August Institutions & Honorable Intentions

We know you may not be reading this on Nob Hill. We’ve been watching you tip a toe into Tahoe, sip a sauvignon blanc in Sonoma, while away in Woodside. But we appreciate that you pack our editorial—and our can-do, me-too, true blue attitude to your summer address, 94111 or no. So whether your summer includes beach or burden, we’re glad to keep you up to date with the best that San Francisco and surroundings has to offer. Wherever you are, we give good gala!

Gordon’s Town—Conservatory of Music Gala

What do you give the man who has everything? World-class music and heartfelt thanks, of course. And both were bestowed in abundance when the San Francisco Conservatory of Music honored arts patron and alumnus Gordon Getty for his dedication to this essential institution. Newly ensconced in its spectacularly renovated Oak Street home, the Conservatory provides a wide range of musical instruction at many levels, from master classes and concerts to a full degree program. To delight the generous Getty, event host Frederica von Stade invited her friend and fellow (small “d”) diva Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to perform a ravishing pre-dinner tribute alongside Jake Heggie, Robin Sutherland, Marnie Breckenridge, Lisa Delan, Emil Miland, Eleazar Rodriguez, and the preternaturally talented fourteen-year-old Rieko Tsuchida. Like the honoree, the program was eclectic and complex, with selections that included Puccini, Bach, Mozart, Liszt, Heggie, and Getty himself. Once dinner was underway, the mood was festive and felicitous. Gorgeous gowns and glittery gems sparkled under Robert Fountain’s elegant blue and brown tent, festooned with crystal chandeliers, heavy blue-and-white linen cloths, and silver julep cups filled with overblown peonies and roses.

 

 

Event chair Jan Buckley admitted to working a whole year with co-conspirator von Stade to assemble her committees and performers, and the effort was evident. Harmonizing throughout the evening were Marie-Jose & Kent Baum, Ann & Bob Zerbst, Sandy Fetter, Teresa & Mark Medearis, Barbara Brown, Denise Hale, Bettye Ferguson, Hilary Armstrong, Deepa Pakianathan and Phil Pemberton, benefactor chair Tamara Fritz, Athena & Timothy Blackburn, Linda Kemper and David Gockley, board chair Lisa Miller with husband John and daughter Lauren, Diane & Asher Rubin, Maria Manetti Farrow, Michael & Monique Apatoff, Dixon & Carol Doll, Sam & Colin Murdoch, Jim Buckley, and Darril Hudson. When San Francisco says thank you, it doesn’t Getty any better than this.

Tut-Tut

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco hosted the opening of the King Tut exhibit with two nights of Egyptian-themed festivities for directors and donors. Patrons nibbled on near-Eastern delights surrounded by belly dancers, musicians, and acrobats, comparing their impressions with the first exhibit to visit SF some thirty years ago. The current show, which will be at the Museum until March 28 of next year, focuses on the context and historical significance of the artifacts found in the tomb of the nineteen-year-old boy king. The ravishing gold finishes of the long-lost goods glowed alongside golden gowns, with many attendees embracing the thematic essence of the evening in their choice of regalia. Amongst the tout-uncommon crowd were Dr. Zahi Hawass, board chair Dede Wilsey and John Traina, Ambassador Sameh Shoukry, executive director John Buchanan & his Lucy, Lisa & John Grotts, Raijkant & Helen Desai, Marilyn & Michael Cabak, Florence & John Bryan, Cynthia Schuman & Dan Banks, Stephanie & Jim Milligan, Karin Justin and David Holly, Mike & Iris Chan, Frank Woods with son and daughter-in-law Montgomery & Annie Woods, and many more who pondered the possessions of the pyramids. All agreed that King Tut is gorgeous, there’s no de-Nile. 

Ring of Fire—The Crucible Fire and Light Soiree

Things were heating up to nine-hundred degrees in Oakland, where The Crucible brought its propane pyrotechnic pageantry to raise funds for their hands-on community programs in the fire arts. (Teaching at–risk youth arc welding, blacksmithing, bike modification, and neon work; how hot is that?) Founded as a collective space for glassblowers, ceramicists, and artists, The Crucible’s 56,000-square-foot facility has become a center for community and creativity, with classes, field trips, workshops, after-school programs, summer camps, and celebrations of all things fire. A gorgeous sit-down dinner catered by Grace Street Catering, a lively art auction of covetable metal, glass, and electronic works, and a special tent to watch the dazzling Fire Arts Festival enabled many to make merry and keep The Crucible’s crucial home fires burning for the twenty thousand participants it hosts or trains each year. Feeling the heat were Amber Marie & Christopher Bently, the Exploratorium’s Dennis Bartels & wife Suzi, indefatigable board chair Steven Young & glass-artist wife Gabrielle Kuzsel, Todd Koons & Rebecca Bruce, noted copper artist Gregg Hessel, Lisa Howe of the Zellerbach Family Foundation, BofA’s Andrew Lisac, Frances Hellmann (who met her husband, Warren Breslau, at a welding class at The Crucible), and a many more passionate pyro patrons.

I Scream! Maca-swoon!

Tempting Tip: yet another San Francisco foodie first—weird and wonderful ice cream has a Mission at Humphrey Slocombe at 24^th and Harrison, where the mad scientists have devised flavors you never knew you should crave: salt and pepper (trust me), Balsaic caramel (like a visit to Palermo), Thai chili lime (hot, cold, sour, sweet), and the already iconic Secret Breakfast (bourbon and cornflakes, a Faulknerian combination of epic proportions). If it’s too early for ice cream, you can’t miss with the nearby Dynamo Donuts and Coffee at 2760 24^th Street, offering decadent old-school donuts from a roll-up window to the street. What could be more American than a light hand with heavy cream and deep-fried dough?

Of course if your guilt runs to the Gallic, you can cure cravings on both sides of the Bay.  Ici Ice Cream Made Here in Berkeley offers you the Left Bank/Left Bay version of Berthillon. The line stretching down College Avenue (near Ashby) heralds the East Bay’s hottest little cold spot: featuring one-of-a-kind, handmade ice cream, sherbet, and sorbet composed of local, seasonal, organic ingredients in unique combinations. Ici opened in 2006, the vision of nine-year Chez Panisse pastry chef Mary Canales. (Thank you once more, Alice!) Flavors include candied meyer lemon, black pepper cardamom, malted vanilla, chicory, burnt caramel (our favorite!), and rose pistachio.

Is patisserie your passion? For those Francophiles who live for the delicately hued almond cookies known as macaron (a distant cousin to our rough-and-tumble coconut clusters), Paulette Macarons in Hayes Valley offers twelve flavors (violet cassis!) and that other Gallic glory, Mariage Frères tea. If you are eager for a comparison, nearby Miette Confiserie serves up a handful of all-organic flavors (rose gerani—yum!) that change with seasonally available ingredients. Since le tout Parisis closed for August, you can get Sarkozy with your sweetie here without de Gaulle of travel. C’est parfait!