■ INSIDE ■ ABROAD ■ LOCALS First Person 2 In Turkey, a Th ey Rescued Neighborhood News 3 Fillmore Link Each Other Crime Watch 4 Street Talk 6 Sharing a memorable A friendship fl ourishes Body & Soul 11 afternoon on the Bosporus between a man and a cat Home Sales 14 PAGE 7 PAGE 15 THE NEW FILLMORE SANSAN FRANCISCO FRANCISCO ■ SEPTEMBER■ APRIL 2010 2013 New Limits Proposed for Chain Stores on Fillmore Bill would restrict spinoff s and international brands s Fillmore Street continues to rapidly remake itself into a mecca A for fashion labels from around the world, supplanting basic neighborhood ser- vices, legislation has now been introduced at City Hall that would subject more of them to the city’s limits on chain stores. Under the existing “formula retail” ordi- nance — enacted by the voters in 2008 to limit the proliferation of chain stores in the city’s neighborhoods — businesses must obtain a conditional use permit to open on upper Fillmore if they have 11 or more stores in the U.S. New legislation introduced by District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell would amend the ordinance to include stores located not only in the U.S., but anywhere in the world. Th at would aff ect companies that have numerous stores in other countries, but are just begin- ning to establish a presence in the U.S. “After hearing from both our merchants and neighbors in the Upper Fillmore about concerns that large retailers were pushing out our smaller and unique ‘mom and pop’ type of stores,” Farrell said, “I introduced legislation to expand the defi nition of for- mula retail.” Th e legislation would also extend the law to include new businesses started by formula retail companies, whether or not they currently have 11 or more stores. Th is has been an approach favored by companies such as the Gap, which opened Athleta on Fillmore, and Starbucks, which opened Evolution Fresh. Farrell’s proposal would apply only to the Upper Fillmore Neighborhood Com- mercial District, which extends from Bush to Jackson streets. Similar eff orts have been launched in other neighborhoods, including nearby Hayes Street. In response, the Planning Department has resisted neighborhood- specifi c legislation and instead proposed that the proposals be delayed while a study is conducted to develop uniform rules. A prophet of doom Farrell’s legislative assistant Catherine Stefani said her offi ce would press forward Photograph from the Jim Jones moved his Peoples Temple into the Fillmore at its most vulnerable moment, with the legislation despite the Planning CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY just as redevelopment had “literally destroyed the neighborhood,” said neighborhood Department’s move for a citywide law. activist Hannibal Williams. “People were desperate for solutions, something to follow. “We have told Planning that we plan Jim Jones was another solution. He had a charismatic personality that won the hearts to proceed with the legislation despite the and souls of people. And people followed him to hell. That’s where Jim Jones went. study because we felt that it was urgent to That’s where he took the people who followed him.” STORY | PAGES 8-10 do so,” Stefani said. FIRST PERSON NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS Woody Allen Packs the Clay Languages ugust was a big month for Fill- across the street from the Clay. “Woody more Street’s venerable Clay Th e- Allen has been great for business.” At the convalescent center A ater, which hosted the San Fran- Down the block at La Mediterannee, I learn scraps of languages I once knew — cisco premiere of Woody Allen’s latest fi lm, servers also reported a big uptick in busi- Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog Blue Jasmine. ness. It was the same story at Browser Scraps of Russian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Armenian Set mostly in San Francisco and fi lmed Books, where sales clerks reported that the And languages nobody knows partly in Pacifi c Heights, the fi lm proved to aisles were far busier than usual with fi lm Like Tigrinya and Yemeni and Ibo — be a powerful draw, with long lines stretch- buff s who stopped by on their way to or ing in both directions from the theater’s from the Clay. Th ey’ve all come to change diapers and clean toilets box offi ce. Th e Clay has more treats coming. Th is In the most expensive city in America Th e boom at the box offi ce turned out month the theater will expand its midnight For our fabulous guaranteed minimum wage to be a boost for many other businesses, movie off erings, screening additional fi lms especially nearby restaurants. along with perennial favorite Th e Rocky None of them can identify “Moviegoers!” said owner Massimo Horror Picture Show. For