Posted on May 7, 2010 by editors
Almost overnight, a sleek and simple new art space has arrived at 1906 Fillmore. It is the San Francisco home of glass artist Cassandria Blackmore, who is based in Seattle. The grand opening is still a few weeks away, but her work is already on display.
Blackmore creates reverse paintings on glass, then shatters and reassembles them. Here’s how she describes her work:
The paintings are finished, then shattered, allowing “chance” to take part in the image making. Each piece of glass fractures in its own way, segmenting the painted image. Images become puzzles. They are visual and tactile diaries written in a sort of Braille telling the tale of how they were touched by human hands. They are dissected and then put back together. It’s the essence of breaking down the image and restoring it to another version of itself that intrigues me.
Read more: “An unconventional approach to an ancient art form”
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Posted on May 5, 2010 by editors
Photograph of the Curbside Cafe’s Olivier Perrier by Daniel Bahmani
By Anne Paprocki
A t the Curbside Cafe, the longtime local favorite on California just west of Fillmore, Olivier Perrier greets regulars with kisses on both cheeks and recites the daily specials in his inimitable French accent. He’s the only server in the room and seems to be everywhere at once, yet everyone receives his personal and focused attention. He knows many diners by name, but he also settles newcomers into the small tables with ease. Perrier’s touch is evident in everything from the “bon appetit” on the chalkboard to the bottles of French wine on the tables.
He wasn’t always at home here. Having worked at restaurants in the England and Australia, he thought California would be just a six-month stop. Yet now, after five years as a waiter and manager at the Curbside Cafe, he and his wife — who met at the restaurant — are its new owners.
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Filed under: Food, Drink & Lodging | 4 Comments »
Posted on May 3, 2010 by editors
NEW NEIGHBOR | Hello Candystore
Next door to OTD, Charles Phan’s latest gastronomical phenon, at 2226 Bush is a new women’s clothing collective called Hello by Candystore Collective. It’s owned by Jennifer Jones, who first got hooked on the ’hood while operating a holiday pop-up store for a few weeks last December in the space at 1928 Fillmore left vacant by the Aveda salon.
“It was immediately apparent that the neighborhood was welcoming,” she says. “And my current landlord came in and loved the store and was so supportive. I feel like it was neighborhood magic that we ended up here.”
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Posted on May 1, 2010 by editors
Photograph of the Majestic Hotel's entry by Susie Biehler
By Chris Barnett
Owners of the 58-room, 116-year-old Edwardian style Hotel Majestic at Sutter and Gough have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy to keep creditors from checking in and padlocking its ornate, cut glass front doors.
Under Chapter 11, the hotel and its Uptown Joe’s restaurant and Butterfly Bar remain open for business.
There is an upside for locals: The hotel has cut its neighborhood rate to a bargain $79 a night plus tax. Out of towners can book a room starting at $89 a night plus tax, says Paulo Monte, the current general manager. Occupancy is running at 60 percent, he says. A year ago, rooms were fetching $150 nightly.
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Posted on May 1, 2010 by editors
Photograph of Marcus Books manager Karen Johnson by Joe Manio
By Tessa Williams
It would be easy to pass by the purple Victorian at 1712 Fillmore without realizing its importance to Bay Area black history.
Located just north of Post Street, the building’s modest presence belies its legacy, both as the former home of Jimbo’s Bop City — the legendary after-hours jazz club — and as the current home of Marcus Books, the oldest independent black bookstore in the country, which is celebrating half a century in business this year.
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Posted on April 26, 2010 by editors
Congregation Sherith Israel at California and Webster Streets.
TAKE A LAST LOOK at the majestic pink temple glowing in the late afternoon sunlight at the corner of California and Webster.
It is quickly being enveloped by scaffolding for a seismic retrofit that will strengthen the hundred-year-old home of Congregation Sherith Israel. And it will lose its distinctive salmon pink paint job and emerge next year in its original gray-green color of unpainted Colusa sandstone.
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Posted on April 25, 2010 by editors
Photograph of Moses in Yosemite by Richard Mayer
Among the work now under way at the Sherith Israel temple at California and Webster is the restoration of the stained glass windows. In the grand western window, “Moses Presenting the Ten Commandments to the Children of Israel,” Moses is depicted on the granite rocks at the gateway to Yosemite, with Half Dome and El Capitan in the distance, rather than in Sinai. For this modern Moses, California is the Promised Land.
UPDATE: The windows are removed
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Posted on April 24, 2010 by editors
Posted on April 22, 2010 by editors
Its 53rd incarnation opens tonight at the Castro Theater, but most of the action at the SF International Film Festival — and the box office — is down the block at the Sundance Kabuki at Fillmore and Post.
Schedule and full details.
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Posted on April 20, 2010 by editors
SALOONS | Chris Barnett
Theyyy’re baaaack . . . The two crystal and brass lamps circa 1938 vanished last summer, plunging the west end of the Elite Cafe’s bar into darkness. Regulars missed the elegant touch and the lumins; the faux candle replacements never cut it. Ace servers Abby, Jenna and Kate practically needed miner’s helmets to ring up tabs.
The Elite’s decorator whined that the lamps were broken beyond fixing. Months passed. Finally, frustrated owner Peter Snyderman — also the proprietor of the new TrademarkSF on Belden Alley downtown — strapped on his tool belt and reconstructed the lamps. He plugged them in and — voila, there was light.
Peacock proud, Peter says his new-found handyman prowess is a terrific de-stresser. Now if he could only light up the middle candle in the wall sconce on the back bar separating the bourbons and vodkas.
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