News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
By James DeKoven The slow screech of a braking bus. Two voices in conversation. Police sirens and fire alarms and honking car horns. It’s noise to many, but singer-songwriter Jesse Foster finds these sounds of urban life inspiring. “I discover ideas for harmony and melody in the sounds of everyday life,” he says. Part of…
“Fillmore Street Lights Its Lamps,” the Chronicle reported on December 24, 1896. “Crowds Throng the Walks,” the headlines announced. “Brilliant lights and colors abound — a dazzling spectacle with an accompaniment of music.”
LOCAL HISTORY | JOE BEYER It won’t be long now before the fading neon sign proclaiming Deovlet and Sons Furniture on the shuttered storefront at 1660 Pine Street gives way to the wrecking ball and a pair of condominium towers begins to rise. But for 67 years, Deovlet and Sons — known as “the Friendly…
The night the neighborhood has been waiting for arrived November 27, 2007, when the first horns blew at Yoshi’s, the elegant new jazz club in the Fillmore Heritage Center at 1330 Fillmore Street. A grand opening celebration the next night featuring legendary drummer Roy Haynes and an all-star band officially opened the two-level 420-seat club…
FIRST PERSON | Walter Kitundu For seven months I chronicled the life of Patch, a red-tailed hawk who lives in and around Alta Plaza Park, capturing her transition from immature bird to adult.
FIRST PERSON | BARBARA KATE REPA When retrieving the dry cleaning recently, I ran into an old friend: a brightly colored skirt, freshly cleaned and snaking down the automated trolley at Perfect Cleaners on Fillmore. The unusual combination of colors, the nubby silk fabric and the jaunty scalloped waistband all were unmistakable. It had been…
Dawn does not often break over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home on Broadway without anti-war protesters outside. Last month Pelosi denounced some of them as “nuts” and told them, “Get away from my house.” She and her staff have refused to meet with the protesters. Some nearby residents have complained about the disruption, but the…
In 2005 it snowed in the neighborhood on the hottest day of the year — and 15,000 people showed up to watch world-class skiers jump down the Fillmore hill. The ski jump is back, but this year it won’t be on Fillmore. Organizers have announced that the event will move to AT&T Park, where a…
By Gary Carr Seneca Klassen is a chocolate nut. His shop, Bittersweet, the chocolate cafe at 2123 Fillmore Street, is the culmination of a lifelong passion for chocolate. “I’m a home chocolate-maker from way back,” Klassen says. For years, he’s collected recipes for chocolate drinks and confections, concocting goodies in his kitchen capable of driving…
Celebrity food guru Alice Waters had been approached by a number of writers who wanted to tell the story of Chez Panisse. But they didn’t “get it,” and getting it was the whole idea behind Chez Panisse. So she approached Tom McNamee, whose work on food and natural history she admired, and asked if he…