Waiting for coffee

Posted on October 1, 2016 by editors
tully-flowers

Flowers for the Fillmore-Jackson coffee shop when it closed in 2014.

FIRST PERSON | BARBARA WYETH

Funny how habits form. They revolve around responsibilities and chores, but also the small pleasures that brighten our daily routines.

I have been working for several years at a beautiful flower shop in the neighborhood. In addition to spending time with a great team of co-workers and the lovely flowers every season and every day, it includes a relatively pleasant bus trip over from my Russian Hill apartment.

Florists start early, so it’s usually the coldest part of the day, and in the winter it’s dark. Very dark. But at the corner of Fillmore and Jackson was the welcome light of the coffee shop and the aroma of ground beans and steamed milk — and those friendly baristas who knew exactly what I wanted and just how I wanted it.

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Cocktails with artistic flair

Posted on October 1, 2016 by editors

Design by Michael Schwab

SALOONS | CHRIS BARNETT

Eternally preppy saloon impresario Perry Butler’s landmark joint at 1944 Union Street is a museum of all things newsworthy in San Francisco for the last 47 years, with nary a square inch of empty wall space. But he’s long felt something was missing. “I’ve always wanted a poster,” he says, “A simple, clean, classic illustration of our signature cocktail.”

Perhaps Butler was listening to his inner adman. After all, his dad was a Madison Avenue heavyweight whose newly minted Dartmouth grad son had a brief fling in the hard-drinking agency world of the 1960s. He didn’t like it.

Two years ago, Butler approached San Anselmo graphic designer Michael Schwab, possibly the Bay Area’s most prolific and passionate poster artist. Schwab turned him down, saying he was too busy. Schwab’s style — strong, simple, retro images in warm, bold colors reminiscent of the ’20s and ’30s — makes even Alcatraz look inviting. The Golden Gate National Park Conservancy, which runs The Rock, has enlisted Schwab to produce a series of posters capturing the various places in the national park the conservancy oversees.

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There’s a new Sherith in town

Posted on October 1, 2016 by editors
New cantor David Frommer and new senior rabbi Jessica Zimmerman Graf.

New cantor David Frommer and new senior rabbi Jessica Zimmerman Graf.

By JESSICA ZIMMERMAN GRAF

I grew up in this neighborhood. I used to go to Gino’s grocery store at Fillmore and Jackson after school to get gummy worms in the ’80s when they were all the rage. I’ve walked around this neighborhood for years — decades, in fact. And now, I’m delighted to be back here in a new capacity.

Last month, a new clergy team was installed at Congregation Sherith Israel, at the corner of California and Webster Streets. Friends and congregants gathered for a Sabbath service on September 16, followed by festivities and food that honored the different cultures of San Francisco. About 600 people participated.

Who would have thought, just shy of 30 years after I became bat mitzvah in this community, that I would stand in the same spot being installed as the 10th senior rabbi of Congregation Sherith Israel?

• I am the first senior rabbi who proudly hangs a Sunday School diploma on the wall.

• I am the first senior rabbi who interned here as a rabbinical student.

• And I am the first senior rabbi to wear a dress for installation — at least as far as I know.

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Japantown fountains in limbo

Posted on September 30, 2016 by editors
One of Ruth Asawa's origami fountains in Japantown when the water flowed.

One of Ruth Asawa’s origami fountains in Japantown when the water flowed.

By FRAN JOHNS

It’s hard to find people in Japantown these days who remember when the water stopped flowing and the once-lovely fountains on the Buchanan Street pedestrian mall became two interesting but somewhat curious sculptural objects.

This is not what widely beloved, internationally renowned San Francisco Japanese-American artist Ruth Asawa had in mind when she created them four decades ago.

Yet it is not clear when — or whether — anything will be done to reclaim and restore the fountains.

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How Japanese was Cottage Row?

Posted on September 30, 2016 by editors

The 1930 U.S. Census shows Cottage Row occupied by Japanese-Americans.

SOME NEIGHBORHOOD CRITICS of a plan to create a memorial Zen rock garden on the Sutter Street side of Cottage Row have disputed historical sources that say Cottage Row was primarily occupied by Japanese-Americans before they were evacuated and interned during World War II.

The critics are wrong.

A review of census records and city directories shows that Cottage Row was almost exclusively occupied by residents of Japanese descent from 1920 until they were incarcerated in 1942.

The 1920 U.S. Census shows that five of the six cottages had residents with Japanese surnames. That was still the case when the 1930 census was taken.

The San Francisco Street Directory listings of Pacific Telephone Co. from 1933, 1936 and 1940 confirm the overwhelming Japanese presence on Cottage Row.

