Fall Into Romance Commonwealth Club

Home , Broken Politics, Jack Kerouac Alley, MasterChef Junior

16 Up Front 34 A&E 24 Calendar Back Story: Tosca Michael Snyder: November Events: With fall in Cafe returns 6 Kerouac via Big Sur 23 full swing and winter approaching, fill your days with the Lamplighters’ Food & Wine Travel Downtown Abbey takeoff, ice rinks, Masterchef Jr.: Weekend Traveler: artist open houses, Graham Nash, 10-year-old Cow Start the holidays on the Barber of Seville, and a Winter Hollow prodigy 16 Monterey’s coast 34 Carnival. 24

WWW.MARINATIMES.com Celebrating our 29th Year Volume 29 Issue 11 NOVEMBER 2013

@nite Climate One City leaders Metro revolution San Francisco is part of a growing urban movement to do what Washington can’t

by greg dalton

he circus in Washington, D.C., has made it painfully clear that cities and regions can’t count on the federal government to play the Tsupportive role it has in the past. “The federal government has left the building,” says Bruce Katz, co-author of The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Artwork by S.F. artist Nidhi Chanani at www.everydayloveart.com Fragile Economy. The vice president of the Washington- based Brookings Institution, Katz joined San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Lennar Corporation executive Kofi Bonner for a discussion of the future of American cities recently at Climate One, the sustainability project of the Fall into romance Commonwealth Club. Gone are the days when the federal government did by maryann lorusso “No, honey, it’s summer,” I said. I have since come to accept the big things and showered funds onto states and cities. “Forget what you read in your book Bay Area’s eccentric weather pat- Today, cities are realizing they need to come up with ight after I moved here about the four seasons.” terns, including the perpetual hair- creative funding models and take their futures into from the East Coast, San Then, by October, around the time frizzing fog and the fact that we their own hands. Metropolitan areas are “stepping up Francisco’s mixed-up sea- the trees should have begun shedding can go sleeveless only a couple eve- and doing the hard work to grow jobs, make their Rsons really threw me off. One eve- their red and gold treasures, I had nings a year without freezing. One economies more prosperous, and respond to climate ning in July, as my family and I to explain to the kids why instead month I especially look forward to and environmental challenges,” says Katz. strolled down Chestnut Street wear- of jumping into piles of leaves, they is November, when Mother Nature The caricature of Silicon Valley is that it is Google ing fleece jackets, we heard the were finally lathering on sunscreen bestows upon us its most sensuous and Facebook and other companies that write code crunching of fallen leaves under and jumping into the bay near Crissy gifts: mild but cooling temperatures, and don’t really build anything. In fact, Katz says that our winter boots. Field. Just when I wanted to be baking shorter days with beautiful sunsets, about about 17 percent of the economy in Silicon “Look, it’s autumn, Mommy!” apple pie and wearing wool sweaters, and a slight chill in the air that entic- Valley is manufacturing. Much of that production is my son said. San Francisco was heating up. @nite, continued on 22 climate one, continued on 4

S.F. Impact restaurant photographer at Business As Usual Dishing the time, but he decided to follow in his father’s foot- steps. “My father is from The budget cliff Osaka, Japan, and has been a sushi chef for 40 years,” There are reasons to be hopeful, Lee says. “In fact, he’s helping out today.” Behind the and they all have to do with money sleek bar, his father smiles at customers eagerly await- by john zipperer ing their lunch — but this isn’t just any lunch, this is f you and your beloved wanted to celebrate his son’s sustainable artisan your mid-October anniversary with a drink or din- sushi, and it’s spectacular. ner at the Cliff House, then you got a rude awaken- “I’ve gradually phased Iing when you pulled up to the restaurant. Perched on out most of the old menu. the edge of the scenic hillside, the historic destination I’m more into ingredient- was forced to close due to the partial shutdown of the driven service,” Lee says. He federal government. regularly travels to Japan You got a similar situation if you wanted to take Akiko’s sources seafood through a strong network of purveyors photo: Susan Dyer Reynolds to source his seafood, and out-of-town visitors to Alcatraz; the famous former recently returned from the prison was also shut down by Washington’s fiat. But world-renowned Tsukiji the disruption to your plans was nothing compared to Akiko’s Ray Lee takes artisan fish market in Tokyo, the the disruption it caused to people who work there; the biggest wholesale seafood Examiner reports that Alcatraz Cruises, which ferries sushi to spectacular heights market in the world. He visitors to the island, lost about $3 million and had to receives shipments from lay off 15 people and furlough others. by susan dyer reynolds might sound obsessive or even parents (located at 431 Bush Japan most days of the It may be a popular notion to claim that what happens compulsive, but to Ray Lee, Street and not related to week. “I’ve built relation- in the nation’s capital at the other end of the continent $6,000 super freez- owner of Akiko’s Restaurant, Akiko’s on Mason Street), ships with purveyors over doesn’t affect us in the Bay Area, but the government er; sous-vide monk it’s all about passion. the 18-year-old business the years. Now I’m really shutdown shows how even just a partial shutdown — liver; removing sal- Four years ago when Lee did mostly lunch, takeout, tight with the fishermen, budget cliff, continued on 3 Amon eggs one by one — it took over Akiko’s from his and catering. Lee was a dishing continued on 15

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 1 Contents TOP TEN STEAKS IN AMERICA

Osso Steakhouse — 1177 California Street, San Francisco, CA In This Issue Bobo’s — 1450 Lombard, San Francisco, CA 20 28 Peter Luger Steakhouse — 178 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY Bern’s Steakhouse — 1208 South Howard Avenue, Tampa, FL CUT — 9500 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA Emeril’s Delmonico — 3355 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV Mario Batali’s Carnevino — 3325 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 33 Chicago Cut — 300 North LaSalle, Chicago, IL The Precinct — 311 Delta Avenue, Cincinnati, OH Elway’s Cherry Creek — 2500 East First Avenue, Denver, CO

News Arts & Entertainment Changing face of the Marina Life and art News Briefs reports on the growing reaction to Ernest Beyl revisits Beat poet Richard the pub-crawl craze, Crissy Field construction Brautigan; Michael Snyder takes a noir plans, an update on the Presidio Parkway proj- tour of L.A. and S.F.; Sandy Fertman Ryan ect, and help for soft-story building owners; on Thanksgiving etiquette; Snyder reviews plus the In-Box. 4 Big Sur; and Sharon Anderson uncovers Herb and Dorothy’s unique art. 20 Up Front Calendar Tosca is dead, long live Tosca November events San Francisco was spared the loss of a trea- San Francisco gets visits from Garrison sure when new owners assumed control of Keillor and Graham Nash, the Vintners Tosca Cafe; Ernest Beyl gives us the history Market opens, the Celebration of of this hot spot. 6 Craftwswomen takes place, and more. 24 PHOTOS: MISHA BRUK Community At Home Digital City Health and home Capt. McEachern gives an important tip on Julie Mitchell offers help on preparing for avoiding becoming a victim of smartphone winter sports; Liz Farrell chooses a pedia- theft, and Supervisor Mark Farrell touts Osso Steakhouse trician; and Julia Strzesieski highlights his Wi-Fi plan for 31 places in S.F.; plus ladder safety. 26 Police Blotter. 8 sso Wolfgang Puck’s CUT. vor that is nothing Real Estate Steakhouse The steakhouse is short of a revelation. Street Beat is the lat- located in the landmark For the truly hardy, Renting, buying, and selling Around the Northside John Zipperer learns about neighbor- Oest creation from the Gramercy Towers, next try the three-inch Finds visits the Busacca Gallery; Northsider hoods; Stephanie Saunders Ahlberg people who brought door to the Masonic thick Bone-in New has its ear to the ground; and Ernest Beyl says square footage is a mystery; the says Ferlinghetti needs his plaza. 10 you The Stinking Auditorium on pres- York New York Empire Mystery Housebuyer has surprising tales of negotiations; and Carole Isaacs Rose, Calzone’s and tigious Nob Hill, Steak Building Cut. It’s Business & Finance tells us how to find homes online. 29 Bobo’s, which was near the Fairmont, the juiciest, most per- Medicare update time listed as one of the Mark Hopkins and fectly marbled beef that David Sayen says it’s time to review Travel top ten steakhouses Huntington Hotel. has ever been set before Medicare coverage; and survey says — San Cozy up Franciscans are upbeat. 12 Garrick Ramirez visits the Monterey in America by USA The stylish Art- you. “It’s osso good!!” Coast for the holidays. 34 Today in 2012, along- Deco-inspired design Food & Wine side such notable res- provides an elegant Valet Parking Dining and dishing Pets taurants as Peter Luger, yet relaxed ambi- Tony Ching and Susan Dyer Reynolds Cats and dogs offer two not-to-miss dishes each from Bern’s, Emeril Lagasse’s ance. The New York 1177 California at Jones John Zipperer looks at the fuss over cats; four restaurants; Julie Mitchell finds Cow and Susan Dyer Reynolds and Skylar go Delmonico, Mario Steak is dry-aged 415.771.6776 Hollows cooking prodigy; Evalyn Baron to kindergarten. 36 Batali’s Carnevino and 4-6 weeks for a fla- www.ossosteakhouse.com dines on the edge; Mitchell visits Café Claude Marina; the Tablehopper welcomes ONLINE SPECIALS back State Bird Provisions; and Reynolds cooks up some risotto and mash. 14 on www.marinatimes.com

A division of Northside Publications, Inc. www.marinatimes.com | 3053 Fillmore Street, Ste. 238, San Francisco, CA 94123 Editorial: (415) 931-0515 | Fax: (415) 931-0987 | L etters to the Editor: [email protected] Advertising: (415) 815-8081 [email protected] Calendar submissions due by the 15th of the month to [email protected]

Publisher Managing Editor Social Media Earl Adkins John Zipperer Shelia Fox [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Editor in Chief Editor, Arts & Entertainment Designer Steven Fromtling Susan Dyer Reynolds L ynette Majer Web Designer Joe Bachman [email protected] [email protected]

The Marina Times is distributed free in San Francisco’s northern neighborhoods (the Marina, Cow Hollow, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, and North Beach). Member of the San Francisco Neighborhood Newspaper Association. The views expressed herein do not ADVERTISEMENT. necessarily reflect the views of the Marina Times or Northside Publications. Please send comments to [email protected] or to the address above. Comments of 200 words or less have the best chance for publication. Please include name, address and daytime phone number for consideration. We reserve the right to abridge for space, clarity and civility.

2 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Editor’s Note

Budget Cliff them what they wanted religion and began to let continued from page 1 in return for not crater- it be known that this was ing the national and global a bad tactic. But this is combined with the threat economies; but Obama has more than them exerting by hardcore congressio- reportedly rued giving in to pressure on party leaders; nal conservatives to risk a similar tactics in previous that’s what they do all the default of federal debt — standoffs and was deter- time. This is actually about can have a serious impact mined not to do so here. them realizing they have here. In short, he didn’t give in, helped bring about a party It was not exactly a text- Democrats remained unit- that is antithetical to their book example of politi- ed in their opposition to well-being and existence. cal science in action. It all the economic hostage-tak- Standard and Poor’s analyst started with a struggle to tie ing, and the Republicans John Chambers said that a policy disagreement with kept pushing to get some defaulting on federal debt the basic functioning of our kind of concessions up to would create a situation country — at Alcatraz and the last minute, when they worse than the 2008 eco- across the nation. folded like a house of cards. nomic collapse. The Wall If you look at the states San Francisco’s own Nancy Street crowd doesn’t care and regions that are net con- Pelosi was not out front much about gay marriage, tributors to the federal bud- in the political bickering, abortion or drugs, but it get and net takers, you see but she earned credit for does care about money. a curious but pretty consis- keeping House Democrats And when it realized that tent pattern: The areas that united in their opposition the Tea Party candidates are net contributors — that to the Tea Partiers’ plans. were willing to push the pay more into the federal In the agreement that country into a default that budget than they receive in ended the shutdown — would have devastated the services and payments — opening up Alcatraz and global financial system, are overwhelmingly “blue,” the Cliff House, among it had to act. to use the popular political many other shuttered Politico.com cites such vernacular; net taker areas places — and raised the GOP bigwigs as mega-bun- are overwhelmingly dler Paul Singer, “red.” That is held who is looking to The right up by many lib- counter the impact eral polemicists as There are reasons to of Tea Party candi- proof of conserva- dates who flamed tive ignorance or hope we won’t end up out so spectacu- mortgage even hypocrisy, but right back in the same larly in 2012, such another explana- as Todd Akin in a tion is that residents place in a few months. winnable Missouri starts with the there are even more Senate race. Other aware of government’s pres- debt ceiling, there are no reports have revealed ence and spending because measures that prevent us Wall Street donors tell- it affects them more, and from ending up right back ing Republicans, media right people. therefore the conserva- in the same place in several and even Democrats that tives among them see ever months, when the agree- they’re going to hold back more examples of gov- ment ends. There are, how- from supporting GOP can- ernment largesse at times ever, other factors that give didates, or support more of huge deficits. us good reason to hope for mainstream GOP candi- At First National Bank of Northern California, we’re Whatever explanation a different experience. dates; some might even committed to providing home mortgage solutions that are: you accept, the fact remains First, the agreement toss some money at a busi- that conservative hostility to reflects the divides be- ness-friendly Democratic President Barack Obama’s tween the U.S. House of candidate, and there We get to know your needs and goals to PERSONALIZED presidency and particularly Representatives and the are plenty of those. best fulﬁll them. to his healthcare initiative, Senate, and between dif- That, in the final calcula- the Affordable Care Act or ferent factions of the con- tion, is why we might well Our mortgage experts will guide you ObamaCare, have remained gressional Republicans see Congress act differ- PROFESSIONAL pretty much the only rally- themselves. The latter ently in the new year when through the entire process. ing point unifying a party divide was the reason the debt ceiling needs to We understand your time is valuable and made up of religious con- the disagreements got be bumped upward and PROMPT servatives, libertarians, so nasty; the GOP is still the government needs to work with urgency and eﬃciency. suburban moderates, and undergoing a protracted be funded again. Part of Wall Street business types. and painful reaction to its the agreement that ended The struggle that led to the failure in the 2012 elec- this standoff involved shutdown and threatened tion and adjustment to the wrangling over which Discover how we can help you get the right mortgage for default were based on an growth of the power of the Republicans would serve your home. Visit our Marina Branch and talk to Reina Ceja, attempt to delay and ulti- Tea Party faction, which on a budget conference mately end ObamaCare; a is not allied with tradi- committee to try to come Branch manager. Or call 415-287-8800. quixotic quest in any case, tional Republican allies in up with a solution by considering the results of the business community. mid-December to avert last November’s elections The former divide was the any recurrence of this Your neighborhood bank and the emphatic mes- reason we got out of it; fight. As Bay Area News 2197 Chestnut Street sage from voters in surveys Senate Republicans, with Group political reporter San Francisco, CA 94123 who said they did not want a few exceptions such as Josh Richman pointed Congress to shut down the the aforementioned Cruz, out at a recent Week to government for this rea- tend to be more moder- Week political round- son, but one that appeared ate because they represent table in San Francisco, fnbnorcal.com more fanatical than princi- entire states of diverse some Republicans held up pled when Tea Party-allied districts, rather than one the conference commit- House Republicans (egged all-red gerrymandered dis- tee appointments in this on by Texas Senator Ted trict, and they were able to agreement as their fig leaf Cruz) demanded a one-year reach a compromise agree- to show they got some- delay in return for keeping ment with the White House thing out of this whole the government open; the and Democratic leaders, debacle; but Democrats separate but fast-approach- who got almost everything had been trying to get ing date at which the gov- they had demanded. the GOP to appoint those ernment would begin to Second, when it became conference members for default if the debt ceiling clear that the hardcore con- months, so even that was a were not raised added extra servatives in the Congress Democratic score. tension to the standoff. Tea were willing to risk default, Wall Street is all about party members and their and some even said there winning, and the Republican party’s leadership both was no danger in doing Party in Congress isn’t. expected President Obama so, the Republican Party’s and the Democrats to give traditional paymasters got E-mail: [email protected] www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 3 News

News Briefs Pub Crawls, Crissy Field, Presidio Parkway Update, Soft Story Seismic Retrofit PUB CRAWLS ROIL UNION STREET and concerns about the pub crawls at All three plans involve the creation of ed by the San Francisco Apartment The growing frequency of pub crawls [email protected]. a new building replacing current retailer Association and the Earthquake Safety has left Union Street merchants and Sports Basement, which was originally Implementation Program as a work- other locals complaining about the CRISSY FIELD SHOW AND TELL a military commissary. The views of the shop to learn about public and private effects of these formerly rare occur- More construction in and around bay and Golden Gate Bridge are central financing options. rences. What might once have been the Presidio is planned when Crissy to themes of all plans. As reported this summer in the a group of friends working their way Field, the popular beach with the The winning plan will be decided by Marina Times (see “It’s here: Mandatory down the street to celebrate a birth- breathtaking view near the Golden the Presidio Trust’s Board of Directors. seismic retrofit for ‘soft story’ build- day or a major holiday has become a Gate Bridge, is remodeled. Leaders of ings,” June 2013), San Francisco has professional effort with an expanding the projects created by George Lucas, PRESIDIO PARKWAY UPDATE enacted a law called the Mandatory number of companies organizing and the National Park Conservancy and If your daily or occasional travel path Seismic Retrofit Program for Soft Story promoting pub crawls. That has led to Project X (exchange) answered your takes you through the Presidio, you Wood Frame Buildings. As the name complaints along Union about over- questions about the new project at a have probably been keeping track of the suggests, it deals with strengthening crowding, drunken behavior, vandal- meeting Oct. 24 at the Herbst Building major construction and disruption there these multifamily buildings so they ism, increased trash, repelling people (385 Moraga at Montgomery, in the due to the Presidio Parkway develop- better withstand earthquakes. It cov- who might want to be on Union to Presidio). Stay tuned for details com- ment. The parkway organization reports ers buildings built before 1978 that shop, and a need for more police offi- ing in the December issue of the that crews working on the Main Post have living space for five or more cers, says Catherine Stefani, legislative Marina Times. tunnels have been excavating soil, pre- units and at least two floors above aide to Supervisor Mark Farrell. The much talked-about Lucas plan paring the foundation of the tunnel, and a weak or “soft” story, usually used “It’s not just St. Patrick’s Day any- will include a museum consisting of installing steel rebar. for parking or commercial space. An more,” Stefani told the Marina Times. his fine art and animation collection, In the meantime, you probably will estimated 55,000 San Francisco resi- “It’s the NCAA finals, Halloween and and will bring strong affiliations with notice some nighttime work taking dents are in such buildings, as are other holidays.” Her office has been additional worldwide arts and educa- place there, including the presence of about 7,000 businesses. working with the city attorney’s office tion institutions. trucks delivering and removing mate- Building owners learned about a to research various solutions, such as The Presidio Exchange, or PX, offers rials. The organization reports that it variety of private financing options. Baltimore and Rhode Island’s con- a multiuse facility interconnecting is dedicated to reusing soil on site And the city will have its own public sideration of a ban on pub crawls, or indoor and outdoor spaces includ- for “efficiency and sustainability goals,” financing option through its Green other places that have set up a permit- ing exhibits, workshops, concerts, and and it uses water to suppress dust and Finance Program. Details will be avail- ting system much like parades, where more. The PX will serve as a program soil stabilizers to keep soil erosion able in coming months. the organizers need to hire private hub and gathering place for the public. at a minimum. Owners of such properties who are security and reimburse the city for The Bridge/Sustainability Institute looking for guidance on what they extra costs. will bring together poets, scientists, SOFT STORY FINANCE OPTIONS need to do, how they can finance it, The supervisor has been reaching and CEOs to explore critical social, Multifamily building owners gath- and how they go about getting the work out to merchants, residents, bar own- economic and environmental issues. ered at Fort Mason on Oct. 23 to learn done, can contact the Department of ers, and the pub crawl companies to get A Sustainability Marketplace and cafe more about their financing options Building Inspection at 415-558-6699 their concerns and try to find solutions will offer sustainably sourced food, and to allow them to comply with new or [email protected] or visit the that will work for the most people. You rotating exhibits will display today’s city rules for certain buildings with San Francisco Apartment Association can contact Stefani with your thoughts environmental challenges. “soft stories.” The event was co-host- at www.sfaa.org.

the “SF Made” nonprofit has pollution and preparing for the hood also plans to have an started a successful movement climate impacts already baked automated waste recovery sys- to create locally made products. into the Earth’s operating system that conjures images of the “People from China come over tem. Climate change is an exis- Jetsons. Trash will be collected and they ask me, ‘What is made in tential threat, and delinking car- via tubes and sent to a central San Francisco?’ because they will bon pollution from the economy processing center. buy it,” Lee said. “It’s good quality.” is an imperative, Katz said. “We If the project gets built and need to get beyond labels that comes in on budget, that would BUILDING THE mostly come out of Washington, be an example of a resilient com- NEWER ECONOMY D.C., … about what the clean munity poised for the uncertain With so many business- economy is.” times coming our way. es focusing on labor costs, Lennar’s Bonner pointed out that “America is the most resil- America’s manufacturing indus- the Hunters Point developments ient society and the most innova- try makes up only 11 percent of are LEED certified and are tak- tive economy,” says Katz. “This time the economy, Katz said. In coming measures around it will Bruce Katz, left, and Mayor Ed Lee discuss how San Francisco can parison, 70 percent of Germany’s to prepare for come from the take the lead in economic policymaking photo: rikki ward economy is production. It’s not sea level rise Hunters Point is communities.” just about wages, it’s about qual- and uncertain- Climate One al shift underway in how we think ity and reliability of your energy ties that scien- prepared for sea Greg Dalton continued from page 1 about who runs America. It is the supply, he said. tists say we can is the host of cities and regions that are really “Technology is going to play expect in com- level rise and other Climate One, a actually in-state, not shipped driving exports and innovation. a big role in advanced manu- ing decades. project of The off to China. And that’s a good thing. There has facturing, and I think it’s going Buildings are climate changes. Commonwealth One national problem is that been much talk in recent years to happen right here in San being raised, Club of Cali- America has focused too heav- about the necessity of manufac- Francisco,” Lee said. for example, more than three fornia. Podcasts of all Climate One ily on consumption. Katz argues turing to a robust economy that In addition to driving econ- feet above base flood elevation programs, including the “Metro that a “misguided growth model” cannot thrive on services alone. omies and exports, Katz con- and are being set back from Revolution” show featuring the caused the Great Recession, and As for San Francisco’s own tended that cities are also on the the water’s edge to facilitate speakers quoted in this article, are he contends there is a big structur- manufacturing, Mayor Lee said cutting edge of reducing carbon flood control. The neighbor- available free in the iTunes Store.

ment alone and the Club’s Pelosi — and also the of what happens when the off with liberal bulls--t? panelists didn’t take into legislature in Sacramento, government starts mon- (“America’s Cup half full?” The In-Box: account the main factor: and they’re returning keying in socio-econom- October 2013, page 1.) The huge amount of gov- the favor by steering bil- ic affairs, and the result Romney did not trav- Letters to the Times ernment money involved lions to the city and the has been the creation of a el to London to tell our in the Bay Area economy. Bay Area. third bubble, and anoth- closest allies that they Bubble III future economic affairs, The Federal Reserve is The result of this huge er boom/bust cycle is on were going to screw up The Commonwealth and they cited the tech pumping $85 billion per bump in government money the horizon. the Olympics or any- Club’s opinions as report- industry as the main driver month into the national has been hyper-inflated Galen L. Dutch thing else, for that mat- ed in the article “Mid- of the phenomenal growth. economy, and California is rents and home prices, and San Francisco ter. Can’t you leftists ever Year Economic Forecast” However, you can’t tell getting a huge slice of the even more of the noxious tell the truth? Or do you (Business & Finance, me that San Francisco pie. However, the money environmental problems just have to lie like that September 2013, page 13) miraculously bounced interests are contribut- associated with explosive From the Right a-hole Obama? presented a rosy outlook back from the Great ing big bucks to our con- population growth. Why must you ruin John P. Hurabiell, Sr. on the city’s current and Recession by private invest- gressional rep — Nancy This is a prime example your article by starting it San Francisco

4 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 5 Up Front

The Back Story Historic places

photo: ynotjetlag / panoramio.com Let’s toast the return of Tosca Cafe by ernest beyl A NORTH BEACH SANCTUARY And so Tosca has survived to this day. hen Sean Penn intercedes It made it through the Volstead Act, the to save a North Beach land- Depression, World War II, the Beats, the mark, I sit up and take notice. Hippies, the Willie Brown era, and on it goes WOne assumes Penn has more pressing things — and it still serves the house cappuccino. to do — like going to bat for UNESCO’s Jeannette Etheredge has a fascinating Haitian Relief organization, or acting in family history that reads like a John Le award-winning movies, which he does with Carre novel. Her mother, Armen Baliantz, regularity. But we’re happy to note that was born in Manchuria. Her Armenian saving Tosca, Jeannette Etheredge’s classy parents fled to Russia and later to China to North Beach saloon on Columbus Avenue, escape the Armenian Genocide of 1915– was a high priority with him. 17, the Ottoman government’s extermina- Tosca was about to go under and Jeannette tion of its Armenian minority. Etheredge, who ran it for more than 30 years, Her mother married import-export was distraught. There were those who spoke businessman Aram Baliantz in Tsingtao, darkly of Tosca becoming a strip club. That China, where Jeannette and her brother fizzed for a bit, then fizzled. Several months where born. During World War II, the ago Penn, a Tosca regular, got in touch with family wound up in a Japanese prison camp some buddies in New York, Ken Friedman where they spent four years. Later they and his chef-partner April Bloomfield, spent two years in a refugee camp in the who operate the Michelin- starred Spotted Pig, a Manhattan hotspot. And faster than you can say shazam, it was a done deal. Less than two months after Not only did Tosca continue as a beloved North Beach saloon, but opening the bar, the owners also when it reopened last month there was a dividend: a new and received a monumental jolt — improved Tosca that also served food. Under Etheredge, Tosca Prohibition went into effect. — its full name is Tosca Cafe — only served booze, ambience and atti- Philippines. A woman of great conviction tude. Under Friedman and Bloomfield the and courage, Armen Baliantz then under- booze, ambience, and attitude continues, took the long journey to San Francisco and but the pair has added Italian cuisine, what the happy sanctuary of North Beach. they describe as “rustic Italian fare.” No reservations. Service until 1 a.m. How’s THE CONSTANT WHIFF OF CELEBRITY that for a success story? The concept of sanctuary is apt when reflecting on the history of this North Beach A CAPPUCCINO OF CONVENIENCE watering hole. The near-legendary Back All of this news makes me wish Sean Room at Tosca has been a sanctuary for Penn lived in North Beach. We need him. Etheredge’s special “friends” and harder to His head is screwed on straight. Imagine gain access to than the Vanity Fair Academy him saving Tosca. I wonder if he could Awards bash. Sean Penn, of course, had an have saved the Pagoda Palace Theater. But all-access pass. So did Francis Ford Coppola, enough celebrity adulation. What’s the rest Philip Kaufman, Sam Shepard, Johnny Depp, of the Tosca back story? Ed Harris, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Tosca dates to November 1919, when Mailer, Bono, Nick Nolte, and Nicholas Cage three Italians came to San Francisco after — just to skim some celebrity cream off the World War I and decided to open a bar top. Nick Nolte played pool there wearing in North Beach. They named it Tosca only hospital greens and granny glasses. after the daughter of one of the founders. Philip Kaufman huddled in a corner working They opened the bar, and less than two on scripts. Bono was so taken with the North months later they received a monumen- Beach landmark that he opened a bar in tal jolt — Prohibition went into effect. Dublin called Tosca. What to do? What actually was in the famed Tosca One partner took off to Healdsburg to Back Room? A pool table and the constant 12 - 100 operate a brandy still. The others import- whiff of celebrity. Under the new owned two espresso machines to steam the ership, we are told that the Back Room milk to add to the brandy. Soon, they has become a storage area and perhaps a were off and running with a house cap- banquet room. But don’t believe it. It will VALET PARKING puccino — chocolate, steamed milk, and continue to be a private haven for North brandy. It was a cappuccino of conve- Beach slumming celebrities. If I’m wrong, nience. The hell with Prohibition. TOSCA, continued on 7

6 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Tosca continued from page 6

I’ll stand a round at the bar at Capp’s Corner. If I’m right, you owe me one.

