THIS LAVISH oversized limited edition book brings together a collection of favorite photographs and stories from the pages of the New Fillmore. It tells the story of an ever-changing small town in the big city with a rich history and a strong sense of community.
Available exclusively at Browser Books on Fillmore, or order online.
THIS DOCUMENTARY — filmed entirely on Fillmore Street — tells the story of longtime Fillmore resident Kelly Johnson, who used a new California law to end his life on his own terms.
The Rolling Pin — formerly the Donut Hole — at Fillmore and California.
FIRST PERSON | RONALD HOBBS
Aunt Beebee — Bertha — and I were no kin at all. She was “that nice old colored woman” who worked at the Donut Hole. Her niece, Bettye, called her Aunt Beebee. It caught on with us regulars. The joint must have served 500 cups of joe a day and a couple of thousand donuts. But for all of the in-and-outers, only a few of us knew her secret name.
Bettye was 300 pounds of a scorching-tongued negress who worked graveyard. There was no need for a bouncer at the Donut Hole on her shift. Besides, in the back room the bakers, Buck and Chuck, packed some serious heat.
We came bleary-eyed and loud after the clubs closed. It was sugar time. Sugar and caffeine not so discreetly spiked with Korbel brandy. Bettye fussed over us like we were her own children, as if we were the little crosses, cable cars and bridges on her charm bracelet.
The views are better in Pacific Heights — and maybe the real estate deals, too.
By Nina Hatvany
SALE PRICES of real estate in San Francisco’s southern neighborhoods have taken off dramatically in recent months. Noe Valley, Potrero Hill and South Beach are especially sought after by people who commute to the Peninsula, but still want to live in the city, or couples in which one person commutes south or to the East Bay. The south side generally offers better weather, proximity to the burgeoning restaurant scene in the Mission District, and often better access to muni or bart for commuters.
In contrast, the more established northern neighborhoods are still desirable, but aren’t experiencing the same surge in popularity, despite the views, the bustling retail streets and easy commuting to downtown and to Marin.
Areas like Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights, Cow Hollow and Russian Hill will always retain their allure. They are what I consider to be “blue chip” quality in the long term. But at the moment, while attention is focused southward, the properties coming up for sale in the northern neighborhoods are often a comparatively better deal — either by dollars per square foot, or because there are fewer people bidding on them and buyers therefore don’t encounter quite the same kind of bidding frenzy.
One could argue that now might be the time to buck the trend and revisit the traditionally more expensive neighborhoods, considering the southern craze.
But gut feelings on the real estate market have to be backed up with evidence, and in this case the evidence speaks volumes about how the southern neighborhoods are quickly catching up to — and in some cases surpassing — northern values, at least in certain price ranges.
For example, consider a typical search by a younger couple interested in both Pacific Heights and Noe Valley — arguably the most expensive neighborhoods in each of their geographies. Looking at recent sales results, I found that one- and two-bedroom condominiums with parking priced under $2 million were selling in the last three months in Noe Valley at an average of 13.2 percent above asking price and roughly $879.16 per square foot.
That’s hundreds of dollars per square foot more than prices in these up and coming areas just a few years ago. On average, the homes were on the market from the start of marketing to closing for only 22 days, meaning there was a high percentage of all-cash and preemptive offers.
In contrast, similar Pacific Heights home sales were averaging only 8.9 percent over asking price (indicating less competition) and $880 per square foot.
That’s a difference of only 84 cents per square foot between the neighborhoods — despite the fact that historically Pacific Heights has been San Francisco’s most expensive neighborhood.
This evidence speaks volumes. The competition for first-time or mid-range home buyers has soared in the southern neighborhoods, and there may well be some competitively priced deals to be had by turning one’s gaze back toward the bay. I will be encouraging clients to join me in living on the north side
of town.
Nina Hatvany is a real estate agent with Pacific Union.
Song Tea and Ceramics is now open at 2120 Sutter Street.
PETER LUONG has created a serene oasis for those who step into his just-opened door at 2120 Sutter Street, the new home of Song Tea & Ceramics. Soft music plays. Comfortable chairs are arranged on cozy rugs near bookcases and neat white canisters line shelves along one wall, with labeled drums of teas in rows toward the back. Ceramic vases, pots and teaware are scattered strategically throughout the open space. Browsers and customers are offered water or tea while they wander about the shop.
“This is intended as a place to showcase a nice collection of tea and teaware,” says Luong, “a place where people can come in and feel comfortable to learn about different teas, to understand what’s special about them and to hear the story behind each one.” Read more »
Chef-owner Nick Yoon: “That’s our slogan — refreshing.”
