San Francisco criticized for slow and costly permitting process in new state report on housing

San Francisco criticized for slow and costly permitting process in new state report on housing

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SAN FRANCISCO — A scathing new report from the state reveals the bureaucratic and costly permitting process builders face when it comes to constructing new housing in San Francisco.

The first-of-its-kind report issued Wednesday by the California Department of Housing and Community Development is calling out San Francisco for making things extremely difficult for people trying to create more housing.

“According to self-reported Annual Progress Report (APR) data and prior research from the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), San Francisco has the longest timelines in the state for advancing a housing project from submittal to construction,” the report said.

So far this year, San Francisco has permitted less than one home per day, leaving the city falling far short of its Regional Housing Needs Allocation goals for building new houses.

The report revealed it takes about 523 days for a developer to get a housing project approved compared to 385 days for the next slowest jurisdiction in the state.

After the approval process, its even worse. It takes San Francisco an average of 605 days to issue a building permit.
It takes 418 days for the next slowest jurisdiction.

The report also found that at least 18 city policies and practices are out of compliance with state law. The result is that many of the people who work in the city — including teachers, police officers and firefighters — can’t afford to live in San Francisco.  

State Senator Scott Weiner has been a huge proponent for affordable housing. He released a statement in response to the report. It said, in part, “This audit puts cities across California on notice: there will be no more leniency for illegally obstructing housing construction. San Francisco has added layer upon layer of unnecessary discretion and bureaucracy for decades.”

The mayor’s office says she agrees with the criticism. Mayor Breed claimed that proposed reforms at San Francisco City Hall have been met with “pushback and resistance.”

She is calling on the Board of Supervisors to work with her on changing legislation.  

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SAN FRANCISCO — A scathing new report from the state reveals the bureaucratic and costly permitting process builders face when it comes to constructing new housing in San Francisco.

The first-of-its-kind report issued Wednesday by the California Department of Housing and Community Development is calling out San Francisco for making things extremely difficult for people trying to create more housing.

“According to self-reported Annual Progress Report (APR) data and prior research from the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), San Francisco has the longest timelines in the state for advancing a housing project from submittal to construction,” the report said.

So far this year, San Francisco has permitted less than one home per day, leaving the city falling far short of its Regional Housing Needs Allocation goals for building new houses.

The report revealed it takes about 523 days for a developer to get a housing project approved compared to 385 days for the next slowest jurisdiction in the state.

After the approval process, its even worse. It takes San Francisco an average of 605 days to issue a building permit.
It takes 418 days for the next slowest jurisdiction.

The report also found that at least 18 city policies and practices are out of compliance with state law. The result is that many of the people who work in the city — including teachers, police officers and firefighters — can’t afford to live in San Francisco.  

State Senator Scott Weiner has been a huge proponent for affordable housing. He released a statement in response to the report. It said, in part, “This audit puts cities across California on notice: there will be no more leniency for illegally obstructing housing construction. San Francisco has added layer upon layer of unnecessary discretion and bureaucracy for decades.”

The mayor’s office says she agrees with the criticism. Mayor Breed claimed that proposed reforms at San Francisco City Hall have been met with “pushback and resistance.”

She is calling on the Board of Supervisors to work with her on changing legislation.  

More from CBS News

Read More

The post State report slams San Francisco for glacial and costly allowing course of for constructing homes appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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Als sie ihr neu erworbenes Haus in der 1240 St. Charles Street – das berühmte Bruton House – betraten, wussten Jeannie Graham und Bruce Gilliat, dass ihnen viel Arbeit bevorstand. Nach einer achtjährigen Restaurierung der 2067 San Jose Avenue (siehe Teil 4) war das Paar bereit, sich der nächsten Herausforderung zu stellen.

Bei den Renovierungsarbeiten von 2001 bis 2004 wurde das gesamte Haus einen Meter nach vorne und einen Meter nach Süden (nach rechts) verlegt, um den Garten hinter dem Haus zu vergrößern und Platz für eine neue Auffahrt zu schaffen. Foto Steve Gorman.

Eine geschichtsträchtige Geschichte

Als Jeannie und Bruce 1999 die 1240 St. Charles Street kauften, hatte das Haus während seiner 102-jährigen Lebensdauer nur vier weitere Besitzer gehabt. Das Übergangshaus im Kolonialstil, das 1897 für 4.160 Dollar gebaut worden war, war gerade für etwa eine Million Dollar verkauft worden. Doch die Jahre und Generationen hatten dem Anwesen ihren Tribut gefordert. Obwohl es sich im Laufe der Jahrzehnte großer Beliebtheit erfreute, benötigte es dennoch Modernisierungen in den Bereichen Sanitär, Elektrik, Fundament und anderen Bereichen. Darüber hinaus hatten Jeannie und Bruce die Vision, das Haus noch „wohnlicher“ zu machen, indem sie im Keller und im Dachgeschoss Wohnräume hinzufügten, alle vier Ebenen durch eine neue Treppe miteinander verbanden, die Küche umgestalteten und ein Schlafzimmer auf der zweiten Ebene eliminierten um das Hauptschlafzimmer zu erweitern und ein Gästezimmer über eine hintere Veranda hinaus zu erweitern.

Zusätzlich zu all diesen Modernisierungen beschlossen sie, die Latten und den Putz von den Pfosten zu entfernen, neue Leitungen zu installieren und seismischen Aufrüstungen zu unterziehen, neue Rigipsplatten zu installieren, Deckenrosetten aus Gips zu restaurieren, alte Heizkörper zu entfernen und Kamine auf Gas umzustellen. Bei der Erneuerung des Fundaments wurde das gesamte Haus um einen Meter nach vorne und einen Meter nach Süden verschoben, um auf der Nordseite mehr Platz im Hinterhof und Platz zum Parken zu schaffen. Zum Auffüllen des Schwimmbeckens wurden alte Ziegel- und Betonfundamentmaterialien verwendet und eine neue Landschaftsgestaltung angelegt. Die Planungen für all diese Arbeiten begannen im Jahr 2000, die eigentlichen Arbeiten wurden zwischen 2001 und 2004 durchgeführt. Während all dieser Bau- und Renovierungsarbeiten wohnten Jeannie und Bruce weiterhin in ihrem Haus in der San Jose Avenue, bis die Arbeiten abgeschlossen waren.

