News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
STARBUCKS BROUGHT its new line of juice bars to the neighborhood today when it opened an Evolution Fresh store at the corner of Fillmore and Sacramento. Evolution Fresh peels, cracks, squeezes and presses whole fruits and vegetables to offer cold-crafted juice with nutrition, taste and color. The store also offers smoothies and menu items that…
By CHRISTINE LUNDE On their honeymoon in Italy, neighborhood residents Olivia Dillan and Ben Balzer floated by Marco Polo’s house on a canal in Venice, which inspired Dillan to leave the tech industry behind. Then serendipity took charge. Three weeks after Dillan and Balzer decided to start a shop of their own, the space at…
By Julia Irwin “JUST IMAGINE what a bunch of bugs would be doing if they weren’t being watched, and then put that under a glass dome,” says local artist Lisa Wood, describing her otherworldly dioramas that feature insects at work and play. “It’s usually a simple story: a beetle clipping articles out of the newspaper,…
CRIME WATCH | Chris Barnett The familiar sight of shattered glass in the gutter is hard evidence of a crime that plagues local residents, visitors and shoppers alike. Anyone with a car is a potential target. Smash-and-grab thieves don’t care if it’s a Mini Cooper or a Maserati. You’d never know it from walking the…
By Kathi O’Leary ON A CHARMING block of Sutter Street that narrowly missed the wrecking ball of redevelopment 50 years ago, Sidney Hair Care sits among Victorian homes, small shops and the Macedonia Baptist Church. Sidney, the professional name of Betty Jean Macklin, has cared for clients of all races and walks of life at…
SALOONS | Chris Barnett Legend has it that Liverpool Lil’s, the saucy saloon and gastropub just outside the eastern gate of the Presidio, is named after a trollop who prowled the cobblestone streets of Britain’s notorious port city entertaining affection-starved sailors and dockworkers in the dark corners of ale houses. Not exactly true, confesses Ralph…
FOR THE FIRST TIME since the 1930s, when San Francisco’s cemeteries were dug up and moved to Colma, Catholics will soon have a place to inter their loved ones in the neighborhood. St. Dominic’s Church is creating a columbarium within its stately Gothic arches and flying buttresses. It will offer 320 niches behind the main…
By BARBARA KATE REPA FOR MANY YEARS, John Gaul has been a fixture on Fillmore. Strolling and bussing through the neighborhood, he has been a dapper presence, doling out advice and good cheer along the way. But just lately, his gait has slowed. He is getting about now with the help of a walker since…
A SAMPLING TOUR | DONNA GILLESPIE Chocolate chip cookies abound at many of the bakeries in the Fillmore, and I’ve long been a fan of this particular type of cookie. So I went on a sampling tour — one cookie per day — to compare and rate the chocolate chip cookies in the neighborhood. First,…
ROAM, WHICH JUST opened its doors — and windows — at 1923 Fillmore Street, is not your run of the mill burger joint. And business partners Lynn Gorfinkle and Josh Spiegelman have spared no detail to make sure that’s true. “We wanted to create a better-for-you burger concept using high quality ingredients,” says Gorfinkle. “It’s…