Posted on September 1, 2010 by editors
Business is booming at Harry's on Fillmore, but changes are coming behind the bar.
SALOONS | Chris Barnett
Fillmore hotspot Harry’s is headed for a change. It’s not a facelift; the design and decor still look fresh after a quarter century of civilized salooning and dining in the daytime and ear-splitting revelry at night. Instead, the cocktail culture is getting an update by mixologist Michael Callahan, who heads a consultancy called Raising The Bar.
“We’re upgrading and fine tuning the bar program, but holding on to the energy,” he says. That translates as better brands in the well for the $6 cocktails and the addition of rare, small batch spirits such as Clase Azul — which Callahan calls “an amazing sipping tequila” — and the new Beefeater 24 gin, which has 12 botanicals including Japanese and Chinese teas distilled along with the juniper berries.
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Posted on August 31, 2010 by editors
The salon is a dream come true for local resident Yuni Cho.
NEW NEIGHBOR | Yuni Salon
A bright orange awning at 2434 California Street heralds the arrival of Salon Yuni. Owned by local resident Yuni Cho, the salon manages to be both homey and starkly modern, with a mostly white interior accented by fuchsia touches and eight orange client chairs.
Cho says the decision to open the new salon was spurred by an unwelcome intruder. “I had breast cancer last year,” she says, “and it changed my life to a different view.” With chemo and radiation now behind her, Cho sports a jaunty wig and surveys her new digs with pride. She worked at the Lotte salon on Fillmore for seven years and at a number of other neighborhood salons before opening her own.
“It was really meant to be,” she says of her new salon, which is just a half-block from her home. In search of a health club, Cho wandered into Fit-Lite — the previous tenant — and learned it was closing in two weeks. “The spot was a little big — and that scared me. But every time I passed by, it called out to me,” says Cho. “I always dreamed I’d have my own salon in Pacific Heights. But I never thought I could be so close to home.”
Filed under: Body & Soul, Retail Report | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 29, 2010 by editors
What a difference a day makes.
On Saturday, Michael Blythe, a manager at the Clay Theatre on Fillmore, was grappling with what to do after the Clay played its last picture show on Sunday. But by midday Sunday, he had a happier problem on his hands: how to phrase the good news on the marquee that there was a reprieve — the Clay wasn’t closing immediately after all.
The news came late Saturday afternoon as cast and crew were readying for what they believed to be the finale of an institution at the Clay: the monthly midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“We were all hovering around watching the telephone like it was an execution,” says Blythe. “This is a big Band-Aid, but it’s the best thing we could hope for in this situation.” Blythe says the ultimate goal remains to have a group such as the San Francisco Film Society take over the theatre that’s been operating on Fillmore for the last 100 years.
Early Sunday afternoon he was scrambling to call the popcorn vendor and others who were told their contracts with the Clay were canceled — and telling employees, including one who’s worked there since the 1970s, to come back to work.
“This has been a real roller coaster ride,” he says.
And it’s not over yet.
Filed under: Film, Landmarks | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 13, 2010 by editors
The box office at the Clay Theater.
Fillmore’s jewel-box cinema, the Clay Theater, is closing at the end of the month after 100 years.
The sad news came in a simple sign posted in the theater’s windows. The Clay was thought to have a more secure future than many neighborhood theaters because it was part of Landmark Theatres. Landmark gave no indication the Clay was endangered and has publicly said nothing about the closure.
One of the final films scheduled at the Clay is a midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Saturday, August 28. The theater will close the next day.
UPDATE: Leah Garchik reports in the Chron: The San Francisco Film Society would love to take over the Clay and has been in negotiations for several months with the landlord, but so far no deal’s been struck. “We think we can bring enormous value to the theater,” said Graham Leggat. “We want to build our program around it as a beacon of culture for the Fillmore Street business district.”
Read more: “It’s a blow to the neighborhood”
Filed under: Entertainment, Film, Landmarks | 4 Comments »
Posted on August 9, 2010 by editors
Matthew Accarrino from SPQR, David Lawrence from 1300 on Fillmore and Anjan Mitra from Dosa.
