This Week's News, And The North Beach Wine Walk Returns
Popular Event Hosts First Spring Event On May 4th
By Joe Bonadio
First off, a quick reminder: the Wine Walk returns to North Beach on Friday, May 4th, in a new guise: the First Annual North Beach Spring Wine Walk. There have been two holiday Wine Walks thus far, but this will be the first one held in the Spring. And this time around, the Spring weather should make it a must-attend event.
If you haven’t participated before, $25 gets you a wristband that entitles you to taste local wines at participating venues. And it’s not just bars–for this event, North Beach’s best shops, boutiques and galleries get in on the fun, too. They’ll be paired up with Bay Area wineries, pouring tastes of their best.
In just two years, the Wine Walk has become one of North Beach’s favorite events. It’s a great way to mix up a Friday night, and see a side of the neighborhood that is often shuttered after dark. The fun starts at 4:00pm, and goes until 8:00. Get your tickets at Eventbrite, and we’ll see you there!
In other news, you may have noticed an unusual addition to the street lighting in the neighborhood. The new colored lights twisting around the tops of the poles on Grant Avenue are the product of a long-awaited new partnership between the SFNBBA, OEWD and SFPUC. Last week, longtime board member and former board President Fady Zoubi took a few minutes to tell us about the new lights.
“We’re very excited to finally have them up,” Zoubi explained. “It took a very long time for us to get them designed and approved, but they’re great. They allow us to change the color of the lights around the neighborhood with a single remote control.” The original idea for the lights goes all the way back to the end of 2015, when the SFNBBA applied to the city for a beautification grant.
More than two years later, North Beach is the first neighborhood to host the lights, which are ideal for things like holidays (the lights were green on St. Patrick’s Day) and big-league games. There are sixteen of the lights currently installed; there will eventually be forty, and there has already been talk of the installations spreading to other neighborhoods. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.
Of course, North Beach is still reeling from the horrible fire that struck the very heart of the neighborhood on March 17th, gutting the 104-year-old building that dominates the southwest corner of Washington Square Park. And this week we’ve gotten a little more information about the cause of the blaze: according to investigators, the fire began in the flue above one of the building’s four restaurants; because the investigation is ongoing, they still aren’t saying which one.
Meanwhile, Mayor Mark Farrell has activated a disaster relief fund that will allow the affected businesses to receive funds to help defray some of the costs of this disaster, up to $10,000 per business. There are also a number of events taking shape to support these businesses, and the neighborhood at large, during this challenging period. We’ll be keeping you apprised in these pages. And keep in mind, Shadi of Coit Liquor still operates Alimento on Columbus, and Melissa and Jay of The Salzburg are still open at Little Vine up on Grant. Stop in and say hello.
Lastly, we’d like to send out congratulations to Daniel Macchiarini of Macchiarini Design, who was recently sworn in as our newest Board President; and to Mike Zwiefelhofer of Z. Cioccolato, who has taken on the role of Board Secretary. Nice job guys, and good luck to both of you!