This Week in Noe Valley: La Ciccia Sold, Ardiana Closing, Ukraine Hits Home

The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs.

• La Ciccia owners are selling their beloved restaurant [@tablehopper]
• Sadness: Ardiana on Church is closing [ArdianaSF.com]
• Historic NV house gets a pricey but loving makeover [Wall Street Journal]
• Nextdoor Noe Valley has a meltdown about this house [@MClendaniel]
• Ukraine hits home [@GalinCali]
• Flowers of the Valley and #StandwithUkraine [@shaketini]
• Covid cases are low in Noe Valley [Mission Local]
• Cool history thread: 29th and Sanchez then and now [@DavidGallagher]

[Photo: Sunrise via sanfranciscoist]

This Week in Noe Valley: Savor Changes Owners, La PanotiQ and Good News Are Gone

The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• LaPanotiQ closes "due to delays caused by extensive building repairs." Um, yeah. [Hoodline]
• NY Times technology reporter John Markoff: RIP Good News [@markoff]
• Savor posts a change of owner sign after many months of sad, slow decline [@rosewinegirl]
• Baron’s clears an inspection hurdle. Here’s hoping for sandwiches soon [@BaronsonChurch]
• Brunch with oysters, egg dishes and bubbles (yum) [Uma Casa]
• What happens when SF adds housing (your neighbors are in this) [@SFyimby]
• You can get a Noe Valley cocktail at Cityscape in the Hilton downtown – who knew? [Paste Magazine]
• Evil Noe Valley landlord fined millions by the city for bad evictions [SFGate]
• The new villain: “He is a finance guy living in a big house in Noe Valley.” [SF Examiner]
• #Vanlife Noe Valley-style [allenapplegate]

[Photo: Goodby Good News from NVSF]

This Week in Noe Valley: Exit Radio Shack, Easter Egg Hunt Is On, Noe Valley Then and Now

The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• District 8 Supe Jeff Sheehy’s priorities include crime and homelessness [Hoodline]
• Radio Shack on 24th St closing – everything for sale, all items must go [Hoodline]
• Heartbreaking: 93 year old dies while fighting eviction from home of 63 years on 26th St. [NVSF]
• Noe Valley Easter Egg Hunt is scheduled for a April 15 @ Douglass Park [NVMPA]
• Inside a stunning $2.5 million Queen Anne Victorian for sales on Fair Oaks [Curbed]
• Contrast: A $2 million fixer on Jersey [The Front Steps]
• 24th and Hoffman Street then and now [@DavidGallagher]
• Creepy: Real estate drones [bluskyfilms]

[Photo: New Portuguese restaurant Uma Casa on Church oakwoodroasted]

NVV March 2016: We Read It So You Don't Have To

The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year and has been a neighborhood fixture since 1977. Here are notable highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered here on NVSF or other resources. Follow the NVV link at the bottom for full articles and all the ads.

March 2016

Front Page: Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche that she drove while living in Noe Valley sold for $1.76 million in December; A profile of Todd David, president of the Friends of Noe Valley and political director of Scott Wiener's Senate campaign; The proposed Town Square animal sculptures are criticized for being unsafe to climb and for looking like "lumps;" Word Week is back March 20-26.

Letters: A plea for Noe Valleyeons to consider the Affordable Housing Density Bonus Program; A long rambling letter from someone who misses Real Foods and hates what's happening on 24th St; No love for Whole Foods' loud holiday trucks and parking grab; A complaint about Haystack Pizza adding $2.25 to the bill for whole wheat crust; An appreciation for Wilkes Bashford (RIP).

Features: Alex Louh of the old St. Paul's Market died of cancer in January. RIP Father Tom Seagrave a former Noe Valley priest at St. Paul's parish. In memory of writer and teacher Jane Underwood.

Cost of Living in Noe: The most expensive home sold for $4.5 million on Cesar Chavez at Noe. Rents are cooling off slightly (but not much).

Short Takes: The Peaks, Valley Tavern and The Dubliner will all be celebrating St. Patrick's Day in style on March 17; The Noe Valley Easter Egg Hunt is back, on Saturday March 26 (10 to noon) at Douglass Park thanks to sponsorship from the Droubi and Roddick families.

