San Francisco is an Art Deco lover’s dream city. This year’s Art Deco weekend is Saturday, June 7th, and Sunday, June 8th, 2008.
The highlight of the weekend is the Art Deco and Modernism sale, the largest in the country. It is held twice a year during the first weekend of June and December at the Concourse Exhibition Center (8th and Brannan Streets, San Francisco). This is a great sale and I attend every year. There are over 200 dealers from across the country selling furniture, accessories, jewelry (I am always on the lookout for carved Bakelite bracelets), vintage clothing, and collectibles from 1900 to 1980 including Arts & Crafts, Mission, Monterey, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Streamline Modern, Vintage Western, and Mid-Century Modern. The hours are Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission: $10. Join the Art Deco Society and get in for only $8.
Don’t miss the vintage fashion show on Saturday at 2 p.m., or the swing dance performance Sunday afternoon. They also have a great collection of CDs with music from the era for sale. Go ahead; immerse yourself in a different decade.
If you would rather be outside enjoying the fresh air, consider taking advantage of the two architectural tours offered by the Art Deco Society. The weather is usually sunny this time of year, but do dress in layers just in case the fog rolls in. Saturday’s tour is of the downtown district’s Art Deco commercial buildings, including the Pacific Stock Exchange and the 450 Sutter Medical Building. The tour lasts for an hour and a half and meets at 450 Sutter Street at 11 a.m. Sunday’s tour is of the Marina district, which has San Francisco’s greatest collection of surviving Art Deco-era buildings. The tour includes forty buildings. This tour also lasts for an hour and a half, and it meets at Marina Middle School, (Fillmore at Chestnut Street), at 11 a.m. I have taken the downtown tour and found it fascinating.
What’s the best way to extend the excitement of this day of vintage shopping and walking tours? A glamorous night on the town, 1950s style! From cocktails on the top of posh Nob Hill, to dinner at an elegant restaurant at the foot of Russian Hill, it is still possible to have a swanky 1950s-era evening in the city that prides itself on innovative cuisine.
Resembling a scene out of the Alfred Hitchcock movie Vertigo, The Big Four cocktail lounge in the Huntington Hotel is one of the last places in San Francisco where well-dressed men still wear jackets with ties and chic women wear mink coats. The private men’s club feeling here is helped by dark wood paneling, deep green leather banquettes, and a roaring fireplace. Dry martinis are served ice cold. Salty cocktail nuts (no peanuts, thank you) are served from small, silver nut bowls. The bartender knows your name and your “usual.” You also might consider having brunch at the restaurant. The Easter Sunday brunch we enjoyed this year was as perfect a brunch as I have ever had. (The piano player was quick to note my chapeau and played Irving Berlin’s song “Easter Parade” as I walked to my table).
It is a quick cab ride down the hill to the restaurant that Herb Caen described in 1950 as “a bit of England” in San Francisco: House of Prime Rib. Silver carts holding prime rib roasted in rock salt are wheeled across the thick carpet of the dimly lit dining room. The waiter carves at your tableside. He spoons the smooth creamed spinach onto your plate next to the Yorkshire pudding. What would you like on your baked potato? The works?
“This is one of the few places in San Francisco that feels the same way it did in the ‘50s,” says Neil Anzalone, a retired musician and regular customer since 1952.
