From Fillmore to Jonestown

Posted on November 18, 2011 by editors

Rev. Jim Jones preaches in the Peoples Temple on Geary near Fillmore.

On November 18, 1978 — 33 years ago today — 918 people from the Peoples Temple died in Jonestown. Most had followed Rev. Jim Jones to Guyana from the Fillmore. The Peoples Temple stood on Geary Boulevard just west of Fillmore Street where the post office is now located.

In a new book of poems and photographs called “Jonestown Lullaby,” former Peoples Temple insider Teri Buford O’Shea writes about the tragedy after keeping silent for 30 years.

Read more: “Life in the temple, good and bad”

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Ambassador from Pacific Heights

Posted on November 7, 2011 by editors

The Kounalakises in their Steiner Street aerie.

When they’re in San Francisco, Markos and Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis can often be spotted on Fillmore Street, near their home on the ninth floor of the 2500 Steiner Street tower. But these days they’re mostly in Budapest, where she’s the U.S. ambassador to Hungary.

Among their visitors from the neighborhood: 2500 Steiner’s 12th floor resident, the staunch Democrat Susie Tompkins Buell, who arrived just in time for the unveiling outside the embassy of a larger-than-life statue of former President Ronald Reagan. “We kept our eye on Susie,” the ambassador told the Chron’s Leah Garchik.

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Broadway homes sell for $30 million

Posted on November 6, 2011 by editors

The home at 2950 Broadway sold for $29.5 million — $10 million less than the original price.

REAL ESTATE | Maria Marchetti

Recent single family home sales in Pacific Heights are highlighted by the sale of 2950 Broadway, the 11,000-square-foot mansion on one of the largest parcels on the Gold Coast formerly owned by swashbuckling attorney Melvin Belli. The vast north and south facing formal gardens create an elegant foreground to the magnificent bay view, perfect for the new owner, humanist Peter Baumann, a musician formerly with Tangerine Dream and the founder of the Baumann Foundation.

But it’s only the second-most-expensive home ever sold in the neighborhood. Also changing hands recently was 2840 Broadway, the unlisted home of society doyenne Dodie Rosekrans, which reportedly sold for $33 million to neighbors just down the block.

Read more in The Wall Street Journal

Gargoyles along the roofline of 2840 Broadway.

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Dining alone among friends

Posted on November 5, 2011 by editors

The dining room at Jitlada is welcoming to singles, as well as couples and groups.

FIRST PERSON | Alicia Utter

I stumbled into the Fillmore by accident six years ago, enticed by an ad for an apartment on Craigslist. Strolling out on the patio with the building manager, I looked down to see my dog’s tail touch his back as he ran around pots of jasmine. Looking up at the quiet apartments surrounding the space, I knew we were at home. And one additional canine later, we are still here, enjoying our neighborhood more each day.

I cherish the friendliness among the locals. Neighbors know your dogs’ names, what building you live in, even when you had a bad day. I’ve come to feel a part of this place: mourning when the Fillmore Hardware store closed, searching out the best noodle place in Japantown, spending an afternoon in the park with the dogs and a novel, relishing the trees and fashions at the bus stops as they change with the seasons.

Like many other city dwellers, I live alone. And one of the luxuries of being a solitary creature is dining out alone: catching snippets of conversations in a restaurant, ordering just what I feel like, taking my time to enjoy it, feeling the rhythm of the room.

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Filed under: First Person, Food, Drink & Lodging | 2 Comments »

Heidi Says: 10 years on Fillmore

Posted on October 29, 2011 by editors

Photograph of Heidi Sabelhaus Myers by Susie Biehler

Heidi Sabelhaus Myers presides over a small retail empire of three women’s fashion boutiques on Fillmore Street that began as an online venture. As she prepared to celebrate her 10th anniversary, she paused to reflect on Steve Jobs, believing in destiny and a decade of retail on Fillmore Street.

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A catalog comes to life on Fillmore

Posted on October 29, 2011 by editors

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By Barbara Kate Repa

While putting the finishing touches on on her new Fillmore store, owner Annie Hurlbut was interrupted often and lovingly by longtime devotees of the Peruvian Connection catalog who welcomed the shop and thanked her for providing its unique designs.

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Custom bike shop opens nearby

Posted on October 29, 2011 by editors

Local cyclist Doug Rappaport is a big fan of Bespoke, a new neighborhood bike shop.

FIRST PERSON | Doug Rappaport

Offering handmade bicycles and promising precision maintenance services, Bespoke Cycles is now open at 2843 Clay Street, near Scott, the storefront previously occupied for many years by Tony Kitz Oriental Rugs. As a nearby neighbor and an avid cyclist, I’m excited — because in addition to selling custom bicycles and top-end equipment, Bespoke is quickly becoming a hub for local cycling with bicycle-related events and rides.

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Dismissed Convent School educator sues

Posted on October 29, 2011 by editors

Celine Curran, who was fired last May after 37 years at the neighborhood’s Convent of the Sacred Heart High School — including three decades as dean of students — sued the school on October 11 for wrongful termination and gender and age discrimination.

The complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that director of schools Gordon Sharafinski “has a bias and prejudice against female employees who are confident, self-assured and strong.” Curran, 56, seeks an unspecified amount in damages, along with reinstatement to her last position as student life coordinator at the school. The lawsuit also asks for a jury trial to determine the matter. A response to the suit has not yet been filed.

In a June 20 posting on the school’s website announcing the decision not to renew Curran’s contract, Sharafinsky wrote: “I have communicated to parents and staff about this issue to the extent allowable and as transparently as I could. However, there is much information to which the community has not been privy and, because of privacy laws, I cannot share.”

Curran’s firing prompted an outpouring of criticism and outrage from students, parents and alumni. A Facebook group supporting Curran has almost 900 members.

In an August 9 letter to the Sacred Heart community, Sharafinski announced that he plans to retire at the end of the 2011-12 academic year.

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‘Mini-Versailles’ hits the market

Posted on October 29, 2011 by editors

Herbst Manor in Pacific Heights was home to the late Lee Herbst Gruhn, who passed away in 2010. Think Herbst Theater and San Francisco society. Her prominent brick home with carousel horses in the windows on the corner of Pacific and Divisadero — designed in 1899 by esteemed architect Ernest Coxhead — is now for sale. Don’t miss the link to author Jennifer Huffman’s story of accidentally getting a tour of the gilt-edged home by none other than Lee Herbst Gruhn herself.

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60 years of making music

Posted on October 22, 2011 by editors

Photograph of Alden Gilchrist and the Calvary Chancel Choir by Alvin Johnson

LOCALS | FRAN MORELAND JOHNS

Alden Gilchrist has been making music at at the corner of Fillmore and Jackson for the past 60 years — and on October 28 he will be honored with a special concert as the longtime music director of Calvary Presbyterian Church.

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