Store Trek: Lazeez Mediterranean Grill, 3915 24th St. (reviews here)

Rumors and Tidbits: A For Lease sign has appeared in the window of 1298 Church St. - the completed but unused restaurant is seeking a new tenant; Mylene's beauty Shop has transformed into Moe's Barber and Beauty Parlor on 24th St.; chef Paul Svensson was at the Noe Valley Farmer's Market with a film crew for a possible documentary about food (maybe); The bathrooms are now open at Noe Courts; BJ Droubi is retiring and moving to Sacramento - the real estate business is going to her daughter Lamisse; SFPD beat officer Lorraine Lombardo has retired; The restored Noe Valley firehouse at 3816 22nd St. is for rent on Airbnb for $1500 per night; Smash and grab car break-ins are on the rise (moral: don't leave anything in your car); Shoe Biz is no longer a small local shop; The Rabbit Hole Children's Theater is moving into the corner of Diamond and 24th (a former laundromat).

[The Noe Valley Voice]

This Week in Noe Valley: New Trees, Housing Crisis Workarounds, and the End of Google Buses?

The latest news from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• New trees! Saturday was a mass planting day by FUF [@mhjin]
• The high-end Vietnamese restaurant at 29th and Church suspends its campaign [@NoeValleySF]
• The beginning of the end of shuttle buses in Noe Valley? [SF Examiner]
• An interview with the founders of Townsquared who hatched their product in Noe Valley [PC Mag]
• Are your neighbors adding a 2 bedroom inlaw in their backyard to solve the housing crisis? [Atlantic]
• District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener is launching his Senate campaign from an HQ in the Castro [Scott Wiener]
• Support Noe Valley Chamber Music at the 2016 Benefit Concert [NVCM]

[Photo: Spring day from Noeteca via kjchdimo]

This Week At The Planning Commission: The Evolution Of 24th St Continues

A look at Noe Valley projects in front of the Planning Commission this week. Information is provided by the Planning Commission, and taken from its published agenda. All hearings are on Thursday at 1:30pm, Room 400 in City Hall.

April 23, 2015

3822 24TH STREET - north side of 24th Street between Church and Vicksburg Streets; Lot 018 in Assessor’s Block 3651 - Request for Conditional Use Authorization pursuant to Planning Code Section 303, 317 and 728.37, to allow demolition of an existing two-story single-family dwelling. The proposed new construction includes a five-story-over-basement, five-unit residential with ground-floor commercial building, with five bicycle parking spaces. The building will be approximately 45 feet in height, pursuant to Planning Code Section 263.20. The property is within the 24th Street- Noe Valley NCD (Neighborhood Commercial) Zoning District, and 40-X Height and Bulk District. This action constitutes the Approval Action for the project for the purposes of CEQA, pursuant to Section 31.04(h) of the San Francisco Administrative Code.

Preliminary Recommendation: Approve with Conditions

Records show the existing single family home at 3822 24th St was purchased in $759k in 2012, and the current owner has lived there since. Interesting, the application filed in 2014 includes an appraisal for the house as is: But rather than cash out, the owner is looking big: five new units (three of which are "family size") over retail. As shown in the picture above, the proposed building is roughly the size of the new construction next door. And as it is close to major public transportation, there will be no parking on site for autos (but yes for bicycles).

Full plans, staff analysis and thirteen letters of support (mostly from area merchants) are included in the application. There are no letters in opposition.

Also at the Planning Commission this week is the continuation of 4022-4026 24th St - the Bliss Bar building. A final decision was postponed on March 26th so that the project sponsor and concerned neighbors could meet and hammer out some compromises. The issues include the larger space taking up 100% of the rear yard, amplified music and (of course) lack of parking among other things. According to a comment on April 5th, it does not appear that the project sponsor was willing to compromise. We'll see what the Planning Commission says.

Update (4/24): After a brief presentation by the project sponsor of 3822 24th St that highlighted the fact that there was no one in opposition, two people stood up to voice their concerns. Both are Elizabeth St residents, and neither had heard of the project until it was highlighted in the Chronicle last week (they missed the mailings, large posters, etc). Their concerns were predictable: light, shadow, harshness of design and the changing character of 24th St.

The Commissioners agreed that the design is a bit "brutal" and asked that the architect work to soften the facade. Commissioner Moore also asked that the location of the stair and elevator penthouses be consolidated to reduce shadows. With those conditions the project was approved 7-0.

On the matter of 4022-4026 24th St, the Commissioners voted 6-0 to continue the hearing to June 11, 2015. Details on our original post.