Ein Vintage-Foto von 1240 St. Charles Street (links) zeigt, wie das Haus aussah, bevor die „Ell“ auf der linken Seite im Rahmen der Renovierungsarbeiten von 2001 bis 2004 vorgezogen wurde (rechts), wodurch ein neues Außentreppenhaus entstand. Das neue Treppenhaus ist etwas zurückgesetzt, um die ursprünglichen Proportionen der Fassade teilweise beizubehalten. Fotos Familienarchiv Bruton (links) und Steve Gorman.

Eine elegante Lösung

Mit der Fertigstellung eines Dachbodens und Kellers verfügten die neuen Eigentümer nun über zwei neue Wohnräume, die nicht nahtlos mit dem Rest des Hauses verbunden waren. Der Zugang zum Dachboden erforderte das Überwinden einer steilen Treppe, was den robusten Bruton-Schwestern während ihrer Jahre im Haus offenbar nichts ausmachte. Und der Eintritt in den nun fertiggestellten Keller erforderte etwas Anmutigeres als die vorhandenen steilen Kellerstufen. Die von Buested Construction entworfene Lösung bestand in einem neuen Treppenhausanbau an der Nordseite des Hauses, der alle vier Ebenen miteinander verband. Der Alameda-Historiker Woody Minor beschrieb den Zusatz 2011 in seinem Buch.

„Beim ursprünglichen Bau hatte das Haus an seiner nordwestlichen (linken) Vorderecke eine eingelassene Elle“, schrieb Minor. „Dieser Raum wurde durch einen leicht zurückgesetzten zweistöckigen Treppenhausanbau mit zwei Frontfenstern und einem Seitenfenster umschlossen. Die vorderen Fenster sind eine Kopie des ursprünglichen oberen Treppenhausfensters der Fassade mit geriffelten Pilastern und Ei-und-Pfeil-Verzierungen. Der hintere Anbau besteht aus einer neuen Veranda, die von der Küche abgeht, mit einem Dachbalkon und einem Schlafzimmeranbau im Obergeschoss. Die Anbauten werden mit neuen Walmdächern und einer neuen, nach Norden ausgerichteten Giebelgaube abgedeckt. In Bezug auf Design, Materialien und Details fügen sich die Anbauten nahtlos in das ursprüngliche Haus ein.“

Ein wenig Hilfe von ihren Freunden

Während Jeannie und Bruce den Großteil der Arbeiten an der San Jose Avenue 2067 selbst erledigten, benötigte ihr St. Charles Street-Projekt die Hilfe eines größeren Support-Teams. Zu den Designern und Handwerkern, die an den Umbauten des Anwesens nach 2000 beteiligt waren, gehören Kathryn Mathewson von Secret Gardens, San Francisco, und Iris Watson von Thomsen’s Garden Center, Alameda (Landschaftsgestaltung); John Mulligan, Oakland (Mauerwerk); Bolinger Design Services, Hayward, und Buested Construction, Alameda (Ergänzungen); Lorna Kollmeyer, San Francisco (Gipsarbeiten); Jerry Wilkins, Custom Kitchens, Oakland (Schränke); und Si Lewis, Hidden Connections, Alameda (Medieninstallation). Jeannie und Bruce arbeiteten in allen Aspekten der Arbeit eng mit diesen Fachleuten zusammen und waren gleichzeitig mit ihrer eigenen Karriere in der Telekommunikationsmarketing- und Internetbranche beschäftigt.

Links: Parzellenkarte, die das Viertel im Jahr 1878 zeigt. Das rote „X“ markiert den zukünftigen Standort des Bruton-Hauses. Lange, schmale Landstreifen erstreckten sich von der Central Avenue bis zur Bucht und verzögerten die Entwicklung dieses Gebiets. Nachdem Helene Strybing 1896 die Straße ihres Mannes gegenüber der St. Charles Street verkauft hatte, konnte mit der Bebauung dieses Blocks begonnen werden. Die Grundstücke waren sehr flach, bis der deutsche Investor H. Hausmann seinen zentralen 100-Fuß-Streifen verkaufte, wodurch die angrenzenden Grundstücke in der St. Charles Street und der Bay Street auf eine Tiefe von 150 Fuß erweitert werden konnten. Hinweis: Auch wenn sie auf dieser Karte erscheint, wurde die Clinton Avenue nie bis zur St. Charles Street fortgesetzt und endet an der Sherman Street. Karte Historischer Atlas von Alameda County, Kalifornien, Thompson & West, 1878. Rechts: Außenansicht eines Bleiglasfensters an der Fassade der 1240 St. Charles Street. Dieses Fenster ist auf dem oberen Treppenabsatz des Haupttreppenhauses neben dem Foyer installiert und bringt willkommenes Licht in den Raum. Früher war an dieser Öffnung ein Tiffany-Fenster mit dem Motiv eines kalifornischen Bären zu sehen, das jedoch irgendwann in der Vergangenheit ersetzt wurde. Foto Steve Gorman.

Ein Übergangsheim

Der Stil der 1240 St. Charles Street wird als „Transitional Colonial Revival“ beschrieben. Es wurde zu einer Zeit entworfen und gebaut, als in den 1890er-Jahren größtenteils der dekorativere und fantasievollere Queen-Anne-Stil vorherrschte, doch als die Jahrhundertwende näher rückte, änderte sich der Geschmack. Es gab keine Türme, Türmchen, Erkerfenster, Sonnenbögen, Fischschuppenschindeln, weitläufige Veranden mit dekorativen Balustraden und Spindelwerken sowie steile Dächer mit Giebeln. An ihre Stelle traten Häuser mit kastenförmigerer Bauweise, symmetrischen Fassaden mit Seiteneingangsveranden, Walmdächern, Bleiglas statt Buntglas, einfachen Dachfenstern, schmalen Fassadenverkleidungen statt strukturierten Schindeln und einem insgesamt nüchterneren und klassischeren Erscheinungsbild.