A HIGH AUTHORITY And that brings up a curious right-coast, left-coast difference. In New York, restaurants and saloons go to great lengths to display their celebrities. At joints like the much-missed Elaine’s on the Upper East Side, Woody Allen and other seemingly shy folks were seated prominently in the front of the house so the rest of us could ogle them. And when I was a lad hanging out in that quintessential New York saloon Toots Shor’s, one could see Ernest Hemingway at the great oval bar near the entrance. Or perhaps Jack Dempsey. Jackie Gleason was on hand to guzzle martinis by the half gal- lon and to display his wobbly Jackie Gleason shuffle. But here in San Francisco we pretend to hide our A-list celebs like cloistered Trappist monks who murmur only to themselves and to a higher authority. In the case of Tosca, the higher authority was (and I assume still will be) Jeannette Etheredge.

A LOVER OF BALLET But how did Jeannette Etheridge acquire so much juice with our culture icons — pop and other- wise? She can thank her mother for that. Shortly after Armen Baliantz arrived in San Francisco, she opened her own restaurant at Sansome and Jackson using an emerald ring for bank loan collat- eral. Later the restaurant moved to Pacific and Battery. She called it Bali’s and soon it was the in spot for a diverse group of dancers, writers, and filmmakers, and of course their hangers-on and wannabes. Baliantz, a beautiful and scintillating woman, was a ballet enthusiast and she loved to cosset the stars. She befriended Rudolf Nureyev when he defected from the Soviet Union in 1961. And she became a close friend and con- fidant of Mikhail Baryshnikov. Everyone who was anyone — as they once gushed in the society columns — turned up at “Madam Bali’s.” She was beloved. She held Proposition A Puts the Retiree court with caviar, champagne, and Russian vodka. Her rack of lamb, marinated in pomegranate Health Care Trust Fund in a Lockbox juice made The Godfather genius Coppola — an Armen Baliantz So it cannot be raided to pay for anything other than retiree health care acolyte — almost weep with joy. Daughter Jeannette grew up in this regal milieu. She got to know the cast of characters in her moth- “Proposition A honors the commitment the City er’s life. Then in 1980 Armen con- made to provide health care for our retired vinced Jeannette to buy Tosca. She said it was the first bar she entered workers and protects our City’s financial future. when she came to the United th States, and she grew to love it. On November 5 , please join me in Voting YES on Prop A!” For several years, Armen and her Bali’s restaurant shared the North Beach spotlight with Jeannette’s — District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell Tosca saloon. Bali’s closed in 1985. Armen Baliantz died in 2007. Soon Tosca with its coveted Back Room became hallowed ground. www.yesonaforsfretirees.com And it looks as though it will continue to be just that. Thank you Sean Penn. Now, how would you like to Paid for by San Franciscans united to protect retirees and taxpayers, a coalition of labor, business and retirees open a theater in North Beach? with major support from the San Francisco Police Officers Association Issues PAC. PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT

E-mail: [email protected] www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 7 Community

Police Blotter From San Francisco’s Northern Station

Running a computer check on the vehicle, check revealed an outstanding warrant the officers found that it had been stolen. from San Bernadino County. The subject Crime on the beat Despite attempting to conceal their iden- was booked at county jail and the incident tities, the subjects were identified by the was reported to the Secret Service. The crimes below are a small snapshot booking and placement in a sobering police officers. Both of the subjects had of what the officers of Northern Station cell. Yelling. Profanities. Kicking out multiple warrants for their arrests; they are doing. For a more comprehensive the glass in the cell. were booked at Northern Station. TIME DELAY list, visit www.sf-police.org; under The officers documented his behavior The Mercedes was towed; officers were Friday, Sept. 13, 9:20 p.m. Compstat, there is a link to CrimeMAPS. and sent him to county jail. Meanwhile, the unable to reach the vehicle’s owner. Eddy at Laguna streets Northern Station sobering cell was out of commission for the night; the subject was Northern Station’s Special Investigation THE NON-GETAWAY CAR also charged with felony vandalism. ARMED AND RANCOROUS Team investigators led officers to the per- Wednesday, Sept. 4, 11:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, 12:53 a.m. petrator of a restaurant burglary several Grove at Polk streets 1100 block of Polk Street days earlier. After pulling and reviewing the JUST CHECKING IN video evidence, they were able to recognize Uniformed patrol officers watched a Friday, Sept. 6, 2:15 a.m. A bartender asked a patron who had the subject and put out a warrant for his vehicle parked facing the wrong direction Unit block of Culebra Terrace fallen asleep at the bar to leave the establish- arrest. Plain clothes officers spotted the sub- on Grove Street. A male got into the car and ment. The subject refused and an argument ject and quickly had him in custody. He was quickly made a u-turn; officers stopped the Officers met with a victim who told ensued that resulted in the subject shoving booked at Northern Station. vehicle before it could flee, and a computer them he had been asleep in his room when the bartender hard. The subject pulled out a check showed that it had been stolen. The he saw a subject’s hands attempting to raise pocket knife and said, “I’m going to kill you.” occupants of the car were arrested. his bedroom window. The male subject The altercation was interrupted by the arriv- NORTHERN DISTRICT Officers discovered a “shaved” key managed to get 90 percent inside when the al of an officer from Northern Station. The CRIME STATS in the ignition and suspected meth in victim said he was calling the police. subject told officers that he had “two guns” on the car. The subjects were booked at The subject fled, but not before the him, but a search of him revealed no firearms. Changes year-to-date Northern Station. victim was able to get a good look at him; He was booked at Northern Station. the victim gave that description and the Violent Crimes direction of travel to the officers, who +200% Homicide* TEMPERED TIPPLER were able to track down and detain the “I KNEW THIS WAS -42% Rape Friday, Sept. 6, 12:15 a.m. subject. The victim was sure that the police GOING TO HAPPEN” +8% Robbery 1100 block of McAllister Street had detained the correct person, who was Friday, Sept. 13, 4 p.m. +8% Aggravated Assault booked at Northern Station. Union at Laguna streets +7% Overall Responding to reports of a possible shot being fired, officers were unable Officers responded to a complaint about Property Crimes to discover any evidence. However, they MOBILE HOME someone using counterfeit money to pur- -9% Burglary did encounter an intoxicated male, who Monday, Sept. 9, 2:33 p.m. chase clothing. A store employee pointed +3% Auto Theft called them names and challenged them Ash at Gough streets out the female subject to the officers and +77% Theft from Vehicles to a fight. The officers tried to detain the said, “She just used fake money in my store +29% Other Theft male for a temporary four-hour sober-up Officers responding to a homeless com- — look.” The officer examined the bill and +35% Overall detention, but he resisted and continued plaint found two male subjects sleeping agreed that it was fake. attempting to fight. He was handcuffed inside a Mercedes with no front plate. When the officers detained the subject, * The outsized increase in homicides and driven to Northern Station. The subjects told the officers they were she said, “I knew this was going to happen.” represents three homicides year-to- The subject continued to resist offi- just sleeping in the car; they didn’t know Officers discovered she had used numer- date versus one homicide last year. cers and act belligerent during his who owned it. ous fake bills in the area, and a computer

From the Captain of Northern Station Crime control Don’t be a victim of i-theft by capt. greg mceachern my phone set up” and your phone my iPhone in this robbery was OFFICERS ON THE BEAT ridor recently when longtime brand into a search engine and you instrumental in not only recover- Staffing levels at Northern Polk Street foot beat officer ave any of you been will be you on your way to setting ing the stolen phones but in taking Station have remained relatively Philip Papale was transferred a victim of a theft of an up your phone and hopefully hav- a dangerous thief off of our streets. consistent over the past year, even to the Traffic Unit (motorcycle electronic device on the ing it quickly found should you In order to assist us in any future with fluctuations up and down officers) after having waited Hstreet? If not, do you know any- lose it or become a victim of theft. robberies, I ask that you consid- based on retirements and hiring. a long time for the assign- one that has been a victim? The You might be asking, “Can the er using this tracking tool as it We are past the large wave of ment. While I was happy for chances are that each of you has police actually locate my phone is often instrumental in helping retirements that our department Officer Papale to finally get either been a victim or know and get it returned to me?” The police to recover your phone. endured over the past few years, his chosen assignment, I was someone who has. Electronic answer is absolutely. where we lost more than three disappointed that he would devices continue to be the #1 Here is an example of a recent SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL CAMPAIGN hundred officers. Thankfully we be leaving his long-time beat, choice of thieves on our streets, incident: Two people were walk- In my last article, I wrote about are now offsetting those losses where he knows so many and the thefts of these devices ing in the lower Haight Street area the return to school for our stu- with hires, and we’ve seen four of you and had done such a account for more than 80 percent when they were robbed of their dents and the need for motorists recruit classes come through magnificent job. of all robberies in the city. iPhones. The victims called our to be aware of students walking to training at Northern Station in But, with all dark clouds, The numbers are staggering and, dispatch to report the theft and and from school (“Preparing for the past year. there is a silver lining. Officer unfortunately, the recovery rate of the dispatcher asked the victims if fall, for kids and adults,” September Currently our sworn numbers Papale recently finished his these electronic devices is not very they had Find my iPhone turned 2013, Marina Times). I also wrote are at 102 officers at Northern, motorcycle training and he was high. Fortunately, we do recover on. The victims said yes. Dispatch that uniformed officers would be and I’m hopeful that the number reassigned back to Northern some of the devices and invari- immediately notified respond- visible in and around schools to will steadily grow for the next year Station as our newest traffic ably we recover them because of ing officers and one officer called see that the streets were safe for as we continue Academy classes. officer. I’m pleased to have technological advances that each the victim back even prior to our students, parents, and residents. I’m hopeful that within the next Officer Papale back where he of you control. I’m talking about a arrival to obtain the victims’ log-in I was pleased to see that we had couple of years Northern station is so familiar and in a capacity technological advance such as the information so we could imme- no incidents involving students staffing will be back near 120 offi- where he can continue to serve Find my iPhone feature. Many of diately begin to track the phone. and motorists, and I was equal- cers, which will allow for increased the public’s needs. You may you know what Find my iPhone is, Within a minute, our officers had ly pleased to see that we issued patrol officers, increased traffic see Officer Papale riding his but for those who don’t, Find my set up the iPhone tracking, which very few citations for violations by officers, increased undercover motorcycle on the Polk Street iPhone allows your phone to be indicated the phone was just a motorists around the schools in officers, and of most impor- corridor and other locations, GPS-tracked to wherever it is cur- few blocks from the robbery. Our our district. I firmly believe that tance, the reinstitution of many and when you do, say hello to rently located by simply turning officers descended into the area, education and awareness was the of our foot beats that were sus- Phil and welcome him back to on the notification in the iCloud tracked the phone’s exact location, key to our successes, and I’d like pended due to lower staffing lev- the Northern community. His setting. Though it might seem dif- located the suspect, and arrested to especially thank all of you who els. I will keep you updated on addition to Northern Station ficult to set up, it’s not. For those him within minutes of the robbery live in our district for heeding our our personnel at Northern as we fulfills a need for a traffic offi- interested in finding out how to — recovering both iPhones that students, being aware of the con- move on throughout this year cer on the night watch, and easily set up the Find my iPhone were taken. Though we are not cerns I raised, and for contributing and next year. he will complement the traffic feature for whatever phone you always able to recover every phone to the successful campaign to keep Speaking of foot beats, we officer we currently have work- currently have, simply type “find taken in a robbery, utilizing Find our students safe. lost one on the Polk Street cor- ing on our day watch.

8 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com From Our Supervisor’s Chambers The wired city Free Wi-Fi coming to San Francisco’s parks, plazas, and open spaces by supervisor mark farrell Free Wi-Fi service across many come by making Internet use have a tremendous impact, as Recreation and Parks Commission San Francisco parks and plazas more readily accessible. More opposed to trying to conquer and at our Board of Supervisors. ack in May, after more will have a number of positive accessibility means more oppor- bringing free Wi-Fi citywide. We I plan to introduce the resolution than two years of nego- benefits and implications: it will tunities for creativity, innovation, knew and still believe that when that will allow the City to accept the tiations, I announced further close the digital divide and quality of life improvements we get this project done right generous gift before the end of the Bthe establishment of a generous in communities where Internet — all are areas our City should and well, we can hopefully use it year. Barring no major setbacks, we gift from Google to provide free access is limited, it will increase actively encourage and support. as a model moving forward with expect to start installation at the 31 Wi-Fi to 31 parks, plazas, and government efficiency by provid- Despite previously failed the ultimate goal of bringing free sites by spring of 2014. open spaces across San Francisco. ing our city’s Recreation and Park attempts to bring free Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi across the City. San Francisco should be a lead- This project will further cement Department staff with more tools San Francisco, I still believed a Throughout my discussions er in bringing technological solu- San Francisco’s role as a national to more effectively manage their public-private partnership could with Google, it was a personal tions to civic issues that we face. leader in creating technologically recreation centers and priority that the project Free Wifi in our parks, plazas, driven solutions to improve the community programs, would be able to touch and open spaces is a first-step to quality of life for our city’s resi- and finally, it will enable every corner of our city giving our residents greater access dents and visitors. organizations that serve More accessibility means more while keeping in mind to technology and the Internet. Though San Francisco is our youth, seniors, and parks, plazas, and open I imagine a city that allows an becoming the central location populations with no opportunities for creativity, spaces that receive the individual to work from a park in of the technological revolu- Internet access the free most use. Ultimately, Chinatown, download a useful app tion that we are experiencing, opportunity to further innovation, and quality of life. due to the size of the gift while visiting our Civic Center, we as a city have been a slow enhance their programs’ that we received, we were and make it easier for Recreation adopter of the innovation and effectiveness and outcomes. achieve the goal that we as a able to fund 31 sites across San and Parks Staff to sign up children opportunities that are happen- Like many cities across the city have been seeking for so Francisco that will soon be receiv- and families for recreational pro- ing in our backyard. For exam- nation, San Francisco has a vest- long. Thanks in part to a fam- ing free Wi-Fi. For a full list of the grams at recreation centers across ple, our Recreation and Parks ed interest in working to close ily friendship that stemmed from locations, please visit http://sfbos. San Francisco. Please join me in Department still uses the outdat- or lessen the digital divide that high school, I worked over the org/index.aspx?page=15191. supporting free WiFi in our parks, ed mode of dial-up to connect to exists among our residents and past two years with the govern- In terms of public process, there plazas, and open spaces, so that we the Internet at many of our rec- in our various communities city- ment relations team from Google are steps that need to be completed can turn this vision into a reality reation centers across the City. wide. In working to close that to reopen discussions about free to bring this project into reality. for our city residents. Outdated technologies slow our divide, we will make an invest- Wi-Fi in San Francisco. In our The acceptance of the gift from city’s ability to provide efficient ment in San Francisco’s human discussions, we came to the con- Google has to go through the leg- Mark Farrell is the District 2 super- and timely services that our resi- capital and San Francisco will clusion that it was best to tackle islative process, which provides the visor and can be reached at 415- dents deserve and depend upon. reap the positive benefits that an area where free Wi-Fi would opportunity for public input at our 554-7752 or [email protected]

For All Occasions or Just Because We are master jewelers. We can transform your dreams into reality. Let us design your own unique piece - from concept to exquisite craftsmanship. GIA Certified conflict-free loose diamonds Inquire about our special financing options from GE Capital

1931 Union Street, San FranciSco, caliFornia 94123 tel: (415) 775-6622 web: www.lb-sf.com www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 9 Street Beat

Finds Busacca Gallery

HOLIDAY CELEBRATION Saturday, Dec 7th ~ 3pm-7pm FREE Entertainment Throughout Union Street! *Hay Rides *Pony Rides *Face Painting *Jugglers *Singers *Meet the Snow Queen *Balloon Animals *Cupcake Decorating *Costumed Characters SANTA Arrives At 5:30 pm ~ 2040 Union Street Bring a Toy & Benefit SF Firefighters Toy Program! FANTASY OF LIGHTS CELEBRATION THROUGH DECEMBER *Enjoy Shopping and Dining Under the Sparkling Holiday Lights! *Merchant Open House Fri & Sat Evenings & Validated Parking! The Busacca Gallery curates exceptional collectibles and art from around the world. Mark *Enjoy Union Street Restaurant Specials! Busacca draws on his quarter century in the business to present an array of high-end, one-of- a-kind art pieces. Visit them online at www.busaccagallery.com or stop in at their shop. They’re confident you’ll enjoy their fabulous finds as much as they enjoy sharing them with you. UnionStreetSF.com ~ SRESproductions.com ~ 800-310-6563 Presented by The Union Street Association Busacca Gallery: 2010 Hyde Street, 415-776-0104

Northsider There’s an app for that New ideas and people abound Crack. by john zipperer is now the best-selling boat WALKING FOR GOOD maintenance software on More than 1,500 people NEW GREENS TOP CHEF the market. Other popu- were expected to partici- Hip pain? Annie Somerville, execu- lar apps that appeal to the pate in the Oct. 27 Walk tive chef at trendy gour- Marina boating frater- to Cure Diabetes on the met vegetarian restaurant nity include What’s on my Great Meadow at Fort Greens in Fort Mason Boat? and Man Over Board, Mason. The JDRF Greater Center, announced the hir- (MOB), which has already Bay Area chapter is hop- ing of Jessica Mackay as the sold more than 2,000 copies. ing to raise more than restaurant’s new head chef. “Sadly, an MOB situa- $1.5 million for research Mackay succeeds John Paul tion is a fairly common to cure type 1 diabetes Don’t suffer another day. Ueber in the position, fol- occurrence,” said Adrian. and its complications. You lowing Ueber’s death. “Every day, somewhere could do worse things on Our fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons specialize in: in the world, an MOB is your Sunday. OVERHEARD either rescued or lost at • Anterior Approach Hip Replacement AT RISTROBAR sea. What really delights TURFING MARINA GREEN • Partial and Total Knee Replacement Customer reading menu: me is the feedback we get Following some America’s • Total Joint Replacement “I just had my cholesterol about people using the Cup damage to part of Big levels checked today, so its app to practice MOB pro- Marina Green, S.F. Rec

salad, salad, salad for me. cedures. It clearly makes and Park is resodding the The Orthopedic Leaders in San Francisco. Oh! — I’ll have the rabbit.” practicing fun — especially western two-thirds of the for youngsters.” land and reseeding the AMERICA’S CUP Our comprehensive orthopedic programs offer the most advanced Intelligent Maintenance eastern third. Little Marina WANNABES TAKE NOTE techniques and treatments for joint replacement, allowing for RAPiD is located at 3053 Fillmore Green will be re-sodded. ReCOveRy so that you can get back to the life you enjoy quickly and Adrian Stanway has found Street, Suite 240, support@ Big Marina Green closed the Northside to be the per- intelligentmaintenance.com. in mid-October, and Little pain free. fect place for his company. Marina Green will be closed The sailing Brit moved to VOM FASS IS HERE starting Nov. 11; both Call 866-466-1401 to schedule an appointment. San Francisco in 2008. He VOM FASS Oils, reopen in mid-January. was frustrated at not being Vinegars, Spices celebrat- Saint Francis Memorial Hospital St. Mary’s Medical Center able to find software to help ed its October opening OVERHEARD Bush at Hyde Stanyan at Fulton keep his boat maintained, so in style: Venticello’s chef ON THE STREET Downtown Across from Golden Gate Park he developed his own. unveiled recipes using Man talking into cell His Cow Hollow-based VOM FASS products, and phone: “So it looks like we company, Intelligent Main- Olympic figure skater Brian can rent those studios out www.saintfrancismemorial.org tenance LLC, now has 17 Boitano welcomed custom- for only $2,000 each …” www.stmarysmedicalcenter.org apps out and more on the ers to the new Ghirardelli way. He reports that his first Square (900 North Point Got any tips for Northsider? app, A ShipShape Sailboat, Street, Suite E. 205) store. E-mail: [email protected]