Video of the hearing is here.

[SF Planning: 3822 24TH STREET]
[SF Planning: 4022-4026 24th St]
[NVSF: This Week At The Planning Commission: Tom & Rai Will Move Into Rebuilt Bliss Bar]

This Week In Noe Valley: The Podolls Arrives, A Mailbox Jacking, And An Ode to Valley Tavern

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Noe Valley Is Pretty, but How Many TVs Does One Bar Need? [SF Weekly]
• The Space Invader home is in contract...again [SocketSite]
• An interview with the owners of The Podolls [SFGate]
• Beautiful sunrises and sunsets this week [thatsthejuan and merrij]
• Noe Valley has a history of obnoxious land barons: The story of a former cement magnate chopping up Billy Goat hill + cool photos [FoundSF via FrontStepsSF]
• Speaking of which: Somebody sabotaged the Bill Goat Hill swing again. Scuttlebutt says it's a grumpy neighbor. [@sfgirlbybay]
• Mailbox jacking in the hood – apparently it’s a thing [@igb]
• Stating the obvious: S.F. housing inventory in years-long decline, leading to mass overbidding [SF Gate]
• The J Church explained: One NextBus minute is equivalent to three of your Earth minutes [@40goingon28]
• Noe Valley branch of the GCP on duty [@danfuzz]
• Whole Foods Drive [@NoeValleySF]
• Local oring guse stand [@peephole]

[Photo: Hi, city via carapatriciasf]

This Week In Noe Valley: No More Historic F Trains On Church St, Real Estate Agents Gone Wild, #uluvmusicday

News from, about and for Noe Valley from around the interwebs:

• Noe Valley's next teardown flip thwarted [Socketsite]
• SFMTA is moving the historic F line Muni cars off J Church tracks [SFMTA]
• Noe Valley realtor Lamisse Droubi sells her local home for $7.5 million (a record $3386 per square foot) [Curbed]
• Avg. $ per sq. foot of houses in Noe Valley, SF = $1188 Avg. $ per sq. foot of brand new 16GB iPad Air = $1160 [@bcrypt]
• Thanks to Yo, Noe Valley house prices will go up another notch [@nszombie]
• Cyclist who hit jaywalker on 24th St aquitted [KTVU]
• Richard May won the Noe Valley Garden Tour raffle [Stephanie Johnson SF]
• … and the Garden Tour raised money for the 22nd St Jungle Stairs [Jungle Stairs]
• Real estate agents in SF have lost their minds – and other wisdom from a seller [Left Coast Cowboys]
• The NV Library was part of a Carnegie gift to the city (and it was built for just $37,499) [Loud Latin Laughing]
• Kif Bender, the local 13-year old singer-songwriter and guitarist will be at the SF Free Folk Festival [SF Gate]
• Lola is the textile queen of Noe Valley [Racked]
• Scott Wiener's latest newsletter [Scott Wiener]
• Few challenging Scott Wiener for the District 8 Supes seat [Bay Area Reporter]
• Noeteca is Bernal Heights' best brunch spot? [Thrillist]
• Philz: Put away your phone before ordering your coffee [willolovesyou]
• Spotted: Noe Valley’s Banksy [cms100]
• We need one of these at the top of Sanchez [Bold Italic]
• Nailed it! [@TheRealWWBTC]

[Photo: #uluvmusicday dedward007]

NVV March 2014: We Read It So You Don't Have To

The Noe Valley Voice is published ten times a year and has been a neighborhood fixture since 1977. Here are notable highlights from the latest issue. Links are to stories we've covered here on NVSF or other resources. Follow the NVV link at the bottom for full articles and all the ads.

March 2014

Front Page: Word Week is March 16-23; Urban Putt, from Noe Valley's Steve Fox and Chris Myers to open in April, and is still looking for investors; Remembering Josh Epple.

Letters: An idea to create illegal housing for local Glen Evans; "If the people who rode the buses actually lived in Noe Valley they wouldn't have to park here to ride the buses;" An Occupy Noe update.

Short Takes: Upper Douglass Dog Park might open eventually with new drainage/turf but no change to operations if all goes according to the new plan; The NVDC is sponsoring a panel discussion on affordable housing in the Bay Area on 19th at St. Philip's; There is $25,000 in sidewalk landscaping grants available to District 8 landowners - contact Andres Power for more information.

