Making a joyful noise — and maybe a healthier life

Posted on April 1, 2014 by editors
Members of the Community of Voices choir sing at the Western Addition Senior Center.

Members of the Community of Voices choir sing at the Western Addition Senior Center.

By Judy Goddess

MANY AGREE THAT choir music can be a joyful noise. And choir members often find singing fulfilling and fun. But a new study recently launched locally aims to uncover whether singing in a choir can actually help older adults have longer and healthier lives.

As part of the study, the 15-member Community of Voices choir gave a lively gospel performance on March 20 at the Western Addition Senior Center at Fillmore and Turk led by Maestro Curtis and his wife, Nola Curtis. Maestro Curtis, a renowned San Francisco Bay Area music legend, producer and author, has a background in classical music as well as jazz, gospel, R&B, funk, folk and country. Haruwn Wesley on upright bass and Larry Douglas on trumpet accompanied the choir at the concert.

“I know singing in the choir makes people happier,” says the center’s director, Robin Bill. “People who were quiet when they first came to our center in September are now stepping up. You can see the improvement in the choir from when they first met to now.” The Western Addition choir previously performed at the City Hall celebration of Kwanzaa and at the Parc 55 hotel, and another performance is planned for the fall.

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Filed under: Body & Soul, Good Works, Music, Video | Leave a Comment »

‘We are refusing to let Marcus Books close’

Posted on July 6, 2013 by editors

IT HAD BEEN WHISPERED on the street for weeks: The venerable New Chicago Barbershop had closed and another black Fillmore institution, Marcus Books, would soon be closing, too.

Roots run deep for both the bookstore and its building. Before the historic lavender Victorian at 1715 Fillmore that houses Marcus Books was moved from its original location a few blocks away at 1690 Post, it was home to Jimbo’s Bop City, a legendary after-hours joint that features prominently in the neighborhood’s jazz legacy. Before that — before neighborhood residents of Japanese descent were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II — the building had housed the Nippon Drug Co. in the heart of Japantown.

“Perhaps no other structure in San Francisco has such an extraordinary story,” the Chronicle reported in a splashy feature story in mid-May. But the article did not mention that the building had changed hands at a bankruptcy sale a few weeks earlier, and that its street-level tenant, the oldest black bookstore in the country, was endangered.

That story went public on Sunday, June 9, when the front page of the Examiner proclaimed “Closing Chapter” and a headline inside reported: “Marcus Books on brink of closure.”

The next day a phalanx of black leaders assembled at Marcus Books before a group of reporters and television cameras to decry the events that had endangered the bookstore.

(more…)

Filed under: Books, Landmarks, Neighborhood History, Video | 2 Comments »

Antiques show returns

Posted on October 26, 2012 by editors

San Francisco’s Fall Antiques Show returns from October 25 to 28 at Fort Mason.

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End of an era: Mrs. Dewson’s Hats closes

Posted on May 3, 2012 by editors

By THOMAS REYNOLDS

For the first time in almost four decades, Mrs. Dewson’s Hats at 2050 Fillmore Street wasn’t open in the days leading up to Easter, which is typically prime time for hat buyers.

A few days later a sign went up in the window telling the news: After 37 years, Mrs. Dewson’s Hats was closing. And on Sunday afternoon, April 29, the last hats were sold, the final goodbyes said and the doors closed on a prime piece of Fillmore history.

“It’s a sad day,” said Glenn Mitchell, nephew of owner Ruth Garland Dewson. “We’ve been fighting it off for a while.” Mitchell has been overseeing the shop since his aunt checked herself into an assisted living facility two years ago.

“I’ve been crying ever since I heard,” Ruth Dewson said the next day, sitting in a wheelchair in the top-floor lounge at AgeSong, her new home in Hayes Valley. “I’ve had a good time on Fillmore Street and I don’t want to give it up. Why should I die when all these other assholes are still alive?”
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Filed under: Landmarks, Locals, Retail Report, Video | 4 Comments »

Restoring a landmark

Posted on January 28, 2011 by editors

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 retrofit begins

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‘You gotta carry a gun’

Posted on September 26, 2010 by editors

So Ruth Dewson was told when she opened Mrs. Dewson’s Hats on Fillmore Street. For decades she has been the unofficial mayor of Fillmore Street. But she has been missing from the neighborhood in recent months, sidelined by ill health. We caught up with her at her shop and found her spirit strong and her health improving.

EARLIER: “A force of nature“

Filed under: Body & Soul, Locals, Retail Report, Video | 1 Comment »

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