10 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Sketches from a North Beach Journal Ferlinghetti Plaza, signs of the times and highly important trivia

by ernest beyl Greg Hearn went over to Saints Peter and Paul and talked to a priest there about saying s this a sign of the times, or is it a mass for her good health and long life — a just the season of the glitch? fine idea. Greg wanted to get one of those I received an e-mail from the law ornate Mass cards sent by mail to the famed Ioffices of that mover and sometimes-persis- songstress but didn’t know her address. So tent shaker, Angela Alioto. It read, “October he asked my favorite cop, Jimmy Dignam, 3 press conference cancelled.” It went on to from Central Station, to find her address. state, “There is a new plan for unveiling the She lives out in the Richmond. Cops can do Piazza — more to come.” anything, you know. But Jimmy the Cop had Readers will recall that this message from a better idea: He decided to deliver the holy Angela’s office refers to a press conference good wishes in person. presumably to announce the go-ahead for the Lawrence Ferlinghetti concept to turn that SIGNS OF THE TIMES short block of Vallejo Street between Grant After that heavy-duty neighborhood and Columbus into an Italianate pedestrian news, it’s probably time for some trivia: a walkway and park, complete with benches, few signs that have caught my eye. trees and creature comforts; in short, an Focaccia heaven in North Beach is locat- urban oasis with the Church of St. Francis ed precisely at the corner of Stockton and of Assisi’s Porziuncola at one end and Caffe Filbert. It’s the Liguria Bakery that has made Trieste at the other. Ferlinghetti proposed this the tasty flatbread at the same location since idea several years ago — it’s his baby — and 1915. In chipped gold lettering on Liguria’s he has worked tirelessly to raise approxi- large window facing the sidewalk is a sign mately $2 million to get it built. Necessary reading: LIGURIA BAKERY — Soracco & city approvals have been gained, and there Co. Tel: GARFIELD 13786 has been considerable fund raising. Prominently displayed on the Wall at Angela got into the act a few years ago, Capp’s Corner at Powell and Green is a and has stated repeatedly she would come large white sign. It reads: EMERGENCY up with the necessary funds for what she INSTRUCTIONS: Grab your coat, don’t — and even a benevolent Ferlinghetti — are forget your hat. Leave your worries on the both referring to as the Piazza St. Francis. doorstep. Just direct your feet to the sunny side of the street! NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS On an exterior wall of the NorthStar, a I’m sure Lawrence has just as good a pipe- saloon at Powell and Green, is this irrever- line to St. Francis as Angela does. And I’m ent but sidesplitting sign: Voted Best Happy wondering if bringing his vision to fruition Hour by the Betty Ford Clinic. On anoth- is going to take divine intervention. er exterior wall at the NorthStar is this: Angela’s press conference — presumably Drinking Consultants since 1885. to show us the money and get things going We also like this all-encompassing sign — was first scheduled for Aug. 3. Then it at Gigi’s Sotto Mare on Green: Welcome to slipped to Sept. 3 and then to Oct. 3. And the Chaos. now the date has slipped again with the Then there’s this sign at Tupelo’s on message, “More to come.” So we are not yet Upper Grant: “Come let’s make poor deci- ready to canonize Angela. sions together.” Now the old adage “no news is good O’Reilly’s Irish Pub has a sign reading: It’s news” needs modification — “no news is Tacos on Tuesday. Irish tacos? bad news” — that is, bad news for poet In a second-story window at iconic Ferlinghetti’s plan. Once more, we ask: City Lights Booksellers and Publishers on Can we please get this thing completed in Columbus is the edict: Turn Left. Lawrence’s lifetime? I called your attention in an earlier col- As an afterthought, my preference would umn to this sign by Banksy, the genius graf- be to call this project Lawrence Ferlinghetti fiti artist. But we consider it again because Plaza. I’m sure St. Francis would understand. it’s been some time ago. Look at the building wall at the southeast corner of Broadway A HELLUVA TOOTHACHE and Columbus: If at first you don’t succeed, Does it occur to anyone else that if back call an air strike. in 2004 the big bore Telegraph Hill Dwellers Over the entrance at Vesuvio’s on hadn’t stopped the Pagoda Palace Theater Columbus: We are itching to get away from from becoming (logically) a theater or Portland, Oregon. (second plan) condos with underground More from Vesuvio’s: When the shadow parking and a Mexican restaurant, North of the grasshopper falls across the trail Beach would not be facing the painful den- of the field mouse, on green and slimy Since 1928 tal extraction on Powell Street of the really grass as a red sun sets above the western Big Bore now tunneling its way toward our horizon silhouetting a gaunt and tautly neighborhood? That’s a helluva toothache. muscled Indian warrior perched with bow and arrow cocked and pointed straight at BERNARDO QUINTANA MOVIE you, it’s time for another martini. My North Beach buddy Bernardo In the window at Ali Baba Smoke Shop Quintana plans a sequel to Bum Rap: A Noir next to the Psychic Shop on Columbus: Fantasy, the short film in which he stars. Used Skulls With the ultimate in typecasting, Bernie At The Underground (Licensed Grateful plans to have this humble columnist play Dead and Rock ’n’ Roll Merchandise): Take journalist Walter Winchell. “Good evening Me Drunk, I’m Home. Mr. and Mrs. North America, from coast to Let’s close this column with an apt coast and border to border, and all the ships Ferlinghettism. On the sidewalk along 659 Merchant Street (off Kearny) at sea. Let’s go to press.” Kerouac Alley adjacent to City Lights: Poetry is the shadow cast by our street- www.alfredssteakhouse.com • 415.781.7058 GOOD WISHES FOR LINDA light imaginations. Complimentary 3-Hour Self-Parking at the Hilton Hotel's Public Parking Garage With Dinner Purchase When news got out that Linda Ronstadt (entrace on Washington past Montgomery) has Parkinson’s disease, North Beach flaneur E-mail: [email protected]

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 11 Business & Finance

Money & Health A policy check-up VETERAN’S DAY It’s time to review your PARADE Medicare coverage

Honor and Remember by david sayen Open-Enrollment-Center.html. A variety of resources are available to edicare’s annual open en- help people with Medicare, their families, rollment period has begun, and and caregivers compare current coverage I want to encourage everyone with new plan offerings for 2014. You can: Mwith Medicare to review their current • Visit www.medicare.gov to see plan health and prescription drug coverage. coverage and costs available in your area, Open enrollment runs through Dec. 15, and enroll in a new plan if you decide to 2013. If you want to change your Medicare make a change. Open enrollment informa- Advantage or Medicare Part D (prescription tion is available in Spanish. drug) plan, this is the time of year to do it. • Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633- Any new coverage you select will kick in on 4227) for around-the-clock assistance to find January 1, 2014. out more about your coverage options. TTY If you have Original Medicare and users should call 1-877-486-2048. Counseling you’re satisfied with it, you don’t need to is available in a wide variety of languages. do anything during open enrollment. Also, • Review the 2014 Medicare & You hand- Medicare’s open enrollment has nothing book. This handbook has been mailed to to do with the Affordable Care Act’s new the homes of people with Medicare and Health Insurance Marketplace. If you have it’s also online at www.medicare.gov/pubs/ Medicare, you don’t need to worry about pdf/10050.pdf. Marketplace plans. • Get one-on-one counseling assistance My agency, the Centers for Medicare & from your local State Health Insurance Medicaid Services, or CMS, announced Assistance Program (SHIP). Local SHIP con- recently that the average Medicare tact information can be found at www.medi Advantage premium for 2014 is projected care.gov/contacts/organization-search-crite Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013 to be $32.60. CMS estimated that the aver- ria.aspx, on the back of the 2014 Medicare & age basic Part D drug premium in 2014 You handbook, or by calling Medicare (see would be $31 per month, holding steady the contact information above). Parade 11:00 AM for four years in a row. People with Medicare who have lim- Market Street Since the Affordable Care Act was passed, ited income and resources may qualify average Medicare Advantage premiums are for Extra Help paying for their Part D Second to McAllister to City Hall down by 9.8 percent. The deductible for drug plans. There’s no cost or obligation standard Part D drug plans in 2014 will be to apply for Extra Help, also called the $310, a $15 decline. low-income subsidy. Medicare beneficia- Meanwhile, the quality of Medicare ries, family members, or caregivers can 415-861-4920 • [email protected] Advantage and Part D drug plans con- apply online at www.socialsecurity.gov/ tinues to improve, with more than one- prescriptionhelp/ or call Social Security third of Medicare Advantage plans receiv- at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY users should call ing four or more stars (out of a pos- 1-800-325-0778) to find out more. sible five stars) in 2014 — a 28 percent Please watch out for scammers dur- increase over last year. Medicare Advantage ing Medicare open enrollment season. and Part D drug plans with five stars are Don’t give personal information to any- allowed to enroll beneficiaries at any time one who shows up at your home unin- during the year. vited or makes an unsolicited phone call Medicare plans’ coverage options and to sell you Medicare-related products or costs can change each year, and Medicare services. If you believe you’re a victim beneficiaries should evaluate their current of fraud or identity theft, please contact coverage and choices and select the plan 1-800-MEDICARE. More information is that best meets their needs. If you think available at www.stopmedicarefraud.gov. your current coverage will meet your needs for 2014, you don’t need to change anything. David Sayen is Medicare’s regional administra- For more information on Medicare tor for Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, open enrollment and to compare benefits and the Pacific Territories. You can always get and prices of 2014 Medicare Advantage answers to your Medicare questions by calling and Part D drug plans, please visit 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). www.cms.gov/Center/Special-Topic/ S.F. residents upbeat — wary of cost

by marina times staff 90 percent of them either just over a quarter of respon- strongly or somewhat agreed dents think it’s important or early one-third that San Francisco is a good extremely important to curb of San Franciscans place to live; 50 percent development downtown. say the City’s cost strongly or somewhat agreed “As rents have gone up, Nof living is their biggest that the City is a good place as parking meters have problem today, and anoth- to raise families; and 47 per- become more costly, and er 60 percent included it cent somewhat or strongly as city fees have continued in their top three prob- agreed that it’s a good place to rise, it’s not a surprise lems. The results were part to run a small business. that residents are becom- of the first San Francisco They’re also optimis- ing more and more con- Survey, produced for the tic: 75 percent believe San cerned about their costs,” Committee on Jobs, a Francisco’s economic condi- said Ruth Bernstein of the local business association tions will remain as they are San Francisco Survey. focused on long-term eco- or get moderately better in The survey included a nomics in the City. the next half-year, and nearly cross section of registered “Though San Francisco half believe that it’s extreme- voters in the City and was residents don’t like the ly important for the City to prepared by EMC Research city’s costs, they still feel it’s focus on creating local jobs. and Fall Line Analytics. worth it to live here,” said Forty-one percent listed More info on the survey David Latterman of the San homelessness as one of the results can be found at www. Francisco Survey. Indeed, City’s top three problems, and thesanfranciscosurvey.com.

12 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 13 Food & Wine Across the Bay… Not-to-Miss Dishes Delectables Two for the price of one edition

by tony ching & to sauce is Bloomfield’s restaurants (and almost susan dyer reynolds take on the classic never prepared properly). all’amatriciana. The pasta 2. Spaghetti Lorenzo. We Fog City is always perfectly al dente, judge an Italian restaurant 1300 Battery Street (at but it doesn’t have the same by the most deceptively sim- Embarcadero), 415-982- sauce every night (we know ple dish — pasta in tomato 2000, www.fogcitysf.com because we’ve been there sauce. Spaghetti Lorenzo is 1. Braised pork cheeks. almost every night since the perfect version of this Bruce Hill’s revamped Fog Tosca reopened!). classic; thin, al dente spa- City is already one of our ghetti is just chewy enough favorite spots. The braised North Beach Restaurant and coated in a bright but pork cheeks rival Chris 1512 Stockton Street (at Col- not-too-acidic tomato sauce Cosentino’s at Incanto umbus), 415-392-1700, www. with just the right amount alito’s Crab House freshly made beignets, Tortuga and exceeded our expec- northbeachrestaurant.com of garlic. Better yet, each & Prime Rib—Long a Caribbean rum cake and salted tations in a big way. The 1. Abalone doré. Every serving has just 247 calories part of the local “scene”, caramel vanilla crunch cake. fall-apart tender cheeks are time we visit classy North and no cholesterol (verified served on a bed of ethereal, Beach Restaurant we’re by testing at UC Berkeley), SSalito’s in Sausalito is fresh, It’s the perfect getaway on a creamy polenta. which means bright and full of casual ambi- foggy city day. You can take a 2. French you can splurge crullers. French on one of our ence. Large, multi-leveled decks ferry and pretend you’re on vaca- crullers (fluted, other favorites: overlook the water and the tion in a faraway village. At least ring-shaped chicken livers beauty of the area is absolutely for one day! Sitting on beautiful doughnut made sautéed with from choux mushrooms and breathtaking. Richardson pastry) used to Barbera sauce. The versa- Bay, the blue make us think tility of the The large covered, sky and spar- of going to The Cavalier Bob’s Donuts, 360 Jessie Street food offerings heated patio and kling water are but after having (inside the Hotel allows you the perfect set- them at Fog City Zetta), 415- twinkling lights set we never want 321-6000; the- to have any- ting for an to eat them any- Abalone is a delicacy, and the abalone doré at cavaliersf.com thing from a the stage for dining afternoon or where else. The North Beach Restaurant is the best in town 1. Cavalier selection of evening of French crul- photo: susan dyer reynolds salad. This one under the stars with lers come out has us order- cheeses and the possibility of cocktails and fresh and hot ing salads all salumi with dining al fresco. from the cruller Every bite of The Cavalier’s over town hop- house made romance a foregone The large machine, light ing they’ll all and fluffy with roast chicken is juicy and taste like the kettle bread conclusion. covered, heat- a citrusy hint Cavalier salad, and a bot- ed patio and of orange blos- moist, even the breast, but no such som. These are luck. The fresh- tle of wine to a full-blown twinkling lights set the stage the best French thanks to bacon larding. est seasonal feast of Dungeness crab and for dining under the stars with crullers in the greens are coat- succulent prime rib. The the possibility of romance a City, so be sure to save room reminded of why co- ed in a truffled vinaigrette for dessert. founders Lorenzo Petroni and topped with aged goat menu is accessible. It’s sim- foregone conclusion. and Bruno Orsi are still cheese and fennel. Simple ple food, well-sourced, They serve breakfast on Tosca Cafe one of the best teams but satisfying. 242 Columbus Avenue (near in the business after 2. Sunday Roast Chicken. abundant and comforting the weekends beginning at Jack Kerouac Alley), 415-986- more than 40 years. The This roast chicken gives yet sumptuous. 10:00 am. Crab benedict, 9651, www.toscacafesf.com authentic Tuscan cuisine Zuni Café a run for its You can craft your dining hot buttered rum pancakes 1. Crispy pig’s tails. When is not to be missed, and money. Every bite is juicy you bite into the fried skin, we especially love the aba- and moist, even the breast, experience by beginning with and open face skillet omelets the fat comes oozing out, lone doré, which is coated thanks to bacon larding. oysters or sizzling iron-skillet are but a sampling of the like pork rinds and bone in a light egg batter, pan- The accompanying horse- roasted mussels, shrimp and weekend menu. marrow in a perfect mar- fried until golden brown, radish mashed potatoes riage but a lot easier to eat. and topped with a lemon are whipped almost to crab and move to special- This is one dish chef April sauce flecked with fresh Joel Robuchon perfec- ties such as a crab enchilada, 1200 Bridgeway, Sausalito Bloomfield should always parsley. People think tion (but with a lot less keep on the menu. nothing of spending $75 butter). When the server fresh fish or prime rib. Sweets 415.331.3226 2. Bucatini with guan- on a great steak these pours bacon-mustard jus have their own category with salitoscrabhouse.com ciale. House-made bucatini days, so next time skip over the bird, it’s just icing (spaghetti with a hole in the artery-clogging red on the cake. the middle) with guan- meat and head to NBR ciale (Italian salt-cured for abalone, a true deli- E-mail: susan@marinatimes. pork jowl) in a spicy toma- cacy found in very few com; [email protected]

Advertise in the

Reach over 30,000 readers in San Francisco’s northern neighborhoods. T o inquire about our advertising rates and for more information, ADVERTISEMENT. contact us at [email protected] or call our offices at (415) 815-8081

14 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Fisherman’s Wharf is calling your name

Clockwise from left: Akiko’s Restaurant owner Ray Lee pushes the boundaries of traditional sushi; The ikura at Akiko’s is cured with sage and truffles; You’ll find sustainable, often unique seafood like imperial shrimp at Akiko’s photos: susan dyer reynolds

Dishing to 15 percent (a four-to-five pounder can continued from page 1 cost $1,000). Akiko’s also features rich, oily deep-sea fish like akamutsu (red fish) and so I can put faith in their hands to pick kinki (thorny head). “Thorny head takes a out exactly what I want. They follow us special fisherman who goes out on a small on Facebook and see the final form, and boat, catches a fish, brings it to the dock, it motivates them to get the best. I don’t and it comes straight to me,” Lee says. he Franciscan Crab ed crab, crab Alfredo pasta, or haggle — I’ve worked in places where Besides fish, Akiko’s serves other unique chefs argue over price, and they may get items like Madagascar shrimp and impe- Restaurant- Don’t let the crab Enchilada—my favor- the lower price but the ingredients are rial shrimp, both served with surprisingly the name fool you— ite. No matter which way you inconsistent. I ask for the best and for con- ethereal fried heads. The tails of the impe- sistency, and I’m willing to pay for it — but rial glisten like a rainbow; the bluish flesh Tthis Fisherman’s Wharf main- order, it is guaranteed to be if it’s not exceptional, don’t send it.” of the Madagascar is tender and sweet. To showcase the fresh seafood, Lee cre- Ensui uni (sea urchin simply cleaned and stay serves food that goes fresh, flavorful and master- ated a daily-changing nama (raw) menu immersed in an exact replica of ocean well beyond steamed crab on fully prepared. detailing processes, preparations, and water) has a firm texture and is so fresh places of origin, such as Japanese prefec- it’s practically neon orange with a bright a platter. The menu includes The Franciscan’s other sea- ture or, in the case of American product, flavor to match — clean and sweet, as if country or city. Today’s selections include you cracked it yourself on the shore; it is far delightful artisanal salumi food options are also stel- shoulder and belly from a 450-pound superior to uni at lesser sushi bars. Ditto for and burrata, specialties that lar, from the garlic-steamed Boston pole and line-caught black tuna, the unadorned brininess of unprocessed and Akiko’s is the only place in San hotate (scallop) overnighted from Japan. include the best fish and chips clams, the fresh fish prepared Francisco where you’ll find it. A “super For carnivores, the 28-day aged Japanese you’ve ever tasted, a barbecue in four signature styles, to the freezer” that keeps a temperature below wagyu beef dusted with a snow of autumn minus 86 degrees Fahrenheit allows Lee truffle is a must. shredded short rib sandwich hearty seafood cioppino, per- to purchase large fish and keep them It isn’t just Lee’s expert sourcing that pristine (only Lee and famed Iron Chef makes Akiko’s special; preparation is equal- and flavorful pastas like sea- fect for a cold day by the bay. Masaharu Morimoto have super freezers). ly important. “We’re meticulous about detail food linguine. And if you can find room, try “If I find a fish like that, I buy the whole and technique,” Lee says. “We bend rules thing,” Lee says. “You’re not allowed to and manipulate traditions.” Lee, however, But oh, the crabs: what a a decadent dessert made with catch them with long lines or trawl nets, doesn’t bend and manipulate just for the and it’s regulated by the government.” sake of doing it, but rather to respect the delight they are. You can start their house made frozen cus- While other restaurants might serve ingredients and enhance the diners’ expe- with a Dungeness crab cocktail tard ice cream. long line-caught fish, Lee will not. Long rience. Soy sauce is aged in-house with lines have baited hooks extending 50 miles applewood and dashi; sonic vibrators agi- or an order of crab cakes, move Pier 43 ½, 415.362.7733, or more, attracting anything that swims by. tate the blend of regular, light and white According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, soy and create the equivalent of a two-year on to a crab Louie salad, and franciscancrabrestaurant.com. nearly 20 percent of shark species are age in just a few months. Ikura (salmon make your entrée a whole roast- Open daily at 11:30 am. threatened with extinction as a result, and roe) still in the skein (sac) is placed in hundreds of thousands of seabirds and salt water for softening and then bagged marine mammals such as whales, dolphins with truffles and sage. Lee cures the ruby and porpoises die as bycatch, along with red roe by draining the liquid and repeat- 200,000 loggerhead and 50,000 leather- ing over a 24-hour period, after which he back sea turtles. Biologists have found a painstakingly removes the eggs from the 78 percent drop in leatherback nests, and skein one by one. Most of the fish has been leatherbacks could be extinct in 20 years. pressure-cured in kombu (sheets of edible Conscientious sushi connoisseurs search- kelp) to bring out the essence of the fish. Lee ing for environmentally sensitive options prepares abalone using a six-hour sous vide are flocking to Akiko’s, where even the (vacuum sealed in a bag and cooked in a occasional farmed fish is sustainable. “Our low-temperature water bath) to keep it ten- salmon from New Zealand has no GMO der and lock in flavor nuances. Saba (mack- [genetically modified organisms], steroids erel) is pressure-marinated with a scant or antibiotics,” Lee says. “They’re farmed two ounces of vinegar for a subtler taste, in the wild in super-clean water in pens so and cured with sodium nitrate to preserve big that life forms around them.” its translucence (rather than in salt, which As for wild fish, Lee also shops with a is harsher and turns the fish white). All of conscience. “I support fishermen doing this takes time, and it’s not uncommon for the right thing.” Those robust relationships Lee to put in long hours. “I’ve sometimes also bring unusual, seasonal and hard-to- worked here for 16 hours, six days a week,” find seafood often exclusively to Akiko’s, Lee says, “but it’s not hard when you’re pas- such as kanburi (cold yellowtail), avail- sionate and love what you do.” able only during fall and winter months. Lee also has plans for the future: “I want Winter seafood, which has more fat to to do an intimate, 12- to 18-seat restau- protect it from the frigid waters, has an rant where I can just focus on Michelin- unctuousness that sets it apart from lighter level quality.” spring and summer catches. Lee’s purveyors also send sweet, creamy keiji sake Akiko‘s Restaurant, 431 Bush St. (near Claude “Hands down the best food you’ll find on Fisherman’s Wharf.” Sunset Magazine (“infant salmon”) which represent only Lane), 415-397-3218, akikosrestaurant.com one out of 10,000 catches and average 30 ADVERTISEMENT. to 40 percent fat as opposed to the usual 2 E-mail: [email protected] www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 15 Food & Wine Cow Hollow 10-year-old shows off cooking chops on ‘Masterchef Junior’

by julie mitchell foodies. I just love going to different restaurants and saying, ‘Oh, that looks good,’ any of us have kids who like and then I go home and try to recreate it, to experiment in the kitchen, but make it even better. It’s kind of like a but often, the results are choco- game for me; can I make a dish even more Mlate-chip cookies or brownies. There aren’t delicious than the restaurant?” too many 10-year-olds who spent the sum- In addition to cooking, Gavin is also mer perfecting their raspberry cheesecake. interested in acting and appeared in ACT’s But that’s what Cow Hollow resident and A Christmas Carol last winter. Right now, Cathedral School though, he’s busy for Boys sixth with cooking grader Gavin Pola and schoolwork. did. Gavin is one And even though of 24 kitchen- Masterchef Junior savvy kids from was taped last around the coun- April, Gavin says try between the he stays in touch ages of 8 and 13 with his fellow currently appear- contestants. “I ing on Masterchef made so many Junior, Fox TV’s friends doing the new show high- show,” he says. “We lighting the tal- were like a family.” ents of these bud- Gavin counts ding chefs. Similar some of his neigh- to the popular borhood eateries Masterchef show, among his favor- the junior chefs ites here in the are judged on city. “I love the their best seafood, Balboa Cafe,” he pasta, or des- Masterchef Junior Gavin Polo says. “Their burg- sert by star chef er is so good, and Gordon Ramsay, restaurateur and wine- I also love Isa and the sushi at Ace Wasabi.” maker Joe Bastianich, and chef Graham But his favorite haunt is North Beach. Elliot. At press time, the enthusiastic and “I’m a big fan of Italian food,” he says articulate Gavin was still in the race. emphatically. “Especially fresh pasta.” Gavin says his love of food and cooking And yes, Gavin makes his own fresh started with going out to eat with his fam- pasta at home. ily. “There are so many great restaurants in San Francisco,” he says, “and so many E-mail: [email protected]

San Food-cisco Supper clubs Epicurean delights

by evalyn baron together to collaborate and wove nouvelle fanta- experiment with great reci- sies around such familiar ven before moving pes, and local wine mak- comfort foods as fish and here almost three ers showcase products for chips (their take? semolina years ago, I’d heard select groups of people. fried sardines, lemon, fen- Ethat this town was famous And because not everyone nel; JoJo potato, Romesco, Recreated from an original Cliff House postcard c. early 1900s. for food. From the slow invited knows each other, it garlic mayo); “Hamburger food, pioneering work of becomes a social as much as Helper” beef stroganoff Alice Waters, to the small- a foodie event. (braised bison short rib, Holiday Parties at the Cliff House est hole-in-the-wall eatery Our friend Dori invited sheep’s milk ricotta gnudi, in Chinatown, legend had us to an evening of “child- Himalayan truffle crème, The Terrace Room it there was not a bad meal hood favorites.” Her hus- maitake mushroom), pork to be found. It’s been a rare band, chef Noah Jacob, and beans (fresh chorizo, Offering sweeping views of the Paciﬁ c form of entertainment in invited three chef pals, baked gigante beans, burnt Ocean, historic ambiance and delightful itself, as we have discovered instructing them to con- tomato, cilantro-almond cuisine, the Terrace Room is a truly unique how true this legend turns coct two dishes each based pesto — yum!); chicken private event venue for groups up to 120. out to be. on their own childhood nuggets (roast chicken, gar- Several weeks ago, we favorites. All dinner guests lic chanterelle polenta, cur- Private Events Direct 415-666-4027 had an interesting food cleaned each plate, and ried tomato chutney, truffle [email protected] experience in the home of drained glass after glass aioli, beer mustard); and friends as part of a new food of the paired wines, even “SpaghettiOs” (hand-cut The Lands End Room “thing” that’s happening after being warned ahead pasta semolina Os al tim- here. No, it wasn’t eating our of time to not necessarily brare, ground veal, grana Located in the Sutro's Restaurant the meal entirely in darkness, eat all the food because the padano espagnole). Whew! Lands End Room is a semi-private as they do at one particular eight courses and accom- There was even a sur- space for smaller parties of 15 – 45 chic restaurant. An intrigu- panying wines would prob- prising version of “Shake offering California cuisine, awesome ing notion, but I’m not that ably be too much for us. ’n’ Bake” — sous-vide pork ocean views and Sutro Baths history. adventurous yet. I can fairly say that three- tenderloin, with a home- We were simply the for- and-a-half hours later, as made crumble and calvados Large Parties Direct 415-666-4005 tunate guests at a dinner we all slowly waddled away veloute, which was so tasty, [email protected] party so unique, I can’t help from the table, everyone one guest asked to take but think of it as very San felt as if we’d had a feast of some of it home. His wish Call soon to book your event! Franciscan, and consistent unique pleasures. was granted. with the spirit of this city. Noah and his chef pals Dessert was Pop Tarts — 1090 Point Lobos • San Francisco • 415-386-3330 The trend? Private “supper Hanjiro Ambrose, Tim gently fried pastry dough www.CliffHouse.com clubs” where chefs come Symes and Mark Nargi, san food-cisco, continued on 17

16 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com New and Notable Nostalgic noshing The place where locals eat seafood! Spectacular Bay Views