Cost of Living in Noe: It's very hot on the surface of the sun.

Store Trek (at least we think it's Store Trek): A website/app from local Pascal Levy-Garboua called SixDoors that offers same-day delivery from small businesses in Noe Valley and across San Francisco (there's even an adult section); Noe Valley merchants are loving Townsquared - "a private online community for businesses" you can't join.

Rumors: Mazook spent Super Bowl Sunday at Elizabeth Street Brewery, loved the beer and learned that Richard Brewer-Hay has scrapped the idea of trying to open a brewery in the Real Foods space - at least for now; Valley Tavern hopes to was approved to reopen the back patio; Diamond Cafe to open opened; Horner's Corner opened and business is brisk with many people ordering pizza for pickup; The Streetlight Records/Sway building has been sold but needs work before listing for a new tenant; The Noe Valley Farmer's Market is matching food stamp purchases with an equal dollar amount of produce to protest the "Republicans' cutting food stamp benefits in Congress."

Bonus: Your pledge dollars at work: an ad for KQED. In Noe Valley.

[The Noe Valley Voice]

Blight Watch: What's Up With 1220 Church St?

A letter to the Editor in the April 2013 Noe Valley Voice asked about the vacant 2-unit Edwardian at 1220-1222 Church St. We were able to report that the City considers it abandoned and an investigation is ongoing. Today we noticed scaffolding on the facade and demolition crews on site and dug a little deeper.

According to records on the Department of Building Inspection's website, an October 2005 complaint was filed by a tenant stated there was no heat and that water leaks were throughout apartment, and it snowballed from there. A Notice of Violation as issued for various issues with the code, but most significantly for an illegal unit in the garage.

Some of the minor violations were corrected and heat was provided by Feb 2006; the heat stopped working a month later. No permits were pulled to remove the illegal unit in the garage until Nov 2007. It appears the unit was removed, but the permit was never finalized and other structural problems remained.

A new complaint filed by the tenant in October 2008 stated the landlord had turned off the water. More inspections confirmed there was no water, and that other violations were still outstanding. There's no indication that the water was ever turned on, and there's no further communication from the tenant.

The latest complaint was filed in June 2012: "This building is vacant, Broken glass on the front area - Peeling paint, 2nd floor ceiling about to cave in; there is a lot of debris in the front area of the property behind their gate. Dry rot in the structure. Overgrown yard ... lots of weeds." Attempts to reach the owner have failed, and no one representing the property showed up to a hearing on April 2, 2013. It appears that the City may be trying to take control of the property and likely put it up for auction, but we can't confirm.

At this point, what we know for sure is that the building is owned by The Perez Family Trust and that they filed two Ellis Act Petitions in 2006 (PDF). We know that the complaints are outstanding, and we know there are no new construction or demolition permits. It would be interesting to know the history of how the family has fared and if this is a byproduct of a long foreclosure process.

At any rate, the scaffold hints at fresh paint and the noise from inside suggests this building could be inhabited sometime in the near future. Maybe - they better figure out the permit problems and make nice with the DBI.

[Photo: Google Street View]

Aftermath: Bliss Bar Fire

We've updated yesterday's posts to include more info, but here's a summary in case you missed it:

• SFFD had to respond to Bliss Bar again last night when the fire reignited.
• The Red Cross was able to temporarily house all displaced persons, but is requesting help relocating some people for the long term.

The bar appears to be a total loss:

Bliss Bar the day after double burn. Preliminary assessment: electrical. #noevalley twitter.com/mbd2/status/29…
— mbd2 (@mbd2) February 5, 2013

[Photo: @saranoh]

Attention Bliss Bar Fire Displaced Tenants

A reader with an available in-law apartment has offered shelter for the a night or so while you get your bearings. The unit is around the corner from the fire. Send us an email if you need it (or if you don't, frankly) and we'll hook you up.

Update 2/5:

My name is Billy - I am a volunteer for the Red Cross San Francisco. I responded to the Bliss Bar fire last night (the second time it went up), and I used to hang out there fairly often. I saw your post regarding the resident with the in-law. Red Cross took care of the residents affected by the fire by putting them up in hotels until the 7th, so a short term stay shouldn't be necessary.

Billy added that there are tenants who will need help with longer term housing. Please contact us if you have an apartment to rent and we'll put you in touch.