-
NOPNANews
nopna.org A Publication of the North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association
Fall 2021
MADRONE ART BAR
BISTRO CENTRAL PARC
SF HARDWARE
NEIGHBORHOOD
REOPENINGS
It’s been exciting to see some of our favorite small
businesses and restaurants reopen in recent months.
Read on for more information on Madrone Art Bar, Bistro
Central Parc, SF Hardware, and Automat, and please email
us at board@nopna.org if there are other local businesses
you’d like to highlight in the News!
MADRONE ART BAR
After being closed for almost a year due to the pandemic,
Madrone Art Bar — NOPA’s notoriously fun and lively bar
and music venue — reopened at full capacity on June
15th, 2021, to much community excitement.
Due to COVID-related mandates, Madrone was forced
to pivot their business — serving “to-go drinks” in the
beginning and then serving food to operate. Owner Mike
“Spike” Krouse acknowledges the many challenges of the
pandemic, but says he found a new sense of neighborhood
camaraderie.
“I’ve had so many heartfelt responses from the
community in regard to how much they truly missed
the environment created at the bar. This is affirming to
hear and certainly helps our morale when the work is
overwhelming.”
If you’re in the mood for a delicious drink, friendly
conversation, and some fantastic music (Motown Mondays
are a must!), Madrone Art Bar is the place to be. The bar is
(continued on page 3)
2 | NOPNANews
FROM THE BOARD
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE NOPA
Hello Neighbors —
What a rollercoaster we’ve experienced in recent months.
Early summer was bursting with exuberance as the city
officially re-opened and events that had been delayed or
cancelled altogether were finally taking place again. In my
own family, we reinstated a long-standing summer field day
tradition, complete with face painting and egg and spoon
racing, and we also gathered to commemorate a loved one
whom we lost last year. At both events, there was a great
sense of joy in being able to reconnect again in-person with family and friends.
More recently, as we’ve grappled with the reality of the Delta surge, it’s been
difficult to loosen my grip on the sense of normalcy I felt in early summer and
reset expectations for the months ahead. That said, I take great comfort living
in a city that continues to navigate this challenge with perseverance, ingenuity,
and an unwavering focus on public health. And I am more thankful than ever to
live in NOPA, a neighborhood with a deep sense of community and culture that
volunteers like Jim and Suzanne Cowan have been building for decades (check
out “The Cowans and the Power of Organizing” article in this issue).
Em Minor
NOPNA Treasurer
It was about this time last year that on a listless Saturday morning I picked
up a copy of this very newsletter and — intrigued by the audacious yet playful
aspirations of a shoestring team that set out to break a hopscotching world record
— read the issue from cover to cover. The experience broke through a long and
monotonous run of working from home and, well, doing everything from home,
and I realized that my COVID-inflicted sense of boredom and disconnect was
self-imposed. There were amazing people in my very own neighborhood doing
fun and inspiring things together, and they wanted me to be part of the team!
I responded to the Board’s request for volunteers that same day.
Looking back over my experience with NOPNA over the past year, I’m so
thankful for the new relationships I have built with fellow board members, local
merchants, and community volunteers. I am also incredibly impressed at how
this community network pulls together to support neighborhood events like
the Halloween Extravaganza, Divisadero Farmers’ Market, and — new this year
— Phoenix Day, Livable City’s initiative to bring every district of San Francisco
together on the same day in celebration of community, health, resilience, and
car-free fun in the streets.
I invite you, too, to come and join the fun! Email board@nopna.org to learn
more about upcoming events, to get paired with any one of our numerous
volunteer opportunities, or even simply to share your own audacious aspirations
for the neighborhood. We would love to meet you and hear your ideas.
Best,
Em
Em Minor has lived in NOPA since 2018 and enjoys strolling
through the Panhandle in the evenings with her husband John.
Sign up for our
email newsletter!
The NOPNA News is published by the
North of Panhandle Neighborhood
Association for the residents, businesses,
and friends of our neighborhood, which
is bounded by Masonic Avenue and Turk,
Divisadero and Fell Streets.