“The six cottages were almost exclusively Japanese,” said architectural historian Bridget Maley, who retrieved and reviewed the census records and city directories from the pre-war era.

“There are also lots of Japanese names in the adjacent blocks of Sutter, Webster and Bush,” Maley said.

EARLIER: “Cottage Row Zen garden sparks a fight“

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A cobbler departs

Posted on September 29, 2016 by editors

Ed Nahigian, longtime owner of SF Boot & Shoe Repair at 2448 Fillmore.

SAD NEWS from one of Fillmore’s few remaining old-school shops: SF Boot & Shoe Repair at 2448 Fillmore has closed after 34 years. Owner Ed Nahigian died early on September 27 while walking his dog in Alta Plaza Park.

EARLIER: “Still Standing“

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Throwback to a bohemian past

Posted on September 28, 2016 by editors
The Center SF is a sanctuary for artists and healers in the former Sacred Heart rectory.

The Center SF is a sanctuary for artists and healers in the former Sacred Heart rectory.

By DANIEL SCHILLER

Visible from several points across the city, the former Sacred Heart parish at 548 Fillmore near Fell Street today provides another type of spiritual guidance.

Instead of bingo, signs promote the Church of 8 Wheels, a weekly roller-skating party and yoga classes. A membership gets you all the tea you can drink in the subterranean teahouse that will celebrate its one-year anniversary this month.

If the idea seems like a throwback to a bohemian past, that’s because it is.

In a real estate market that has become surreal, artists, healers and makers are seeking ways to continue living and working in the city. Tucked into the former parish rectory, The Center SF represents one option.

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Luxury condos boost late summer sales

Posted on September 16, 2016 by editors

VIDEO: Grand opening of The Pacific condos at 2121 Webster on September 15.

REAL ESTATE | PATRICK BARBER

The period before Labor Day is typically a slow time for real estate. But this year was a lot busier, thanks to new condominium buildings that have been opening across San Francisco’s northern neighborhoods.

There were 32 condominium sales in Cow Hollow, Lower Pacific Heights, Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights between mid-August and mid-September — almost three times as many as the same period last year.

Three more units recently sold at the LuXe, a seven-story, 34-unit building at 1650 Broadway between Van Ness and Franklin. Two nearly 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom condos in the building sold on the last day of August, one for $2.1 million and the other for $2.5 million. Also that day, a three-bedroom penthouse in the building fetched $5.1 million.

The Pacific, another new building located just steps from the heart of upper Fillmore at 2121 Webster Street, saw two big ticket sales recently, with two three-bedroom units selling for $6.2 million and $9 million. One of the penthouses in The Pacific has also closed, with a selling price of $11.5 million.

EARLIER: For buyers with cash, condos promise cachet

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First a Masonic meeting hall, now a church

Posted on September 15, 2016 by editors

The brick and stone building at 2135 Sutter was completed in October 1907.

LANDMARKS | BRIDGET MALEY

Built as the Golden Gate Commandery for the Knights Templar, the distinctive structure at 2135 Sutter Street between Steiner and Pierce Streets was under construction when the 1906 earthquake struck, delaying its completion. Claiming to descend from the Knights Templar of the Crusaders, who in the 12th century served to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land, the Masonic Order of the Knights Templar built the meeting hall there after outgrowing an earlier structure.

When the brick and stone building was finally completed in October 1907, the San Francisco Chronicle reported: “The hall is said to be one of the finest and best appointed temples in the land.” Designed by the architectural firm of O’Brien and Werner, a partnership known for other Masonic-related projects, the building has been an important neighborhood landmark for a century.

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A great view is always in demand

Posted on September 3, 2016 by editors
The hillside home at 2755 Fillmore sold again in July.

The hillside home at 2755 Fillmore sold again, this time for $13.25 million.

REAL ESTATE | PATRICK BARBER

While the highest end of the housing market has been slowing in San Francisco over the past few months, buyers will still pay big prices for properties in prime condition in locations that also offer top-shelf views.

Such was the case with 2755 Fillmore Street, which sold for its asking price of $13.25 million in late July. Many industry insiders were surprised at the high price, given that the home traded less than three years ago for around $10 million. To put the most recent sale in perspective, it netted nearly $2,600 per square foot — a big number even in Pacific Heights, where single-family homes sold for an average of about $1,700 per square foot during the last year.

The four-bedroom, 5,142-square-foot home, extensively renovated in 2013, has a contemporary design and showed well during open houses. But perhaps its biggest selling point is its view of the bay, Alcatraz Island, the Palace of Fine Arts and the Golden Gate Bridge. Even in a market gradually normalizing after a frenetic few years, a sale like this demonstrates that the luxury segment remains resilient.

Patrick Barber is president of Pacific Union.

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