more information Th e selections on our menu DANIEL BAHMANI Lavano as he surveyed a full dining room on showtimes and titles, visit landmarkthe- Can’t tell spaghetti from lasagna The lines at the Clay stretched around the corner and down the block for “Blue Jasmine.” at Via Veneto, his Italian restaurant just atres.com. Or pizza from ravioli Twenty years working double shifts In multiple hospitals and retirement homes None of them ever had money Pioneering Club in the Fillmore Jazz District Closes To go to one of our fabulous restaurants Or enjoy the pleasure Rasselas — the fi rst to open — calls it quits as owner decries a lack of city support; new dance club taking over Of a sit-down meal by candlelight aturday, August , was last call for Rasselas Jazz initiate a revisit of the originating ideas that launched the So we scream at them for their rudeness Club and Ethiopian Restaurant at 1534 Fillmore Jazz Preservation District concept to determine what can Incompetence! SStreet. Owner Agonafer Shiferaw partied with some be done to salvage this noble endeavor.” “Were you born in a barn?” 500 friends, fans and neighbors who packed his place for a ■ Probably, yes. fi nal night of live music amid cheers, tears, hot horns and Shiferaw does not leave empty-handed. In July 2004 cool riff s, all lubricated with free wine. he bought the building Rasselas occupied — even though Th ere are terrifying blasts — Rasselas had a 28-year run that began on the corner of the Redevelopment Agency staff “frustrated my aspiration Th e language of the dead, dying and demented — California and Divisadero — a property he still owns — for ownership,” he wrote the mayor — and has leased it to An overgrown boy from Saigon and moved to Fillmore Street in 1999. new operators for fi ve years. With the body of a worn-out weightlifter Before closing, Shiferaw delivered a long and heartfelt Little is known about the intentions of the new lease- Who screams as if recalling the horrors letter to Mayor Ed Lee recapping the city’s role in the holders, who currently operate a venture called the Grand Of napalm and tiger cages neighborhood and lamenting that the grand plans for the Nightclub on Fourth Street in the South of Market neigh- Or is he just lonely with no one to talk to? Fillmore Jazz District have not been realized. borhood. “Th e closing of Rasselas represents more than just the Th e new operators did not respond to repeated inquiries Th ere is the lady of 90 from the Strait of Hormuz ending of another business venture in the commercially seeking information about their plans. But if their existing Who still wizened and spry competitive atmosphere of San Francisco,” Shiferaw wrote, nightclub in soma is any indication, it will be a dance club Screams in her sleep adding that he was “saddened that the visionary promise “Th e visionary promise of a revitalized, with DJs and will bring a diff erent vibe and clubgoer to “I don’t know you!” of a revitalized, thriving, African American commercial the Fillmore. “I don’t want nobody!” presence along Fillmore Street with a jazz ambience is thriving, African American commercial Promotional prose on the website for the soma loca- fading, and fading fast.” presence with a jazz ambience is tion boasts: “Expect mind-blowing lighting visuals, strobe Th e alarm goes off , shatters our sleep ■ fl ashes, sound eff ects, cryogenics, all controlled behind our When she tries to walk across the deep In his letter, Shiferaw recounted former Mayor Frank fading, and fading fast.” custom-designed DJ platform. Our magnifi cent Grand Did she marry an Iranian Jordan’s establishment of the Fillmore/Western Addition LED ball consisting of 30,000 individual lights will leave Whose family no longer wants to know her? — AGONAFER SHIFERAW Economic Development Task Force in the early 1990s, owner of Rasselas you jaw dropped.” Or is she a lost Parsee which was charged to work with the Redevelopment ■ Speaking rainy day Farsi? Agency “to devise a program to salvage some semblance Many people who turned out for the fi nal Saturday I don’t know, but every parsec of a commercial life for African American businesses in He added: “Once I opened Rasselas there was, in my night at Rasselas were melancholy. She bellows like bloody heck the Fillmore corridor (Fillmore from Geary Boulevard to opinion, a demonstrable lack of energy and interest by the “I’m sad to see it go,” said Karen Babbitt, one of the key And I retreat to my study of Turk Street).” agency staff to follow through on important policies and supporters behind the Saturday morning Fillmore Farm- Th e sixteen living Filipino dialects As part of that eff ort, Shiferaw said the Redevelopment programs that were essential for the success of the Jazz ers Market.