Neighborhood stars honored at Geary Merchants Luncheon

Last Wednesday, the Geary Boulevard Merchants Association held their 63rd annual Awards Luncheon at the Cathedral Hill Hotel.

It was a star-studded affair by city standards, drawing current California Attorney General and rumored gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, who gave the keynote speech to the crowd of City Hallers, police officers, and Merchant Association members. Also on the speaking schedule were Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, Superior Court Judge Quentin Kopp, and our own Supervisor Eric Mar.

At the luncheon, several neighborhood institutions and individuals were honored. The Centennial Award was presented to two Richmond legends that marked their 100th birthday recently: The Cliff House and The Star of the Sea School on 9th Avenue just off Geary.

Jerry Brown mentioned that his own sister had attended Star of the Sea Academy (which closed in 1985). Famed comedienne Gracie Allen was also an Academy graduate. Several other Star of the Sea alumni were also in attendance.

Merchants Awards were presented to the always delicious House of Bagels, and to Belly Burger on Geary near 21st Avenue. Bagels and burgers – these are my kind of awards! 🙂

Patricia Kaussen, Executive Director of the Richmond District Neighborhood Center, was presented with the well-deserved Community Service Award. Richard and Patricia Gibbs of the San Francisco Free Clinic also received community honors.

The Chronicle noted that new San Francisco Police Chief, George Gascón, was also in attendance…along with three of his predecessors, Tony Ribera, Earl Sanders and Fred Lau.

And though new father Mayor Gavin Newsom was invited to last week’s luncheon, he declined, telling organizers the event was just too close to his wife’s due date and he would need to stay close to home. However, the Chronicle pointed out that Newsom did manage to speak at a bio-tech conference downtown and hit Silicon Valley for another event later that day.

Congratulations to all the award winners! We’re lucky to have you in our district.

Special thanks to reader Marie for sending me info for this story.

Sarah B.

Photo courtesy of Cliffhouseproject.com. View more old Cliff House photos