The bar at Café Claude Marina photo: Aubrie Pick Photography Café Claude Marina opens in Cow Hollow

by julie mitchell charentes (a fortified wine), lime and honey, World Famous Restaurant and a citrus twist; and the Bitter Grin, with n sync with brisk fall weather, bonal (an infusion of gentian root, quinine, another intimate, clubby, neigh- and herbs), lemon juice, and soda water. On borhood restaurant and bar has a recent weeknight, the bar was busy but Iopened. Café Claude Marina is located on low key; it was not necessary to raise one’s NO Greenwich Street in a historic turn-of-the voice to carry on a conversation. century building near Fillmore Street. It’s Serving dinner (and soon, brunch), 9 FISHERMEN’S the sister outpost to Franck LeClerc’s long- Café Claude Marina features French bis- time success story, Café Claude, downtown. tro classics such as charcuterie, cheese Nostalgia is hot right now, and this and pâté plates, onion soup grantinée, and 415.673.7025 49-seat spot oozes old-world charm, with steak tartare; and mains that feature a sal- Free Validated Parking GROTTO its antiqued-tin ceilings, burgundy flocked ade niçoise with seared albacore tuna, red wallpaper, wood wainscoting, and vintage romaine hearts, cherry tomatoes, green No. 9 Fisherman’s Wharf at the foot of Taylor French chandeliers. In addition to outdoor beans, and fingerling potatoes; roasted seating, Café Claude Marina also boasts chicken with greens; New York strip steak fishermensgrotto.com Banquet Facilities Available a six-person private chef’s table with a and frites; and of course, Le Burger with a crescent-shaped leather banquet. brioche bun, red romaine, tomato-shallot “I chose the location for Café Claude jam, and aioli. Desserts range from tarte Marina because while there are plenty of aux pommes to mousse au chocolat and bars in the neighborhood, there are very crème brûlée. The assortment of cheeses, few casual places nearby for people to stop served both as an appetizer and after din- in to enjoy a meal. We offer a welcoming, ner, is an offering of three or four differ- friendly place for locals to have a glass ent French cow, goat, and sheep cheeses of wine and approachable French food,” with fruit compote, candied walnuts, and said LeClerc. He admits to getting miffed walnut levain. Nightly specials include e-mails from Marina residents indignant short ribs and bouillabaisse. Espresso -àÁÓßTòß=½dßh½®ÁòßÁåÖß~=µ¶ßÃÓà=µàò| because the restaurant is actually in Cow drinks are also available. Hollow, but somehow, “Café Claude Cow Francophiles, neighbors, and afternoon Hollow didn’t have the right ring,” he says. shoppers can all delight in this charming Chef Doug DeGeeter, wine director cafe poised to please a variety of palates Sarah Knoefler, and bar manager Carlos and appetites. Yturria have concocted menus that feature traditional bistro-style cooking and region- Café Claude Marina: 2120 Greenwich al classics. The bar features a plentiful wine Street (at Fillmore), 415-375-9550, www.cafe list with a focus on grape varietals from claude.com; aperitif hour Sunday–Saturday the Loire Valley, a selection of aperitifs, 4:30–5:30 p.m.; dinner Sunday, Tuesday & international and locally made beers, and Wednesday 5:30–10:30 p.m., Thursday– a low-alcohol aperitif cocktail list designed Saturday 5:30–11:30 p.m. to open the palate before a meal. Aperitifs include the Greenwich Stoli, with pineau de E-mail: [email protected]

San Food-cisco How we all enjoyed you’re interested, it being continued from page 16 it together, each dish holiday time and all, I prompting vocal sounds of suggest you contact www. filled with rose chocolate, pleasure with every bite, comestiblesf.com and concord grape-lavender and subsequent conversa- see what new adventures jelly and peanut butter. tions centering on our own they have in store. Maybe Sunday through Friday Ridiculously fabulous! If childhood memories of they’ll invite you! They only I’d had more room, I’d our favorite foods. It was are very nice people who have finished every sugary an event of getting to know love to cook, and who also bite. new things, new food, new love to share what they A particularly unique people, and that made cook with people who will beginning item was the fro- the evening unforget- enjoy it. zen ice pops called Otter table. Various wines from We moved here from Pops, but in such appe- the elegant young som- New York to discover new tizer-ish flavors as frozen melier, Jessalyn Krauss, ways to relish life, and our vichyssoise and icy gazpa- who shared her knowl- evening with Noah, Dori, cho. Amazingly good, as edge of wines with us as and their talented friends we pushed them up from she poured, added to the filled that bill — and our authentic Otter Pop plastic memorable experience. stomachs — entirely! wrappers — so clever! I am all the fatter for it, But the best part? but the happier too, so if E-mail: [email protected]

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 17 Food & Wine

The Tablehopper What’s new Coming soon: Weekend wine tasting Tosca Cafe gets a second at We Olive Check our Facebook page wind, State Bird reopens, and watch for more details! new projects in the mix

by marcia gagliardi 415-864-8999) — pan is the Japanese word for bread. Swing by the takeout window ll the town is abuzz about on the south side of the restaurant from the new digs of beloved Tosca Wednesday–Sunday (11 a.m.–3 p.m.) for Cafe (242 Columbus Avenue, a menu of affordable and flavor-packed A415-986-9651). Fortunately, new owners bites with Japanese influences. Sandwiches Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield were are made on a milk bun (think of your exceedingly careful about not changing favorite bao bun and then multiply it by 10 much and kept the update more on the — Lam worked with a baker to perfect the enhancement side. The patina on the bun, and they are crazy good). Sandwiches walls, paintings, and the checkered floor include pork katsu with yuzu slaw and remains, although the paintings have a pickled white onion, kimchi pulled pork bit more light for you to admire them. with mizuna, tsukune chicken meatball, The jukebox is just as you left it, but now and hanger steak with a scallion-chimi- there’s a better sound system for you to churri sauce (all $7). Of course Lam is hear Johnny Cash and Un Bel Dì. White- already plotting more combos. The three jacketed bartenders are still in effect salads (ahi tuna, shichimi chicken, or miso (Isaac Shumway is leading the show), now garlic Caesar) have ingredients like furika- serving drinks off a cocktail list (11 drinks ke rice strips. Looking for something extra in all), and they also did a nice update to hearty? There are three donburi options — the house “cappuccino,” which will still ahi tuna poke, curry pork katsu, and that get steamed from one of the remaining hanger steak ($8–$9). Lam is also a fan of espresso machines on the bar. The capp ikura, so he has some ikura yaki onigiri on now has better spirits in it, and ganache the menu, too. from local Dandelion Chocolate. Over in the Presidio, Traci Des Cooking classes for groups | Call ahead for information So, the changes. The Back Room is no Jardins (working with Bon Appétit longer a place where you can traipse in Management Company) will open a and huddle with your friends at a table restaurant and retail shop. The restau- for drinks — it’s now a dining room, with rant will be Californian with Spanish the booths newly outfitted in red leather, influences, and one of her previous and tables full of hungry diners. You’ll chefs at Jardinière, Robbie Lewis, will note a brand-new, open kitchen to the be leading the kitchen. The 112-seat left, with plans to serve food until 1 a.m. space is opening in Building 101, one of nightly (Bloomfield is working with chef the Montgomery Street Barracks in the de cuisine Josh Even). The menu includes Main Post. It will be open for breakfast antipasti, from roasted Treviso to the and lunch, offering espresso, takeout rugged bites that meals (great for we look for from picnics), and Bloomfield, like the lunch option oxtail terrine and State Bird Provisions to dine in; eve- crispy pig tails; nings will have first courses of has reopened, with new more of a bistro chicken liver spie- design touches plus vibe. Look for an dini and a couple opening around of salads; pasta tables for large groups. Valentine’s Day like gemelli (but 2014. There will instead of saying cacio e pepe, the menu also be a mercantile and larder retail says black pepper and young pecorino) shop featuring handcrafted, artisan local and bucatini (with tomato, guanciale and foods: jams, breads, local cheeses, char- chile — yup, that’s all’amatriciana, but cuterie, and other items. Additionally, you can see the team isn’t making this a culinary classes will be offered, and facsimile of an Italian ristorante). Hefty catering options will launch in time for meat courses include grilled short rib and the holidays for those holding events in roasted chicken for two or trout. Cannoli the Presidio. for dessert, natch. I enjoyed looking over Cool news, Thai food lovers: Pim Ceri Smith and Randall Grahm’s wine list Techamuanvivit, of Chez Pim fame, will (and the glowing wine wall in the dining be opening a restaurant called Kin Khao room), and saw that Ceri is even secur- (55 Cyril Magnin Street) in the Parc 55 ing Monteraponi in classic straw-covered Hotel on Union Square. She will take over fiaschi for the restaurant. There’s also a the 70-seat Smooth Thai location, and is Tosca ale on the menu from Fort Point, working on the venture with the owner, with four taps in all. And you can finally Chupot Janlaor. Michael Gaines (Central pay with a credit card, how novel. Open Kitchen, Manresa) will join her in the Tuesday–Sunday 5 p.m.–2 a.m. kitchen. Look for authentic dishes featur- After closing for a remodel and expan- ing numerous house-made, local, and sion, State Bird Provisions (1529 Fillmore sustainable ingredients. Marc Glassberg Street, 415-795-1272) has reopened. Not will assemble the wine list; there’s also only will they now serve Sunday dinner full liquor, and the Bon Vivants (Trick and take reservations, but also there are Dog) will be consulting on the cock- some additional design touches, plus two tail menu. Additional details: There will tables for large groups (dubbed the alcove be “Thai” iced coffee that Verve will tables). They each accommodate six to custom roast for them. Late hours are eight people, or can be reserved together also in the works: Hello 2 a.m. nightly. for a group of sixteen at 5:30–6 p.m. or November is the targeted opening month. Locals Only. Receive 10% OFF when you book 8–8:30 p.m. Groups can choose a tast- online at thehoteldelsol.com with promo code LOCAL. ing menu of small plates, or everything Marcia Gagliardi is the founder of the weekly on the menu. Tablehopper e-column; subscribe and get 3100 Webster Street, San Francisco CA 94123 415.921.5520 thehoteldelsol.com Chef-owner Rob Lam of Butterfly has more food news and gossip at www.table

Hotel Del Sol, a JDV Collection hotel. | Rate discount good for locals all year round. Restrictions apply. created a new lunchtime pop-up concept hopper.com. Follow her on Twitter: @table called Pan Grill Sandwich Shop (Pier 33, hopper. E-mail: [email protected]

18 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com La Vita Delizioso Thanksgiving sides Uniquely Dr. Evan Ransom is a specialist in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery of the nose, eyelids, ears, face, and neck. His philosophy is to preserve the individual identity of his patients while helping them look and feel better, more vibrant and more con dent. Dr. Ransom works closely with his patients to achieve the results they desire while retaining the features they love, helping each person remain Uniquely

BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER

ACTUAL RESULTS ACTUAL RESULTS

Butternut squash risotto

Faceli and Rhinoplasty Butternut squash risotto Fractional CO2 Laser and rutabaga-carrot mash How can we help you look and feel better? Schedule a consultation today! by susan dyer reynolds essentials every serious salt, rice, and stir to com- home cook should have. bine. Return to a boil, Mention this ad and receive all is my favorite If you don’t have a good cover, and reduce heat time of year, and chef’s knife (or you don’t so the mixture bubbles Thanksgiving is my feel comfortable working gently. Simmer until rice 10% OFF Ffavorite holiday (it’s like with hard squash), you and squash are cooked any service performed. Christmas without all the can find cubed butternut through and creamy, (limit one per new patient only) hustle, bustle and hassle). squash at most markets. about 15 to 20 minutes. Many cooks prefer the sea- Turn off heat, uncover, sonal bounties of spring Zucca e Riso and add 2 tablespoons but- and summer, and while (Squash and Rice) ter, stirring constantly until 415-550-1077 English peas rate as my Serves 4–6 thoroughly incorporated. SanFranciscoFacialPlasticSurgery.com all-time favorite vegetable, Add cheese and stir until I appreciate the often over- 1 cup yellow onion, cut combined. Ladle risot- 450 Sutter St., Suite 2200 looked and incredibly ver- into 1-inch chunks to into bowls, and serve facebook.com/SFplasticsurgery San Francisco, CA 94108 satile squash and root veg- 1 cup celery, cut into immediately with extra etables that represent the 1-inch chunks cheese and freshly cracked autumn months. 3 tablespoons good-qual- pepper to taste. When you think of side ity olive oil dishes for Thanksgiving, 5 tablespoons unsalted Carrot-Rutabaga Mash stuffing, mashed potatoes butter, divided Serves 4–6 and gravy, and green bean 3 to 4 fresh sage leaves casserole may come to (optional) 8 medium carrots, peeled mind, but I like to intro- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, and roughly chopped duce a little orange at the divided into uniform pieces table with a simple but 5 to 6 cups vegetable or 2 medium rutabagas, satisfying carrot-rutaba- chicken stock peeled and roughly ga mash and a surpris- 1 butternut squash (about chopped into pieces ingly simple butternut 4 cups or 1 pound), same size as carrots squash risotto. peeled, seeded, and cut 1 teaspoon kosher salt Don’t be afraid of risot- into 1-inch chunks 8 tablespoons (1 stick) to — it’s not as hard as 2 cups Arborio or unsalted butter those TV chefs make it Carnaroli rice (it’s ½teaspoon freshly ground look. Like all Italian reci- important to use Italian black pepper pes, it’s about starting short-grain rice for the Freshly cracked pepper with the right ingredients high starch content, Sea salt and timing. My mother which gives risotto its actually didn’t call this trademark creaminess) Place carrots and ruta- dish risotto, she called it ½ cup freshly grated Par- bagas in a medium stock- zucca e riso, or squash migiano Reggiano cheese, pot and fill with cold water, and rice. She sometimes plus more for the table about 1 inch above the used pumpkin in her Freshly cracked pepper vegetables. Add salt and recipe, but you can use bring to a boil. Cook until any fresh squash you have Using a food processor tender, 45 to 50 minutes (a available. Like my mom, or a blender, mince onion knife should go through I always add fresh sage and celery to a fine, paste- them easily). Remove from leaves from our garden — like consistency. Set aside. heat, drain thoroughly in I love the flavor of sage Add olive oil and 3 a colander, return to the and squash together, but tablespoons unsalted but- pot, and add butter. Smash it’s completely optional. ter to a Dutch oven (or a with a potato masher or Thankfully, this version heavy, low-walled stock in a food processor until doesn’t involve standing pot) over medium heat. mashed (but not puréed over the pot and constant- When butter melts com- — you still want some tex- ly stirring, yet it’s every pletely, add sage leaves ture). Season liberally bit as delicious as its more and stir constantly for with pepper and a few labor-intensive counter- about 1 minute to release pinches of sea salt. parts. For tools, I highly oils. Add onion and cel- Serve as you would recommend an enameled ery paste with a pinch mashed potatoes, cov- cast iron Dutch oven (like of salt and cook for 3 to ered with gravy or topped Le Creuset or Staub), a 4 minutes, or until dry. with butter. sturdy, sharp chef’s knife, Add stock, stir, and bring and a wooden spoon — to a boil. Add squash, E-mail: [email protected]

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 19 Arts & Entertainment Richard Brautigan: The hippies’ chosen icon

by ernest beyl in Tacoma and later in Eugene, Beat. By this time, his poetry Ore. He came from a broken was being published here and ecently I was thinking home, a poor family with a there, and in 1964, he published about Richard Brautigan, mother who worked as a wait- his first novel, A Confederate the counterculture nov- ress. He never knew his father. General from Big Sur. The hip- Relist and poet who hung out in He never attended college. He pies loved it. It was outrageous North Beach in the 1950s and wanted to be a writer. and outlandish, a disjointed 1960s. I was cutting across the In 1955, he came to San satire on the hippie life. Other grass in Washington Square on Francisco and associated with novels, stories and poetry fol- my way to lunch, and I passed the Beats. He contributed his lowed, including In Watermelon the bronze statue of Benjamin poems to small, local publica- Sugar, 1968, and Trout Fishing Franklin in his knee britches tions, and tried to make ends in America, which he wrote in and frock coat. I stopped for meet. Before fame and some for- 1961 but wasn’t published until a moment and envisioned tune found him, he delivered 1969. These remain his best- Brautigan leaning against it Western Union telegrams, sold remembered books, although just as he appears on the cover his blood for cash, and worked he wrote 11 novels. He received of his novella, Trout Fishing in in a chemical laboratory while a grant from the National America. And although I barely he surveyed the bubbling literary Endowment for the Arts, and in knew Brautigan, on that day in scene. In North Beach, he met 1966 and ‘67, he served as poet- Washington Square I missed heavyweight poets like Michael in-residence for the California him. He added a loopy edge McClure, Jack Spicer, Allen Institute of Technology. to North Beach. He could be Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti,

charming one minute and iras- and Philip Lamantia. UNDERGROUND IN MONTANA photo: wikimedia commons cible the next. He once wrote eight poems I saw him one day many years BLABBERMOUTH NIGHT that were printed on seed pack- how to recapture the exhilara- THE ABSOLUTE ago at Enrico’s on Broadway. He Those were heady days. ets and sold under the title tion he had felt when he was END OF TWILIGHT was sitting at an outdoor table Poetry was being read aloud Please Plant This Book. At that a young North Beach liter- Brautigan committed suicide with friends. He wore his usual in North Beach joints like the point, his work was immensely ary giant. Jonathan Yardley, Sept. 14, 1984 at the age of 49. costume: western outlaw attire, Cellar, then on Green between popular and sold well. He spent Pulitzer Prize-winning book He was no longer the darling and a strange, broad-brimmed, Grant and Stockton, where some time in Japan where he critic for the Washington Post, of the hippies. He had begun to fawn-colored felt hat with an it was recited to the accom- was lionized, and then in the said Brautigan was “… the Love lose it just as the hippies lost it. exaggerated high dome. The paniment of live, improvised 70s, he moved to Montana and Generation’s answer to Charlie He had run into an old girl- complete Brautigan package jazz. Kenneth Rexroth, poetic went underground. Schultz. Happiness is a warm friend, San Francisco artist included a long, droopy handle- guru of the time, said, “If we He had a place in Livingston, hippie,” he added. Marcia Clay. Let’s have Marcia bar mustache and granny glass- can get poetry out into the life Mont., along Pine Creek, and When I first picked up Trout wind up the story as she told it es. Because we had a nodding of the country, it can be cre- there he hung out with neigh- Fishing in America in 1969, to me: acquaintance from seeing each ative. Homer or the guy who bor novelist Thomas McGuane, I thought I was going to be “I met Richard in the mid- other around the neighborhood, I wrote Beowulf was in show who in a quarrel once told reading a trout-fishing guide- seventies in a North Beach club walked up to say hello. He stood, business. We simply want to him, “You’re nothing but a book. Instead, I found lyric pas- called Dance Your Ass Off at held out his hand for me to shake, make poetry part of show busi- pet rock … a hula hoop. You sages, much about trout, trout the corner of Columbus and and tipped that kooky hat in a ness.” Brautigan was show busi- should get down on your knees streams, and creeks. Brautigan Lombard. I was there one night, courtly manner, and we talked ness personified. He fit right everyday and thank God for was obsessed with trout. As I and I danced with him. He for a while. It was one of his good in. He recited his poetry on creating hippies.” Brautigan’s read along, I was perplexed. danced like a cornstalk in the days. Frequently Brautigan could street corners and attended visitors to his Montana wil- The narrative took me places wind. That led to a long friend- be just the opposite of courtly — Blabbermouth Night at the derness included such louche I had never been. It includes ship between us. We dated, testy and irritable. He was like a Place on Upper Grant, a Beat and loose characters as actors anecdotes — quirky and a and he took me all over North trap full of crabs ready to snap. club where you could read your Rip Torn, Dennis Hopper and bit childlike — from his life, Beach. He encouraged me with The man had a habit of looking work or just sound off about Jeff Bridges, and rock singer- laced together with offbeat and my painting and my writing. askew at the world, but I couldn’t whatever was on your mind. songwriter Warren Zevron. dreamy observations. He once At that time, he considered me fault him for that. He also liked to hang out at the wrote, “I’ll think about things his girlfriend, but I wasn’t sure Co-Existence Bagel Shop, a Beat HAPPINESS IS A WARM HIPPIE for 30 or 40 years before I’ll I wanted to be that. It was clear THE BUBBLING haven at Grant and Green. By 1984, everything was write about it.” That’s not only that he had personal demons. LITERARY SCENE Brautigan bridged the gap crashing down around chronologically untrue, but He was a flawed but wonderful Richard Brautigan was born in between the Beats and the hip- Brautigan’s ears. He felt Brautigan’s prose reads like it guy. Those were exciting days Tacoma, Wash., in 1935 and grew pies. He was the hippies’ cho- neglected; his work was being popped out of his head and onto for me. Then he married and up in the Pacific Northwest, first sen icon but he drank like a ignored, and he didn’t know the paper at just that moment. was later divorced and was out of my life. “In 1984 I ran into him at Enrico’s and he asked me to call him at his Bolinas hideaway in a few days. I called him on Sept. 14, 1984, and he said he was writing again and wanted to read to me from his new book, which he called, ‘The Absolute End of Twilight.’ He asked me to call him back in a few minutes; that would give him time to find the lines he wanted to read to me. I did, and I got his answering machine. I called and called, and each time the machine answered. Something was wrong.” It is widely believed that Marcia Clay was the last person to talk with Brautigan before he shot and killed himself with a borrowed .44 caliber handgun. He once wrote, “The act of dying is like hitchhiking into a strange town where it is raining and you are alone again.”

Left to right: In Watermelon Sugar; The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaser; Trout Fishing in America book covers: © dell publishing E-mail: [email protected]

20 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com The Coastal Commuter It was a dark and stormy novel Noir-lit titans straddle mighty cities — ray of moonlight, dash of danger by michael snyder my City by the Bay, and Knife (my underworld per- a gunsel and wake up with more, Chandler’s tales of the other prowled my sona) is right at home. a hangover the size of the hard-luck tough guys, dev- isten here, ya mugs! Southland HQ, the City of I totally understand how Hindenburg — and just as astating dames, and twisted I’m a longtime the Angels. To be more spe- San Francisco must have likely to explode and go ne’r-do-wells in the L.A. Basin lover of detec- cific, Spade’s noir-ish turf inspired Hammett and his down in flames. set a standard for trenchant Ltive fiction. Naturally, that consisted of the mean streets terse, no-nonsense jour- Speaking of the movie dialogue, witty narrative, and would include the classics of San Francisco or, if you nalistic style. Most nights version of The Maltese dark drama rife with fateful of the genre — and there will, the shadowy corners in this hilly wonderland Falcon, Hollywood was wild retribution. And though they are no private eyes in the of the Barbary Coast, while whisper mystery as the about the exploits of hard- may seem from a long-gone literary world more classic Marlowe made his rounds fog creeps in under the boiled dicks and crime fic- black-and-white world, these than Dashiell Hammett’s on the sun-bleached, high- Golden Gate Bridge and tion from the 1930s through creations of his took pretty well Sam Spade and Raymond end boulevards and sin- over Mount Sutro, sidling the 1950s, as studios adapted to director Robert Altman’s Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe. soaked back alleys of Los into Chinatown and North popular novels and commis- sharp, savvy, early 1970s, they’re in the booth next to Coincidentally, one of these Angeles. Just the sort of Beach. It’s on nights like sioned original scripts in the post-Love Generation sex- yours when you head back literary gumshoes worked environs where Mike the that when you can imag- genre. It was the heyday of and-drugs-and-rock-’n’-roll to Hollywood for a night- ine shady antiques dealers film noir, and one can’t help update of The Long Goodbye, cap at Musso & Frank — a and their henchmen execut- but think that the despera- starring a wry and laconic decades-old watering hole ing a break-in at a Geary tion and class distinctions Elliot Gould as Marlowe — where Chandler, Bogie, Street gallery and abscond- that are the underside of the a role that would seem bet- Mitchum, and their peers ing with a priceless statue Tinseltown dream of star- ter suited to another screen used to hold court. destined for the South of dom and riches helped fuel Marlowe, Robert Mitchum, And yes, when I dine Market warehouse offices the authors and filmmakers. but fit Gould like a rumpled, at Musso & Frank on of an import-export com- And the most iconic of Los well-worn suit. Hollywood Boulevard or pany. And a relentless P.I. Angeles mys- the venerable in hot pursuit. Hammett’s tery writers Tadich Grill in characters are dark, driv- was Raymond S.F.’s Financial en creatures or possessed Chandler. Even today, Raymond District, I will of a liquid in their veins T o d a y , Chandler’s characters seem occasion- that’s colder than the winter James Ellroy ally take a swells off Fort Point. writes terrific to lurk around every corner as moment and Have you ever actu- novels in the imagine my- ally torn into a T-bone at Chandler tra- the sun goes down and a sultry self as the John’s Grill on Ellis Street? dition, usu- gritty, resilient This Tenderloin destina- ally period evening starts to unfold. protagonist tion was an actual setting pieces such of a detective in Hammett’s The Maltese as The Black Dahlia and Even today, Chandler’s novel — preferably one writ- Falcon and a vital stop for L.A. Confidential — the lat- characters seem to lurk ten by Chandler or Hammett. fans of Sam Spade (wheth- ter turned into a compelling, around every corner as the er we mean the guy in the award-winning feature film. sun goes down and a sultry Michael Snyder is a print books or the one portrayed And similarly, timeless crime evening starts to unfold with and broadcast journalist who on screen by the immortal movies such as Chinatown the scent of jasmine wafting covers pop culture every week Humphrey Bogart). Sitting are, in most ways, the spawn through the air from the on KPFK/Pacifica Radio’s at the bar in John’s Grill and of Chandler’s gritty prose, garden entrance of a Los David Feldman Show, and downing a Scotch is prob- conflicted heroes, manipu- Feliz bungalow. They’re on on Michael Snyder’s Culture ably as close as you’re going lative villains, and amoral the block when you make Blast, available online at Top right: The original maltese falcon prop from the John to get to the Sam Spade shenanigans. From The Big your way to a cocktail YouTube and Digidev TV. Huston film; Above: The Long Goodbye movie poster experience — unless you’re Sleep to The Long Goodbye lounge downtown on 6th You can follow Michael on Top Right: hank risan / wikimedia commons; above: © united artists beaten in a nearby alley by to Farewell, My Lovely and at Spring for a libation, and Twitter: @cultureblaster