Aber wie der Alameda-Historiker Dennis Evanosky gerne sagt: „Es gibt keine Regeln“, und Hausbesitzer und Bauherren würden Elemente verschiedener Stile kombinieren, um sie ihrem Geschmack anzupassen. (Dennis ist außerdem Historiker für die Alameda Post und den Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.) Im Fall von 1240 St. Charles Street und vielen anderen Häusern im Übergangskolonialstil gehören zu den verkümmerten Queen-Anne-Elementen Erkerfenster, Buntglas, Dachgauben mit Giebeln, abwechslungsreiche Fenster, asymmetrische Fassaden und umlaufende Veranden mit eklektischen Säulen. Zähne, Pilaster, Eier- und Pfeilleisten, Urnenknäufe, Klammern und Lünettentafeln sind allesamt klassisch abgeleitete Elemente, ebenso wie Anspielungen auf den neueren Kolonialstil. Alles in allem ist dieses Haus ein hervorragendes Beispiel für diesen Übergangsstil und hat den Test der Zeit als gelungene Verschmelzung von Stilen bestanden, als ein Jahrhundert zu Ende ging und ein neues nahte.

Eine seltene Ehre

Im Foyer des Hauses in der 1240 St. Charles Street hängt eine gerahmte Anerkennungsurkunde des California Heritage Council als Anerkennung für die von Jeannie Graham geleistete Restaurierungsarbeit. Foto Steve Gorman.

Woody Minor fasste seinen 27-seitigen Fallbericht mit den Worten zusammen: „Das Bruton House verfügt über ausreichende Integrität, um seine architektonische und historische Bedeutung auf sinnvolle Weise zu vermitteln, und scheint daher für die Ausweisung als Alameda Historical Monument in Frage zu kommen.“ Minor hatte diese Ergebnisse zuvor im Bericht damit begründet, dass das Haus ein hervorragendes Beispiel für ein Haus im Kolonialstil mit Überresten von Queen-Anne-Elementen sei und dass es von einem namhaften Alameda-Bauunternehmen der damaligen Zeit gebaut worden sei.

Große historische Bedeutung erlangt das Haus auch durch seine Verbindung mit den bedeutenden kalifornischen Künstlern Margaret, Helen und Esther Bruton, die dort in ihren aktivsten Jahren einen Großteil ihres Lebens verbrachten. Nur wenige historisch bedeutsame Künstler sind mit Alameda verbunden, was die Bedeutung dieses Anwesens unterstreicht. Von untergeordneter Bedeutung ist die Verbindung des Anwesens mit einem prominenten und bekannten Geschäftsmann der damaligen Zeit, Daniel Bruton, dessen irische Abstammung auch auf Einwanderungsmuster im Amerika des 19. Jahrhunderts hinweist.

Am 3. April 2012 verlieh der Stadtrat von Alameda der 1240 St. Charles Street den Status eines historischen Denkmals. Es gibt nur 30 Gebäude auf der Liste der historischen Denkmäler, viele davon sind öffentliche Gebäude wie das Rathaus, Schulen, Kirchen und Theater, daher ist dies eine seltene Ehre für ein Privathaus.

Die drei berühmten Bruton-Schwestern Margaret, Esther und Helen. Der weitläufige Dachboden der 1240 St. Charles Street diente diesen talentierten und einflussreichen Alameda-Künstlern als Kunstatelier. Die Verbindung des Anwesens mit diesen bedeutenden Persönlichkeiten der Kunstwelt trägt zu seiner Aufnahme in die Liste der historischen Denkmäler der Stadt bei. Fotos Archiv der Familie Bruton.

Ein Vermächtnis weiterführen

Jeannie Graham macht alleine weiter und bewahrt das Erbe dieses historischen Hauses, indem sie mit den ständigen Wartungs- und Modernisierungsarbeiten Schritt hält. Die Pflege eines 126 Jahre alten Hauses ist weder einfach noch billig, aber Jeannie ist bestrebt, ihren Teil dazu beizutragen, dieses historische Denkmal in Alameda in makellosem Zustand zu halten. Sie ist auch sehr großzügig, ihr Haus mit der Gemeinde zu teilen. Es wurde in einer Reihe von Alameda Legacy Home-Touren vorgestellt und war Austragungsort zahlreicher Veranstaltungen. Ich freue mich auf ein weiteres Treffen mit Jeannie, um mehr über die geschichtsträchtige Vergangenheit dieses Hauses zu erfahren und Bereiche des Hauses zu sehen, die ich noch nicht gesehen habe. All das und noch mehr werden wir mit Ihnen teilen, während wir weiter in unserem Alameda-Schatz, 1240 St. Charles Street, dem Bruton-Haus, stöbern.

Um mehr über dieses historisch bedeutsame Haus in der 1240 St. Charles Street zu erfahren, lesen Sie den Alameda Historical Monument Case Report von Woody Minor aus dem Jahr 2011.

Der mitwirkende Autor Steve Gorman lebt seit 2000 in Alameda, als er sich in die Geschichte und Architektur dieser einzigartigen Stadt verliebte. Kontaktieren Sie ihn über Steve[email protected]. Seine Texte sind unter AlamedaPost.com/Steve-Gorman gesammelt.

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Many prospective home buyers prioritize purchasing old houses over newer models. People love the attractive vintage look that is mostly associated with great taste and quality. While old houses are a good choice, you should be conscious of the different plumbing problems quite common in such houses.

Check out our list of the common plumbing issues you will likely encounter in your old house. Find out essential tips on ways to solve them.

1. Outdated Fixtures and Connections

There’s nothing that lasts forever. If you think of it- older homes usually have fixtures, supply line connections, and fixtures that are bound to fail eventually. As time passes, there’s a lot of wear and tear resulting in broken knobs, restricted water flow, and leakages that give you the worst experience when using the water at home. Eventually, these minor issues translate into costly problems. It’s our nature to assume what we consider to be minor problems and only act when more significant damage happens. However, you do not want to come home one day only to find your home flooded with gushing water from a failed water line valve.

How to Solve the Problem with Outdated Fixtures and Connections

They say prevention will take you a long way. Preventive maintenance helps prevent the wear and tear that would otherwise result in expensive repairs tomorrow. It’s essential to have your local professional plumber inspect your property’s plumbing every year when you cannot do your plumbing inspection by yourself. Expert cheap plumbers have the necessary tools to detect potential problems you may miss.

2. Outdated piping

The plumbing system has different products made from other materials. That means that each of the products has a specified lifespan. Knowing the lifespan of your product is vital as you’ll see whether you should upgrade. Metals like brass, galvanized steel, and cast iron may be between 80 and 100 years old. PVC piping’s lifespan is anywhere between 24 and 45 years, while copper has a lifespan of anywhere between 70 and 80 years.