Text and Photographs by Paul Dunn
ASK NICK YOON, the chef and owner of Izakaya Hashibiro Kou, what separates his new restaurant at Fillmore and Geary from all the other Japanese and Korean food this culinary city offers.
He hesitates — after all, his menu offers about 100 dishes — but not for long.
“Our sauces,” he says, his boyish face earnest but serene. About 60 sauces, in fact, and the South Korean-born chef makes them all from scratch. “I try to make different sauces for all the different dishes and do it all by hand,” he says.
Izakaya Hashibiro Kou sits in the prominent high-ceilinged space across from the Fillmore Auditorium that formerly housed Nan California Korean Kitchen. It opened with limited menu choices on September 17 and plans a grand opening — with a full menu — in early October. The food is mostly Japanese, with Korean influences. Read more »
The versatile and iconic singer Linda Ronstadt has mostly kept a low profile since moving back to San Francisco from her native Arizona about eight years ago.
But all that changed recently with a huge media blitz touting her new book, Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir. Her appearances these days are made more poignant by the recent revelation that Parkinson’s disease has stilled Ronstadt’s searing singing voice.
She now maneuvers mostly unrecognized throughout the neighborhood: buying her “sensible shoes” at Crosswalk on Fillmore, dining with friends at A-16 or taking walks through the Presidio, sometimes aided by hand canes.
That easy anonymity wasn’t possible back in the day when she ruled the music world with her belting voice and siren-shy demeanor, innocent dark eyes and pouty lips, all hoop earrings and prairie skirts. “That was my ’70s persona,” she told a local crowd recently at a City Arts & Lectures interview. “We were all hippies then.”
Ronstadt lived in Los Angeles at the time, but claims she found the place “mentally exhausting.” So in 1987, she bought the four-level house at 2518 Jackson, overlooking Alta Plaza Park, with its seven bedrooms, music room and sweeping views of the bay. She promptly painted it a controversial shade of lavender and outfitted it with the Victorian decor that’s close to her heart.
And she got to know some of the neighbors.
“She wandered into the Swedenborgian church one day and I asked her if she wanted to join the choir,” recalls Garrett Collins, who then served as the musical director of the historic church at the corner of Lyon and Washington. He asked Ronstadt to audition first, just as he did any other choir member.
“I found out she did not read music, so I offered to give her private lessons on how to do it,” says Collins, who says their time together helped forge a friendship between them.
“She was musically very disciplined — not pompous, not at all what you’d think of as a big star,” he says, fondly recalling the singer’s big easy laugh and the duet of “White Christmas” they performed together for a fundraiser at the Waldorf School. “She was focusing on the two children she had adopted during those years, Mary Clementine and Carlos, and jealously guarding their privacy.”
Ronstadt sold the purple Victorian in 1997 — it was listed for $5.85 million — and moved back to Tucson to be closer to family. But she came back to San Francisco again in 2005, craving its open-minded culture.
She says she took pains to make sure Simple Dreams was not a “kiss and tell” book. It isn’t. She makes scant mention of her past romantic involvements — including several years with Gov. Jerry Brown, who also lived in the neighborhood for a time, when she became known as the First Lady of California. She concentrates instead on the Southern California music scene during the 1960s and ’70s, during which she was dubbed the Queen of Rock, a title she says now makes her cringe.
She’ll likely keep San Francisco her primary residence rather than return to Tucson, where she still maintains another home. “There’s too much cactus there,” she says. “It can make your tires flat.”
The historic Ellinwood mansion at 2799 Pacific Avenue.
By Maria Marchetti
IN THE DEPTHS of the real estate crisis in 2011, the defaulting owners who had spent millions restoring the Ellinwood mansion at 2799 Pacific were removed and the home was put on the market as bank owned. In the same family for more than a century after it was completed in 1894 — and empty for half that time — the house has a rich and colorful history, with a basement billiard room that hosted at least one world championship and a side garden with a tree that was a gift from Queen Victoria, now replaced by a lap pool. The house sold in June of last year for $11.5 million — not much more than the price of the restoration.
The new owner — producer-writer-director Chris Columbus (“Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Home Alone,” “The Help” and several Harry Potter films) — is now selling his former home overlooking Alta Plaza Park at 2622 Jackson Street. It’s also a neighborhood landmark, designed in 1895 by Willis Polk in the Italian Renaissance style and constructed of sandstone, which is rare in San Francisco. For decades its classical rounded portico welcomed students and guests inside to the Music and Arts Institute. Now it’s a comfortable home with bay views — and a screening room, of course — listed for $13 million.
The historic square sandstone house at 2622 Jackson Street.