Humor Turketiquette ner than put them through your day, drinking beers and watch- family’s Annual Therapy Night. ing multiple football games. Remember that old saying, “If And, of course, by staying in you love them, let them go” by the kitchen they are much closer Unwanted Thanksgiving advice Kahlil Gibran? Yep, he was talk- to the chocolate. ing about Thanksgiving. Why is the turkey never on by sandy fertman ryan little tidbits of your life! Just make avoid any topics that may cause What is the best topic to dis- time? Maybe the bus was slow. sure you let someone else handle conflict (like announcing that your cuss at the dinner table to avoid Maybe he never got your invitation. ovember is here, and the electric knife to slice the turkey. sister once stole your parents’ car any conflict? It’s difficult to find Maybe he doesn’t like executions? it’s time to give thanks for I want to show my fam- to cruise Twin Peaks, or that your a topic that’s not controversial, How do I avoid feeling too many things, like your ily around during the holiday. brother hid Budweisers in your unless you stick with the weather. full after Thanksgiving din- Nhealth, your loved ones — and that Where should we go? Before Barbie Dream House) — and then Even the price of sweet potatoes ner? You can’t feel too full at Thanksgiving only comes once a you indulge in your year’s most lock them in the bathroom while may set off an explosive discus- Thanksgiving. The goal of the year! I hope these Q.s and A.s will decadent (public) pig-out, show they’re using the toilet. sion about inflation, politics, and holiday is to overeat until you help you make it more the former them the magnificent Golden Gate Should I invite friends to whether you should serve Tofurky can actually feel gravy pulsing than the latter. Bridge, charming Fisherman’s my family dinner? Though next year. Surprisingly, current through your veins and you have Wharf, and the enchanting Union Thanksgiving is a fun holiday, it is events, like George Lucas’s bid to to unzip your pants or change Do I really have to go see my Square. After dinner, limit your also traditionally jam packed with build an art center at Crissy Field, into that lovely floral-print muu- family? Yes, of course you do. You tour to the airbed, a nearby hotel family gossip (which can be bor- could spark a hissy fit about pre- muu. When you’re so loopy from love them! Sure, it can be annoying or the hospital for a quick stomach ing unless your relatives include serving the coastline — and an tryptophan that you can barely to hear crazy Uncle Billy repeat how pump. Gotta rest up for tomor- Lady Gaga or Kathy Griffin) and all-out brawl over who likes Jar respond to your own name — he came up with the “idea” for The row’s leftovers! unsolicited complaints about Jar Binks. So if you want to keep and not just when you’re being Hunger Games before Hollywood I can’t stand seeing my sib- things like hair, weight, and driv- your Thanksgiving argument-free, asked to help with the dishes — ripped him off (apparently, he had a lings because we always argue. ing skills. After a few glasses of stick with the weather and compli- you’ll know your Thanksgiving vision at the all-you-can-eat brunch How should I handle this at wine, you may even hear the real ments, beginning with the stuff- has been a resounding success! buffet at the Cliff House). And Thanksgiving? It’s true: It can be story about what happened to ing. Sure, it tastes like puree of when cousin Midge tells everyone tough to see the people who rolled your childhood dog, Zippy. wood, but it’s better than eating Sandy Fertman Ryan has written how adorable it was when you for- you down the staircase in a laun- As kind as it is to think of your crow. Or Tofurky. for numerous national magazines, got your lines and fainted during dry basket sealed with duct tape friends who don’t have anywhere Why do women usually stay including Parade, Seventeen and a sixth grade play, remember how when you were seven years old, to go on Thanksgiving, it may in the kitchen on Thanksgiving? Cosmogirl. She is looking forward to lucky you are to have a family who but isn’t it time to let bygones be be kinder to let them enjoy an That’s easy: They don’t like her family’s holiday twerking contest. cares enough to remember all those bygones? Be friendly, loving, and iHop Turkey and Waffles din- sprawling out on a La-Z-Boy all E-mail: [email protected] www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 21 Arts & Entertainment

@nite and symphony are in full continued from page 1 swing, and the SF Jazz Center and the surround- es us to snuggle under ing clubs are keeping us a blanket with someone happily entertained. special. The rain (capti- For football fans, a per- vating in its offbeat, pit- fect date is heading to one ter-patter way) may visit, of the local sports bars, but the big storms won’t where large-screen TVs, find us here. While we chicken wings, and beer are the seduc- tion. Those who prefer the dra- Restaurants are matic arts can tailoring their menus celebrate the kick-off of the to autumn. holiday film and play season by may have to deal with snuggling in the back of a BART strikes and bridge theater with hot popcorn traffic, we’ll never worry (and possibly a hot date). about digging our cars And if you’re missing the out of three feet of snow frozen ponds from your to make our dinner res- Midwest hometown, grab ervations on time. your sweetie’s hand and Not that the powdery hit the ice at one of the stuff is lacking in sex skating rinks going up this appeal. (After all, that’s month (along with the why we have Tahoe.) But Christmas trees!) at the I can honestly say that Embarcadero Center and San Francisco is where I Union Square. Where else Meet two of the unlikeliest art collectors photo: megumi sasaki want to be in November, can you drink hot choco- the month that ushers in late out of paper cups, the holiday season. As we listen to pop music that scramble to make travel makes you feel 13 again, ‘Herb and Dorothy 50x50’: plans and check items off and, if you’re lucky, get our to-do lists, the City away with only a bruised beckons us to take a break tuchus when that figure-8 from the chaos, to slow attempt sends you bounc- A story of art and giving down and savor autumn’s ing on the ice? festive and romantic side. There’s so much to do One of the most sen- now, but honestly, just “What we did then is now art history.” the couple’s art collection, which 50x50 project was born. Because sual treats is eating out. strolling around the City — Herbert Vogel was donated in its entirety to the gallery could not contain Local restaurants, already (finally, looking season- the National Gallery of Art in the entire collection, 50 works sparkling with holiday appropriate in a hat and by sharon anderson Washington D.C. The Vogels were from the Vogel collection were adornments, are tailor- scarf) is enchanting. never concerned with the mil- donated to galleries in 50 states. ing their menus toward The main drags aglow n 2008, film director Megumi lions of dollars that could have The film shows the impact the pears and pumpkins and with lights, and you Sasaki released the film Herb been theirs had they sold their artworks continue to have on the other late-harvest delec- can’t shop in our neigh- and Dorothy, a story public. Across the coun- tables, and serving up borhood without being Iof two unlikely art col- try, visitors receive an soups, pies and other tempted by a cinnamon- lectors. Herbert and education with no small warm, nurturing dishes. scented candle or egg- Dorothy Vogel, a postal amount of head scratch- November also marks the nog-flavored latte. And employee and librarian, ing. The Vogel’s contem- arrival of the Beaujolais who’s strong enough respectively, accumulated porary collection has nouveau, and what’s cozi- to walk past Williams- what is considered one been called challenging, er than sipping some on Sonoma as the smell of of the most important avant-garde and inac- a chilly night with a good a baking pumpkin spice collections of minimal- cessible, yet many great meal and good friends? cake wafts out onto the ist and conceptual art in adventures begin with OK, maybe sipping the sidewalk? the United States. Despite the question, “Why is it said wine (or hot cocoa, The City looks, tastes their modest means, the art?” The work provokes, or a hot toddy) in front and smells so scrump- couple amassed thou- educates and inspires a of a roaring sands of works by artists journey of discovery. It fire. Lucky for including Richard Tuttle, also helped breathe new us, local spots Christo, Nam Jun Paik, life into galleries and like Blackwood, The City looks, and Sol LeWitt — artwork museums struggling in Terzo, The tastes, and smells so that lived with them on a market where private Brixton, and the walls, under the bed, collectors often have Original Joe’s scrumptious now. in closets or anywhere it more liquidity than pub- make that pos- would fit in the Vogel’s lic institutions to pur- sible by keeping their tious right now, that for one bedroom New York chase art at auction. fireplace coals stoked all those of us planning to get City apartment. The Vogels collected season long. out of town for the holi- The Vogels loved art abstract art in an era After dinner, the fires days, there’s some regret. and befriended many of when its value wasn’t are still burning at the Yes, our city is imperfect, the artists whose work wholly understood. watering holes. Choices with its confused leaves they collected. The rules Herbert Vogel died in range from Matrix and overabundance of were simple: They had July 2012, and Dorothy Fillmore, where well- bad-hair days. But those to like the art, and it announced that their col- heeled hipsters gath- who have been here long had to be small enough poster: © fine line media lection is now closed. Art er around a modern enough understand what to fit in a cab and carry collecting was something hearth, to the Big 4, a Tony meant in that oldie- back to their apartment. they did together, and more refined fireside set- but-goodie, and we can Sometimes they paid on The Vogel’s contemporary though that chapter has ting nestled within the be thankful that no mat- installment plans. Both ended, Herb and Dorothy Huntington Hotel. Falling ter where we are eating explored painting as a collection has been called 50x50 documents the somewhere in between our turkey this year, we’ll hobby early in their mar- final destinations of the is Sheba Piano Lounge eventually be coming riage and were self-edu- challenging, avant garde. Vogel’s collection and on Fillmore, where you home to the place we left cated in art history, but their astonishing, unique can listen to jazz while our hearts. what remains is their incredible collection. Instead, because they and sometimes moving story resting on a comfy couch collective vision for art that would worked their entire lives as civil of generosity. next to the fire. In fact, Maryann LoRusso is a remain relevant. servants, they believed their art the whole music district, San Francisco-based jour- The sequel is now in theaters. belonged to the public. Sharon Anderson is an artist and writ- from Fillmore to the nalist who also writes a Herb and Dorothy 50x50 presents In collaboration with National er in Southern California. She can be Civic Center, is abuzz blog for women at www. the final chapter in the story of Gallery curator Ruth Fine, the reached at www.mindtheimage.com. right now. The opera redtypewriter.com.

22 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Michael Snyder on Film Uncovering Jack Kerouac Yes, sir to ‘Big Sur’ by michael snyder took advantage of an offer from the revered City Lights Books and his friend and colleague Lawrence the beloved Tosca Cafe). There’s s someone fascinated Ferlinghetti. The acclaimed poet, even a witty anecdote recounted by the Beat Generation, publisher and proprietor of the by a Kerouac crony who attri- its auteurs and their Bay landmark San Francisco book store butes the tale to none other than AArea haunts, I’m probably the ideal City Lights, Ferlinghetti owned a Herb Caen. But Polish’s Big Sur is target for director-screenwriter cabin in the sylvan glades of Big also heavy with word-jazz narra- Michael Polish’s faithful-to-a-fault Sur, down the coastline from San tion adapted from the book and adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s 1962 Francisco, and he offered it as a get- delivered with appropriate disen- novel, Big Sur. away to Kerouac. Though Kerouac franchisement and pain by Jean- Jean-Marc Barr as Jack Kerouac in Big Sur photo: © 3311 Productions The source material, for all of was torn, frayed, and more than Marc Barr, whose performance as its stream-of-consciousness poet- likely to get hammered and pass out Kerouac is the weary soul of the Pacific under glorious Central challenge. As for any suggestion ics, is considered at least semi- in a Skid Row flophouse, he did go film. It’s not so easy to gain sympa- Coast skies, often to the sound of the material being too dated, autobiographical in its portrayal to the Big Sur cabin on a few occa- thy for a self-loathing talent whose of cool be-bop. There are muted naive or innocent in its occasional of the by-then-renowned author’s sions — alone and with his running success hasn’t brought him happi- confrontations between Kerouac notes of ecstatic Zen spiritualism, unstable mental state a number of mates, including Neal Cassady who ness, but Barr creates a compelling and Cassady. There are Kerouac’s it should be noted that the Beats years after his seminal novel On was the legendary real-life model figure on a downward spiral. enlightened or twisted moments may just be getting their due on the Road began serving as a de for free-booting Dean Moriarty in In general, the cast does right of solitude. Driven mad by noto- the big screen these days. In fact, facto primer for the youthful seek- On the Road. Out in the beauty by the material. In addition to riety, his words are as much a Big Sur is coming on the heels of ers of the 1950s — some of whom of nature, Kerouac still agonized, Barr’s rough, tattered, reluctant nihilistic, anti-celebrity manifesto Kill Your Darlings – a fine feature came to be known as beatniks. It but his Big Sur experiences and his sage and herald of a generation, as an outpouring of sadness from about the early, tumultuous days of would go on to inspire the beatniks’ fitful romance with Neal’s mistress there’s rowdy Josh Lucas as good a man uncomfortable in his own Kerouac, William Burroughs, and subsequent hippie brethren in the back in S.F. are represented as fuel ol’ boy adventurer Cassady (fum- skin and unwilling to embrace Allen Ginsburg in New York City 1960s, but for the hard-drinking, for the novel Big Sur that seems to ing under his cavalier exterior); praise and favor. during the late 1940s. The latter nomadic, and admittedly “bored have been largely nonfiction. Radha Mitchell as Cassady’s lovely If anyone thought the book Big is far more of a conventional nar- and jaded” Kerouac, the fame of On Rather than use the book’s fic- but long-suffering wife, Caroline; Sur was unfilmable due to its epi- rative than Polish’s film, yet even the Road would become a burden tionalized names in his film ver- a luminous Kate Bosworth as sodic, fragmented, anecdotal, phil- taken as a sort of visual tone poem, by the time he was in his 40s. From sion, Polish couches the movie pretty, tormented Billie, Cassady’s osophical nature, Polish evidently Big Sur moved me. all accounts, it appears that On the as a hither-and-yon docudrama mistress turned Kerouac’s lover; disagreed. His first splash as a film- Road set an artistic standard he about Kerouac and the people and Anthony Edwards, avun- maker was directing the 1999 festi- Michael Snyder is a print and broad- could never live down — nor, in his in his life at that time. It shim- cular and steadfast as still-living val and art-house sensation, Twin cast journalist who covers pop cul- mind, could he live up to the power mers with exquisite cinematog- legend Ferlinghetti. Falls Idaho, wherein he also played ture every week on KPFK/Pacifica and reputation embodied in such raphy depicting the truly lovely We get drunken revels at house one of a set of conjoined twins Radio’s David Feldman Show, and an influential work. coastal vistas in and around Big parties populated by tormented alongside his actual brother (and on Michael Snyder’s Culture Blast, Big Sur the movie deals with Sur, and gains verity from period- artists and their acolytes, and road co-screenwriter) Mark Polish. So available online at YouTube and the time when, plagued by angst dressed location shooting in San trips along craggy cliffs overlook- there’s no way that Big Sur could Digidev TV. You can follow Michael and self-recrimination, Kerouac Francisco (including sequences at ing the beautiful churn of the have been an insurmountable on Twitter: @cultureblaster

LIGHTS DIM. SNOW FALLS.

A uniquely San Francisco Nutcracker. DEC 11–29

Ask about our five Family Performances featuring: Gifts for the first 500 children Sweet treats for everyone at intermission, courtesy of Miette Photo opportunities with costumed characters*

*Photos available for 30 minutes only, one hour prior to curtain. For Family Performance dates visit sfballet.org/NutcrackerFamily

Northside/Marina Times readers! Save $10 off tickets to Family Performances** Use promo code FAMILY10

BUY TICKETS NOW! Lead Sponsors Sponsors Nutcracker Official Bakery sfballet.org The Herbert Family Yurie and Carl Pascarella Media Sponsors of Nutcracker The Swanson Foundation Kathleen Scutchfield The Smelick Family

**Offer subject to availability. Savings applied only to family performances. Discount cannot be combined with other offers or SHANNON MARIE RUGANI IN TOMASSON’S NUTCRACKER (© ERIK TOMASSON) applied to previously purchased tickets or packages. Offer expires December 10, 2013 at 11:59pm or while supplies last. www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 23 Calendar

32nd Annual La Soirée Friday, Nov 22, 7 p.m.–midnight Terra & Mer Gallery (511 Harrison St.) If you can’t get to France for the uncorking of the November Events first wine of the year, come to this French American Chamber of Commerce gastronomy & wine show, what not to miss this month and enjoy French food, wine tasting, and a silent auction in an elegant and fun Roaring 20s atmosphere. $55 & up, 415-442-4717, www.faccsf.com

MAJOR EVENTS Marina Community Glide Annual Holiday Festival Association Annual Meeting Wednesday, Dec 4, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov 6, 6 p.m. 12th Annual U.S. Half Marathon War Memorial Opera House Golden Gate Yacht Club Sunday, Nov 3, 6 a.m. & 7 a.m. Celebrating 50 years helping the community, the A great way to catch up with neighbors and Start: Van Ness Ave. at Beach festival features live entertainment, two receptions meet the board of directors, the meeting includes Finish: Aquatic Park offering hors d’oeuvres and libations, a program speakers Mayor Ed Lee, Assembly Member Phil Support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital featuring Maya Angelou and others, and ben- Ting, Northern Station Police Captain Greg in this popular half marathon course across the efits Mo’s Kitchen and Glide programs. $75–$500, McEachern and District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell, Golden Gate and back. Grab the kids for the fam- 415-864-3330, www.glide.org and the annual election for the board of directors. ily fun miler first and finish in time for the longer www.sfmca.org race. Afterward, enjoy live music, massages, and SF Playhouse: refreshments at the finish line festival. $20–$110, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo 13th Annual S.F. Green Festival ART & CULTURE www.ushalf.com Tues–Sun thru Nov 16 Sat–Sun, Nov 9–10 S.F. Concourse Exhibition Center (635 Eighth St.) Graced With Light 4th Annual Fall Kensington Park Hotel (450 Post St.) This environmental festival features influential Daily thru Nov 30 Luxury Chocolate Salon 2013 In this Pulitzer Prize finalist, which explores Grace Cathedral the power and perils of human nature, two speakers and leaders in the social justice and Sunday, Nov 10, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Experience this stunning, music-inspired visual art U.S. Marines and an Iraqi translator are thrust environmental community, yoga and more in a Conference Center, Bldg A, Fort Mason Center installation that incorporates over 20 miles of ribbon into a world of greed, mystery and betrayal unique marketplace of natural, eco-friendly prod- Discover, savor and taste the finest artisan, and the cathedral’s vaulted ceiling arches by the Artist after an encounter with a now-deceased but ucts and food, including beer and wine sampling gourmet and premium chocolates and confec- in Residence Anne Patterson. Free, 415-749-6300 still very angry tiger. $20–$100, 415-677-9596, and a dedicated kid’s area. $10–$32, 212-253-0474, tions for the season and the holidays from over www.sfplayhouse.org www.greenfestivals.org 30 chocolatiers. Highlights include chef and author talks, wine tasting and more. $20–$25, Veteran’s Day Parade www.fallchocolatesalon.com ACT: Underneath the Lintel Sunday, Nov 10, 11 a.m. Tue–Sun thru Nov 17 Market Street (Second to McAllister to City Hall) 405 Geary St. 15th Annual S.F. Show your support for all who have served our In this riveting ghost story, an eccentric librarian International Hip Hop DanceFest country in this salute to the 60th anniversary of finds a weather-beaten book in a return bin, dis- Fri–Sun, Nov 15–17 the end of the Korean War. Free, 415-861-4920, Palace of Fine Arts Theatre covers that it is 113 years overdue, and sets off on [email protected] Cutting-edge hip-hop performances from inter- a quest to unravel the secrets of the book and the national dance companies celebrate this rich and person who borrowed it. $20–$140, 415-749-2228, North Beach Citizens 10th Annual Andy Goldsworthy: Tree Fall exciting dance form with Bay Area roots. $39.99– www.act-sf.org Community Recognition Award Dinner $81.50, 415-392-4400, www.sfhiphopdancefest.com Sunday, Nov 10, 6–9:30 p.m. Sat–Sun, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. & 42nd Street Moon: I Married an Angel S.F. Italian Athletic Club (1636 Stockton St.) weekdays by appt thru Dec 1 Wed–Sun thru Nov 17 Founded by Francis Ford Coppola, North Beach Powder Magazine, Main Post, the Presidio Eureka Theatre (215 Jackson St.) Citizens is a community-based nonprofit serving the Constructed from a eucalyptus tree removed as An angel comes to earth, falls in love, loses her needs of the homeless and those at risk of being part of the reconstruction of Doyle Drive and wings, and havoc ensues accompanied by a daz- homeless in North Beach, and will honor Richard clay sourced from surrounding land, this impos- zling Rogers and Hart score. $21–$75, 415-255-8207, Armanino for his community contributions. $175 & ing architectural interior installation serves as a www.42ndstmoon.org up, 415-772-0982, www.northbeachcitizens.org powerful reminder of the relationship between the Presidio’s natural and built environments. Free, 415-561-5300, www.presidio.gov HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS GALAS & BENEFITS The Art of Bulgari: Holiday Ice Rink at Embarcadero Center Grapes of Rock Festival La Dolce Vita & Beyond, 1950–1990 Daily, Nov 6–Jan 5, 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov 3, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Tue–Sun thru Feb 17 Justin Herman Plaza Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center De Young Museum Enjoy nine weeks of ice-skating fun during the Featuring Brett Michaels and Pop Rocks, over 15 Founded in Rome in 1884, Bulgari has become holiday season at this largest outdoor rink. Skate wineries, 5 craft breweries, local food from The synonymous with innovation and luxury in jewelry Cirque du Soleil: Amaluna rental $4, admission $9.50–$13, 415-772-0753, Melt, this concert benefits the Salvation Army. design. With over 150 pieces, this exclusive U.S. www.embarcaderocenter.com Ages 21+, $45–$80, www.grapesofrock.com exhibition highlights a pivotal period in the evolution Wednesday, Nov 13 thru Tuesday, Dec 31 of its distinctive Italian style and features the jewelry Big Top, AT&T Park, (Third St. & Terry A. Francois Blvd.) Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square 8th Annual Simply the Best Dinner Gala of celebrities and jet setters. Free–$20, 415-750-3600 In the wake of a storm, a group of young men Daily, Nov 6–Jan 20, 10 a.m.–11:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov 9, 6 p.m.–midnight lands on an island governered by goddesses, Union Square Fairmont Hotel 26th Annual Stillwell Student Exhibition triggering an epic, emotional story of love Ring in the holiday season at this outdoor rink ABC7’s Cheryl Jennings emcees this event that Wed–Sat, Nov 12–Dec 5, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. between Queen Prospera’s daughter and a with sessions starting every 90 minutes. Skate raises awareness and funding for early detec- (closed Nov 27–30) brave young suitor who then face numerous rental $5, admission $7–$11, 415-781-2688, tion and lung cancer research, honors survivors, Fine Arts Gallery, SFSU demanding trials and setbacks before achiev- www.unionsquareicerink.com and recognizes Pfizer for their Lung Cancer This peer-juried exhibition features students’ latest ing mutual trust, faith and harmony. $50–$270, Patient Profiles Campaign. $500, 415-357-1278, work in video, photography, textiles, metal arts, www.cirquedusoleil.com Embarcadero Center Lighting Ceremony www.abreathawayfromthecure.org ceramics, sculpture, printmaking, and more. Free, Friday, Nov 22, 6–7 p.m. 415-338-6535, www.sfsu.edu Embarcadero Center 56th Annual International Auto Show Don’t miss the annual dramatic illumination of Verdi: His Music, Life & Times Thu–Mon, Nov 28–Dec 2, 10 a.m. Embarcadero Center and the S.F. skyline, featur- Wed, Nov 20, 5:30 p.m. Moscone Center ing 17,000 lights throughout the holiday sea- Commonwealth Club On display are 2014 model cars, trucks and son, followed by a grand fireworks display. A Join this discussion of George Martin’s biography vans including exotic sports cars and alterna- Winter Carnival precedes ceremony; see listing of the life of composer Giuseppe Verdi, who tive-fuel and hybrid vehicles from the world’s in Child’s Play for details. Free (including parking), was instrumental to the political reunification major manufacturers. Free–$10, 415-331-4406, 415-772-0700, www.embarcaderocenter.com of Italy known as the Risorgimento. Free–$5, www.sfautoshow.com 415-597-6705, www.commonwealthclub.org 49th Annual Ghirardelli Square Tree Lighting Ceremony LEVYdance ROMP LAST CHANCE Friday, Nov 29, 1 p.m.–5:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, Nov 21–23, 8 p.m. Ghirardelli Square The General’s Residence, Fort Mason Center Alonzo King Lines Ballet: Writing Ground Enjoy live music and family entertainment, LEVYdance hosts audiences in an experience that Fri–Sun thru Nov 3 culminating at 5:30 p.m., when the 55-foot invites them from room to room, revealing fantastic Lam Research Theater, YBCA (701 Mission St.) tree lights up the square. Free, 415-775-5500, surprises around every corner and culminating in a holi- www.ghirardellisq.com Deeply evocative and emotionally intimate, this day meal for all. $40, 415-701-1300, www.levydance.org physically demanding and visually stunning program is set to sacred choral odes and a range 35th Annual of rich instrumentals. $20–$65, 415-863-3040, COMMUNITY CORNER Celebration of Craftswomen PERFORMANCES www.linesballet.org Souls4Shoes Shoe Donation Sat–Mon, Nov 9–11, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. BATS Improv: Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason Center 38th Annual S.F. Open Studios Mon–Sat, thru Nov 1 DuoProv Championship - Family Drama This holiday crafts fair, with live music and Sat–Sun thru Nov 10, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. 1 Daniel Burnham Ct., Ste. 260C Friday, Nov 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29, 8–9:50 p.m. gourmet food, is the largest event for women Various S.F. venues Recycle your gently worn shoes at Better Homes & Blue Bear School of Music, Bldg D, Fort Mason Center crafters in the nation and benefits The Women’s Visit over 900 artists in their studios during this Gardens Mason-McDufie Real Estate office, which In the first half, three teams of two improvisers — each Building, a community service center serv- citywide event, which is the oldest and larg- will then be distributed to men and women to help representing their favorite genre -- compete for the ing women and girls. $7–$9, 650-615-6838, est open studios in the country. 415-861-9838, break the cycle of poverty by earning a sustainable right to have the whole cast perform their genre in the www.celebrationofcraftswomen.org www.sfopenstudios.com income. www.giveshoes.org second half. $17–$20, 415-474-6776, www.improv.org

