Long considered insidery and exclusive, Hyde Street has stepped out of hiding. People from all over are flocking to this leafy enclave, and they aren’t just going for dinner: shops offering antiques, art, and couture are the latest lure. “The neighborhood has changed,” says gallery owner Mark Busacca. “Everything staying open late has helped the restaurants and shops mesh together. There’s a sense of community, and people know each other by name.” What visitors discover if they wander around a bit is that the pedestrian lanes, alleys, and steps also make this one of the city’s most intriguing places to walk.
Home to Mayor Newsom, among other big wheels, the hood has become a hot spot for enterprising 30-somethings buying up property. Bill Freeman, 37, who recently bought a house there, says, “It’s the most desirable place to live in the city. Pac Heights is too homogeneous; it’s the melting-pot feel that makes this place so wonderful.” Old and new money, a Chinese American contingent, and a sprinkling of young renters all contribute to the blend, but the unifying force is the magical ambience. Who doesn’t love trees strung with white lights, a little cable car chugging along, and a delicious variety of shops, eateries, and bars?
With the increase in traffic, though, parking is so competitive that fistfights have broken out. In front of Luella recently, when a driver lost out on a spot, he jumped out of his car, grabbed a bottle of wine from the people who scored the spot, and hurled it to the ground. Smart visitors take cabs to Hyde. But if you steer clear of the road ragers, Eden isn’t just for millionaires.
GRUB
Kids pack Luella on Sunday for Kids Night, when they nosh on potpie and grilled cheese. Other fans include the mayor and Mick Jagger, who goes for chicken under a brick. 1896 Hyde St.
If bigger means better, the supersized potstickers stuffed with cabbage, ginger, and pork at U Lee are the best in the city. 1468 Hyde St.
At Za Pizza, pies are named for painters, from Pesto Picasso to Vincent Van Dough. On weeknights, local girls pick up Monet’s Garden salads to go, while the boys swill ale at the bar. 1919 Hyde St.
A darling of the wine world, 1550 Hyde pulls people from all over the city with its list of 200-plus bottles and its creative flights. Residents without reservations order up lamb’s tongue at the six-seat bar. 1550 Hyde St.
HANGOUTS
The Nook somehow manages to be all things to all people: it’s a grab-a-coffee spot for workers heading downtown, an office for mobile workers taking advantage of the free wi-fi, a happy-hour hang, and a cozy place for a first date. 1500 Hyde St.
Since 1948, the original Swensen’s has churned cream on-site. There’s always a crowd lined up for a hot fudge sundae or lychee cone. 1999 Hyde St.
Open seven nights a week, intimate Bacchus pulls in a young, chatty crowd. The lucky ones cuddle in the leather love seats in the window, sipping sake cocktails and wines that can’t be found just anywhere. 1954 Hyde St.
ONLY HERE
Nine years ago, Mary Fay Berrigan bequested her Russian Hill property to the city, and neighborhood renters and property owners worked to restore the garden to its 1958 glory. Landscape architect Thomas Church, called the inventor of California gardening, designed its terraces with panoramic bay views, gazebos, topiaries, and planter gardens. Fay Park is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. 2366 Leavenworth St.
WHAT IT COSTS
To buy… $1.1 million for a 986-square-foot one-bedroom at 999 Green Street, made famous by Sean Wilsey’s Oh the Glory of It All. Former secretary of state George Shultz and the city’s chief of protocol Charlotte Shultz now live in the penthouse.
To rent… $4,900 for a two-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot apartment in the Tamalpais building, a location in Dark Passage, with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. (A more typical rent for a two-bedroom here is around $3,000.) 1201 Greenwich at Hyde.
SHOP FRONTS
The neighborhood’s pure-bred poodles wouldn’t be caught dead getting coiffed anywhere besides Russian Hill Dog Grooming. Passing tourists rubberneck the elegant beasts getting sheared on tables inside. 1929 Hyde St.
Lured in by the jasmine, visitors step down into Suzanne Hanley and Christopher Farris’s Atelier des Modistes and find themselves in a couture bridal and evening wear workshop and showroom, complete with humming sewing machines, mannequins, and bolts of fabric. 1903 Hyde St.
The fishbowl windows of the Busacca Gallery entice passersby into the newly opened museum-like space exhibiting everything from a hand-forged samurai lobster to an $80,000 Buddha statue to bone and ebony dominoes. 2010 Hyde St.
Martin Richards has filled the city’s highest-profile mansions with its elegant interior design. Those lacking estates can still flaunt their impeccable taste with an Antonella Bondi waffle robe or Shades of India bed-cover. The building once housed the Home Drug Co., where former Greenwich Street residents Nicole Brown and O.J. Simpson picked up their prescriptions. 1200 Union St.
ON THIS SPOT
Jack Kerouac wrote some of his work in Neal Cassady’s tiny attic at 29 Russell Street. Armistead Maupin’s fictional Barbary Lane in Tales of the City was based on the beautifully landscaped Macondray Lane, but the lesser-known Havens Street is where Maupin lived when penning his page-turner.
THE TALK
Russian Hill is one of the greener parts of the city, and fights between landlords who want to remove trees and residents who want to preserve them have reached city hall—with 40 hill dwellers packing a recent hearing. Landlords say they’re concerned that the roots could make sidewalks uneven, tripping unwitting pedestrians. Katherine Garrison, president of the Russian Hill Neighbors, says landlords are just tired of trimming trees and other maintenance. It looks as if the Filbert Street trees are safe, but the fate of the Broadway ones has not yet been decided by city supervisors.