Putting the 'No' in 'No'rth Beach

Referring to the ongoing saga involving the dilapidated Pagoda Palace Theater off Washington Square, the Chron's C.W. Nevius observes, "There have been plenty of complaints about how hard it is to build something in North Beach, but the Pagoda takes the cake."

Well, maybe it takes the cake and maybe it doesn't, because that's a pretty big cake. North Beach has a long history of resisting developers. Named last year one of the top 10 neighborhoods in America, North Beach was specifically lauded for fighting to preserve its character in the face of gentrification. Other neighborhoods, watching their charms erode in the name of "progress," should take a page or two from the North Beach playbook.

We're becoming a city of the very rich and working poor plenty fast, so there's no reason to flop on our back like a twenty-dollar hooker every time some fast-talking developer blows into town.

The latest proposal for the Palace site would put market-rate (read: unaffordable to anyone living here now) housing over a restaurant on the site of the old theater. Nevius describes the architectural rendering as "beautiful." No offense, Chuck, but if cookie-cutter mediocrity is your idea of architectural splendor, I'm glad you didn't trade your laptop for a T square. We've already got our share of third-rate draftsmen in this town. Just open your eyes and look around.

The Palace site is, as Nevius notes, a longstanding eyesore. There's no doubt about it, and no doubt that everyone would like to see something done there. But this is a key location overlooking one of the more beautiful public open spaces in San Francisco (not to mention one of the very few open spaces in all of North Beach), so whatever stands there should 1.) maintain architectural integrity with its surroundings and 2.) be of practical use to the neighborhood.

A small mixed-use theater (both live stage and cinema) over small shops offering local services sounds about right.

Slapping a few luxury condos over another faux Italian restaurant is not serving the neighborhood. It's serving the developer and the property owner very nicely, but it does bubkus for North Beach.

Fact is, the last thing they need to be building around here is more housing. Chinatown excepted, this is already the most densely populated neighborhood in the city. The infrastructure can't support the people who live here now. You want to build more housing? Build it in Pacific Heights and run a subway tunnel down Broadway to the Presidio.

North Beach is indeed a tough place to build whatever you feel like building. The activists here can make a developer's eyes bleed. Let's keep it that way, shall we?
Topics: Telegraph Hill , Washington Square , Pagoda Palace Theater