PUBLISHER
NOPNA Board of Directors
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Jason Cauthen
EDITOR
Emeline Minor
COPY EDITORS
Nathan Lovejoy,
Kate Roberts,
LAYOUT AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
Brenda Drake Lesch
BUSINESS OUTREACH/ADVERTISING
Emeline Minor
DISTRIBUTION
Will Valentine
PRINTING
Image Printing, San Francisco
NOPNA’s Mission: The purpose of
this association shall be to estab-
lish neighborhood unity, maintain
multi-ethnic and multi-cultural
diversity, foster a sense of neigh-
borhood pride, promote a safe and
clean community, and improve the
quality of life for all residents of
the neighborhood.
Your financial support allows NOPNA
to cover the costs of our newsletters,
community building events like
our block party and holiday party,
public art projects in the neighbor-
hood, and other activities that enrich
our dynamic neighborhood.
It also supports this site.
Make a difference on our streets and
become a member today!
Contact NOPNA
(continued from page 1)
issue 3 : 2021 | 3
open 4pm–2am Monday through Saturday and
3pm–midnight Sundays. Check out Madrone’s calendar
or a full line up of their entertainment schedule at
BISTRO CENTRAL PARC
Bistro Central Parc, a neighborhood staple on the corner
of Central and Grove that had been closed since 2019,
reopened under new ownership in mid-July. Owner
Bayram Evsen decided to keep the name, but the menu
now focuses on Italian-French fusion with a California flare.
Evsen and his team take pride in working closely with local
farmers and purveyors to offer a delightful farm-to-table
experience for their customers.
Evsen says, “I am really excited to be a part of this
beautiful neighborhood. Everyone is super friendly and
welcoming, which is hard to find these days. People really
care and show their support in ways I didn’t expect.”
Neighbors, please give Evsen and his team a warm
welcome and treat yourself to a fabulous meal in the heart
of the neighborhood. Bistro Central Parc is open Tuesday–
Thursday from 4:30–9:00 p.m. and Friday–Sunday from
4:30–9:30 p.m.
SF HARDWARE
SF Hardware, a family-run hardware business on Divisadero
and Fell, has been open for over 20 years, but had to shut
down for nearly 15 months during the pandemic. It opened
back up in July, and owner Fai Chen says he appreciates
the patronage from the NOPA and surrounding community.
He asks that everyone continue to support local businesses
as they try to bounce back from the impact of being closed
for so long.
AUTOMAT
Automat, formerly a pop-up from former Lazy Bear
sous chef Matt Kirk, will settle into its permanent home
on McAllister and Baker (formerly Green Chile Kitchen)
before the end of the year. Its menu will feature a multitude
of delicious breads and fried chicken sandwiches,
which you can find on sale from time to time from the
@automat_sf Instagram handle. Stay tuned for more details.
Meg Rahner has lived in NOPA for over 10 years and currently serves as president on the NOPNA board.
Aimee Rancer is on the NOPNA board and lives in the neighborhood with her husband and pit bull-husky, Bolt.
4 | NOPNANews
WHAT IS SFPD’S
“FOCUS ON THE FIVE”?
Have you heard of “Focus
on the Five”? It is a traffic safety
initiative from SFPD to help San
SFPD has made its citation data
vehicle speeds are high and where
public since the Vision Zero goal
foot traffic is more common. As a
was set back in 2014. During this
result, the intersections of Divisadero/
Francisco meet its Vision Zero goal:
period, total traffic citation numbers
Fell, Fulton/Masonic, and Fulton/Baker
end traffic fatalities by 2024. The
decreased significantly, dropping from
are some of NOPA’s most dangerous.
“Five” refers to the top five California
roughly 130,000 to 40,000 annually.