24 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Vienna Teng POTABLES & EDIBLES JUST FOR FUN Saturday, Nov 16, 9:30 p.m. The Independent (628 Divisadero St.) Southern Italian Desserts International Vintage Poster Fair The Associated Press calls her music “ambitious Sunday, Nov 3 & 17, 4 p.m. Fri–Sun, Nov 1–3 yet always tuneful … gorgeous and haunting.” Museo Italo Americano (Bldg C, Fort Mason Center) Conference Center, Bldg. A, Fort Mason Center Come be haunted by the singer and pianist who Cookbook author Rosetto Costantino presents her Devoted exclusively to original vintage posters, this has appeared on Letterman, NPR and more. new book followed by tasting of regional desserts fair features over 15 dealers from six countries offering $25, 415-771-1421, www.theindependentsf.com and wines. Free, (space limited), RSVP to 415-673- thousands of original posters for sale including styles 2200, www.museoitaloamericano.org Dr. Mojo of Art Deco Modernism, Art Nouveau, Victorian, and more. $15, 800-856-8069, www.posterfair.com Tuesday, Nov 26, 9:30 p.m. Veterans Appreciation Day Dining Isabella Rossellini: Green Porno Boom Boom Room (1601 Fillmore St.) Sunday, Nov 10 West Coast Craft It’s time for some soul and R&B, and Dr. Mojo McCormick & Kuleto’s (Ghirardelli Square) Sat–Sun, Nov 16–17, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. brings it with energy and feeling. Boom Boom Sunday, Nov 3, 7 p.m. All U.S. military veterans receive a free lunch or Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center Room promised “no holiday tunes.” Free, Jewish Community Center dinner entree in appreciation for their service This craft and design show features over 100 415-673-8000, www.boomboomtickets.com The iconic actress and model brings her pro- to our country. Proper identification required. West Coast craftspeople working in a variety of vocative, critically acclaimed short film series 415-929-1730, www.mccormickandschmicks.com media and creating items that exemplify the mood about the reproductive habits of marine animals and aesthetics of their West Coast lifestyle. Free, and insects to the stage. $50–$60, 415-292-1233, FILMS & LECTURES http://westcoastcraft.com www.jccsf.org Garrison Keillor: O, What a Luxury S.F. Composers Chamber Orchestra: Thursday, Nov 7, 7 p.m. Moonlight Concerto Jewish Community Center (3200 California St.) CHILD’S PLAY Wednesday, Nov 9, 8 p.m. Keillor leaves his Prairie Home to go on the road Saturdays are Special: Spinning Tops with his latest poetry collection, O, What A Luxury: Old First Church (1751 Sacramento St.) Saturday, Nov 2, 10 a.m. Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic and Profound. The season is turning, with a bracing chill in $25– Randall Museum (199 Museum Way) $45, 415-292-1233, www.jccsf.org the early sunsets, and it’s time for a program of Create scientifically beautiful artwork with spin- mysterious shadows and blazing light, includ- 6th Annual French Cinema Now ning tops that make awesome designs in this ing oboist-composer Philip Freihofner’s Filled special drop-in, hands-on art workshop. In addi- Thu–Sun, Nov 7–10 with Moonlight, a three-movement work tinged tion, family ceramics starts at 10:15 a.m. and other Landmark’s Clay Theatre (2261 Fillmore St.) with the resonances of Japanese music. $14–$17, drop-in ongoing art and science workshops are 415-474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org Grab your beret and head to Fillmore where the available between 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. All ages S.F. Film Society rolls out nine French films, includ- Joyce Goldstein: welcome, but kids under 8 must be accompanied ing 2 Autumns, 3 Winters and A Castle in Italy on Inside the Food Revolution by an adult. Free admission; workshops $4–$6, opening night, followed by a reception. $10–$25, Monday, Nov 18, 7 p.m. 415.554-9600, www.randallmuseum.org 415-561-5000, www.sffs.org Jewish Community Center TEDxPeacePlaza Join the celebrated chef-author with Patricia Storytime with a Sloth Unterman as Goldstein discusses her new book Sunday, Nov 10, 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov 9, 10 a.m. and traces the California food culture from the Exploratorium (Pier 15) Pa’ina Lounge (1865 Post St.) 1970s to the present, when farm-to-table, forag- Sloths, scientists and storytelling! Hear the story of A new event in the trendy TEDx series features Lateefah ing and fusion cuisine have become part of the Lost Sloth, read by the author and illustrator J Otto Simon, Katherine Woo, Tulio Cardozo, Goh Nakamura, national vocabulary. $22.50–$25, 415-292-1200, Siebold, explore Sloth biology with Exploratorium and others exploring the theme of “What’s Possible.” www.jccsf.org $100, 415-758-3398, www.tedxpeaceplaza.com staff scientists, and get your copy of Lost Sloth signed by the author. 415-428-4360, www.exploratorium.edu Graham Nash San Francisco Vintners Market Friday, Nov 15, 7 p.m. San–Sun, Nov 23–24, 1–4 p.m. Lamplighters: Nourse Theatre Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center Upside-Downton Abbey The Crosby, Stills & Nash singer-songwriter talks Sample wines from up to 200 top-notch California music, his life, and his environmental causes. wineries and buy them on the spot. $80–$200, Sunday, Nov 10, 4 p.m. $15–70, www.commonwealthclub.org 415-596-1191, www.sfvintneersmarket.com Palace of Fine Arts Theatre Don’t miss this sure-to-be hilarious spoof, fea- Robert Reich: Inequality for All turing familiar characters and plot themes from Wednesday, Nov 20, 6 p.m. SPORTS & HEALTH the TV series, but with a whole host of comic Fairmont Hotel (950 Mason St.) twists. Set to the music of Sir Arthur Sullivan The former secretary of labor argues that we’re Snowbomb Ski & Board Festival Winter Carnival and others, this unique event guarantees all hurt by the expanding gap between the rich- Sat–Sun, Nov 9–10 an afternoon of fun. $35–$97, 415-978-2787, est and the poorest in this country. $10–$45, Friday, Nov 22, 4–6 p.m. www.lamplighters.org AT&T Park 415-597-6705, www.commonwealthclub.org Holiday Ice Rink, Embarcadero Center This weekend of ski and snowboard activities Kick off the holidays with this spectacu- includes exhibits featuring ski resort, ski gear, lar featuring cookie decorating, interac- S.F. Opera: The Barber of Seville travel deals, wine and beer tasting, a kids’ zone, tive arts and crafts booths, balloon twisters, Various dates, Nov 13–Dec 1 SCIENCE & live entertainment, a huge winter sale, and more. caricature artists, musical performances, and War Memorial Opera House $10–$50, 530- 581-0553, www.sfskifest.com With the help of a wily barber, a strong-willed TECHNOLOGY more. Skate, dance, watch live performanc- young woman outwits a lecherous old man in Keeping Weight Off During the Holidays es of Disney On Ice presents Rockin’ Ever After, see Mickey Mouse, and visit with Santa. this eternally fresh comic masterpiece featuring Wednesday, Nov 13, 5–8:30 p.m. Culminates with the lighting ceremony of the Rossini’s wittiest, most charming score and two Conference Room, CPMC (2333 Buchanan St.) Embarcadero Center followed by fireworks 6–7 charismatic casts. Special two-hour family ver- Holiday eating doesn’t have to expand your waist- p.m. Free (including parking), 415-772-0700, sion performed in English on Sunday, Nov. 24 line or set back your weight management goal. www.embarcaderocenter.com and Saturday, Nov. 30. $23–$357, 415-864-3330, Learn ways to enjoy healthful meals, while stay- www.sfopera.com ing true to traditions this holiday season. $10 donation suggested, register at 415-923-3155 or Robin Hood Magic Theatre: Arlington [email protected]; www.cpmc.org Sat–Sun thru Nov 17 Tue–Sun, Nov 13–Dec 8 Sustainability and the Living Roof Young Performers Theatre, Fort Mason Center Bldg. D, Fort Mason Center at the Academy of Science How to Keep Your Brain in Shape Robin Hood and his outlaw band of merry men Lovely and upbeat Sara Jane waits on the home Monday, Nov 18, 5:15 p.m. play pranks on the Sheriff of Nottingham and Friday, Nov 15, noon front for her solider husband to return. Fueled by Commonwealth Club (595 Market St.) hatch schemes in their secret hideout in Sherwood The Commonwealth Club (595 Market St.) a visit from mom and a few innocent cocktails, her Learn how the most recent scientific discover- Forest. $10, 415-346-5550, www.ypt.org Frank Almeda, the senior curator at Cal Academy, mind wanders from concern for her husband to ies can lead to a clear action plan, including an will explain the challenges of creating and reflections on the nature of war, posing perilous understanding of what really matters about learn- Circus Bella: High Low Fast Slow operating the five-acre roof garden. Free–$20, questions along the way. $12–$16, 415-441-8822, ing for cognitive health and longevity. Free–$20, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2 p.m. & 3:30 p.m. 415-597-6705, www.commonwealthclub.org www.magictheatre.org 415-597-6700, www.commonwealthclub.org Randall Theatre, Randall Museum (199 Museum Way) This fun-filled family concert features talented — Triskela Celtic Harp Trio SynBioBeta San Francisco 2013 and silly — acrobats, jugglers and clowns in an Sunday, Nov 17, 3:30 p.m. Friday, Nov 15, 7 a.m.–7 p.m. adventurous exploration of motion and music as St. Mary’s Cathedral (1111 Gough St.) Mission Bay Conference Center (1675 Owens St.) clowns and classical music collide onstage. Free, Delight in lively jigs, reels and other classic Celtic If you’re part of the Bay Area’s large synthetic 415-692-3367, www.sfchamberorchestra.org fare in a fusion of folk traditions, early music and biology community, come and network, learn, and original works reflected in arrangements for three partner with new startups and established players. lever harps, voice, Irish whistle, flute, and per- $125–$495, http://synbiobeta.com/sf2013/ CREATURE FEATURES cussion. Free-will offering, 415-567-2020 ext 213, www.stmarycathedralsf.org Warm Gun 2013 A “Pawsitive” Holiday Evening Friday, Nov 22, 8 a.m.–7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec 6, 5–7 p.m. Hotel Kabuki (1625 Post St.) Run Wild San Francisco Jest Jewels (1869 Union Street) The new-business funder known as 500 Startups Enjoy “cocktales,” treats, fun, surprise raffles, and get NIGHTLIFE Sunday, Dec 1, 9 a.m. is hosting this one-day website design conference holiday photos of your pooch by a pet photographer Crissy Field Mason Jennings featuring more than 550 designers and developers to support Pets Unlimited and raise awareness for Get “SantaMental” and support the S.F. Friday, Nov 15, 8 & 10 p.m. from companies such as Airbnb, Apple, MailChimp, their adoption and care programs. A portion of pro- Firefighters’ Toy Drive by running or walking in Yoshi’s (1330 Fillmore St.) YouTube, and more to explore and explain how to ceeds from all dog ornaments sold until Dec 24 will this 5K. All entrants receive a Santa hat before Singer/songwriter Jennings mixes poetry, poli- find good talent, improve design, match business also support the shelter. 415-563-8839, 415-563-6700 the race to decorate to their liking. $15–$35, tics, and a jazz infusion into a rock performance. goals with user behavior, and much more. $349, 415-759-2690, www.rhodyco.com $24–$29, 415-655-5600, www.yoshis.com www.warmgun2013.eventbrite.com E-mail: [email protected] www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 25 At Home

Fitness First Good preparation Winter’s approach means THANK YOU TO: preseason training for snow sports enthusiasts

by julie mitchell season winter condition- balance; and calf raises, ing include endurance, because calves are used a horter days, cooler SAQ [speed, agility and lot while skiing. Walking weather and the quickness] drills, bal- and jogging, especially advent of rain in ance, core, strength, and uphill, are excellent cardio Sthe Bay Area may have flexibility training.” workouts, and key if you Judy Karam & some city dwellers feeling Because snow sports plan on cross-country or Regine Familet grouchy, but for skiers and require a mix of muscle Nordic skiing that involves snowboarders, winter’s endurance and strength as lots of climbing hills. approach means snow. well as balance and flex- For maximum flexibility, And they can’t wait to get ibility, it’s easy to develop stretching will round out 7 to the mountains. a dry-land workout to get your workout. you in shape. For Ngarangad stresses, “A For your generous support of strong thighs, safe and effective con- the Presidio Y’s youth programs. hamstrings, and ditioning program must Right now is the ankles, necessary be progressive, gradually for both skiing building intensity over best time to get and boarding, time. Not all training fitness experts techniques are appropri- into shape for recommend a ate for everyone. Mastery series of squats of a new skill is acquired snow sports. and lunges. both through repetition INVITATION Single-leg lung- and practice, but also You are invited So right now is the best es, with your back leg up careful attention to the time to get in shape for on a chair, step, or BOSU details of the quality of to meet Dr. Farah snow sports. But wait, trainer, are especially good the movement.” While you may be thinking, I for working on strength she advises at least one already work out, so do and balance. Lower body one-on-one coaching ses- I really need a special strength is key in prevent- sion to develop a custom- New Patient Special $200 conditioning program for ing knee injuries. ized preseason workout, winter sports? Snowboarding and ski- Ngarangad says that group Comprehensive Initial Exam Personal trainers and ing both involve side-to- exercise classes including Oral Cancer Screening professional skiers agree: side movements and bal- Pilates, yoga, BodyPump, To be ready for the spe- ance, and trainers and ski indoor cycling, and others Necessary X-rays cial challenges your body resort instructors recom- can also help you cross Routine Dental Cleaning will face in downhill or mend exercises that mimic train and prepare you for ($350 value) cross-country skiing or these movements snowboarding, it makes such as lateral (Does not apply to patients with gum disease) sense to start sports-spe- shuffling and cific training six-to-eight side-to-side hop- Snow sports require weeks before you hit ping or jumping the slopes. from one leg to endurance and Smile SF: Dr Farah Sefidvash Susie Ngarangad, a the other. These senior personal train- moves can be strength, as well The Art & Science of Beautiful Smiles er and group exercise combined with instructor at the Presidio squats and lung- as flexibility. YMCA, recently offered es in short bursts, Call Today: 415-922-2990 a ski conditioning clinic or intervals, to add cardio your best ski or boarding and often works with training, also critical for season ever. snow sports enthusi- mountain sports. Other Susie Ngarangad, 415- asts. She says, “To per- activities recommended 850-0632, sngarangad@ form at your best, pre- by ski instructors include ymcasf.org; Presidio YMCA, vent fatigue and reduce core workouts — like basic 415-447-9622, www.ymcasf. TM the risk of injury while crunches — while seated org/presidio on the slopes, essential on a stability ball that training strategies of pre- will also challenge your E-mail: [email protected]

marcia gagliardi

the tablehopper’s guide to dining and drinking in san francisco A groundbreaking find the right spot for every occasion dining guide to help you find the right place for the resources for thoughtful recommendations on where to eat, drink, right time.

www.tablehopper.com/book

Susie Ngarangad instructs a YMCA member on proper conditioning photos: presidio ymca

26 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Caring For Our Kids Kid doc THE BEST OF TWO WORLDS LEARNING IN GERMAN AND ENGLISH

Open House @ San Francisco Campus Saturday, December 7, 2013, 11am - 1pm

Dr. Noah Simons is a local pediatrician based in Presidio Heights Choosing a pediatrician MOUNTAIN VIEW • BERKELEY • SAN FRANCISCO by liz farrell tion. Your ob/gyn doctor might also • Growing German-English bilingual K-8 campus in be a great resource. He or she sees the Presidio hether you are having a many pediatricians around the hospi- baby or have just moved to tal and knows your personality so may • Now accepting applications for children entering the City, finding a doctor for be able to offer some suggestions for Wyour child’s health care needs can be a a good fit. Kindergarten and Grades 1 to 3 bit daunting. You will spend a lot of time Interview potentials. This could in the first year of your child’s life with be the most important step, because • High-standard bilingual educational concept that your pediatrician, who will then chart you will get a good feel for the situa- fosters holistic and individual development tion after talking to the doctor and visiting the office. When considering location • Safe and nurturing learning environment You want the doctor’s office to of the office, keep in mind you will want it to be con- be convenient, accessible for GISSV San Francisco Campus, Funston Ave. (Bldgs. 4 & 8), San Francisco venient, easily accessible for Phone: 650 254 0748 | Web: www.gissv.org | Email: [email protected] a stroller, and with parking. a stroller, and with available parking. your child’s growth and development in The second consideration is cleanli- most cases through adolescence. When ness. Doctor’s offices can be a haven deciding who that person will be, think for germs, so be on the lookout for about how you chose your own doc- lots of hand sanitizer and clean, well- tor and what was important to you. I kept toys and books, and maybe Find Your Smile at Our think you will find the same criteria will even a separate sick entrance. This is Faculty Dental Practice apply. For our family, I was looking for a something our pediatrician has that few key things, with the most important I greatly appreciate. Another element Our expert faculty dentists offer comprehensive general dentistry and specialty elements being trust and a good rap- to observe is the waiting room — is it services including prosthodontics, periodontics, oral surgery, endodontics and restorative dentistry. Services include check-ups and cleanings, cosmetic dentistry, port. I wanted someone who was going crowded? Do people seem to be wait- crowns and bridges, extractions, fillings, periodontal therapy, root canals and to take my concerns seriously and who ing a long time? more. Open Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. really understood our family. Here are This is also a good time to observe a few steps for making that decision the staff’s demeanor. Are they friendly Faculty Dental Practice a little easier: and helpful or rushed and disinter- University of the Pacific Know what you want. This is com- ested? When meeting with the doctor, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry pletely personal and will vary from inquire about his or her background 2155 Webster Street (at Sacramento), 1st Floor family to family, but spending some and ask questions about how he or San Francisco, CA 94115 time thinking about what is impor- she would handle important parent- tant to you will help you in the deci- ing issues. This is a time to trust your Now accepting appointments. Call 415.929.6524 or visit us online sion process. Some things to consider instincts about whether this person is at dental.pacific.edu and click “Dental Services.” include: (1) Office hours (are there a good fit for your family’s needs. early morning or evening appointment times?); (2) Response time to ques- With three children between wellness tions or concerns (how long does it appointments, sick calls, and the ran- typically take for a call back, and is the dom ailment, I see our pediatrician a lot doctor available by e-mail or text?); throughout the year. I am grateful for the (3) Is it a solo or group practice (do you see different doctors at every appointment, or is there only one When meeting with the doctor available?); and (4) Does the doctor share your prospective doctor, inquire philosophy when it comes about his or her background. to vaccines, antibiotics, or homeopathic alternatives? trust, responsiveness, and attention shown Ask for referrals. One of your best to our family. Luckily, we haven’t had any resources and a good place to start is major illness or issues, but there have been trusted family and friends. Find out some concerns along the way, and having whom their children see and what a good relationship with your pediatrician they like or don’t like about their is imperative for your child’s health and pediatrician. If you are new to the your well-being. area or don’t have friends with children yet, ask parents in your mother’s Liz Farrell is the mother of three young children. group, at the park, or use an online She was formerly a television producer in resource like the digest from Golden Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. E-mail: Gate Mother’s Group to post the ques- [email protected] www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 27 At Home The Urban Home & Garden Clearance Sale Ladder safety

by julia strzesieski • Keep your ladders well maintained (for wood, treat with a wood preservative any homes in San Francisco that leaves a clear surface) feature high ceilings, making • Choose duty ratings to match the simple tasks like changing a highest level of use Mlightbulb sometimes difficult. A reliable ladder is useful and neccessary Ladder safety tips – DON’T around the house, and for safety and • Use or repair a bent or damaged ladder practical purposes, should be chosen to • Test a ladder by jumping on it suit your task. • Use a ladder on slippery surfaces or The three basic types of ladders are uneven ground extension (straight), step, and combina- • Place ladder feet on power cords or tion step/extension. Ladders are rated by have the ladder meet electrical current load capacity and or power lines grade (household, • Climb down commercial, and a ladder with industrial; see table your back to below). Ladder the ladder or rungs are either carrying a load flat, round or D in your arms shaped. The mini- • Overreach, mum size consid- lean to one ered acceptable side, or stand Great pricing on furniture and gifts for round rungs is on one foot just in time for the holidays! 1¼” to 1½” for D • Hurry or rungs. To ensure skip steps when safety, rungs are getting on or NORIEGA FURNITURE required to carry off a ladder 1455 TARAVAL ST (AT 25TH AVE) SF 94116 (415) 564-4110 a much higher • Leave a lad- load than the der unattended NORIEGAFURNITURE.COM rated load for the For safety and practical • Position the entire ladder. ladder where it purposes, a reliable blocks foot traf- WHAT TO fic or where it CONSIDER WHEN ladder should be chosen could be bump- @NoriegaFurnitureSanFrancisco CHOOSING A ed by a door LADDER to suit your task. • Place the lad- Type of activity der on boxes, involved. The type of activity dictates which chairs, furniture, or other moveable type of ladder you’ll need. Use a stepladder object to try to climb higher for interior painting, dry walling, spackling, • Climb from one ladder to another or and wallpapering. Stepladders include step- try to move a ladder while still stand- stools and platform ladders, generally for ing on it home or light commercial use. Stepladders • Climb a ladder when ill or using drugs are self-supporting and may include a pail or alcohol hook or shelf. Extension ladders are best for • Drop or throw ladders painting exteriors, cleaning gutters, replac- • Paint a wooden ladder (paint hides ing shutters and siding, and other areas damage and can create a slippery surface involving height. for climbing) Demands of the application: Make ay, sure the ladder is suitable for the physi- Extension Ladder rd n cal demands of the application. The u o Length Chart t v rated load capacity must exceed the . maximum aggregate weight of the user a Max. 9 Height Buy this s % of along with his or her clothing and tools. Working 0 f to eaves LENGTH 2 Duty ratings are also color-coded. Look Length for the proper duty ratings to match the highest level of use. 9½’ max. 16’ 13’ Height the ladder must reach. For a 9½’ - 13½’ 20’ 17’ savings climber to work from a safe position, the 13½’ - 17½’ 24’ 21’ ladder’s top should extend about three feet above the working surface when in 17½’ - 21½’ 28’ 25’ are in use. Stepladders should be high enough 21½’ - 25’ 32’ 29’ for the user not to have to stand above the 25’ - 28’ 36’ 32’ second step from the top. On extension 28’ - 31’ 40’ 35’ ladders, stand no more than four rungs your future! from the top. Basic material. The most common lad- Ladder Duty Rating Table Four locations to serve you: der materials are wood, aluminum, and fiberglass. Wood ladders are nonconduc- RATED COLOR GRADE TYPE tive when clean and dry. Wood also pro- LOAD CODE vides a natural firm grip for feet and hands. However, wood tends to be heavy, and is Extra-Heavy- IA 300 lbs. BLACK vulnerable to moisture and therefore rot. Duty Industrial Aluminum is lightweight and strong, but Heavy-Duty I 250 lbs. BLUE does conduct electricity, so aluminum lad- Industrial ders should never be used when working Medium-Duty II 225 lbs. YELLOW near energized electrical lines. Fiberglass Commercial offers a blend of desirable qualities. It is Light-Duty III 200 lbs. RED nonconductive, strong, and an excellent Household www.colehardware.com choice for a variety of activities. Discount does not apply to gift cards, Muni, Clipper cards, meter LADDER SAFETY TIPS – DO cards, postage stamps, special orders, or sale merchandise. Not valid Julia Strzesieski is the marketing coordina- with coupons or other offers. Rewards points do not accumulate. • Learn the proper methods for work- tor for Cole Hardware and can be reached ing with a ladder at [email protected].

