This house, located at 1720 Anza between 8th and 9th Avenues, reminds me of the one in the animated film “UP”, trying to stand tall amongst its towering neighbors. I’m told someone lives there which is hard to imagine considering the massive hole in the roof… Top photo by Crooka.
Update: Thanks to commenter John for the tip that this house sold in June for $330,000 (Trulia). As he said, it probably won’t be there much longer…
Sarah B.
The SF Examiner features a story in Sunday’s paper about the new Presidio Landmark apartments that are opening inside the 15th Avenue gate of the Presidio.
The building includes 154 rental units of varying layouts thanks to the challenge of transforming a 78-year old hospital into residential housing. The first tenants are expected to move in towards the end of July.
Rents aren’t cheap at the Presidio Landmark. A junior 1-bedroom rents for $2,125, a 1-bedroom for $2,875 and a 2-bedroom for $4,325. There are also townhomes on the property which are still under development.
The developer, Abigail Friedland of ForestCity, tells the Examiner that several hundred people signed up on a waiting list and are now being contacted and offered tours of the property. So at those prices, who will live there?
Many would-be tenants are active runners and cyclists who plan to keep fit on the Presidio’s extensive and picturesque trails, according to Friedland. Others are empty-nesters, singles and young couples.
While the rents are higher than a lot of Richmond District apartments, the Presidio Landmark does offer a lot of amenities – one parking spot per unit, a fitness center, wine storage (I know, I know), a wine tasting room, massage and yoga rooms, a bike storage room/workshop and interior courtyards with firepits.
Sarah B.
Related stories:
A closer look at the new Presidio Landmark apartments
Just received this in my inbox. Promising news! – Sarah B.
On June 24th at 6pm, CVS Pharmacies will be holding an Open House to discuss the proposed location of a new CVS Pharmacy store at 32nd Avenue and Clement Street. The Open House will be held at the proposed store site at 3132 Clement Street.
Prior to formally beginning the Planning Department’s approvals process, CVS Pharmacy is meeting with the community to present information about the proposed store and to listen to the neighbors’ responses and concerns. CVS is excited to reoccupy this vacant building and begin to meet their new neighbors.
To RSVP, request translation services, or for more information about the meeting, please contact Dave Jensen at djensen@bergdavis.com.
After the Alexandria Theater, the dilapidated building at 2900 Fulton and 5th Avenue is an issue that Supervisor Mar hears about most from residents. That’s because since it went vacant in 2002, the run-down building has been a magnet for graffiti and garbage.
This week, many neighbors are breathing a sigh of relief because developers began demolition to make way for a mixed commercial and residential property.
The building’s bottom floor will accommodate a 700 square foot commercial space, while the top three floors will consist of four condominiums. The building will also include garage space for the residents.
Richmond District historian John Freeman first told me about the new construction. Having lived in the neighborhood most of his life, he remembers when a Safeway was located there.
“Safeway must have remodeled the building in the early 1930’s, but they closed and boarded it up during World War II,” John recalls.
In 1946 or 1947, John says that an independent grocer, Lucky Market, opened. They were a small chain that had other stores in the city. The market later became Shop-Rite, an early link in the 7-11 franchise chain. It closed in 1968.
The building was then vacant for a few years, but eventually became a laundromat/dry cleaners from 1972 to 2002 called Fulton FabriCare.
Who will occupy the new retail space on the ground floor remains to be seen, though when John chatted with one of the builders on site, they indicated they were open to a variety of commercial options, be it coffee shop, office space or retail store.
After eight years, it’s nice to finally say goodbye to another eyesore in the neighborhood. Now we just need to make headway on that other market on Clement Street and 32nd Avenue…
Special thanks to John Freeman for providing the information and photos for this article.
Sarah B.
The Fulton streetcar passes in front of the Safeway at 2900 Fulton, 1938. Photo courtesy of John Freeman.
If you walked by the building at 6118 – 6122 California Street today, you wouldn’t think much of it. It’s a fairly new, modern looking building with smooth concrete out front and warm colors on its facade.
But look more closely and you might begin to realize something is awry. Faintly painted on the driveway is a black arrow pointing directly at the house.
Look at the house numbers and it gets even stranger. The 6, or the first number of each of the three units is missing. Just gone, like someone yanked them off. If they were there, they would form a “666″.
There’s a reason for these strange behaviors at this non-descript building. It used to be home to Anton Szandor LaVey, the founder and original High Priest of the Church of Satan.
LaVey’s home, which was also church headquarters from 1967 until 1997, was painted all black inside and out. He was known for holding satanic rituals inside the home including a Satanic wedding ceremony of radical journalist John Raymond to New York socialite Judith Case in February, 1967. LaVey also peformed Satanic funerals and baptisms, including one for his second daughter, Zeena.
In 1969, LaVey published his Satanic Bible, which followers say has sold close to 1 million copies worldwide. In 1968, he also claims to have served as a technical adviser for the movie “Rosemary’s Baby” and played the role of the devil in the film as well.
LaVey was also well-known by neighbors for his pet lion which he kept in a cage in the house. On the Outside Lands website, one former neighbor writes, “He would drive around in a station wagon with a lion….yes a real live lion…in the rear of the car.” That is until the neighborhood could no longer stand the animal’s bellowing roars. He was eventually shipped off to the zoo and then to a private animal farm.