We are fortunate to live in NOPA, a
Vehicle Code violations that lead to
In the same period, although the
family-friendly walker’s paradise, and
most injuries and fatalities. SFPD aims
absolute number of Focus on the Five
it’s up to us to walk, roll, skate, and
to “focus” on these violations, with a
citations has also decreased, those
drive safely for everyone. The onus
goal of having at least 50% of traffic
citations are a greater share of the
is on all of us to slow down, minimize
citations fall into these five categories.
total - suggesting that the SFPD’s is
distractions, take care, and look out
“THE FIVE”
• Yield to pedestrians when turning
• Stop fully at stop signs
• Obey the speed limit (or slower
depending on conditions)
• Stop at red lights (including
before a right turn)
• Yield to pedestrians at all crossings
prioritizing those violations. In fact,
for each other. The SFPD’s “Top Five”
2019 marked the first year during this
aren’t chosen arbitrarily: they are
period that SFPD reached the 50%
selected through careful study of our
goal.
own and other cities’ historical traffic
As neighbors, we also have a role in
collision patterns. Help us maintain
achieving the goals of Vision Zero.
safe streets and keep your own traffic
According to TransBASE, the city’s
citations at bay: when you’re behind
public traffic crash data information
the wheel, keep our neighborhood
database, traffic collisions occur where
safe and “focus on the five”!
140000
105000
70000
35000
0
S
N
O
I
T
A
T
I
C
Y
L
R
A
E
Y
TOTAL
CITATIONS
TOP 5
CITATIONS
TOP 5
PERCENT
75
56.25
37.5
18.75
0
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Martin Almaraz moved to the neighborhood in 2020 and is an avid cyclist, runner, and photographer.
issue 3 : 2021 | 5
A LOCAL ARTIST’S
LIGHT BULB MOMENT
Todd Kurnat is a visual artist
who has lived in NOPA since
2006. His art practice varies from
hand-drawn illustrations to large
public murals. Todd is inspired by
nature: specifically, the patterns,
colors, and shapes that are found
in wildlife.
The route to Todd’s art studio
takes him past Nihon Whiskey Bar
on Folsom. Shortly after the 2020
shelter-in-place began, merchants
began boarding up their storefronts
to protect their property. As he was
passing by Nihon one day, Todd
saw the graffiti-tagged, boarded-up
windows, and felt a sense of despair.
It was a light bulb moment for him.
Todd saw an opportunity to turn
a negative into a positive. He did
some research, found the bar
owner’s email address and pitched
his idea. He received a response
the next morning.
Khaled (Nihon’s owner) loved
the idea and asked “When can you
start?” This connection kicked off
Todd’s campaign to beautify San
Francisco storefronts.
As luck would have it, Khaled
also owns Tsunami Panhandle
and Bar 821 on Divisadero, both
in our neck of the woods. Todd
volunteered to paint custom murals
on the plywood covering the
windows of the temporarily-closed
businesses. From there, he gained
the confidence to seek out more
merchants in need. Before he knew
it, Todd was on a quest to beautify
our city and lift the spirit of the
neighborhood, one mural at a time.
Todd’s work would not have
been made possible without
generous donations from
merchants and San Francisco
residents alike, blooming into a
community-supported ecosystem.
If you would like to support Todd
or learn more about his work, you
can visit his website at toddkurnat.
com/murals - (there is also a helpful
map to help locate his murals
around the city).
Veronica (Vera) Lobkina is a proud NOPA resident, doting cat owner, ethical real estate agent, and passionate mountain biker.
6 | NOPNANews
THE COWANS AND THE
POWER OF ORGANIZING
Hailing from Los Angeles
and Baltimore respectively,
Jim and Suzanne Cowan are well-
known neighbors to the NOPA
community. They originally moved to
the neighborhood in 1982 and later
transitioned to their current residence,
where they’ve been since 1989. In the
mid-1960s, Jim and Suzanne were
students at UC Berkeley, where they
met at a Free Speech Movement rally.
From the steps of Sproul Plaza,
they went on to stints in Paris and
Santa Cruz; along the way they
welcomed their son Ben to the
world, and eventually settled down
in San Francisco.