The Sunday Chron offered up three takes by three Fillmore chefs on the same set of summer ingredients.
“We went to San Francisco’s Fillmore Street,” said the Chron, “a destination for cuisine from around the globe. We chose SPQR, an Italian restaurant; Dosa, which specializes in Indian cuisine; and 1300 on Fillmore, a restaurant that serves its own brand of soul-American food.”
Read more: Three chefs, one meal, five ingredients
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Posted on August 2, 2010 by editors
On Dosa's cocktail menu: the Beet Box
SALOONS | Chris Barnett
You rarely see a gin and tonic slide across the bar at Dosa, the Southern Indian restaurant on Fillmore at Post, no matter how many times you belly up to that stylish 50-foot slab of recycled glass, mirror chips and mother-of-pearl. But you’ll see plenty of Princetons, Bengali gimlets and other exotic cocktails, many made with locally distilled artisan gin.
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Posted on August 1, 2010 by editors
Athleta, the women’s athletic apparel brand that is now part of the Gap’s corporate family, is moving forward with plans to open a retail store at 2226 Fillmore Street, the longtime home of the Junior League’s Next-to-New resale shop.
The city’s board of appeals has rejected a request to review whether Athleta should be considered a chain store under the city’s formula retail ordinance. Zoning administrator Lawrence Badiner earlier determined that Athleta is not part of a chain, even though it is owned by the Gap. But only the Gap’s attorneys were notified of the ruling, since no address for the Athleta store was given. By the time neighborhood residents and merchants learned of the Gap’s plans to open an Athleta store on Fillmore, the time for filing an appeal had expired.
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Posted on August 1, 2010 by editors
Dave Scott leads a quartet on Sunday evenings during the summer.
FIRST PERSON | DAVE SCOTT
My dad had all these books on the shelves in the basement. They were these grand philosophy books from his seminary days with fantastic titles like “The Politics of God,” “Man, Myth, Meaning” and “Truth and Ethics.” He became a psychologist. He was good at mediating, and bringing people together, and helping people work out their differences.
I think I am like my dad was, but through music instead of psychology.
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Posted on August 1, 2010 by editors
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Restaurateurs Lori Baker and Jeff Banker have upped their culinary cachet by adding a takeout bakery.
It’s been part of their plan since the couple opened their neighborhood hot spot, Baker & Banker, a few months ago at 1701 Octavia. “It was just very hard to make it all happen at once,” says Baker, since the bakery required going through a separate permitting process. The doors finally opened on August 1.
The bakery entrance is around the corner on Bush Street. There’s no seating inside, but Baker says she hopes to arrange outdoor seating soon. She will showcase her favorites: a couple of kinds of bread that will change daily, cupcakes, layer cakes, brownies, cookies, breakfast pastries and various take-home desserts. Custom orders will also be welcomed.
“I’ve been a pastry chef for 15 years,” says Baker. “And by now, I’ve found the things I like to make and eat — and that I’m good at.” Eventually she also hopes to add sandwiches to the menu and to expand the bakery’s hours — now Wednesday through Sunday, 9 to 5 — to cater to the breakfast crowd. “For now, I’m hoping that people who start their days a bit later or work flexible hours will come by to grab a scone,” says Baker.
EARLIER: Baker & Banker: back where they belong
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Posted on July 31, 2010 by editors
Mother and daughter: Sheila Harris-Young and Toni Young own Bumzy’s.
By TESSA WILLIAMS
Now that Bumzy’s Chocolate Chip Cookies is finally open on Fillmore near O’Farrell, the neighborhood will get to sample a recipe that’s been baked and savored by three generations of cookie lovers.
Sheila Harris-Young’s mother taught her to bake when she was growing up in Washington, D.C., and she remembers first making cookies for an orphanage her Girl Scout troop would visit. When she became a mother herself, she passed the cookie recipe and her baking talents on to her daughter, Toni Young, whose childhood nickname was Bumzy. Four years ago, after decades of feeding their family and friends, they began selling their cookies online. They’ve made an enterprise out of baking — bound by family ties and service to the community.
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