News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
SORRY TO REPORT that the Fillmore Halloween Pet Costume Stroll never happened. I hung around for about an hour and the only evidence of a pet walk was a Chihuahua with a taco outfit. That was it. I finally went into George, the pet shop, and was told there was supposed to be a pet…
AT THE TOP of Fillmore Street, the renovation of a penthouse is nearly complete. An art treasure is coming home. VIDEO by Jonathan Pontell for The New Fillmore.
FILLMORE BEAT | CHRIS BARNETT In 1971, carpenter Mark Johnson moved into a Victorian flat at 2254 Bush Street, just off Fillmore, and stayed for 25 years. “It was not the most attractive place to live in the early ’70s,” he says. “But by the time I moved out, it had changed dramatically — and…
NEARLY FOUR YEARS after it was first proposed, a new garden honoring the founders of Japantown will be dedicated this weekend at the foot of Cottage Row, near Fillmore and Sutter. It began as a celebration of the creation of Japantown in 1906 after the earthquake and fire. Cottage Row was occupied primarily by the…
By CARLO MIDDIONE In the late 1960s and early ’70s, I worked at San Francisco’s Redevelopment Agency in my desire to conquer the world’s ills and to help make people safer, happier and more comfortable. Long before my wife Lisa and I opened our restaurant Vivande on Fillmore Street, which we operated for three decades,…
By JEROME TARSHIS The announcement from Arion Press arrived on the Friday before Thanksgiving: Andrew Hoyem, the company’s founder and one of the most distinguished fine printers in the world, had retired. So had his wife, Diana Ketcham, Arion’s editorial director. Arion, located in the Presidio, is reported to be up for sale. Pending further…
WE ARE DELIGHTED to announce the publication of a lavish new book of stories and photographs celebrating one of the world’s great neighborhoods: our own. This collector’s edition pulls together favorite articles and images from our pages of some of the people and places that make the neighborhood special. We hoped to create a book…
By KATHY JOSEPH BALISTRERI It all started during lunch at La Mediterranee last year. I had written the rough draft of a novel about the crazy, particular, sometimes heroic and sometimes downright despicable people who discovered electricity, but I was stumped on what to do next. Should I try to get a publisher? Start a blog? Hire an…
By ARASH MALEKZADEH A month ago, I was offered the opportunity to film the last days of Kelly Johnson’s life. I did not know him. I did not know how or why his death was predetermined. I was told to meet the next morning at Peet’s for coffee. Then I’d walk half a block with…