The first parklet in the neighborhood — in front of Delfina Pizzeria at 2410 California Street near Fillmore — is now accepting visitors. It’s a new public space that offers a spot to pause in the sunshine.
EARLIER: “Parklet sprouting on California Street“
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The Tallman Hotel and the Blue Wing Saloon on Main Street in Upper Lake, California
GETAWAYS | Caroline Wampole
Longtime neighborhood resident Lynne Butcher was on a visit to Upper Lake in June 2003 when she saw a “for sale” sign on the historic Tallman Hotel. She had just sold her equipment leasing business and was looking for a new project.
“The ‘for sale’ sign had been there for 41 years,” she says.
But the Tallman’s days were numbered. The county had just red-tagged the 1880s building and it was slated for demolition. In fact, the local fire department wanted to use it as a training ground for a controlled burn.
“We must have been the 500th person in 40 years to look at the property,” says her husband, Bernie Butcher, laughing and shaking his head. “But if you wait long enough, the greater fool will arrive.”
Most people would not consider a plunge into the hotel and restaurant business a relaxing way to spend their retirement years. But then Lynne and Bernie Butcher have always had a sense of adventure.
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For a few days each week, a limited number of people can now share dinner and a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most beloved spots in the neighborhood.
For the fixed price of $20, Boulangerie Bay Bread at 2325 Pine Street has begun offering a traditional French table d’hote. The evening’s entree is served with roasted potatoes or vegetables, a salad, bread still warm from the oven and a slice of fruit tart. Diners are encouraged to bring their own wine; there’s no corkage fee.
Ever-genial counterman Rudy Guglielmo welcomes guests into the space between the display cases and the ovens, which is transformed into a cozy dining area with wood plank tables preset with French dining essentials: ample pots of butter, cornichons, mustard and sea salt. French President Nicolas Sarkozy looks on approvingly from a framed portrait on the wall. Diners are treated to the sights, sounds and smells of the bakery’s inner workings, with heaps of fresh-baked macarons bustled in to restock for the morning rush.
On a rainy Saturday night, the warmth of the ovens was especially inviting. The featured entree was braised beef short ribs, served in generous portions. Entrees for other nights include roast chicken, lamb confit and roast pork loin.
Seating is limited to 20, first come first served, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
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ORNITHOLOGY | Monte Travis
From my ninth floor office near Lafayette Park, I’ve been watching a pair of red-tailed hawks engage in aerial courtship flights since early this year.
In late March I saw the hawks carrying sticks to a large nest high in a eucalyptus tree in the park, undertaking a little remodeling. A few days later, I observed one of the hawks poking its head above the rim of the nest. This suggested at least one egg and probably more had been laid in the nest. If all goes well, we should have chicks in about a month.
As I was photographing the female hawk on the nest, I was alerted by the screams of about 20 red-masked parakeets — the famous parrots of Telegraph Hill — who suddenly bolted into the air from the treetops directly overhead. I looked up, and there came the male redtail swooping in from the west. When the male arrived at the nest, the female, who is larger, rose up, and for a short time both stood on the nest (above). Then the female took off and the male settled in for his shift.
Redtails are monogamous and generally mate for life. But later that same day, I witnessed a mystery: three adult birds on the nest (below). For 45 minutes, all three alternately flew to and from the nest. A menage a trois, perhaps? Or maybe redtails, like certain other species, sometimes employ one of their young from the prior year as a helper. This will bear watching in the coming days.
It’s a domestic ornithological mystery. But it seems appropriate for San Francisco: an alternative avian family.
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A service under the pagoda in Japantown commemorated the anniversary of the earthquake.
On March 11 — the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan last year — a commemorative community event called “Our Hearts to Japan” will be held at the Peace Plaza at Post and Buchanan Streets in Japantown.
The event caps a year of local activities that have raised more than $4 million to aid the victims of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown that followed. More than 20,000 people were killed and thousands more were left injured and homeless.
“The event is a way to memorialize those who have died and to honor the survivors, many of whom still need our help in rebuilding their lives,” said Dianne Fukami, president of the board of directors of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. “When I was in Tohoku last month, I witnessed the spirit and determination of the people, but I also realized how huge their losses are and how great the need continues to be.”
An extensive program of events will be held in Japantown on March 11. “Our Hearts to Japan” will begin at 2 p.m., and those attending will observe a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m. — precisely the time the disaster struck Japan.
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When architect Michael Murphy came home to San Francisco after a decade in London, his fresh eyes gave him a new appreciation for the city’s architecture — especially the modern buildings that often get overshadowed by the showier Victorians.
So he began creating a series of prints celebrating some of his personal favorites, including several in the neighborhood. There’s the new St. Mary’s Cathedral (“one of the most beautiful spaces in San Francisco,” he says) and the Japantown pagoda (“simple, with cherry blossom pink”), modern Pacific Heights (“it’s cocktail time”) and even daytime and nighttime tributes to the much-maligned Jack Tar Hotel on Van Ness Avenue.
“It’s reinvigorated my notion that people are suckers for architecture,” Murphy says. “They love it and they love to hate it.”
The entire series is available at Zinc Details, the emporium of modern design at 1905 Fillmore Street, and on Murphy’s website.
“They’re a hit,” Murphy chuckles. “My art has overtaken my architecture.”
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Crowds gather outside Delfina Pizzeria on California near Fillmore nearly every day at noon and nighttime. They’re waiting for a table, preferably one of the coveted spots out front.