How to Solve the Problem of Outdated Piping

Doing pipe repairs and replacements is not an easy task that you can do by yourself. That’s why you want to contact a professional plumber. Considering the expenses, you are sure to incur with DIY errors, expert advice is a life-saver, not to mention a time-saver.

3. Pipe Bellies

The pipes that plumbers installed underneath your home were either buried by the contracted plumbing company or covered in a concrete slab. However, the lines are affected when gradual ground movements and shifting happen over time. Shifting downwards causes a “belly” or negative slope. The result of the slope is a restricted water flow and accumulated pools of water, sediment, or water. When you leave the situation to sit for a long time, the bellies will cause leaks or stoppages.

How to Solve the Problem with Pipe Bellies

Based on your situation, trenchless pipe bursting repair is the best solution for pipe bellies. Therefore, you should contact a plumber near you. The plumber conducts an assessment with the help of a snake camera to determine the extent of the damage.

4. Root Intrusion/Faulty Sewer Lines

Sewer lines are not always in a position where you can see them. That makes it hard for homeowners to think about their condition. However, sewer lines can face risks like root intrusion. The moisture coming from the sewer lines is a natural fertilizer for the trees and shrubs which grow into the sewer lines. The sewer line damage causes clogs and leaks, costing you your comfort, health, and money.

How to Fix the Problem of Root Intrusion

The best solution for root intrusion problems is a drain relining procedure or complete trenchless sewer line replacement. Depending on the extent of damage, a trenchless repair could take a day or more- usually, it takes a day with an expert. The method is cost-effective, and you don’t have to disrupt your schedule during the repair.

5. Bad repairs

Many homeowners take care of their plumbing repairs themselves, whether they do it themselves or hire a handyperson. These issues may be highly frustrating, from the seemingly little, like unsecured lines or backward sink traps, to significant and costly mistakes, including hazardous heating systems or poorly sloped showers.

How to Fix the Bad Repairs Problems

While some of these fixes are humorous, others are potentially dangerous and should be corrected immediately by a skilled plumber.

When moving into an older property, you should have a professional plumber evaluate your lines, drains, and fittings. Minor fixes today will save you cash by avoiding future emergencies.

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R.Ichard Segovia’s house is as loud as the Latin rock music he teaches kids in his basement studio. With colors ranging from jungle green and royal blue on the sidewalk to a red and yellow sunburst on the ridge, the otherwise humble Spanish-style house is essentially a giant mural, a crowded portrait of long deceased musicians, Segovia’s family members, social activists, various psychedelics and one or the other jungle animal.

Segovia has lived in the Mission District of San Francisco since 1963 and sees itself as the guardian of the district’s culture, especially as the birthplace of Latin rock. (Carlos Santana, a family friend, grew up nearby.) But increasingly, the 68-year-old “Mayor of the Mission” is faced with a stark display of all the colors that have been bled from the city in successive waves of technology-driven ones Gentrification.

“I walk through the neighborhood every day and see all these gray houses,” says Segovia. “It’s like a cemetery.”

From the International Orange of the Golden Gate Bridge to the intricately carved and painted facades of the Painted Ladies in Alamo Square, vivid colors have long been the grammar of San Francisco’s native architecture.

Richard Segovia stands in front of his brightly painted house in San Francisco. The house next to his is painted gray. Photo: Talia Herman / The Guardian

But between the pastel tones and the gold leaf decorations you can see more and more a conspicuous juxtaposition: 125-year-old houses painted in the tones of a nuclear warhead from the Cold War or a dormant cinder cone. In neighborhoods like Mission and Haight, this phenomenon reads for some residents as the eradication of the Latino community or the ongoing counterculture. Gentrification gray houses have become a totem of wealthy intruders. The rush of wealth to central cities is global in scope, but its impact has been particularly pronounced in San Francisco – all the more as the city is known to value its own uniqueness.

Some of these homes have accents of black or darker gray. Some are just the color of a stranded humpback whale. Many have the crispy oxidized planters full of succulents or geometrically austere horsetail plants straight from a dwell magazine page, while others feature brightly painted doors in the same off-neon palette as athleisure clothing.

To their proponents, they’re sleek and contemporary, with paintwork that can take a punch without ever looking dirty. To their critics, they’re unimaginative, historically inaccurate deviations that a wealthy biotech CEO who wears a gray Patagonia fleece vest every day will appreciate – or worse, real estate agents are pushing to add some appeal to a potential investment property in the country nobody is allowed to live.

“I had some concerns about painting our house gray, even though it’s a symbol of gentrification in the Mission,” says Kate Shaw, who lives with partner Dav Rausch in a Mission Victorian they bought in 2012. But the couple, a professional designer and a designer by Hobby, say gray was a “jumping off point” in “reinventing” the “shape” of their pre-1900 home.

A calendar shows a home with a color scheme on historic buildings in the Bay Area designed by Bob Buckter, an independent color consultant. Photo: Talia Herman / The Guardian

“Going towards monochrome might be interpreted as lazy, but getting those colors right is his own business. It’s an art in itself, ”she said of Facetime during a tour. “Color emphasizes the shape and not the other way around.”

“We hired a Latino crew led by a Latino who was laid off from my company,” added Shaw. “People said, ‘Hire him! He’s great and we want to make sure he’s looked after and cared for. ‘ His crew said, ‘We’re used to so much more color and we love that!’ They placed it at the top of their website as what they were most proud of. “

The notion that Victorian houses were traditionally polychromatic is as much a myth as is our contemporary notion of ancient Roman cities like Bone White. As a form of civic improvement, Roman buildings were brashly – garishly decorated by most modern standards – while San Francisco’s Victorians were likely relatively drab when first built.

“When these Victorians started they didn’t have that many color options – usually white or gray, lead-colored. You didn’t pick out the moldings, ”says architect David Baker, who lives in a gray house himself. “I think we shouldn’t take it seriously – it’s just color.”

But for Bob Buckter, known as Dr. Color, it is anything but just color. He has worked as an independent color consultant on historic buildings in the Bay Area for more than 50 years – around 18,500 by his count.

“I talk to people, find out what their taste is, what they like, what they don’t like, whether they are wild or conservative, whether they like dark blue or dark gray or polychrome, how they are dressed, how they design their interiors” he says in his gray-purple office with aubergine-colored curtains and hand-painted ceiling medallions.