Maria Marchetti is a real estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty.
Graffiti at Fillmore and California, where fashion may replace a laundromat.
AS FILLMORE STREET continues to rapidly remake itself into a mecca for fashion labels from around the world, supplanting basic neighborhood services, legislation has been introduced at City Hall that would subject more businesses to the city’s limits on chain stores.
Under the existing “formula retail” ordinance — enacted by the voters in 2008 to limit the proliferation of chain stores in the city’s neighborhoods — businesses must obtain a conditional use permit to open on upper Fillmore if they have 11 or more stores in the U.S.
New legislation introduced by District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell would amend the ordinance to include stores located not only in the U.S., but anywhere in the world. That would affect companies that have numerous stores in other countries, but are just beginning to establish a presence in the U.S.
“After hearing from both our merchants and neighbors in the Upper Fillmore about concerns that large retailers were pushing out our smaller and unique ‘mom and pop’ type of stores,” Farrell said, “I introduced legislation to expand the definition of formula retail.”
The legislation would also extend the law to include new businesses started by formula retail companies, whether or not they currently have 11 or more stores. This has been an approach favored by companies such as the Gap, which opened Athleta on Fillmore, and Starbucks, which opened Evolution Fresh.
Farrell’s proposal would apply only to the Upper Fillmore Neighborhood Commercial District, which extends from Bush to Jackson streets.
Similar efforts have been launched in other neighborhoods, including nearby Hayes Street. In response, the Planning Department has resisted neighborhood-specific legislation and instead proposed that the proposals be delayed while a study is conducted to develop uniform rules.
Farrell’s legislative assistant Catherine Stefani said her office would press forward with the legislation despite the Planning Department’s move for a citywide law.
“We have told Planning that we plan to proceed with the legislation despite the study because we felt that it was urgent to do so,” Stefani said.
Photograph of John Gaul and his friend Ari by Jose Guadalupe Villalobos Jr.
By BARBARA KATE REPA
IT’S BEEN A YEAR since neighborhood resident John Gaul went looking for a friend and adopted a feisty feline from a cat rescue group, Give Me Shelter. But the dapper octogenarian still gets stopped on the bus, in the grocery store or pushing his walker down Fillmore and asked by friends and even total strangers: “How’s the cat?”
Gaul basks in the attention, and is always happy to give details on how he and Ari the cat have given one another new life.
“We’re just ‘it’ for one another,” he says. “That unhappy shelter cat became a happy house cat. And I’m not waking up alone. I need something that needs me. She does. And it works beautifully. She’s the best companion I could have — and I think she feels that way about me, too.”
Gaul got a star turn last fall as the featured speaker at Give Me Shelter’s annual fundraiser. His speech, “How to Adopt a Difficult Cat” — delivered with gusto and without notes — included a limerick written especially for the occasion. He hopes to do more speaking on the topic.
Ari, too, has been transformed — into a loving creature. She now purrs as she sleeps beside him in bed at night, her head near his face, “looking rather like a meatloaf,” he says. She often lies down in front of the door when he gets ready to leave their apartment, until he reassures her he’ll come right back.
When Ari took up residence, Gaul’s first act was to ask his caretaker to put her cage away where she wouldn’t see it. “Confinement would not be in her life,” he says.
But before their friendship became fully forged, the two had some work to do on each other.
“She had to learn to like people — anybody at all,” says Gaul.
This was a bit easier than it sounds, as he quickly learned that the way to Ari’s heart was directly through her stomach. He put out her favorite wet food in her preferred flavors of salmon, tuna or turkey — never beef — warmed a bit in the microwave. As she ate, he would also warm her to the human touch, gently petting her from the top of the head to the base of her tail. She had let it known early on that she didn’t like her tail touched.
These days, Ari meows regularly to demand petting sessions — tail included — and often jumps on Gaul’s lap and affectionately nibbles his beard.
Then there was the matter of grooming.
“I was sitting one day early on doing a crossword puzzle when I noticed Ari had started to resemble a ratty old coat from a thrift store,” he says. Unlike most cats, who innately seem to be fastidious, Ari did not bother to groom herself. So Gaul tried to do it for her with a grooming brush. The first try didn’t go over well. She scratched him, drawing blood.
“I said, ‘Old girl, you’re not going to get away with this,’ ” he says, and brushed her completely. After a proper interval of feline pouting in the closet just to emphasize who was in charge, Ari emerged a changed cat. “Now, she grooms herself,” he says. “In fact, her new motto is: ‘When in doubt, wash.’ ”
The two also had to learn how to play together.