LaVey actually lost ownership of the home in 1991, when a San Francisco judge ordered him to sell the property, along with his satanic memorabilia, and split the money with his estranged wife, Diane Hegarty. Included among the devilish artifacts were a shrunken head, a reproduction of King Tut’s sarcophagus, and a stuffed wolf.
Despite losing the house, LaVey, sometimes called “the Black Pope”, was able to remain in the black house by selling the property to a friend, who then let LaVey live out his final years there. He passed away in 1997 from heart disease.
According to court filings, some of his possessions were to be divided among his children and church members. Church of Satan High Priestess Blanche Barton was due to receive a Rasputin chair, bed of nails and a vintage Gramophone, while his daughter Zeena was to receive LaVey’s Vampire boy painting, devil horned cap, Tyrone Power “Nightmare Alley” movie poster and one-third of LaVey’s cremated remains.
After his death in 1997, the Chronicle was there to cover a press conference held by his daughter, Karla LaVey, a high priestess in the church who vowed to carry on her father’s legacy. “Black velvet curtains kept the autumn sunlight out of the living room in the Richmond District Victorian. Daggers hung on the wall. A skull perched on top of the organ,” wrote the Chronicle.
By 1999, LaVey’s family and church members were fighting over the house and it quickly went into disrepair. In January 1999, the Chronicle wrote that “the property at 6114 California Street looks like the Addams Family home after a Saturday night frat party. Smashed furniture and a soiled mattress lay amid a mountain of garbage in the small front yard, behind a tall chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.”
Church of Satan members tried to raise enough funds to buy back the Victorian style house, which was originally built in 1905 and estimated to be 2,205 square feet. But they did not succeed and The Black House was finally demolished on October 17, 2001. The three-unit building that stands there now was built in its place.
Even though the original Black House is no longer there, long-time neighbor David H. tells me they still see “worshippers” drop by on occasion, sometimes drawing wax pentagrams and other symbols on the driveway. From the looks of it, the black arrow currently on the driveway was done in wax.
As for the missing house numbers, David says that as soon as the current owners put the 6’s back up, they get torn down so they don’t even bother anymore. It’s a mystery who actually removes them each time.
There’s a lot of information about Anton LaVey online and my brief bio in this article barely scratches the surface. How much is fact vs. hyperbole in the name of good copy remains to be seen; LaVey was clearly versed at using the media to further his devilish cause. The occult was big business in the 1960s and 70s, and from my research, it looks like LaVey knew how to make the most of it.
Despite all the online information, I did not come across any detailed photos of the Black House. So if anyone out there was brave enough to snap pics when it was still around, let me know! I’d love to add it to the story of the Richmond’s satanic past.
Special thanks to David H. for helping me with this story.
Sarah B.
Resources:
Wikipedia: Anton LaVey
Wikipedia: Church of Satan
The Church of Satan website
Satan’s Den in Great Disrepair, SF Chronicle, January 25, 1999
Satanist’s Daughter To Keep the `Faith’, SF Chronicle, November 8, 1997
Anton LaVey, America’s Satanic Master of Devils, Magic, Music and Madness | Washington Post, February 23, 1986
The old public hospital inside the Presidio Gate at 15th Avenue and Lake Street has been under construction while it’s transformed into residential rental units.
Renamed to The Presidio Landmark, the re-purposed complex includes 154 one and two bedroom units, ranging from 550 to 1500 square feet. Rents start at $2,125 for a junior 1-bed, $2,875 for 1-bedroom, and $4,325 for 2-bedrooms.
The site also has some new construction on the back side – seven, 3-story, 3 bedroom units known as the The Belles Townhomes. CurbedSF writes that “the townhomes have their own garage in the rear of the building, as well as private patio areas and balconies, and all but one have private roof decks.” No word on what the rent will be on the townhomes, which represent the first new residential construction to occur in the Presidio.
CurbedSF also posted many photos of the interior of the rental units, the first ones I’ve seen so far. A few are included below; visit their website to see more.
They also report that 200 people are on the waiting list already to rent the apartments, which are due to welcome new tenants in late summer. The townhouses are still in earlier stages of construction and will open later than the main building.
What do you think of the interiors and rental pricing? Would you like to live at the Presidio Landmark?
Sarah B.
CurbedSF discovered a vanilla house for sale in the Richmond whose exterior masks the decidely dulce de leche interiors.
Boasting a a “SENSATIONAL to-the-studs remodel (and expansion),” the house is located at 506 6th Avenue. The 4-bed, 3-bath property also has a yard; it’s listed at $1,495,000.
Wanna tour it? There’s an open house this Sunday, May 23 from 1 – 4:30pm.
See the full listing (incl. more photos)
Sarah B.
Cassandra Costello from Supervisor Eric Mar’s reports that there will be a follow-up meeting next week regarding the development plans for the Alexandria. The 6pm meeting will be next Thursday, April 29 at the Richmond Recreation Center, 251 18th Avenue.
Project consultant Drake Gardener as well as members of the Planning Department will be there to go over the plans and take questions about the project.
Costello also included more detailed plans with the email, including architectural drawings and plans for handling the historic restoration. Download the documents below:
Alexandria Plans (11 pages, PDF)
Alexandria Plans – Historical Detail (3 pages, PDF)
Sarah B.
4:23 pm | Posted under History, Real Estate | 4 comments
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