Many Buckter customers return for a second or third treatment – in some cases a fourth. He takes a straightforward approach of giving the customer what he wants and tries not to impose his own taste on people. But the usual result is a uniquely harmonious mixture of colors, so that a monochrome, matte exterior appears contradicting his practice. Is it simply a taste preference or the mutilation of an irreplaceable treasure from an old sequoia tree?

“All of that. I’ve spent my life taking care of the architectural details of historic houses and other architectural things, and I want to find out the purpose that they let me in and make color. Whether the market is selling the building or Proud of ownership, I have to take care of all of that in my design, “says Buckter, who thinks I’ve done something.”

After consulting with so many homes and getting enough attention that his work has resulted in copycat jobs, it’s likely that Buckter shifted collective tastes in a certain direction. Consequently, the rise of the gray Victorian could be a reaction against his aesthetic.

Bob Buckter, known as Dr. Color, has consulted on nearly 18,500 historic buildings in the Bay Area – including his own home in the Mission. Photo: Talia Herman / The Guardian

“That can be part of it,” says Buckter. “I think the main reason is a trend towards simplicity and modernity. They are fed up with the polychrome look, some of these people. This trend has been noticed by others and some people just ride the wave of this trend. “

The lack of color annoys some longtime residents whose love for the sedate San Francisco homes has never diminished.

“I wish they’d make me the color officer for San Francisco so that people would check with me what colors they were using,” says artist and photographer Liz Mamorsky. “Some people try to do something good and restore a Victorian style, but they don’t quite get the colors right. You want that retinal flash that you get by having two complements of the same shade. “

Fred Messbarger, a 15-year-old homeowner in Mission, calls the gray trend “heartbreaking,” saying that the “beauty of San Francisco resides in the Victorians and Edwardians, and the contrast of the houses and the curves and the details – and that too.” Neighbors”. . One house could have completely different colors than the others. “

Messbarger had his Italian house repainted in turquoise, navy blue and white around 1870, with gold details and a neon green door. Everyone in the family had input and the response was positive.

“When I work outside in the garden or even leave the house, I keep getting comments and compliments,” says Messbarger. “It’s nice to hear because it took us five years to decide what to paint.”

“I didn’t think we were brave,” he adds. “I just thought we were bringing back color. The door is bold, but that’s our son’s fault. “

But sometimes gray is what happens when a diverse group tries to make a decision.

Eric Carlson owns a condominium in a four-story building that is home to a Latino family, a Greco-American family, and another single man. When it came time to repaint the “deep pale pink with white moldings” on the exterior, these very different people found it difficult to come to an agreement. After six weeks of looking at Swatches, everyone made lists of their top 4 and their two “absolutely not”. The result? Homburg Gray, with parchment white trim.

“I would have been fine with a much more expressive color,” says Carlson. “I was also aware that this had to be a consensus and that these were acceptable colors. Do i love her No. But does it look a lot better than what we had before? By and large, life is about compromise. I knew that by the early 20s there would be no appetite for a historically accurate color. “

If nobody really loves it, then why does gray seem to dominate?

“I think we’re in a strange place where this slate gray looks like a popular color and so is self-reinforcing,” says Carlson. “We are used to this dull palette of modern architecture, and it is boring. We are not exactly in the Baroque era of architecture. “

For some brokers, a dull tungsten gray coat can do more than just dampen the look. When a luxury real estate company bought the house next to Segovia and painted it gray, Segovia tried to put down the real estate agent and tell him that whoever bought the house would have a rock musician as a neighbor.

Cousins ​​Maggie Guillen, 12, left, and Noe Zuleta, 14, sit on the front steps of their home in the Mission District. Photo: Talia Herman / The Guardian

“He wouldn’t pay any attention to me. So I said, ‘I’m going to take revenge on these fools.’ ”Segovia put his speaker system against the wall and slammed Metallica during the open house.

Eventually, the real estate company spent $ 40,000 to soundproof Segovia’s home studio so they could offload their property – to people who paid $ 750,000 and then four years later for $ 1.7 million to the current owner sold.

Segovia has been offered $ 2.5 million in cash for his home so many times that he threatened an aggressive agent with legal action.

“I’m not moving. I’m not going anywhere. I have my roots,” he says. “Working with kids, teaching kids music without asking for money. It’s about giving back to the community. Latin rock music is Made here in the mission district, so my aim is to keep that alive. “

As for the ongoing cruelty, “There should be a law,” says Segovia. “Enough is enough. For me they are prison colors.”

The post ‘It’s like a cemetery’: the pattern turning San Francisco’s colourful homes ‘gentrification grey’ | San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Alcatraz | Pabkov/Shutterstock

Alcatraz | Pabkov/Shutterstock

San Francisco may not be that old of a city, but it’s certainly had its fair share of murders, tragedies, and hauntings, all of which create the perfect justification for a restless spirit to hang around and lash out in spine-chilling ways, like opening and closing doors, banging on walls, or lingering in the fog, too tormented to try to find peace elsewhere. From haunted mansions to the legacy of Alcatraz to mysterious phenomena that belies logical explanation, San Francisco is filled with spooky spots that go bump in the night. You ain’t afraid of no ghost? Well, we’ll see about that, won’t we?

Queen Anne Hotel

Sutter and Octavia Street
This 1889 Victorian mansion was first constructed as Miss Mary Lake’s School for Young Ladies, a finishing school run by Mary Lake, a schoolteacher and the mistress of Senator James G. Fair, who built it in part so that his daughters could move to San Francisco to be close to him, but also because it was the schoolteacher’s biggest dream. Mary Lake loved her job and taking care of her charges, so she was devastated when it closed in 1896 because of financial difficulties. So devastated that she returned to the building after her death in 1904. The building changed ownership many times over the next 75 years before becoming the Queen Anne Hotel in 1980.
If anything, a hotel is a perfect fit for Mary Lake, a friendly spirit who enjoys looking after the guests. She is most frequently spotted or felt in room 410, which once was her office, and is always eager to lend a helping hand. She is said to have unpacked suitcases, tidied up, and even tucked the covers around people as they slept.