Gaul first tried to tempt Ari with a button on a string; she gave it one desultory swat. Other toys seemed to annoy her. She actively hated the wand with the feathers on the end.
“I had to learn her definition of play,” Gaul says. “She was going to teach me.”
His first lesson came one day as he was getting ready to floss his teeth, poised at the bathroom mirror. Ari hopped into the tub, peeked out, then took off across the apartment like a shot. Turns out, her favorite game is hide and seek. “Her play is very physical — more like a tiger in the jungle. What fun to learn,” Gaul says.
“I’m assuming shelter cats have had little time or attention from people, so you have to observe them and draw them out from fearfulness to feeling safe,” he says.
The story of the adoption seemed like a relatively innocuous feel-good tale when it ran in the New Fillmore. But it rocked many readers by tapping into pet politics, highlighting the fact that animal shelters and rescue organizations such as Animal Care and Control, Pets Unlimited and Give Me Shelter sometimes work at jealous cross-purposes, competing for supporters and donations, and that some refuse to adopt to older people who might not outlive their pets.
It also evoked some online responses that seemed fueled mostly by mean-spiritedness, such as this one: “A great match for a seemingly articulate and dapper man who is pretty much just another SRO-living semi-homeless guy who won’t be able to afford vet care in the future or will die in a few years, leaving the cat to be placed back in ACC again, furthering its fear and distrust.”
Gaul says he wasn’t bothered by the naysayers, who were far outnumbered by the wellwishers. But that posting did give him pause.
“The old man will just die soon anyway? That comment tells more about the writer than it does about me,” he says. Gaul emphasizes that Lana Bajsel, the founder of Give Me Shelter, has assured him the organization will cover any vet costs Ari might incur. And should Gaul, who will be 88 in November, predecease the cat, who’s 5ish, Give Me Shelter has promised to “rehome” her.
“Old people need companionship,” he says. “And so do rescue cats.”
On the Bosporus, the historic waterway where Europe meets Asia.
FILLMORE ABROAD | Dan Max
For 20 years I’ve been making regular trips to Turkey from my flat above Fillmore Street. During a month-long visit to Istanbul this summer, I experienced a perfect afternoon when I met up with Berk Kinalilar, the owner of the neighborhood’s Troya restaurant and a native Turk.
Troya, at 2125 Fillmore, has become well known in the year it has been open for successfully creating the authentic and refined flavors of Turkish cuisine. People are loving it, and I’ve become a regular. Before my trip last year, Berk gave me a list of restaurants to try in Istanbul. This year, it turned out he was going home to see his mother and father while I was there. He suggested we get together.
When I called him from my hotel, Berk announced that his father, Engin, had invited us to join him for lunch, but that it would require a bit of traveling. I knew that would add some extra excitement. Read more »
Jesse Kay-Rugen from Glaze teamed up with Toni and Sheila Young of Bumzy’s.
WHEN THE OWNERS of Glaze — the new Seattle-style teriyaki grill on the corner of Fillmore and Pine — were planning their menu, they knew they wanted to keep things as fresh and local as possible.
Much of their planning and interviewing had been done at Fraiche, the all-natural yogurt shop down the block, which became their headquarters while the Glaze space was under renovation. And they made it a point to walk up and down Fillmore to meet their neighbors.
When Glaze opened in April, they offered dessert bars made out in the Sunset District. But they kept thinking about Bumzy’s, the cookie shop down in the Fillmore Jazz District operated by the mother-daughter team of Sheila and Toni Young.
Now they’ve struck up a business relationship, and three kinds of Bumzy’s cookies are delivered up the street every morning, making up the entire dessert menu at Glaze.
“We thought it was a good thing to support the Fillmore community,” said Glaze manager Jesse Kay-Rugen. “And once we got to know Sheila and Toni, it seemed like a no-brainer. In addition to having a great product, they’re also great women who are so involved in the community.”
He added: “It’s a bonus we can tell people to go four blocks down the street and visit their shop.”
Three kinds of Bumzy’s homemade and handmade cookies were added to the menu on July 24: peanut butter, oatmeal raisin and their signature chocolate chip cookie. The next night, Sheila and Toni Young showed up in their chef’s whites to offer samples on a silver platter.
“That was such a blast,” Toni Young said a few days later. “It gave us a chance to see and meet a lot of customers who came in for dinner.”
She remembered when Glaze owners Kay-Rugen and Ian Richardson first came walking in the door of her shop, just as she was taking a batch out of the oven. They bought a box of assorted cookies.
“They loved our cookies, so we started a conversation on what it would take to work together,” she said. “We share the same philosophy of fresh and locally sourced ingredients, so it seemed like a great fit. It was a mutual admiration society.”