28 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Real Estate

Real Estate Investor Ruling the Rental Roost The data-driven buyer by john zipperer they want something that fits their bath, or buy that,” says Raghavan, lifestyle. For example, they want who, along with co-founder ome buyers have many to live in San Francisco and com- Nitin Shingate (attorney Harini approaches to picking mute to their job in Oakland. So Venkatesan is the third), showed their homes and neigh- his approach is to see how the the Marina Times how people use Hborhoods. They consult friends various components of a neigh- this data to find homes. “If you rent, and family who know the area. borhood would work for them. you would pay around $3,100. If The search Zillow. They talk to “Pick Glen Park,” he says. “It you were looking to buy, the home real estate agents. They Google the is right on a BART line, so if would cost you roughly $510,000.” Left to right: Nitin Shingate; Vikram Raghavan photos:courtesy rental roost neighborhood. They check online you work elsewhere but want He digs into his data, assem- crime statistics. They even drive to live in San Francisco, that’s a bling a basis for making a rent- borhoods [on the City’s north you could. Because of the appre- through the neighborhood wist- good compromise.” versus-buy decision. “Assume you side) is $2.9 million. This ciation, it almost always makes fully looking for open-house signs. Rental Roost pulls the infor- put in a 5-percent down payment, assumes your house appreciates sense [to own the rental property Rental Roost Inc., a one-year-old mation from databases about then assume a mortgage rate of at the same pace. But let’s assume in a high-value neighborhood]. Bay Area company, is aiming to school zones, safety, public tran- 4.85 percent,” he says. “It really house goes up 10 percent — then If you believe that your house help people make decisions based sit, restaurant locations, and other depends on how much you think buying is better.” is going to appreciate at least 10 on data — data about the neigh- searchable characteristics, and your home is going to appreciate “Rental markets tend to be percent, you’re better off own- borhood and data about the buyer. matches it with information from relative to how much you think more linear,” Raghavan adds. ing investment property there There are a lot of factors that the home-hunter’s own social your [rent] will increase,” looking “The constraint is how much and renting it out, because most could change which neighbor- media data. For example, the user over the next 30 years. If the house cash there is in the market. If of the money you’re making is hood you select. Are you single? logs in with their Facebook cre- is just appreciating at the rate of you actually apply real-time coming from appreciation.” If Will you have a roommate? Are dentials, and Rental Roost can inflation (that’s not as radical as home performance, even paying you believe it’s only going to you looking for a home for a make more-targeted recommen- it sounds in these days of price $2.9 million to get 3-bed, 3-bath appreciate at the rate of infla- family of four? One bedroom, dations. It can tell that if you have spikes; smooth out the ups and house is still better.” tion, you might be better off one bath, or maybe three bed- a 13-year-old child, for example, downs over three decades and it Now, what if you’re not the selling it and buying investment rooms, two baths? How old you are likely to be interested in becomes less eye-popping), and renter but the investor — the property elsewhere. are your children, and what a place with a good high school rent is going up a similar amount, owner of rental property? Are What makes the Tenderloin schools might they be attend- within walking distance; it can “we found that for your first four you better off owning rental units interesting, he adds, is that people ing? Will your dog be wel- find a place that is near those Thai years, you’re better off renting. in an expensive neighborhood who can afford to buy are not come? How available is good restaurants you like so much. Cow From the fourth year onward, you such as the Marina or in a less looking to buy in the Tenderloin, shopping and dining? Hollow, for example, doesn’t rate make more money buying.” expensive neighborhood like the so most of those who do own “We always assume people say as high as the Financial District As for a three-bedroom, three- Tenderloin? “That’s a great ques- property there are investors. ‘I want to live in San Francisco; I or SOMA when it comes to shop- bathroom unit, he says “You’re tion,” says Raghavan. He returns want a 3 bed, 3 bath,’” says Vikram ping, though it has stronger than almost 100 percent of the time to his database. “Let’s assume John Zipperer is the former senior Raghavan, one of Rental Roost’s average schools. better off renting. Once you get the people renting can afford to editor of Apartment Finance Today three co-founders. But that’s not “Let’s say you were looking to to three bed, three bath, the buy — that’s a bad assumption in and Affordable Housing Finance. how people really do it; he says either rent a one bedroom, one average listing in those neigh- itself, but we’re going to pretend E-mail: [email protected]

Russian Hill Pacific Heights Nob Hill Offered at $1,950,000 Offered at $1,450,000 Offered at $1,395,000 Amazing View Condo! Exceptional and Beautiful 2BD/2BA Located on the top Elegant 3BD/2BA Beaux Art Condominium. two floors of a well- Cooperative Rarely available home in the maintained, professionally Apartment. St. Elizabeth, an elegant managed building, this Great central location. Beaux Art building. Beautiful condominium is unlike Old SF charm with finest detailing both in the unit any other! The top floor contemporary upgrades. and the building. Spacious boasts a great entertaining Extensively remodeled. rooms, great flow and area with direct access Excellent kitchen. High wonderful light. to a spectacular, private ceilings, hardwood floors, 1-car parking. Elevator to rooftop deck with moldings. 1-car parking. all levels. Common view panoramic Bay views! 1901California-5.com roof deck. 1BD/2.5BA + bonus room 901Powell.com and parking. Sandra Bagnatori 757NorthPoint.com (415) 518-4865 Brooke Krohn, MA Philip Browning Scott Brittain (415) 321-4298 (415) 571-7053 (415) 385-6657

Noe Valley Pacific Heights Marina Offered at $1,395,000 Offered at $895,000 Offered at $725,000 Stylish Top Floor Gorgeous Corner Great Location! View Condo. 3BD/2BA Property. In Pleasantly located Blending elegant the back of a sophisticated between the Marina 1906 architecture with building, this home features Green and Chestnut, this contemporary design, natural light throughout. attractive 1BD condo is this remodeled 3BD/2BA The beautifully remodeled roomy and bright. Updated condo includes 1 deeded chef’s kitchen with stainless appliances, nice finishes parking space, downtown steel appliances and and good storage make and Bay views, bright granite counters opens to for an easy move-in eat-in kitchen, formal the dining room and living experience. Common roof dining room and living room, a wonderful layout for deck with an amazing room, period details and entertaining and everyday view. Common abundant storage. living. 1-car parking. washer/dryer. Parking. 1211Dolores.com 1856FranklinStreet.com 190Cervantes102.com

Ron Sebahar Missy Wyant Smit Elaine Larkin (415) 279-4579 (415) 321-4315 (415) 321-4223

Inner Richmond NOPA Offered at $655,000 Offered at $599,000 The City’s Best Fabulous and Hip Sophisticated Condo Condo. 2BD/1.5BA, in the Heart of the modern condo with 1-car Neighborhood. Unique To see homes for sale in your neighborhood, parking. Across from Rossi private entrance on ground make your smartphone smarter using our mobile App. Playground. Gorgeous level. Pet friendly. Close to tree-lined Arguello with USF, cafes, parks and Text: HILLCO To: 87778 scenic bike lane is seen transportation. Kitchen from the bright living/dining with granite and stainless Hill & Co. is a proud member of the Who’s Who great room with cozy gas steel. Open living/dining In Luxury Real Estate international network. fireplace and dual-paned room. Bedroom includes full-length windows. walk-in shown as an office 621Arguello-201.com nook. In-unit washer/dryer, Ron Wong 1 deeded garage parking. (415) 321-4368 2001Mcallister13.com Mike Tekulsky Cathy Devito (415) 321-4369 (415) 652-2902 (415) 921-6000 • www.hill-co.com

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 29 Real Estate

Real Estate Update A foot is not a foot Come on Over Is square footage for Free Checking important or not? Say goodbye to monthly service charges on your current checking account and say hello to Free Checking from Golden 1. With our Free Checking Account, you’ll pay no monthly service by stephanie saunders ahlberg tax assessor added the additions to charge—and you’ll get all of the features you need to manage their record? All of these considerations hroughout my years as a make it more difficult to calculate true your money for FREE, including: Realtor, and with even greater measurements. frequency lately, I’ve been asked Quoting square footage can be dicey t 'SFF.PCJMF%FQPTJU Tthe question, “What is the square foot- for sellers. You might provide a number t Free.PCJMFBOE5FYU#BOLJOH age?” I understand why you would want that you believe to be true, but then to know — price per square foot is a what happens if the buyer finds a lower t Free0OMJOF#BOLJOHXJUI#VEHFU5PPMT convenient way to compare one prop- number from another source during erty with another. In many parts of the the purchase process? Even though the t Free#JMM1BZNFOU4FSWJDF BOE country it’s an easy question to answer buyer was perfectly happy with the 1PQNPOFZ¥QFSTPOBMQBZNFOUTFSWJDF — especially in planned communities home at the original price, there is sud- t FreeBDDFTTUPNPSFUIBO(PMEFO or suburbs where there are specific floor denly a perception of reduced value, "5.TBOE $001/FUXPSL"5.T plans and the square footage is easy to and a request for a price reduction is sure to follow. OBUJPOXJEF Square footage is quoted every- where online. It’s one of the first Stop paying for something Hard as it is to believe, more descriptors you see on many that should be free! sites. While that might be fine in many communities, in San It’s easy to join Golden 1 and often than not we really don’t Francisco it’s not as relevant. open an account. Apply today at know the actual square footage Square footage is a factor, but our Marina Branch located at we evaluate homes on so many 2298 Lombard Street. of a home. more aspects as well, including location, condition, remodeling, determine. However, San Francisco is curb appeal, view, parking, outdoor not one of those communities. space, similar sales, and more. A sin- To begin with, hard as it is to believe, gle square foot in one home does not more often than not we really don’t equal a single square foot in another know the actual square footage. We home, even if they are next door to one can of course see what the tax record another. Each home has to be looked at Federally insured by NCUA. says, and we can look on an appraisal, individually for a true evaluation. * Fees apply for expedited payments. but we can’t be sure the figures quoted We can take two properties of simi- are correct. For example, I recently lar square footage and find that their sold a fabulous condominium in Pacific feel and usable space are dramatically City and County of San Francisco Heights. Four different sources came different. A Victorian will have a long Outreach Advertising up with four different figures for the hallway that is large in square foot- 2013 – 10B square footage, and they varied by over age but basically unusable space. An Newspaper Outreach Advertising Survey 400 square feet — a huge discrepancy. Edwardian, in contrast, won’t have that, The Board of Supervisors is evaluating the effectiveness of Outreach advertising. Was the So, in this instance, when asked about and will instead have larger rooms. information in this ad helpful and/or interesting to you? What types of articles would you like to the square footage, I would simply tell Same square footage, different alloca- see? Please provide your comments at (415) 554-7710 or email [email protected]. Please include the publication name and date. people what the range was, cite the tion of space. Even so, if you’ve always sources and say “somewhere in Offi ce of Community Investment and Infrastructure (“OCII”) INVITATION TO BID there is the truth.” OCII will receive sealed bids from California ‘B’ licensed contractors for the Building 813 Stabilization How could square footage Project, contract HPS 02-13. vary so much? In this case, one We can find that two properties Work includes new roofi ng system, replacement of existing windows and interior doors, installation source was the condominium of new storefront and metal panels, electrical and lighting, and exterior painting within a vacant 250,000 square foot building located at Hunters Point Shipyard. map, another the tax record, of similar square footage can and two others were apprais- Estimated cost of the work is $3.5 M. This contract contains equal employment opportunity goals of 25.6% minority participation and 6.9% female participation for each trade. ers who did not have the same have dramatically different feel answer. Appraisers vary in their For bid documents, see http://www.sfredevelopment.org/index.aspx?page=127 method of measuring. The and usable space. or call Kevin Masuda at (415) 749-2508. Bid Date: November 6, 2013 at 2:00 pm. condo map should be accurate, but again it is a human doing dreamed of owning a Victorian, you’re Low Cost Diversity, Sensitivity and Cultural-Competency Training for Businesses, Employers and Housing Providers by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission the measuring and it depends on that going to choose that home over the person’s method. Some measure from Edwardian. How the home feels to you If you are a business owner or housing provider, educating yourself and your employees about the harmful impact of discriminatory conduct is not only critical to your success, but it will help you the inside of the wall and don’t count as a buyer is really what matters most — avoid expensive lawsuits and promote smart, respectful business and/or housing practices. stairs, some do a gross measurement not its square footage. The fi rst step towards ensuring that you and your employees comply with Federal, State and Local on the outside of the building and anti-discrimination laws is to enlist the help of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. For deduct for light wells. Methods vary Stephanie Saunders Ahlberg has been a a nominal fee, we will provide you with the most up-to-date training available, customized to your specifi c needs. a great deal. real estate agent for over 30 years and What’s more, in San Francisco own- joined Hill & Co. in 1983, where she Contact us today to learn how you can reduce the likelihood of expensive lawsuits stemming from unlawful workplace and/or housing practices based on age, ethnicity, sexual-orientation, disability ers often add on to their homes. Were has consistently been among the top and other protected classes. To learn more about our trainings, please visit us at www.sf-hrc.org the additions done with permits? Are 10 salespeople. She can be reached at or email [email protected]. they legal dwelling spaces? Has the www.realtyinsanfrancisco.com. Notice of Availability of REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) for The EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park

The San Francisco Port Commission is issuing one (1) RFP seeking qualifi ed tenant to lease the EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park for a term of fi ve (5) years. Download RFP packages from the Port’s website at SFPort.com/EcoCenter-RFP, available at the Port offi ces at Pier 1 or by contacting the Port (415)-274-0400. Advertise in the

Submittals must be delivered by hand to the Port of San Francisco, Pier 1, San Francisco CA 94111, no later than 2:00 P.M. PST on Friday November 8, 2013.

Tell us where you need curb ramps!

Do you use a wheelchair, walker, or scooter? Do you have trouble getting to the nearest transit stop? You can make a request for a curb ramp in your area by calling 3-1-1. Just jot down the intersection and tell the 3-1-1 operator how a curb ramp would increase access for your neighborhood. A project of the San Francisco Department of Public Works and the Mayor’s Ofﬁ ce on Disability. Reach over 30,000 readers in

The City and County of San Francisco encourage public outreach. Articles are translated into San Francisco’s northern neighborhoods. several languages to provide better public access. The newspaper makes every effort to translate the articles of general interest correctly. No liability is assumed by the City and County of San T o inquire about our advertising rates and for more information, Francisco or the newspapers for errors and omissions. contact us at [email protected] or call our offices at (415) 815-8081 CNS#2548409

30 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com 1/4 H PG: 4.936” X 7.875” MARINA TIMES STRATEGIC & PROACTIVE

Highly competitive and famously complex, the San Francisco real estate market can be both challenging and rewarding. Zephyr turns savvy, informed Bay Area urbanites into successful homeowners, investors and sellers. ZephyrSF.com

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 31 Real Estate

The Marina Times Real Estate Mystery Housebuyer The art of negotiation Market Report: September 2013 By Hill & Co. SINGLE FAMILY HOME SALES BEDROOMS/ ABOVE/AT/BELOW DAYS ON Neighborhood Address Bathrooms Sale Price Asking Price Market

Cow Hollow 1630 Greenwich Street 3BD/4BA $2,965,000 Above 6 3020 Laguna Street 5BD/4.5BA $4,400,000 Below 27 2827 Greenwich Street 5BD/4.5BA $5,700,000 Above 9

Lake 6423-6425 California Street 3BD/1BA $875,000 Below 20 1714 Lake Street 6BD/2.25BA $1,955,000 Above 17

Laurel Heights (no sales) Would you rather negotiate with the rottweiler, the suspected terrorists, the war hero, or the screaming agents? photos:Leonardo Sakaki Lone Mountain (no sales)

Marina 35 Rico Way 3BD/3BA $2,400,000 Above 8 Tales from the home front Nob Hill (no sales) by anonymous demand that she be able to interview North Beach (no sales) the neighbors’ dog. uying and selling a home is The seller acceded to her unusual Pacific Heights 2201 Lyon Street 6BD/3.5BA $5,250,000 Above 12 the closest most people come to request, and the interview went well. In 2700 Pierce Street 5BD/4.75BA $8,890,000 Above 46 real negotiation and interperson- fact, she says the Rottweiler did not live Bal politics with real value at stake. Yes, up to the breed’s stereotype — it behaved Presidio Heights 3481 Washington Street 4BD/4.5BA $7,325,000 Below 1 people might know how to haggle with a like a real pussy cat. street vendor over the price of a scarf, but Yet another: A cousin of mine was mov- Russian Hill (no sales) if they overpay by $10, who really cares? ing from Chicago to New Mexico. Their And though people might think they’re Chicago home was a co-op (which is basi- Sea Cliff (no sales) pros about dealing with car salespeople, cally what the rest of the world calls San most of them are lambs for slaughter Francisco’s TIC arrangement). They found Telegraph Hill (no sales) when it comes to actually sitting down a buyer, but the closing was complicated across the table with a seasoned car deal- and brutal — from what she told me about CONDOS it afterward, it could have been BEDROOMS/ ABOVE/AT/BELOW DAYS ON a scene from The Good Wife: Neighborhood Address Bathrooms Sale Price Asking Price Market The buyers, the sellers, and both parties’ agents all in the con- Cow Hollow 1551 Filbert Street #2 1BD/1BA $725,000 Above 10 When it comes to a house ference room with the agents 1755 Filbert Street #1R 1BD/1BA $800,000 Below 63 deal, most nonprofessionals bickering over everything and 2244 Greenwich Street 2BD/2BA $1,050,000 Below 76 literally shouting at each other. 2668 Greenwich Street 3BD/2BA $2,500,000 Above 14 are making it up. By contrast, laid-back New

Lake 239 26th Avenue #201 2BD/1BA $520,000 Above 21 Mexico lived up to its reputa- 108 4th Avenue 2BD/2BA $700,000 Above 33 er. Now, when it comes to a house deal, tion. The closing on their Albuquerque 180 5th Avenue 2BD/1.5BA $826,000 Above 12 hundreds of thousands of dollars can home was so calm it might as well have 4504 California Street 2BD/2BA $860,000 Above 53 be at stake, and most nonprofessionals taken place in a day spa. involved in the deal are basically making And another: A relative of mine was sell- Laurel Heights 38 Heather Avenue #A 2BD/1BA $780,000 Above 34 it up as they go along. ing her home to move into a smaller one. And that creates some interesting and Luckily, in fairly short order, she sold her

Lone Mountain 20 Parsons Street 3BD/1BA $745,000 Above 19 sometimes amusing tales. home and made a successful bid on her new True story: About a decade ago, an house. But then the pressure started from the

Marina 1540 Lombard Street #K 2BD/1BA $910,000 Above 14 acquaintance of mine sold his house. buyers. Could she move out a couple days 1175 Bay Street 2BD/1.5BA $1,250,000 Above 26 But he was more interested in playing earlier, because they needed to get out of 55 Capra Way 3BD/2BA $2,000,000 Above 0 junior sleuth than in being a seller, and their place earlier than expected because the he almost ended up screwing up the sale. buyer of their home was in the armed forces Nob Hill 1340 Leavenworth Street 0BD/1BA $420,000 Above 17 The time was shortly after 9/11. The and needed to complete the move before he 1177 California Street #215 1BD/1BA $552,000 Above 31 house was in a major East Coast city, and he was shipped overseas. 1630 Clay Street #3 1BD/1BA $625,000 Above 42 had lived there for decades. Property values So my relative approached the sellers 1554 Jones Street 2BD/2BA $845,000 Below 0 had risen dramatically, so he was pretty of the home she was buying to see if they 1776 Sacramento Street #605 2BD/2BA $887,500 Above 14 much guaranteed to make a large profit. would let her move in a couple days earlier. 1200 California Street #27D 2BD/2BA $2,350,000 At 24 When two men of vaguely Middle Eastern Luckily, that house had been sitting empty appearance made an all-cash offer on his (the previous occupant had passed away North Beach 650 Chestnut Street #302 3BD/2BA $1,050,000 Above 12 home, he was split between wanting to roll and the family was handling the sale), so 807 Columbus Avenue #301 1BD/1BA $765,000 Above 0 in dollar bills and wanting to play his part in they let her move in a couple days early the international war on terrorists. without charging her anything. All good? Pacific Heights 2410 Pacific Avenue #1 1BD/1BA $730,000 Above 12 So, as it was related to me by a No; the buyers of my relative’s house then 1990 Green Street #107 1BD/1BA $800,000 Above 13 mutual acquaintance, the homeowner came back and asked for a move-in date 2111 Franklin Street #3 3BD/2BA $1,250,000 Above 9 called up the FBI and told them he another few days earlier than the new, ear- 2421 Buchanan Street #B 2BD/2BA $1,261,000 Below 42 thought the potential buyers were al lier date she had just arranged. 2200 Sacramento Street #1405 1BD/1BA $1,340,000 Above 1 Qaeda. “Why do you think 2090 Pacific Avenue #301 2BD/2BA $1,500,000 Above 7 that?” the FBI wisely asked. 2200 Sacramento Street #1206 2BD/2BA $1,625,000 Above 16 So he told them about their 1552 Green Street #P 3BD/2BA $1,637,500 Below 43 appearance and the all-cash Home sales are stressful 3294 Clay Street #6 3BD/2BA $1,685,000 Above 9 offer. They said they didn’t 1925 Gough Street #41 4BD/3.5BA $2,695,000 At 112 think the men were al Qaeda, enough without solving 2064 Jackson Street 3BD/2.5BA $5,710,000 Below 55 but they’d check them out. After the FBI completed everyone else’s problems. Presidio Heights 333 Presidio Avenue #1 1BD/1BA $639,000 At 53 their check, they called back 102 Walnut Street 4BD/3BA $3,000,000 Below 182 the homeowner. “They’re not al Qaeda; It’s hard enough to negotiate a deal with a they’re European bankers.” buyer and seller, it’s even harder when it’s a Russian Hill 2164 Hyde Street #201 2BD/2BA $1,450,000 Below 92 He sold his house. chain of four or five sellers and three or four 2340 Larkin Street #2 2BD/2BA $2,400,000 Above 11 Another true story: A young San buyers, all trying to get an advantage and Francisco woman bought her first schedule movers, repair people, and the like. Sea Cliff (no sales) home — a condo — seven years ago. So she said no. An animal lover herself, she had a dog Home transactions and moving are stress- Telegraph Hill (no sales) and a cat, so she wasn’t worried about ful enough without trying to solve every- The data presented in this report is based on the San Francisco Multiple Listing Service and is animals in the building. But when she body else’s problems along the way. accurate to the best of our knowledge, but cannot be guaranteed as such. For additional information, heard that the upstairs neighbors had a contact Hill & Co., 1880 Lombard Street (at Buchanan), 415-321-4362, www.hill-co.com. Rottweiler, she wrote into her offer the Anonymous is real.

32 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com Real Estate Today You‘re virtually home Ready, set, go! Finding a home online is easy — or maybe not by carole isaacs sent an e-mail to an agent and in week or more until you are up to a short while you have a response. speed on your search. he real estate market The news is often not what you Two: Understand what it has been going crazy for expected. The property that tempt- means when a property is listed months now, and it is ed you is in contract or possibly “active,“ “active continued,“ or Tclear it is not settling down in even sold. How could that be? You “pending.“ There are other sub- the way buyers would like. Maybe just found it online! The answer is categories, but knowing what you haven’t even looked online yet, that on many websites it is up to the these three mean will get you because you were waiting for a individual agents to update their started in your search. sign that it was time to begin your listings, and sometimes that does Active: Property is for sale. It search for a home in San Francisco. not happen quickly. Even in good is not in contract. The seller is Being successful at home hunting online requires getting off on The recent buzz around Twitter’s faith there is so much informa- actively seeking offers. the right foot. Photo: wikimonster IPO is that newly minted million- tion changing hands that no mat- Active continued: Property is in aires will create even more pressure ter how fast people work, listings contract. Buyer and seller have Four: Believe it or not, the fast- with agents never meeting buyers in neighborhoods like Noe Valley may not be up to date. The obvious ratified an offer agreeing on price est way to find out correct infor- or even sellers in person, but for and the Mission — and because all question you will ask is, “How can and terms. The seller may still be mation is to ask your agent. It is the most part this is limited to real estate trickles down, the rest I make this work for me?” showing the home until all contin- never too soon in your search to investors or the very wealthy, not of the City, too. This plus interest Here are things buyers need gencies are removed. have an agent. Part of a Realtor’s the average person looking for a rates bumping up a point or so, and to know about searching online. Pending: All contingencies have job is to provide information on place to call home. The Internet is it looks like for some buyers it may One: When you first begin been removed. Buyer and seller are properties for sale, and you will without a doubt the place where be now or never to begin a search searching online, search for awaiting funds to be transferred and not be wasting their time. If your just about everyone, at least in the for a home. properties that have been on escrow signings to be completed agent is too busy to help, maybe it Bay Area, begins a home search. The first stop for a home search the market only a few days to before escrow closes. Cash offers is time find a different agent. To make the best use of your time, for most people is online at one avoid disappointment. This is may close escrow in as little as three Five: When you contact an follow the guidelines I have sug- of the many real estate websites. known as “Days on Market“ or days, while buyers who need financ- agent about a property online, do gested, and eventually the invisible Within a few minutes of searching DOM. Your first online searching will normally close escrow in as not be surprised if the agent asks pieces of the real estate puzzle you you will be saying to yourself, Gee es are educational, and you are little as 25 days or as much as 45 days. if you are working with an agent. are working on will come together wiz, it looks like there are a few not going to miss anything if Three: Do not assume informa- Agents do not get paid until their and you will own a home. places available in my price range. you don’t look at properties that tion you find online is correct. buyers close escrow and do not This is better than you thought, have been on the market longer. The best thing is to consider the want to spend time with buyers Carole Isaacs is a Realtor with so you click on the “Contact an Properties are selling so quickly information you find to be a lead who have agents. McGuire Real Estate. Visit her Agent” button and in no time you there is no reason to spend time that will be the first step in learn- We have all heard of deals being online at www.caroleisaacs.com or are talking to an agent, or you on listings that are for sale a ing about the property. completed start to finish online call 415-608-1267.