Jim and Suzanne note that,
like many of San Francisco’s
neighborhoods, NOPA has changed
substantially. They recall that the area
experienced more frequent public
safety issues. But over the years, the
neighborhood transformed into a
vibrant area of community-building
and commercial activity. The Cowans
credit the radical change in both
overall safety, commercial expansion,
and community engagement to the
residents — in Jim’s words, “change
happened because we organized.”
In the early 1990’s, handwritten
and photocopied fliers circulated
around NOPA, calling for a meeting
of community members interested
in advocating for a safer, more
welcoming neighborhood. Jim and
Suzanne were among the attendees at
the first official meeting at Mt. Herman
Church off Lyon St, which kicked off
what we now know as the North of the
Panhandle Neighborhood Association
— or NOPNA. In one of their earliest
organizing efforts, NOPNA’s members
set a precedent for new development
projects in the area by compelling
the developers to engage directly
with the neighbors on the shopping
complex project at Masonic Ave and
Fulton St. Jim and Suzanne recall that
process proudly, as it showed what
a group of committed community
members can do when they organize.
Critical to the organizing effort
issue 3 : 2021 | 7
<< Suzanne & Jim Cowan
in their home displaying an
original NOPNA t-shirt
designed by Sasaki.
serve as a key information resource
spotlighting small businesses,
promoting community events, and
educating neighbors on local issues.]
Jim and Suzanne’s many
contributions to the NOPA
neighborhood and the NOPNA
newsletter embody the best of what
it means to be a member of the
community. Though we’ve spent
the last 18 months without the large
gatherings, Jim and Suzanne remind
us that change is possible when a
group of committed community folks
come together and organize.
Tom Paulino is a 9-year resident of San Francisco
and recently moved to NOPA in late-2020.
was the production of the NOPNA
newsletter, which started as a single-
sheet in 1991. Suzanne — a former
Editor of the NOPNA News— credits
it with bringing into being many of
the neighborhood’s fun community
events like the Block Party and
Halloween. [The NOPNA News issue
you are reading now still endeavors to
carry through the Cowan’s legacy and
8 | NOPNANews
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SITE: THREE
DECADES OF VIOLIN CRAFTMENSHIP ON DIVIS
In a quiet corner of NOPA
there is a shop reminiscent of an
old-world craftsman studio. It’s
filled with beautiful wooden string
instruments — mostly cellos and
violins — and, in the backroom
workshop, the small hand tools
and wooden bits and pieces
required for the repair of fine
instruments. This is where master
craftsman Roland Feller plies his
passion for instrument making,
repair, and restoration.
Feller came to New York City
from Germany in 1971, having
completed three and a half years
of study at a German-state run
vocational school at Mittenwald in
issue 1 : 2021 | 9
Bavaria. This world-renowned school
trains youngsters in instrument-
making, especially string instruments
like the violin. Swiss-born Feller
came from a musical family and
was fascinated with wood working
as a child. Before he was twenty,
the newly minted “journeyman”
instrument maker arrived in New York
City to continue his studies under
the expert Italian violin maker and
restorer Sacconi.
Feller, fascinated with the intricacy
required in the handicraft and with
a couple years’ experience under
his belt, embarked on his career as
a professional instrument maker and
repairman. Seeking to escape the
Hell’s Kitchen apartment he lived in,
he made his way to San Francisco
where, in 1974, he established his first
business with a partner, “Feller and
Furey,” making and repairing string
instruments. The shop was located
at the corner of Geary and Masonic.
In 1989 the business, now owned
and operated solely by Feller,
moved to its present location on
Divisadero (that’s over 30 years
in the ‘hood). Clients come from
all around San Francisco to buy
Feller’s handiwork as well as newer,
less expensive instruments mostly
produced in China, and Feller
continues to work with his hands
on repairing and restoring
instruments. He says he has seen
many changes to NOPA over the
years, mostly for the better, and
enjoys the NOPA community which
is why he elects to remain.