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Curran

Union Square
The year was 1933. Hewlett Tarr was working as a ticket-taker at the Curran and his wedding day was just a few weeks away. Life was good. It wasn’t as good for Eddie Anderson, however, who had a girlfriend who wanted to see “Show Boat” at the Curran, something Eddie couldn’t afford. Not wanting to let his girl down, Eddie showed up at the box office, pulled out a gun, and demanded a pair of tickets. He claims he didn’t want to shoot anyone, but the gun got stuck between the window rails and went off, killing Hewett and sending his body falling back down a flight of stairs. Eddie was sent to San Quentin and hanged, but Hewlett remains at the theatre. Next time you go to a show there, look at the mirror in the entryway. Instead of your reflection, you just may see a handsome man in 1930s attire with a perplexed and crestfallen look on his face.

Golden Gate Park
This man-made lake has been a tranquil refuge for park-goers since it was constructed in 1893—well, most park-goers, anyway. Just not the White Lady who has been haunting it for over 100 years. The tale goes like this: a young mother was walking around the lake, pushing her baby in a stroller when she decided to sit on a bench and rest. She started chatting with another lady, and when she looked up, the stroller was gone. She spent the rest of the day in a panic, asking everyone, “Have you seen my baby?” but no one had. That is because the stroller had rolled away and into the lake. When she finally realized that might be the case, she walked into the lake herself and was never seen again. Well, never seen alive again. She now haunts the lake on foggy nights, dressed in white from head-to-toe, and has even been known to approach strangers asking if they’ve seen her baby.

Lower Pac Heights
It’s said that Mary Ellen Pleasant, the “Mother of Human Rights in California,” first African-American self-made millionaire, and a general badass, haunts the six eucalyptus trees she planted at 1661 Octavia St (the site of a 30-room mansion she built with her business partner, banker Thomas Bell). She worked as a conductor on the Underground Railroad in New England, but when it became too dangerous, she knew she had to leave. Realizing there was an opportunity to make money cooking and providing lodging for men seeking fortune during the Gold Rush, she moved to San Francisco, where she made wise investments based on conversations she overheard wealthy men having while she served them meals.

She established boarding houses, laundries, and restaurants, while also helping former enslaved people with transportation, housing, jobs, and legal battles. The papers wrote salacious and untrue things about her, but she never let it deter her from fighting for equality.

Her finances were completely entangled with those of her long-time partner Thomas Bell, and when he toppled over a banister in their home and fell to his death in 1892, she lost most of her estate, and his wife ordered her out of the home. She died in poverty in 1904. The mansion was demolished in the 1920s, but six eucalyptus trees she planted remain in what is now known as Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial Park, the smallest park in San Francisco and a place she still frequents. The site is known to spook dogs, send chills down people’s spines, and, if you visit at night, don’t be scared if a nut hits you in the head. That’s just Mary Ellen Pleasant having a bit of fun.

Flickr/twincrks

Pacific Heights
Rich, lazy, and unambitious George Atherton (the town of Atherton was named after his father) was a bit of an embarrassment to his mother, who built the mansion at 1990 California St in 1881 after his father died. George and his wife, Gertrude Franklin, lived in the mansion where he was alleged to have suffered bouts of cruelty and humiliation at the hands of both women, who were known to be quite domineering. In an attempt to escape their clutches, George Atherton set sail for Chile with his naval officer cousin. He was not even halfway there when his kidneys failed, and he died. The sailors stuffed his body into a barrel of rum to preserve it (throwing him overboard wasn’t an option since he was so wealthy) and sent it back to the mansion.

That is allegedly when the incessant knocking on the walls and the opening and closing of doors began. His mother moved out, but voices in the night, cold winds blowing through the house, and other hauntings were too much for a string of new owners. Finally, in 1923, Carrie Rousseau purchased the house and learned to live with George’s ghosts. Well, kind of. She and her 50 cats lived only in the ballroom until she died in 1974. The mansion was transformed into an apartment building, but even today, there are tenants who hear the knocking and feel the cold wind created by a man who was so miserable there but also refuses to leave.

California Street

Pacific Heights to Nob Hill
In 1876, Flora Sommerton, an 18-year-old member of one of Nob Hill’s wealthy families, was told by her parents that she was due to marry a significantly older man whom she did not love. The engagement party was quite the affair, and “everyone” who was “anyone” was invited. But right before her father made the official announcement, a combination of fear, anger, and guts ignited a fire in Flora and she fled the party wearing her elaborate and flowing beaded gown, never to be seen again.

Flora’s parents and husband-to-be expended all of their resources searching for her but to no avail. She was a metaphorical ghost until 50 years later when her body was found in a boarding house in Butte, Montana, in 1926. That is the night she was spotted for the first time, walking down the middle of California Street in tears wearing the same dress from her engagement party. Keep an eye out on foggy nights, and you might see her too.

555 California

Financial District
Built in 1969 as the world headquarters of Bank of America, this Financial District building was the tallest building in San Francisco at the time. Shortly after its opening, reports of poltergeist activity happened throughout the building: cold spots moving from room to room, and files flying off shelves. An employee working late one night reported seeing his own phone move itself off the hook. The source of the hauntings is unknown, although some have theorized it’s the spirits of victims from the 1906 earthquake still trapped in the ground underneath the building. Others claim it’s the collective energy of so many men and women, controlling the world’s money and desperate for more. Bank of America moved to North Carolina after its 1998 merger with Nations Bank, and things have been relatively quiet at 555 California ever since. Although, what’s really scary is that it’s currently managed by Vornado Realty Trust with 30% owned by Donald Trump.

Haskell House

Fort Mason
Senator David C. Broderick was an ambitious political climber and an outspoken abolitionist in the Democratic Party. His buddy, California Chief Justice David S. Terry (who was known for getting into fights and shanking people), on the other hand, was a staunch supporter of slavery and advocated for its extension into California. When Terry lost re-election in 1859, he blamed Broderick for engineering the loss and challenged him to a duel on the edge of Lake Merced with the idea that whoever was left standing would win the argument of whether or not California should have slavery.

Both pistols had hair triggers, but it was Broderick’s that discharged prior to the final count. He just had to stand there while Terry took an easy aim at him and fired, hitting his lung. Broderick was taken back to the home of his friend Leonidas Haskell, where he languished in pain for three days until he died.

This event became known as the “Last Duel in California,” and Broderick would become a martyr for the anti-slavery movement. After the Union army took over the surrounding area in 1863, many captains lived in the Haskell House. The families of these captains have claimed to see shadows move across rooms, lights flashing, and plants tipping over. One colonel even felt the presence of someone watching him whenever he took a shower, and a captain said that when he and his family joked about the presence of ghosts, fixtures and pictures began crashing to the ground. They stopped joking, and everything stayed put.

