News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA Things come and go on Fillmore Street, but rarely with such suddenness as the latest departures. The Starbucks just south of Geary closed with only two days’ notice. Alexis Bittar’s boutique at Fillmore and California disappeared just as abruptly. So did the Byredo cosmetics emporium at Fillmore and Pine. The…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA A younger Mayor Daniel Lurie was, for years, a familiar face on Fillmore Street. He first began making his mark on public life in San Francisco when he lived just a few steps from Fillmore — directly across the street from Florio restaurant. Lurie and his family lived at 80…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA As locals flee the summer fog, retailers are taking the opportunity to spruce up their digs, or close up shop and make a move. The prime retail stretch of Fillmore Street between Bush and Jackson is under construction. Mellow and Barbers is moving its four-chair barbershop at 1906 Fillmore over…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA In a neighborhood shy of co-working spaces, Koho is a welcome arrival. This nonprofit space for creatives, open from Monday to Thursday, offers budget-friendly desks and fiber-optic Wi-Fi in a laid-back Japantown storefront on the second floor of Japantown’s East Mall. Koho joins Canopy (above Peet’s Coffee on Fillmore) and…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA In May, Browser Books spotlights deception. Its theme of the month is “Grifters, Swindlers, Crooks & Scammers.” Among the featured titles is Herman Melville’s The Confidence Man, a personal favorite of Hana Metzger, one of the creative minds behind the monthly themes on the featured display shelf. Metzger curates the…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA KC Paris Desserts has opened at 1365 Fillmore Street in the former Merchants Roots space. Owner and pastry chef Khadidiatou Camara — known as Didi — is a classically trained graduate of the prestigious Ferrandi pastry school in Paris, where she co-owned a bakery. Her family is from Martinique, but…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA Nordstrom Local is facing new opposition to its bid to lease the long-vacant space at 1919 Fillmore Street formerly occupied by Minted. The Pacific Heights Residents Association has voted to oppose the store, citing increased traffic and parking concerns on an already congested block. “What the Upper Fillmore needs,” said…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA If you’ve been on the 2200 block of Fillmore lately, you may have noticed new signage in the windows of the boarded-up storefronts bought last year with funds from investor Neil Mehta. It’s the branding of what they’re billing as the Upper Fillmore Revitalization Project. Emptied storefronts now display the…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA Restaurateur Kevin Chen has quietly opened Ninniku, a ramen bar at 1730 Fillmore. This new spot takes over the former location of his izakaya NoNo, which is relocating to the old Pizza Inferno space — both larger and more prominent on the corner of Fillmore & Sutter. Ninniku — “garlic”…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA A year after first announcing it was closing its store near Fillmore and Geary — and over the impassioned pleas of its neighbors — Safeway has set a final day for the store: February 7. The company cited “ongoing concerns about associate and customer safety, as well as persistent issues…