Elisabeth Kvitashvili is a retired US diplomat who
moved to NOPA five years ago with her husband.
She’s an active volunteer in the community and
continues to teach at Georgetown University.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Phoenix Day - Oct 17th
https://www.sundaystreetssf.com/
phoenixday/
Halloween Night Block Party -
Oct 31st (go to www.nopna.org
for the latest)
NOPNA Virtual General Meeting
Third Thursday of Even months
Next meeting: October 21st –
7–8:30 pm
Sign up for our email list and get
all the details and updates at
www.nopna.org! Or follow us on
facebook, Instagram, or twitter!
Farmers Market
DMV Parking Lot – Broderick@Fell
Sundays – 10am–2pm
10 | NOPNANews
THE
GROOM
Short Story by Katherine McCarty
Light penetrated the classroom
window — his skin never looked
so pale, he thought. Leaning against
his desk, he sensed none of the warmth
of outside, and the sunny day remained
removed like a portrait, framed within
a pane of glass. Against the rough
angles of the brick sill, the day
appeared captive in a display of light
and heat. Everything beautiful gets
a cage, after all.
A cough sounded from behind him.
A woman stood in the doorway, her
posture like Botticelli’s Venus.
“It has been a while.” His ribs turned
to steel bars against his breath.
“A lot has changed,” the woman
said, her eyes in an attitude that did
not match her voice. The soles of her
shoes clicked against the floorboards,
each a chime to a vacant clock.
“Congrats.” He nodded to her
hands, as she twirled a diamond
around her ring finger.
She dropped her gilded fingers to
his desk, picking up pages and books
as she read titles aloud. Her hair fell
like the sun’s rays on sand, and in his
memory he sensed the sea breeze of
her skin.
“Teaching the same books, I notice.”
Reaching into her back pocket, she
pulled out an envelope and set it on
a stack of papers. “It’s a thank you
card, only.”
Walking to the chalkboard, her
fingers traced the marks of powdered
words with an expression of distant
musing.
His hand met hers against the
blackboard, the light from the window
casting his shadow over hers. The
white gold of her ring chilled him as he
pinched it between his fingertips.
“So, this is worth it?” While his
voice softened, something stirred
against his tongue.
She pulled her hand back. The
ring slid from her finger and trembled
in his grasp. The diamond reflected
the white from her eyes, blinding him.
It fell, bouncing on the ground till it
laid still.
The woman’s look held the stone’s
piercing clearness. “At least it is much
harder to break a diamond.”
Squatting to the ground, she slid
the ring back over her knuckle.
He stood, arched. Could a look,
or a movement, tell her otherwise?
His gut clenched as if he stood on a
precipice, her movements threatening
to topple him from the edge of an
unknown height.
Her steps towards the door pushed
against him like gusts of wind, and he
shuddered as if her look produced a
clap of thunder. A tempest engulfed
his own inaction, and not until he
heard the door shut behind her did
the storm stop. He lowered himself
into his chair — weathered.
From the window to the door he
moved his gaze. Their rectangular
forms held the outside, both its
lightness and its darkness, locked
beyond knob and latch; contained
like Pandora’s box beyond his
surrounding walls.
The outside world glittered from its
cage like rare stones set in gold.
Katherine McCarty is a writer, house call
chiropractor, and local small business owner. She is
working on her second novel and lives by Alamo
Square with her fiancée. Sending love to their
sweet dog, Boo Radley, who walked the streets of
Nopa first at a run, and now only in memories.
VOLUNTEER
FOR NOPNA NEWS
NOPNA News is a volunteer-driven
publication created by and for our
neighbors. If you’d like to get in-
volved we’d love for you to be a part
of it, whether by contributing your
skills, your voice, or your time.
There are several areas where we are
always looking for more support
PHOTOGRAPHY — do you have a
great eye and a decent camera? We
can always use volunteers who can
capture the beauty and humanity of
our neighborhood in photographs.
