If the middle class is being run out of town by an influx of outside money (and it is; even the stuffy old Chronicle says so, right there on Sunday's Page One), where does that leave the artists? In the best of times, the creatives who give this neighborhood so much of its soul live largely by their wits. There are no subsidies for being an artist, or a writer, or a poet. The city is glad they're here, of course, because they give the North Beach a cachet that an investment banker can't quite pull off. So the artist is a commodity. Who ever says "Come see the stock brokers of North Beach"? Parrots, sure. But a banker? With that plumage?

Nevertheless, commodity or not, the artist, who by definition is almost always short of folding green, is left to twist in the wind. If the artist has to be Ellised out of his cheap apartment so it can be turned into a condo for another dreary yuppie, too bad. If he tries selling his art on the street without a permit, he gets busted. So much for the freewheeling Barbary Coast.

So when someone does something to support the artists of North Beach in a meaningful way, just because he can, it's worth a mention. A pat on the back. A hearty handclasp. I refer here to Kevin Brown, proprietor of the Live Worms Gallery on Grant Avenue. In the five or so years Live Worms has been roosting in the old Figoni Hardware space, I've watched the art scene in North Beach not only stabilize, but re-energize itself. I think a lot of the credit for that goes to Brown and his terrific little gallery.

Brown, a retired airline pilot, is an artist in his own right but he's incredibly generous with his gallery space. It's rare that one North Beach artist or another isn't showing there, either solo or in the company of a fellow paint dripper. In the past couple of weeks, local painter-collage artist Nancy Calef settled in for a few days, as did longtime North Beacher James Redo this past weekend. This Thursday starting at 7 p.m., 12 artists will be throwing a one-night shindig, "A Striking Twelve," produced by Ronald Sauer and Rebecca Peters, artists themselves who are carving out a nice little sideline producing gallery shows.

Another local entrepreneurial type, Fanny Renoir, is a regular presenter as well.

A few years ago, I thought the art scene had died and gone to the Mission. It's nice to know that there is still room in the city's traditional artists' quarter for those who place creativity over capital. Now if we can just score a little subsidized artists' housing....

Live Worms Gallery is located at 1345 Grant Avenue, between Vallejo and Green.