Soon the waiting may be more convivial — and the odds of snagging an outside table considerably improved — when the Fillmore Stoop is completed. It’s the first parklet in the neighborhood — and one of the few with a proper name — although the take-back-the-pavement mini-parks are already a big hit in North Beach, on Divisadero and especially along Valencia Street. They transform one or two parking spots into a public space, usually with tables and chairs and a bit of greenery.
The Fillmore Stoop is the creation of Jessica Weigley and Kevin Hackett, architects whose firm, Siol Studios, is at Fillmore and Clay. Their proposal takes the parklet idea a step further by creating sculptural benches and planters in two parking spots, with room for four or five tables from Delfina. They gained the endorsement of neighboring businesses and persuaded Chase Bank — coming soon across the street — to pony up $25,000 to cover construction costs.
The city has approved the plans and issued permits. Most of the work will be done off-site, with installation in late March or early April.
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Photograph of Lorain Arruabarrena by Kathi O’Leary
LOCALS | BARBARA KATE REPA
Locals stumped about the best way to poach a salmon, how long to bake a stuffed pepper or how to cook a rib roast have a ready expert to consult: Lorain Arruabarrena, the lone female staffer behind Mollie Stone’s meat and fish counter at 2435 California Street, near Fillmore.
The meat maven, who also serves as mother figure and mentor to the younger men behind the counter, has clocked more than 30 years in the butchering business — including stretches at Petrini’s, Enrico’s and the neighborhood’s Grand Central Market, which morphed into Mollie Stone’s a decade ago. Before becoming an apprentice meatcutter, she had some stints in retail. And back in the 60s, she was a carhop at Mel’s, where she recalls serving deep dish berry pie to Joe DiMaggio and his mom nearly every Thursday.
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John Field designed the six shingled row houses at 2641-63 Union Street.
ARCHITECTURE | JOHN FIELD
Although I’ve lived in Pacific Heights for many years and designed homes here, I never thought of myself as a Pacific Heights architect. When I was asked recently how many houses in the neighborhood I have designed, I had to stop and think. I’d never counted them.
There must be 20 or more, most of them published in Sunset or House and Garden. Alas, they aren’t easy to pick out. There’s no unique window style, no striking modern minimalism; San Francisco wouldn’t stand for such statements in the 1960s and 70s. I designed gracious modern housing, most of it blending in with shingles or hiding behind a Victorian exterior. Even then some of the matrons of Pacific Heights thought my designs were out of place.
They may have had a point. I used bay windows in designs that weren’t Victorian, shingle walls as if they were white plaster, and glass wherever there was a view. I turned a ballroom for a mansion into a three-story home and carved parking out of many existing residences, one of them still with a fireplace, mantle and marble trim in the garage.
The real art of designing in San Francisco has always been capitalizing on whatever view there is, while concealing the exposures that aren’t so good. That’s true for city living everywhere.
Within three blocks on Broadway, I designed three completely new houses that are visually related only by their proportions. On the surrounding blocks are eight or 10 irreverently remodeled Victorians, two of them for my own family.
Probably my best known local project is a group of six shingled row houses at 2641-2663 Union Street. The design provoked a storm of protest from neighbors, who feared their property would be devalued by these houses only 16 feet wide — not realizing their own Victorians were often no wider, although built on wider lots. The design was published in several magazines and won many awards, including a special governor’s award for contemporary California design.
As in all cities, the housing stock is limited in Pacific Heights. New owners want to make their houses their own, so they remodel. People live differently now than they did before, and their houses reflect the changes. But I still harbor a hope that some of the simple elegant spirit of the places I have designed will live on.
Read more: “Architect, filmmaker, now a photographer“
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Photograph of John Gaul inside the Haas-Lilienthal House by Ramon del Rosario
Up the sidewalk to the imposing Victorian mansion at 2007 Franklin Street — the historic Haas-Lilienthal House — walks a group of senior travelers who call themselves road scholars. They are greeted by a gentleman in a vested suit and bowler hat, carrying a silver-headed cane, who welcomes them inside.
It’s not John Gaul’s home, although sometimes people think it is. From a passing car comes a shout: “Hey, are you Mr. Lilienthal?” He bows ever so elegantly and welcomes his visitors inside.
For more than a decade, Gaul has been one of about 50 docents who lead tours of the Haas-Lilienthal House, which was donated by descendants of some of the city’s most prominent families as a home for San Francisco Architectural Heritage, the historic preservation group. Heritage offers one-hour tours on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Docents guide visitors through the perfectly preserved wood-paneled rooms, most still with the original furnishings. They explain the distinctiveness of Victorian architecture and the privileged lives of the family that lived in the house from 1886, when it was built, until 1973.
“There was polite uplifting conversation in the front parlor,” Gaul says. “In the second parlor, maybe a little gossip while waiting for dinner. In the dining room, all was refinement, with good food, good wine and good conversation.”
WELCOMING NEW DOCENTS: Now Heritage is inviting new docents to join its ranks. A training program begins March 13 at 6 p.m. and includes eight sessions of lectures by historians and architects, plus tips from seasoned docents, including Gaul.
“Style is as important as substance,” Gaul says. “The facts alone don’t make it come alive.”
To learn more about becoming a docent at the Haas-Lilienthal House, contact volunteer coordinator Dorothy Boylan at 441-3000 ext. 24.
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