Posted on June 13, 2010 by editors
Le Petit Trianon, at 3800 Washington, is a replica of Marie Antoinette's refuge at Versailles.
Renovation of Le Petit Trianon — long delayed — is now scheduled to begin this summer. The grand home at 3800 Washington Street has been empty for years and largely unattended, even since it was bought in 2007 for $22 million by tech mogul Halsey Minor, founder of CNet.
“The state of Le Petit Trianon is a perfect metaphor for the troubles of Minor,” says a Bay Citizen report, which calls the landmark home “almost comically formal.”
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Posted on June 3, 2010 by editors
The BoConcept line of contemporary Danish furniture is now available at 1928 Fillmore.
Home furnishing stores — which took a big hit during the last decade — are seeing a resurgence on Fillmore, especially in the block between Pine and Bush, home to Zinc Details, Design Within Reach, the Shade Store and newcomer Ruby Living Design.
Today the block got something new in modern home design when BoConcept opened behind a dramatic black facade at 1928 Fillmore.
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Filed under: Home & Garden, Retail Report | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 2, 2010 by editors
Outside, the Hotel Drisco is nondescript; inside, it's old world elegance.
By Chris Barnett
If you’re looking for a hideout to brainstorm the next Google, hammer out a multibillion dollar merger or tryst the night away, the Hotel Drisco on the hilltop corner at 2901 Pacific and Broderick might fit your bill. A bastion of secrecy since its opening more than a century ago, there is scant history about the comings and goings of the owners and guests of the 43-room Pacific Heights luxury roost.
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Posted on June 2, 2010 by editors
Photograph of Neja's Nellie Muganda by Rose Hodges
Neighbors in search of Fillmore Street’s famed make-up artist to the stars Nellie Muganda needn’t look far. She’s followed her muse — and a more favorable lease — down the hill to 2118 Union Street.
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Posted on June 2, 2010 by editors
The lingerie shop My Boudoir blazed the trail from Fillmore to Union Street last November. The boutique, which debuted at 2029 Fillmore in 1998, is a family operation run by mother Geraldine Nuval-Weibull and daughter Delilah Nuval.
Inside its tiny new space at 2285 Union — which is half the size of the Fillmore location — the two have recreated the intimate setting of their former shop, even relocating the wall-sized harem mural by Teresa Moore, which adds to the exotic feel of the place.
Nuval says the space easily accommodates their small but exclusive offering of upscale lingerie that changes with the seasons. And they get good spillover foot traffic from Rose’s Cafe, the popular Union Street eatery across the street. She also noted that the rents “are significantly lower” at either end of the main Union Street shopping hub, where their boutique sits.
“But I really miss Fillmore Street — there was so much going on there,” she says. “And I can’t believe what a big difference there is in what the clients buy. On Fillmore, shoppers liked well-made pieces in rich textures and fabrics. But here on Union Street, they’re like: ‘What’s cute?’ ”
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Posted on June 1, 2010 by editors
The Fillmore New York will once again be known as the Irving Plaza.
The Fillmore New York will soon be a thing of the past. The New York Times reports today that the club renamed the Fillmore in 2007 will once again be known as the Irving Plaza, its original name.
No tears were shed. “Changing the name of Irving Plaza to the Fillmore is as silly as changing the name of Carnegie Hall,” a former owner told The Times.
Adding the Fillmore name was homage to rock impresario Bill Graham and the original Fillmore Auditorium at Fillmore and Geary. Graham operated a club in New York he called the Fillmore East from 1968 to 1971. Theaters in Philadelphia and Detroit also got the Fillmore name in recent years, but it was quickly dropped in Philadelphia, The Times reports.
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Posted on May 26, 2010 by editors
2901 Broadway may be one of the world's most valuable homes, but taxes are minimal.
The Bay Citizen — the new nonprofit news website financed by neighborhood investor and philanthropist Warren Hellman — launched today. Its lead story focuses on the wildly varying property taxes paid by the owners of the mansions on Outer Broadway.
Included is an interactive graphic that is something of a star map to Pacific Heights, describing who lives where and offering a bit of history about some of the finer homes in the neighborhood.
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Posted on May 25, 2010 by editors
President Obama dined with the Gettys at their yellow and white home (right) on Broadway.
President Obama stopped by the neighborhood for dinner this evening. After a fund-raiser for Senator Barbara Boxer at the Fairmont Hotel, Obama motorcaded to Ann and Gordon Getty’s double-mansion on outer Broadway. Price of admission: $17,600 each, cocktails, dinner and photo included. But the looking was for free, and lots of locals lined Pacific Avenue to catch a glimpse and take their own photos of a waving Obama.
With any luck, it went better than the last time Obama stopped by the Gettys’ place. During the 2008 campaign he made an appearance there on his way to another fund-raiser in Presidio Heights, where he uttered his infamous words about embittered blue-collar types clinging to their guns and religion.
But last time he was here, still a candidate, he stepped across the street to shake hands with the neighbors. This time they were kept behind the barricades a block away.
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Posted on May 16, 2010 by editors
Coming soon to a store window near you: the poster for this year’s jazz festival, created by Michael Schwab, one of the nation’s top graphic artists. New street banners sporting the design will go up before the festival, and posters and T-shirts will be available at the 2010 Fillmore Jazz Festival, which takes place on July 3 and 4.
“DISNEYFIED?” It’s “a canny move” for SFJazz to build its new home in the Civic Center, rather than in the Fillmore Jazz District, says a local critic in The New York Times. An article in the Sunday Times on San Francisco’s “sleepy jazz scene” tips its hat to Rasselas and Yoshi’s, but dismisses “the Fillmore’s somewhat Disneyfied atmosphere these days.” Do they have Popeye’s in Disneyland?
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Posted on May 15, 2010 by editors
The roses in Susan Meyers’ garden will be in peak bloom on Saturday, May 22, for the Garden Conservancy’s garden tour. The tour is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and this year the starting point is Meyers’ “playful Pine Street garden” at 2418 Pine Street.
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