Flickr/sswj

Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum

Lands End
San Francisco has always had limited, and sought after, real estate. Back in the 1800s when people looked at a cemetery, they didn’t see resting places for loved ones — they saw land to sell, and the potential for their own property values to go up. This led to the ending of new burials by 1900, and a slow, decades-long process of exhuming all the dead from SF’s 30 cemeteries, and sending them to their new resting place in Colma. (The only cemeteries that remain are the military and pet cemeteries in the Presidio, and the cemetery at Old Mission Dolores.)

However, this transition didn’t always go smoothly. While doing renovations in 1993, workers found 700 bodies buried underneath the Palace of the Legion of Honor, some still holding their rosaries. The whole area was once the Golden Gate Cemetery, a graveyard for poor and working class European and Chinese immigrants. The 700 that were found were moved to Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo County. But, experts say, there’s probably thousands more still under the museum.

The Embarcadero Waterfront

Embarcadero
The captain of Norwegian sailing ship the Squando, which sailed through the Golden Gate in 1890, discovered that his wife was having an affair with the first mate. He was willing to forgive her in exchange for retribution. So, the captain’s wife got the first mate drunk one night, and as she held his hands behind his back, the captain burst through the door with an axe and cut the first mate’s head off. The body was floating in the bay the next day. The captain, his wife, and the head were nowhere to be found.

Mysteriously, the next three captains were murdered by the crew. The Squando was taken back to New Brunswick, where it was docked, but no guards would stay on it as they all claimed to see a bloody headless man roam the ship at night. The ship was eventually demolished for salvage. On moonless nights, when the fog hovers really low over the bay, you might see an old three-masted ship in the water sailing from point to point to point—almost as if it’s lost its heading.

Flickr/nrdalert

Alcatraz

No list of strange and spooky places of San Francisco would be complete without a visit to Alcatraz. It’s believed that the Miwok Indians may have used the isolated island for thousands of years as a place to gather bird’s eggs for food (alcatraz means pelican in old Spanish) and to banish members of their society. By 1859, the US government seized control of the island and used it to imprison 19 Hopi Indians who refused to give into aggressive government tactics to “Americanize.” In 1912 the US Army built a new prison on the island, and by 1934 the Fed took over and turned it into Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a prison designed to crush the souls of men. Both prisoners and guards suffered deep physical and psychological trauma while there.

Rufe McCain spent three years in a metal box in solitary confinement in cell 14D, also known as the Hole. When finally released, McCain stabbed another inmate to death. He was acquitted because of the irreparable psychological damage his imprisonment had done to him. The prison closed in 1963 and shortly after reopened as a US National Park. Every since, night guards have claimed to hear the sounds of items breaking, people running, and men screaming. If you’re given the opportunity to sit in 14D during a visit, in one corner of the cell you may be overcome with emotion as you feel an icy chill wash over your body, even in the summer months. Be careful but be gentle, it may be Rufe begging to be set free.

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Christian Cagigal is an international performing storyteller, magician, and the new owner of the San Francisco Ghost Hunt Walking Tour, established in 1997. To learn more about SF ghosts and history go to www.sfghosthunt.com and join the hunt.

Daisy Barringer grew up in SF, and though she has never been approached by the White Lady, she is pretty sure she encountered Miss Mary Lake during a staycation at the delightful Queen Anne Hotel. Follow her on Instagram @daisysf, where she posts a lot of photos of the other kinds of spirits.

The post Most Haunted Locations in San Francisco: Homes, Inns & Extra appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

If you walk past the nondescript, light brown building on 1336 Grove St., there isn’t much reason to stop. San Francisco is full of architectural gems and this facade is pretty simple. There are no bright colors, no Victorian flourishes, no splashy sign – just a small logo that was stuck on the glass doors for a construction company. But if you tilt your head back and take a look at the top of the center of the building, you will see a decorative horse head sticking out.

This emblem is a nod to what this ordinary commercial building once was – a horse stable, one of many former horse stables hidden in town. These buildings were an integral part of any neighborhood in San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the pre-auto era, local residents who wanted to get around in private but had no space to house their horses kept horses in community stables that were centralized in the neighborhoods.

For those who could not afford their own horses, horses, coachmen and wagons were rented in these historical paint schemes. These early versions of a taxi company flourished in San Francisco during the gold rush and, according to Bonnie Spindler, had the best business in the country, ahead of New York City. Spindler, a real estate agent and Victorian expert, said it might be because the city still owned farms and grasslands to build such a thriving business, but business in general was booming at the time.

1336 Hainstrasse

Screenshot / Google Maps

An 1876 article from the San Francisco Chronicle said the first livery stall in the city opened in 1851. The second was founded just a few years later and was located on the south side of California in Montgomery in what is now the financial district. Before long, “the supply matched demand across the city, and the stables shot up like mushrooms in the morning until we have at least three quarters of a hundred today,” the article says.

This reporter describes other stables such as the Dexter Stables on Bush Street near Sansome, which housed 90 horses and 15 carriages. 332 Bush St., Healy and Fagen’s livery, founded in 1862, owned 68 horses. At 408 Bush St., Mr. Martin’s stable contained 88 horses. Another was on Sutter Street, across Kearny Street. Another was at 126 Ellis St., which was reportedly charging $ 30 a month, or about $ 739 in today’s dollars.

The Chronicle reporter describes a particularly well-known paint job called The Fashion Stables on Sutter Street near Sansome that the owner declined to disclose because “we might have to pay too much tax if we got the height our full income, was the answer, accompanied by a knowing smile. “

Stable Cafe, 2126 Folsom St.

Screenshot / Google Maps

For the wealthiest in society, they might have had a private carriage house built outside of their property. This was reportedly the case at 2126 Folsom St., currently the location of the Stable Cafe and Malcolm Davis Architecture’s office in the Mission. The clue is a wooden beam protruding from the roof of the building – workers would have used a pulley system to lift hay into the attic while the horses were stored below.

Davis, who has owned the building since 2006, bought it from owners who had looked after it since the 1970s. They shared stories of how the building used to be the private coach house of James Phelan, the Mayor of San Francisco from 1897 to 1902. While city records prior to the fire and earthquake of 1906 are nearly impossible to track down and verify, Davis was told that The building was constructed in the 1870s and only narrowly escaped the fire.

