News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
DESPITE AN OUTPOURING of support from its customers in the neighborhood, Shell Auto Repair at 2501 California has received notice it must close by January 31. UPDATE: Just as they were preparing to pack up their tools and shut down, the mechanics at Shell Auto Repair got a three-month reprieve. The business will continue through April 30, giving…
FLASHBACK | BOB MINKIN After my summer trip to San Francisco in August ’77, I was itching to get back to the Bay Area. The Grateful Dead provided the perfect excuse — their fabled year-end concerts at Winterland. As a young Deadhead who never got to see shows at the Fillmore, Fillmore West or Avalon…
MUSIC | BARBARA KATE REPA The Fillmore Auditorium has existed as the neighborhood’s dance hall and rock emporium for more than a century. And in all that time, there has been one common characteristic among those performing and running the shows: All were men. That will change on January 31, with The First All Lady…
Q & A | MICHAEL BLYTHE Michael Blythe has worked at the venerable Clay Theater at 2261 Fillmore Street for nearly a decade. In that time he’s had the opportunity to lavish his love of old theaters on the Clay, which is now more than 100 years old. On New Year’s Eve he helped launch…
BODY & SOUL | BARBARA KATE REPA Those who doubt that juice cleanses work haven’t met Teresa Piro, owner of Can Can Cleanse, who recently opened an outpost at 2864 California Street. She practices what she preaches. When discussing two of her passions, nutrition and cleansing, listeners begin to feel and believe the exclamation points…
ART | JEROME TARSHIS It begins like many a story of San Francisco’s superheated real estate market: A small business, serving its neighborhood for years, is pushed out in favor of a clothing shop that could afford the higher rent. Studio Gallery — sporting the slogan “local color by local artists” and originally housed on…
REAL ESTATE | PATRICK BARBER The frenzied overbids that characterized neighborhood real estate in the first half of 2014 began to subside in the second half — one sign that the San Francisco housing market could move toward a more balanced state in the coming year. Bidding wars in Lower Pacific Heights, Pacific Heights, Cow…
By BARBARA KATE REPA When Vasilios Kiniris opened a huge new home for Zinc Details, his upscale design and furniture emporium, last month at 1633 Fillmore in the former dollar store, he called it an “expansion” and a “remaking.” Others called it brave. Or foolhardy. But Kiniris, with 24 years of design and retail experience…
By CHRIS BARNETT When the developers and designers of The Pacific were hunting for inspiration and ideas for San Francisco’s plushest and priciest condominium complex, they looked east and heavenward. The team transforming the former University of the Pacific dental school at 2121 Webster flew to New York and swarmed over 96-story 432 Park Avenue,…
LOCALS AGREE there are problems with Alta Plaza Park, situated atop a former rock quarry and bounded by Scott, Clay, Steiner and Jackson Streets. Among them: decayed columns, stairs, walls and pathways; haphazard and incongruous plantings; outdated and ineffective lighting; and drainage and irrigation issues. So far, the fixes have been piecemeal — and ineffective,…