COPY EDITING — if you are good
with words, have an eye for detail,
and like early sneak peaks we’d love
your help with the process of getting
the articles from submission to print.
WRITING AND DELIVERY — we
can always use more folks interest-
ed writing articles or delivering the
news. Time commitment is minimal
and very flexible, and you will see
the impact of your work in real life.
LAYOUT AND DESIGN — if you
have InDesign skills (or would like
to learn), we can always use help
pulling together each issue. Our
designers are responsible for the
clean, professional, and stylish look
and feel of each issue.
If any of these are interesting to you,
or if you have other ideas for how
you would like to be involved, I’d
love to hear from you at
issue 1 : 2021 | 11
NEIGHBORLY
ETIQUETTE:
THE ART OF BEING
A GOOD CUSTOMER
As the COVID-19 pandemic lingers on, our
local small businesses are still struggling to keep their doors
open, maintain staff, and adapt to shifting public health
mandates. With the onset of new variants, many business
owners are bracing themselves for a difficult autumn, and
a hard holiday season.
As neighbors, it’s important that we help keep our corridors
safe and sound — for everyone. Here’s a bit of neighborly
etiquette to help us all get through:
• Do wear a mask (above your nose!) even if
you’re vaccinated.
• You know the deal: keep 6ft apart and wash your hands.
If you’re not feeling well, stay home.
• Know before you go — call up, or review business
websites or Instagram accounts to get up-to-
date information.
• Some businesses may require proof of vaccination.
Kindly be prepared, if asked.
• Do pay attention to COVID-protocol signage —
it’s there for a reason!
• Do tip your server, bartender, and delivery driver well.
• Be patient — many businesses are understaffed and
their operations are still recovering. This may mean
longer lines, limited offerings, timed reservations, and
new rules. Be flexible.
• Sourcing ingredients, supplies, and packaging is still
a challenge. Some supply chains are getting back up and
running, but some have never recovered.
• Don’t overstay at sit-down restaurants or cafes. Turning
tables is an important part of bottom lines.
• Sidewalks are also meant to be shared with pedestrians.
• Keep your spatial awareness when dining outside.
Lastly, a little compassion goes a long way!
THE AIR
CONDITIONER
THAT CAN’T
BE REPLACED
We’re lucky here in San Francisco, where
the ocean often serves as an air conditioner. Our
city is frequently 30 degrees cooler than many of
our Bay Area neighbors, but climate change has
been gradually weakening this natural AC. Our
average lows have increased almost three degrees
since 1971.
We also have 3-4 fewer hours of fog per day than
we had in the roaring twenties. And less fog means
more hot days. At our current rate, we’re predicted
to go from two days a year on average above 90
degrees to 10 days by 2050. By 2080, our city is
predicted to feel a lot like present-day Los Angeles.
You might be wondering if we should all rush
to install air conditioners. Thankfully, we still have
many more decades of our marine layer to protect
us, but may need to be more mindful as we deal
with hotter days.
First, stay in the know about heat waves by
signing up for the city’s AlertSF system — text your
zip code to 888-777.
On hot days, a few simple tricks can go a long
way. Drink a lot of fluids. Apply ice packs wrapped
in dry towels. Limit the use of your oven. At night,
sticking a bowl of ice water in front of a fan or
putting your sheets in the freezer for a few minutes
before going to bed can make it easier to fall
asleep. Most importantly, check on your NOPA
neighbors, especially the elderly and those with
health concerns.
If you end up getting an AC anyway, consider
a heat pump system. They are better for the
environment, using significantly less energy and
potentially saving hundreds of dollars over a
traditional system. And remember to share them
with a neighbor on the next hot day.
Shakirah Simley is a writer, nonprofit executive director, and food justice activist who
has worked in District 5 for 10 years and recently bought her first home in NOPA.
Apoorv Narang is a product manager at Lyft and recently joined the
NOPNA board. He loves living on the Golden Gate slow street and is
trying to grow three varieties of tomatoes this summer.
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Respect the neighborhood, be part of the community
Your Custom Text Here