Another meeting place disappears
TULLY’S COFFEE has closed, leaving the corner of Fillmore and Jackson without a coffeehouse for the first time in decades. Filmmaker Erika Tetur chronicles the final days.
No more group yoga at International Orange
AFTER A DOZEN YEARS upstairs at 2044 Fillmore, with its oversized windows overlooking the heart of the neighborhood’s retail row, International Orange is demonstrating its flexibility by shaking up its yoga and retail offerings. As of November 15, group yoga classes will be eliminated and instruction will only be given one-on-one or semi-privately to two…
Uncle Nick’s still got it
NICK NICKOLAS got his first restaurant job in Oakland in 1955 at a very fine restaurant called Villa de la Paix. He went on to a six-decade career in which he opened more than 30 restaurants nationwide — most notably his Nick’s Fishmarkets in Honolulu, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Miami and other cities. Then he came…
He found his niche
AFTER A SUCCESSFUL and rewarding career as a bookseller, he’d settled comfortably into retirement in his book-filled flat on Bush Street across from St. Dominic’s Church. Then disaster struck Richard Hilkert. He was walking home from a 78th birthday massage early on the afternoon of August 29, 2006, when a rampaging driver ran him over…
Hip ice cream shop on the way
By Chris Barnett SMITTEN, a made-to-order ice cream venture that opened its first shop in a converted shipping container in Hayes Valley, is scooping up the small space recently vacated by Copynet at 2404 California Street. Copynet relocated to 2174 Sutter Street at the end of September as its 20-year lease was about to…
Alamo Square and the families who lived there
BOOKS | JOE PECORA Very soon after I moved to the historic and architecturally rich Alamo Square neighborhood in 1979, the untold stories of its vintage housing stock piqued my curiosity. When I could discover very little photographic or written material, I began my own research and eventually composed old house profiles for the Alamo…
Peter James and Susanne Rundberg inside Fog City Leather.
A life in leather
By Barbara Kate Repa PETER JAMES STILL REMEMBERS when he got smitten by leather. He was about 10 years old, living in San Francisco, having immigrated with his family from Sweden four years earlier. “I sat in my dad’s new 1955 Studebaker, and when I shut the door I was instantly intoxicated with the leather…
To G or not to G
REAL ESTATE | PATRICK BARBER A significant slowdown in the number of multi-unit building sales in San Francisco’s northern neighborhoods suggests that Proposition G may be having an impact on the local real estate market months before city residents cast their votes. On the ballot for the upcoming November 4 election, Proposition G is designed…
Happier hour on Fillmore
SALOONS | CHRIS BARNETT A fresh wave of happiness is flooding Fillmore as boulevard bars and restaurants are pouring newly discounted drinks and offering bargain-priced appetizers during afternoon happy hours. Some thirst parlors are more generous than others.
Fillmore gets more neighborly
WHEN DINO’S became Dino and Santino’s last year at Fillmore and California, owner Dino Stavrakikis wanted to make his — and his son’s — prime corner a little friendlier. So he bought a black metal bench and bolted it to the sidewalk, inviting the neighbors to stop and sit in the sunshine, even if they…