News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
By FRAN MORELAND JOHNS Members of Calvary Presbyterian Church’s choir are on a two-week tour of Europe, taking the high-level musicianship of the Fillmore Street church to historic sites in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The choir joined singers from other choirs in commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day in the Normandy region of northwestern…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA Every time I take a walk, there’s something new. Fillmore Street is constantly evolving. Every stroll up the street brings new signs of vitality — new stores and restaurants, creative opportunities, neighbors meeting friends and going about their daily lives. In recent weeks returning college students have arrived, eager to…
By NIKKI COLLISTER At Cow Hollow Woodworks, no two projects are alike. The furniture restoration shop prides itself on blending artistry and craftsmanship to give new life to centuries-old antiques, as well as cherished wood objects of any vintage. “Every single job is custom,” says owner Enrico Dell’Osso, acknowledging the unique history and design of…
By FRAN MORELAND JOHNS It might be called “The Little Salon That Could,” tucked away in the ground-floor retail space of an historic Victorian at 1724 Fillmore. For decades it was called Citrine Salon, until the pandemic forced its closing. Beloved Citrine proprietor Rene Cohen, who had struggled to keep the business alive by adding…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA Come to Fillmore Street this Memorial Day weekend for the food, stay for the sales. Among the promotions: Get “tagged” at Clare V, which is offering on-site monogram services for their bags, or buy a leather tag and get a complimentary monogram. And Rag and Bone will be serving canned…
STREET TALK | CYNTHIA TRAINA Seems like even retail is slimming down these days, with three longtime Fillmore shops moving to cozier spaces. Shuffle & Reshuffle: Mio, a Fillmore fashion staple since 1976 known for its chic European and Japanese clothing, has relocated two doors south to a smaller space at 2031 Fillmore. … Mudpie,…
NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORY | WOODY LaBOUNTY In the 1930s, the WPA’s Federal Writers’ Project put unemployed authors to work on guidebooks. The contributor to the architecture section of California: A Guide to the Golden State, had some opinions on the architectural tastes of the moneyed classes in the late 19th century: “[W]ealth meant even larger buildings with more and…
REMEMBRANCE | ELEANOR COPPOLA (1936-2024) By ALISON OWINGS The sad news spread fast among her friends: Ellie Coppola died. She was 87, and died at home in Napa Valley on April 12. For years she and her creative family lived near Fillmore Street, first on Webster Street and later up on Broadway. Late in life,…
By NIKKI COLLISTER In the front office of SF Silver Glass & Mirror, every piece of glass tells a story. There’s the decorative French window with colorful stained-glass panes, made by founder Salvador Martinez for his wife, Rosalba. And a tall, narrow mirror with diamond-shaped bevels cut by Salvador’s son, German. A round, larger-than-life mirror…