplies, although there were a few neighbors, too. Back in the kitchen…