Seeing the unique building for sale, Davis couldn’t help but fulfill his dream of turning the hayloft into an office that he believed would be the perfect location for his architectural practice. “I loved the exposed half-timbering, the plank floors, the high ceilings. It just has a lot of character, ”he said.

He later expanded the lower area to include a large kitchen, which is now the café, and the adjacent parking lot is used as an event area. He said that cafe-goers and event guests are constantly asking about the history of the space.

The high ceilings and wide open spaces of a horse stable lend themselves well to a building conversion, and a feature story by Curbed in April 2018 shows the transformation of an old horse stable into a modern office building. The Jackson Square building at 915 Battery St. was reportedly “constructed of wood salvaged from the ships that clogged the bay when the enterprising 49ers stormed into town,” and although no one is sure when it was built its original use was as a horse stable. Since then, it has served as an antique shop and architecture firm and is now home to the Scenic Advisement investment bank.

220 Dolores Street

Screenshot / Google Maps

“The team worked really well together, and we all agreed that we wanted to keep the original purity of the building intact,” said interior designer Tineke Triggs, Principal at Artistic Designs for Living, Curbed 2018 of the renovation. “We kept most of the original details – including what appeared to be horse bites in some of the beams.”

There are also former horse stables alongside older houses on larger lots, often referred to as carriage houses, like the one we featured in Guess the Rent in June 2021. Some smart homeowners have chosen to convert this space into a loft apartment rather than a garage into a loft apartment, but kept the barn doors. According to historical research by the San Francisco Planning Department: “Many of these buildings have now been destroyed, but some still exist and are used as garages, ancillary apartments or small apartments. In some cases the original house may have been demolished and replaced, and a coach house or other outbuilding remains in the back yard of the residence built later on the parcel. “

The document also mentions that former residential stables were particularly vulnerable to redevelopment, with many being replaced by residential or commercial buildings, particularly along Franklin and Gough streets.

220 Dolores St. has this telltale sign – a wooden beam that likely once helped lift bales of hay to a second level – on his carriage house, which can be seen from Alert Alley. As one of the “Tanforan Cottages”, the house was built around 1853 and is one of the mission’s oldest residential buildings and is listed on the California Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

But most of the former horse stables and carriage houses are not protected and not that obvious. San Francisco is a city with a lot of old buildings. So the next time you look at an old building, look for clues.

915 battery St.

Screenshot / Google Maps

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“Life isn’t like in a movie. Life … is a lot harder.”

This is what the wise projectionist said in Giuseppe Tornatore’s film “Cinema Paradiso” from 1988. In March 2020, movie theaters around the world closed as the COVID-19 pandemic spread seriously.

To adapt, many independent theaters switched to a virtual demonstration model.

“Although our theater was closed for most of 2020, surprisingly it was still an extremely busy year for The Roxie,” said Lex Sloan, general manager of the historic, non-profit Roxie Theater, which is more than 100 years old. “Within two weeks of closing, we opened Roxie Virtual Cinema and began programming a dynamic series of films to keep engaging with our audiences.”

By the end of 2020, The Roxie had shown more than 200 virtual titles and engaged 30 artists and filmmakers. “Virtual cinema wasn’t lucrative,” says Sloan, “but it was a great way to keep our members and patrons busy!”

The Roxie has also partnered with the Sundance Film Festival to host screenings at Fort Mason Flix, a series of drive-in films hosted by the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

Meanwhile, giants battled – Cineworld suffered a $ 3 billion loss in 2020 – and sparked skepticism about whether the cinema industry could revive itself, already at risk from the rise of streaming services.

Beloved theaters went dark. The streets grew silent. Fear and sadness stained the air.

Hope was not lost, however.

“STAY HEALTHY AND SAFE”, read the marquee of the Castro Theater. “WE WILL BE BACK SOON.” As promised, The Castro reopened on June 26th and 27th to screen a range of films for the 45th annual Frameline Festival known as “the Bay Area’s most prominent and well-attended LGBTQ + arts program”. The Roxie also hosted multiple frameline functions, as it has been doing every year for over four decades.

When Bay Area favorites like the Balboa Theater and The Vogue reopened in early June, there was good news. Previously in financial freefall, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema emerged from bankruptcy under the new leadership of Altamont Capital Partners, an acquisition managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League. The dine-in-cinema chain, which used to face a string of layoffs and cuts due to the pandemic, has now announced that it will open five new theaters within the next year. (Mission Street Alamo is scheduled to reopen August 13th.)

Additionally, the COVID-19 closings were not entirely destructive. Traditional theaters like The Roxie took the opportunity to undertake several renovations.

“The lobby has new carpets and tiles, a fresh paint job, and much-needed [Americans with Disabilities Act] Improvements, “says Sloan.” Thanks to a generous grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission, we now have air conditioning and improved air filtration. “

The Roxie also brought its “Take A Seat on 16th St.” on the market. Campaign to replace the used seating (originally from the Coronet Theater) with state-of-art seating from the Irwin Seating Company.

“I believe The Roxie not only survived the pandemic, but found new ways to thrive,” Sloan says.

On May 21st, The Roxie reopened with a screening of “Cinema Paradiso”, the winner of an audience poll. This showing was followed by David Lynch’s “Eraserhead,” which was shown frequently as a Roxie midnight film in the 1970s and 1980s. On May 22nd, “Eraserhead” was presented in all its surreal, eerie glory in 35mm. The first showing opened with a media meltdown drag show, which Sloan described as “jaw trapping”.

On July 17th, Lynch will return to The Roxie with a 35mm screening of “Mulholland Drive”. Further screenings in mid-July include Barbet Schroeder’s “Barfly” and “Linda and The Mockingbirds”, presented by the Los Cenzontles Cultural Arts Academy and the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts.

In early August, The Roxie will show Beth B’s “Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over”, with a personal visit from Lunch himself. David Lowery’s “The Green Knight,” a 4K restoration of Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Castle of Cagilostro” and Pablo Larrain’s “Ema” will also be shown this summer.

The Roxie is currently 50 percent full with limited show times. Masks remain required for entry but can be removed while eating and drinking in the theater. In the meantime, the Roxie Virtual Cinema will continue to offer streaming options.

“The doors of the Roxie were closed for 434 days, and despite the difficulties, I never doubted we would open again,” says Sloan.

“The patrons told me that it feels so good to finally be home.”

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Copyright © 2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, redistribution, or other reuse is prohibited without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc.

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