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 33 Travel

Weekend Traveler Start holiday season here Cozy up on the Monterey Coast

Clockwise: Old-school charm at Restaurant 1833; sunrise from a room at the Monterey Plaza Hotel; pomegrante in the garden of the historic Pacific House; Olio, a nostalgic emporium of vintage fun; the view from scenic Oceanview Boulevard photos: Garrick Ramirez

by garrick ramirez If the weather outside is fright- DINE Northwest: Drink hearty your holiday dinners. Housed ful, find comforting shelter in one Wake to Carmel Belle’s beer. Cannery Row Brewing in an atmospheric 19th cen- he Monterey Peninsula of the area’s many antique shops. refined, ingredient-driven dishes Company boasts a large selec- tury home, the restaurant’s rich is a seaside stunner any The Cannery Row Antique Mall like poached eggs with country tion of seasonal ales among interior is dressed with period time of year, but it really is a two-story wonder that houses toast and Hobbs bacon served its 73 craft beers on tap, and pieces and lit by flickering can- Tshines during fall. Crowds thin, over 150 dealers. In downtown in a light-filled atrium. Craving Peter B’s Brewpub brews their delabras and dazzling fireplac- leaves turn golden, and its towns Monterey, Olio is a nostalgia- something cozier? Tradition own specials, including a newly es. You won’t find more charm dress up nicely for the holidays. filled boutique with kitschy fun reigns at Katy’s Place where released Pumpkin Ale (831-643- west of New Orleans’ French Yep, this month is the official objects from pop-culture’s past. your coffee comes in a heavy 2722, www.canneryrowbrew Quarter. The sumptuous ambi- start of the season. Whether you Easy to imagine Ralphie from white porcelain mug and accom- ingcompany.com; 831-649- ence inspires feasts. The menu plan to organize or flee the family A Christmas Story discover- panies a stack of soul-warming 2699, www.portolahotel.com/ accommodates with a strong this year, a cozy getaway will serve ing his coveted BB rifle here pancakes (831-624-1600, www. dining/brewpub). wine list and dishes like a you well. With its scenic beauty (831-655-0264, www.cannery carmelbelle.com; 831-624-0199, Make a sunset drink at The wood-fire roasted whole truffle and ubiquitous crackling fireplac- rowantiquemall.com; 831-375- www.katysplacecarmel.com). Inn at Spanish Bay a new ritual. chicken. Afterward, a ceremo- es, the Monterey Coast exhibits 6546, www.olio-vintagefun.com). For a casual lunch, Paprika On an expansive patio with a nious Art Deco absinthe cart that fond concept the Germans Cafe is a bijou gem. Enjoy sand- sweeping view of the coast, fam- roams the dining rooms seeking call gemütlichkeit: peace of mind, PLAY wiches made of garlic chicken ilies and couples cuddle under out the brave (831-643-1833, coziness, and a sense of unhurry. Eschew the touristed or lamb stuffed into a crisp, blankets surrounding blazing www.restaurant1833.com). So bundle up and let the calm, 17-Mile Drive for the road less fluffy flatbread. You’ll love the fire pits piled high with wood. undulating waves of the Monterey traveled: Oceanview Cup your hands STAY Bay set the pace. Boulevard and around a warm cof- With the same auspicious Sunset Drive toward fee drink as you setting as the famous aquarium SHOP Asilomar Beach. Don’t pass up the beautiful watch the sun dip down the street, The Monterey Carmel-by-the-Sea’s quaint, This dual-named into the glimmering Plaza Hotel & Spa treats its elfin shops with storybook stretch of road skirts 19th century estates that bay. Whether you guests to views of dolphins architecture are especially the same beautiful appreciate the musi- and sea otters frolicking just charming during the holidays. coastline, but offers comprise the Monterey State cal accompaniment outside their rooms. The inte- The local candy store, Cottage better opportuni- depends on which rior views aren’t so bad either. of Sweets, looks like Hansel and ties to pull over Historic Park. camp you fall into on Upscale finishes like warm teak Gretel’s pied-à-terre. Stroll the and gape at what bagpipes (831-647- and Spanish marble feel digni- town’s side streets, duck down the Monterey Coast does house-made baklava the owner 7500, www.pebblebeach.com/ fied. With a well-trained staff alleyways strung with lights best. The inspiring panora- sneaks to you at the end of accommodations/the-inn-at- and meticulous in-room ame- and discover hidden court- mas are enough to convert your meal. Eat in the charm- spanish-bay). nities, it’s hard to go wanting yards. Seek out Fjorn for ultra- the least artistic to landscape ing interior or take it to nearby, I can’t imagine pet or owner here. Plus, I’m fairly certain desirable Scandinavian table- painting (831-646-6440, scenic San Carlos Beach Park being any happier than at the the room’s full-length mirror ware, kitchen items and wool www.parks.ca.gov). (831-375-7452). Cypress Inn. Co-owned by celeb takes off 10 pounds — a boon blankets to outfit your home Famed for its seaside beauty, Only kayakers who packed and noted animal lover Doris during the holidays. The spa for the season (831-624-5170, Monterey is less regarded for its a lunch are eating any clos- Day, the attractive 1929 Spanish- deserves your attention, and www.cottageofsweets.com; role in California’s formation. er to the water than diners at style hotel and restaurant extends you won’t want to miss soak- 831-620-0123, www.fjorn.com). Don’t pass up the 19th cen- Schooners Coastal Kitchen. a special welcome to four-legged ing in the rooftop whirlpool Pop in to Happy Girl Kitchen tury estates that comprise the With large picture windows family members. Enjoy stirred tubs perched high above the Co. in Pacific Grove and stock Monterey State Historic Park. overlooking nothing but blue, cocktails and small plates in a bay. The only time I wasn’t up on artisan preserves for your They hide beautiful, peaceful the handsome dining room convivial atmosphere filled with relaxed here was at 11 a.m. holiday spreads. You might rec- gardens with fountains and feels more akin to a cruise ship fun Doris Day memorabilia and on the morning of check- ognize their delectable jams year-round blooms. The first at sea. Solid renditions of pop- friendly locals. Outside, twin- out. Then a deep panic set in and pickled vegetables from weekend of December, the ular seafood items like oysters, kling lights and an outdoor (831-646-1700, www.monterey your local farmers’ market. houses are lit by candlelight prawns, and chowder keep the hearth warm up a charming plazahotel.com). Sign up for one of their work- and come alive with festivities locals happy (831-372-2628, courtyard (831-624-3871, www. shops and bring home a batch for a popular Christmas in the www.schoonersmonterey.com). cypress-inn.com). Garrick Ramirez can be reached on of your own (831-373-4475, Adobes event (831-649-7118, When the temperature dips, Restaurant 1833 offers a Twitter at @WeekendDelSol or at www.happygirlkitchen.com). www.parks.ca.gov). do like they do in the Pacific truly enchanting setting for [email protected].

34 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 35 Pets

The Cathouse Doing what animals do

At least this bird was safe from Charlie photo: john zipperer My psychopathic pet

by john zipperer better behaved than you are, then it’s time to take a time-out. orget Spot or Professor “Those who dislike [cats] see them as Fluffball; meet Hannibal Licker. sneaky, moody, manipulative, even off- Earlier this year, the media had puttingly feminine,” Jessica Pressler wrote Fa field day writing about a study from in a June 9, 2013, article for New York the Smithsonian Conservation Biology magazine. “But to the majority, cats are Institute and the United States Fish and beloved. Currently, nearly 90 million Wildlife Service that reported that out- occupy roughly one third of American door felines were homes, and ... there responsible for a are signs that we much higher kill- are again living in ing spree than pre- When your cat is better an age of cat deifica- viously thought. tion, the most obvi- According to the behaved than you are, ous being that we author’s summary allow them to poop on www.nature. it’s time for a time-out. in boxes inside of com, We estimate our homes.” that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.4–3.7 In a city like San Francisco, with billion birds and 6.9–20.7 billion mam- densely populated neighborhoods and a mals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed large population of cat owners, certain- to owned pets, cause the majority of ly good neighborliness would behoove this mortality. more people to keep their cats indoors As I digest that information and look rather than letting them roam free for at my tuxedo cat, Ashes, I know she looks nocturnal hunting. and acts adorable, but she’s thinking, Those Ashes and her bully of a brother, the birds had it coming. Perhaps, Ashes, per- big Maine coon Charlie, never see the haps. But of course it also suggests that great outdoors. They are perfectly happy we have to come to terms with two things: with this arrangement. Both of them were First, people helped cause this problem rescue cats, the products of unbridled pas- by letting cats breed like, um, rabbits; and sions between unknown feline ships that second, it should hardly be big news that a passed in the night but paused long enough carnivorous animal eats other animals. to make kitty whoopee. Now they are con- Frankly, behavior we find adorable in demned to a lifetime of indoors pampering; our cats is behavior that we usually would two people who fuss over them; a nice home diagnose as psychopathic in a human. to sleep, eat, and use the litter box in; and Felines are amazingly selfish, relentlessly a steady supply of expensive and healthful predatory, and totally amoral — if they cat food, which really only means they’ve “behave” according to our “rules,” it is got humans somewhere else who kill those because they don’t see another way of get- birds and fish and mice and convert them ting what they want. into packaged cat food so they don’t have to This, of course, is not as crazy as the do it themselves. humans who contacted the authors of that Psychos, I know. Smithsonian study with whining, threaten- ing, vilifying messages. When your cat is E-mail: [email protected]

Animal Community Adoption We Deliver! 415.567.6900 A totally paws-some holiday ome out to get money for and awareness the sale of those orna- a holiday photo of Pets Unlimited’s adop- ments from that evening taken of your tion and care programs until D. 24 will benefit Cdog and support ani- on Fillmore Street. Pets Unlimited. mal adoption and care Jest promises “cock- Representatives from programs at the same tales,” treats, fun, and Pets Unlimited will be time. Jest Jewels (1869 surprise raffles. You on hand, as will some of Union Street) is host- can also pick up a dog their furry adoptee can- ing a “Pawsitive Holiday ornament to adorn your didates and a pet pho- Evening” Friday, Dec. 6 Christmas tree; a por- tographer to snap some from 5–7 p.m. to raise tion of all proceeds from holiday pix of your dog.

36 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com LEAVE NO DOG BEHIND.

ADOPTION EVENTS EVERY SUNDAY AT PET FOOD EXPRESS: 3160 20TH AVENUE, SAN FRANCISCO FROM NOON TO 5 P.M. Can’t have a pet but still want to help save lives? Consider volunteering, donating, or fostering! Visit www.rocketdogrescue.org for more information.

NOE HATCHI Noe is a darling shepherd mix Meet Hatchi! He is a dar- girl around 5 to 6 years old. She ling 2-year-old Jindo mix who grew up on the streets, and has weighs 47 pounds. We rescued since been in a wonderful foster from a shelter after he was taken home and she is doing so well! away from his abusive owner. She can by shy at first, but warms Poor Hatchi has spent his en- up quickly when she gets to know tire life locked in a tiny cement you. Having been around her, we can say without hesita- yard that was no bigger than a closet. He lived with a tion that she’s the sweetest, most gentle girl around. Sweet female Jindo mix, too. Since coming to us, Hatchi is Noe gets along with everyone! She has been waiting for doing great, and despite what people did to him, he her forever home and would love to meet you. is a total people lover. He does great with his people, and bonds strongly. This is a wonderful, independent breed. Hatchi would benefit from an active, and loving SOYRIZO new home where he could tag along for your morning Meet Soyrizo! This boy is quite jog on the Marina Green! a character, and a wonderful little dog. He’s about 5 pounds PAXIS and a bundle of joy. Soyrizo is fostered with other dogs big and Meet Pixis! This adorable 1 to small, and he does great. He is 2 year old little crested/terrier very in love with his people, and would adore spending mix girl is a lovely, outgoing a rainy afternoon hanging around the house with you, and very sweet gal. She has cuddling or just being near you while you read a good been fostered with kids and book by the fire. He’s an easygoing boy and will make other dogs and is amazing with both. She’s around a great companion! 10 pounds, so she’s perfect for single apartment life in the Marina, but she’d be just as happy in a big house with a family. She’s a spunky gal who CHUGGLES loves to play, and she adores her people and bonds Meet Chuggles the Chug! This closely. You can’t get much cuter than Pixis! She is 7-month-old Pug/Chihuahua going to make someone very happy. is the perfect combination of spunky and loving. He adores dog toys and will entertain him- COME MEET THE DOGS self for hours, or play with his YOU SEE HERE AS WELL AS doggy friends. Dog bones will OTHER AVAILABLE ROCKET DOGS also keep him occupied. He shares his food nicely with his human and dog friends. He is crate trained, quiet, EVERY SUNDAY AT PET FOOD EXPRESS and great with all people and children. Just the perfect (3160 20TH AVENUE, SAN FRANCISCO) little guy to fill your heart!

FROM 12 TO 5 P.M.! PLEASE VISIT WWW.ROCKETDOGRESCUE.ORG TO SEE ALL OF OUR ADOPTABLE DOGS AND FOR INFORMATION ABOUT VOLUNTEERING OR FOSTERING WITH US!

ROCKET DOG RESCUE | 415.756.8188 | P.O. BOX 460826, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94146 WWW.ROCKETDOGRESCUE.ORG | [email protected]

This page is sponsored by

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 37 Pets

The Adventures of Skylar Grey Chapter 6

Teacher’s pet

by susan dyer reynolds With every Saturday that passed, Skylar and I grew a little closer, and Teacher’s pet she grew a little more confident. Our I wanna be teacher’s pet final exercise was a recall test in three I wanna be huddled and cuddled heats: Another person held your pup- as close to you as I can get py’s leash while you stood across the — Title track from the 1958 film starring room. When Aishe gave the signal, Doris Day and Clark Gable, the person let go of the leash, and written by Joe Lubin you did whatever you had to do to get your puppy to come. The winner s we entered the classroom of each heat faced off against the last at SF Puppy Prep on the first winner until there was one puppy left. day of kindergarten, Skylar The other parents opened their jars of AGrey was excited to see other puppies puppy crack and made kissy noises to but terrified to leave my side. I was try- get their puppies’ attention. “Do you ing to juggle her leash with one hand want a jar of baby food?” Aishe asked. and hold a dog bed under my arm “Nope,” I said, watching Skylar across with the other. the room in At orienta- silence. Aishe tion, trainer gave the sig- Aishe Berger In the final winner-takes-all nal and the had asked us other parents to bring a bed heat it was Skylar Grey began squeal- for our pup- versus Cairn terrier ing words of pies to rest encourage- on between extraordinaire Zoe. ment and wild- lessons as ly waving the well as something for them to chew. crack jars. Some of the puppies got Corgi Cole’s mom looked concerned. sidetracked, going to the wrong par- “I can’t bring Cole’s bed,” she said, ents in search of better crack, but not “because he ate it.” Fortunately, Skylar’s Sky — she made a beeline for me and bed was intact, so I spread it on the won the heat. “Good girl,” I said as she floor next to my chair and offered sat down on my foot. In the final win- her a bully stick, which she was too ner-takes-all heat it was Skylar Grey nervous to eat. versus Cairn terrier extraordinaire We worked on basic commands, and Zoe. Once again Zoe’s parents made then the puppies were given free play kissy noises and prepared their jar of time, something that is essential for crack, and once again I stood stoic socialization. Despite the fact Sky out- and crackless. This battle was a little weighed some of her classmates by 10 unfair anyway, considering Skylar’s pounds, she loved playing with the legs were four times the length of little ones; she was gentle, even sub- Zoe’s. As Aishe gave the signal, Sky missive, and she won over the other bolted across the room and plopped puppy parents quickly. down on my foot before Zoe even On week two, Aishe had us do an knew what happened. “And the win- exercise where we worked on a com- ner is Skylar!” Aishe said, handing me mand until she said, “Switch!” at the prize — a smiling sun plush toy which point we handed the leash to covered in yellow and orange fleece. ar our neighbor in a game of “pass the “Who knew your fear of abandonment Skyl puppy.” This was good for human would play to my favor?” I asked, sit- socialization, Aishe said, and all the ting on the floor beside my little recall puppies took to the switcheroo with champ. Skylar immediately crawled ease, motivated by “puppy crack” — into my lap, sniffing the smiling sun licks from a jar of chicken baby food. momentarily before standing on her All of the puppies, that is, except Sky, hind legs, wrapping her front paws who was having none of it. She flailed around my neck, and joyously licking and bucked like a wild mustang until my face. Aishe smiled proudly as any she wriggled free of her collar and ran teacher would at a star pupil. “That’s back to me, pressing her body tightly the real prize, right Sky?” against my legs. “She’s just shy,” Aishe said. “She’ll come around.” E-mail: [email protected]

38 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com ANNOUNCEMENT: We need foster homes! Grateful Dogs Rescue partners with theANNOUNCEMENT: San Francisco city shelter We needto save foster dogs homes! from euthanasia. Grateful Dogs Make Rescue your homepartners a shortwith termthe San or longFrancisco term citysafe shelterhaven and to savehelp dogssave afrom dog’s euthanasia. life. Vet bills Make for fosteryour home dogs paida short by GDR.term orVolunteers long term and safe donations haven and are help always save welcome!a dog’s life. Our Vet websitebills for featuresfoster dogs more are dogs, paid events,by GDR. training Volunteers resources, and donations etc. Apply are today always to welcome!foster, adopt, Our or website foster-to-adopt! features more GDR dogs, is an allevents, volunteer, training 501(c)(3) resources, non-profit. etc. ApplyMake today your to year-end foster, adopt, tax-deductible or foster-to-adopt! donation GDR today! is an all volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit.Make your year-end tax-deductible donation today! AUSTIN LULU AustinALICE is an eight-month, LuluOPIE is a little 6 pound, 6 years puggleAlice is (beagle a beautiful x pug). 9-month- He’s a15 oldLittle sweetheart Opie, a ChihuahuaChihuahua. mix, She poundold blue puppy pit bull full mix, of curiosity just like lovesis looking to cuddle for aand forever shares home.foster andthe Marina affection. Times He’s’ own very Skylaractive homeOpie’s ideawith of other a perfect small home dogs. andGrey! loves Her ears going are out more for hound- walks. She’swould easy be one going that and will happiest smother like: extra big, super soft, and Austin is very affectionate with whenhim with you love, are hugs close and by. kisses. Being oh so cute and floppy when everyone he meets. He likes to aloneOpie wouldis not fun love for someone her. Sleeping that she runs! She’s growing up fast snuggle and sleeps with his people at bedtime. He enjoys a inwill a cratetake himis scary to playfor Lulu, at the she beach would or prefer park, sleepinglet him roll near in you. the good game of chase with indogs her his foster size. homeHe is friendlywith others with Lulugrass was and terrified give him of old-fashioned the car but has belly gotten rubs. much He likesbetter. being Lulu littledogs kids.AND Austin she lives is quite with smart a cat. and She already happily knows shares how her to isan great only ondog her so leash,he doesn’t and loveshave toto shareexplore attention. outdoors. He isShe very is sitbed on and command, toys with he isher working friends! on Alice his house is currently training. takingAustin housepeople broken and dog and friendly alerts andher funfoster to beparents around. that Opie she isneeds looking to cana basic be left training alone, but class, prefers and being is crate- around trained. people. She Are goes you gofor outside.some new This digs, little can girl you wants help to him be out?your friend. Do you have upon to big giving off-leash this active, romps fun-loving to all kinds pup his of forever parks withhome? an assortment of dogs, big and small! Alice will be a great a gentle, loving home for her? dog for an active home that walks, hikes etc. Are you the active, loving home BAILEY this pretty gal is looking for? TEDDY Bailey is an adorable, huggable ALERT:PHARAOH puppy cuteness ahead.... 11-year-old Corgi-Pomeranian PharaohThis little a heart 10-week-old -throb isShep- our mixELSIE (his body is mostly Corgi herdTeddy mix boy puppy. and is aboutHis foster 12 weeks par- Elsieand his is a head sweet, is beautiful,the Pom part!).black entsold. He’shave a givensweet him little lots guy of and love a andHe currently white, 15-pound,weighs 23 pounds. 3-year- andtypical nurturing feisty puppy since learningbeing born. the ways of the world, but one who old,Bailey rat is terrier very healthy mix. This but playful could Pharaoh LOVES everything in also can appreciate naptime by girlshed does a well few with extra people pounds. and his world: people, playing ball, Bailey is looking for a companion he can hang out with himself. Teddy’s home shouldsitting be inone your with lap, puppy giving experikisses,- other dogs. She is housebroken on the couch, at the park, or on a nice walk through the napping,ence, bully puppy breed treats, experience, toys, and and other a solid dogs. plan He for is alreadytraining and has good command of neighborhood. His ideal home will be one without small trainedand socialization to come as when that called, will be sit required for treats, since and he’s fetches. such a basic training. Currently she children. He doesn’t require a lot of exercise but he loves Pharaohbaby. He iswill trained do great to use with wee another wee pads. dog inPharaoh the home, is looking but it goes on long walks every day and needs ample exercise, going for walks and being outdoors. He is good on leash foris not someone required. to Hurry, spend so time you canwith catch him, someas he puppyis too breath!young so she would be great in a home with another dog her and is fine with other dogs. Bailey is looking for a walking to be left alone. He will positively make you laugh and age and energy level to play with or some very active companion- are you the one? smile! Pharaoh will be your new best friend. He will love people who love to do things outdoors. Perhaps Elsie is you Soooo much! the jogging buddy you’ve longed for! WILLIE WONKA Willie Wonka is as sweet as his LADY name implies. Wonka is a tri- Lady is a 4-year-old, 21-pound coloredSHILOH Chihuahua mix with SchipperkeHONEY mix but looks more Shiloh.long lashes He thatis a 6 curl year-old around Rat his like a combination of border Honey is her name but sassy is Terriereyes. He mix is a friendly and around guy about 40 collie and black bear! Lady her game! Honey and her brother pounds.5 yrs. and He loves loves people. his walks Wonka and had a miserable beginning Teddy are about 15 weeks old allis aboutthe people 9 1/2 he pounds, meets. isShiloh easy andto her came life, in unloved with their and loving tied to a short cable by day and isto a pick pure up, joy and at home loves and to be is mom. Honey loves to play hard inside a storeroom at night. completelyheld. Willie Wonka house has trained. special and snuggle hard too. She is Despite this, Lady has adapted well to her foster home needs. His hind legs are a bitShiloh “wonky” is not and comfortable not as strong when as his and quickly learned basicvery manners sweet and and enjoys housetraining. her crate strangefront legs. dogs He runhas updifficulty to his face. with Hesteps. gets But nervous his MRI and revealed can asGentle much Lady as chewing loves her on herwalks. toys. She The loves ideal bellyhome rubs for Honey while actno out. significant His perfect problems home would – he be just one with needs time tosomeone give who willlying be upside-down one that has in experience, your lap. understanding,Lady thrives on love, human and himunderstands lots of love his needs.and time Wonka for daily loves walks. to walk Someone and can to cover toss respectattention for and bully would breeds. be Traininghappiest will as bethe a onlyrequirement dog in thefor hissurprising ball for distances. him and Bigrub dogshis belly. and children He knows overwhelm all his basic him thishome. puppy. Lady Are is ready you the for persona gentle, to loving raise sweet home Honey where intoshe commands.as they challenge Shiloh his is maneuverability. looking for the Wonka perfect is acompanion gentle boy, hercan fullget potential?the attention she deserves. tolooking share for life’s a gentle simple home. pleasures.

UPCOMINGGDR’S MESSAGE: GDR AreFUNDRAISERS you looking ANDto adopt EVENTS: a dog November in the San 3 Franciscofrom 11 a.m. Bay to 3:00 area? p.m., Then Pawtrero you should come out to the Grateful Dogs Rescue Adoption event on March 16 at Pet Food Pet Party, Lower Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 | December 7 from 4 to 8 p.m., Doc’s Clock Express on Market from 12:30 to 3PM. Our second March event will be at BellaPelle at 9 MaidenFundraiser Lane, 2575 on Mission March Street 30th (Betweenfrom 11AM 21st to and 2PM. 22nd Street), San Francisco, CA 94110, 415-824-3627

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THESE AND OTHER DOGS: 415-587-1121 • www.gratefuldogsrescue.org [email protected]

This page is sponsored by Locally owned and operated by Michael & Mark This page is sponsored by Locally owned and operated by Michael & Mark GRATEFUL DOGS RESCUE GRATEFUL GRATEFUL DOGS RESCUE GRATEFUL

www.Marinatimes.com THE MARINA TIMES NOVEMBER 2013 39 “San Francisco’s Best New French Bakery.”—Condé Nast Traveler Le MARAIS BAKERY

TradiTional arTisanal organic

seven to seven daily • 2066 Chestnut street (415) 359-9801 • www.lemaraisbakery.com plaCe your holiday orders today

40 NOVEMBER 2013 THE MARINA TIMES www.marinatimes.com