Corbett Heights Neighbors celebrated its 20th Anniversary on May 3rd at Ord & Corbett Park ("The Ord Triangle"). Dozens of neighbors came to enjoy pizza, ice cream sandwiches, and drinks. Attendees included some of the youngest neighborhood residents - who generally behaved themselves while running around the park - and neighbors from every street within the CHN
boundaries.
The weather cooperated, and neighbors mingled while enjoying Ord & Corbett Park, one of the multiple parks supported entirely by CHN volunteers. Cliff's Variety generously donated a gift card, given to one lucky raffle winner. The party lasted well past its advertised 6pm cutoff time.
We at CHN look forward to hosting more in-person gatherings in the future, as it became a wonderful venue for meeting new neighbors and
catching up with familiar faces.
Alert
Cobblestone thieves have removed hundreds of cobblestones at the Switchback (Clayton and Market Streets), and apparently they are working their way to other parks in the area. The company name, phone number, and plates are not traceable. They need to be caught in the act. The cobblestones sell for $780 a
ton and are most likely being resold. If you see the trucks and these two men, call 911 and report theft in progress. Provide the police report case number: 240-320-993.
Our Mom & Pop Grocery Store
Just about every block had one—family run enterprises known as mom & pop grocery stores. Within our boundaries, we had a few. If you lived here in the early 20th century, you
most likely would have shopped at McCarthy Brothers at 131 Corbett, Dennis O’Shea’s Grocery at 4400 17th Street, Stelling Brothers at 4200 17 Street, and/or 66 Danvers (or perhaps had a drink at the saloon at 64 Danvers) (both demolished with the first widening of Market Street). The only remaining grocery store is at 4499 17th, now 130 years old,our feature story this month.
New Upper Terrace Market, 4499 17th
Street
(aka New Terrace Market, Terrace Market)
2015 to the Present:
As of 2015, Sameer Awwad is the store owner of The New Upper Terrace Market at 4499 17th Street; the building is owned by Elias Batshon. If you haven’t visited, you must. The wine selection is extensive. Why drive elsewhere? Support your neighborhood business. We encourage Mr. Awwad to apply for recognition
as a San Francisco legacy business! One requirement for legacy status is to have been in continuous operation for thirty years—The New Terrace Market exceeds that requirement by a 100 years.
1994—2015
Sam (1960-2014)and Maureen Melendy-Salman (1957-2015), the much appreciated owners ran the market for twenty years beginning in 1994. Most likely many of you recall them. The Salmans purchased the building in 1994 from the Ryan family who had owned the building since 1923.
34 Years
Ago:
June 5, 1990—Raisa Gorbachev Visits
Thirty-four years ago, on June 5, Raisa Gorbachev visited the New Terrace Market at Uranus and 17th Streets. She was interested in visiting a mom and pop convenience store and stopped on her return from taking in the view of the city from Twin Peaks. She inquired about the price of Stolichnaya, the Soviet Union’s best known bottle of vodka at the time. At the New Terrace market a bottle of
Stolichnaya went for $7.99. Moscow stores, it turns out, sold the same for 70 cents. Raisa also asked about the cost of the sourdough—$1.69 a loaf. Many newspapers reported this visit, including the New York Times. It was international news!
2024
At the time of Mrs. Gorbachev’s visit, the market was owned and managed by Jin H. and Hea Kim. Hea arrived in the United States in 1984 from Korea and joined her husband who was already running the store. Hea has fond memories of a very welcoming community, especially neighbors at 4495 17th Street who helped her learn English and invited Kims to holiday dinners in their home. This is a photo of one of
their daughters, Cassie, in 1988. In the early 1990s, after the earthquake, the store was closed for a period, perhaps until 1994 when the Salmans bought it.
1988 Photo Credit: Kim
Family
48 Years Ago:
San Francisco Planning 1976
The building housing the New Terrace Market was reviewed by San Francisco Planning Department on March 30, 1976. It retains many original details, windows and doors; the front door to the market had not been modernized and two large windows were added after a car hit the Uranus side of the building. Here, the business was The New Terrace Market, before the
name change to New Upper Terrace Market.
Credit: San Francisco Planning Department. 1976
52 Years Ago:
San Francisco Public Library Photo,
1972
This photograph in the San Francisco Library files is dated February 22, 1972. Note that the market is still the Terrace Grocery in the 1972 and in 1976, it is the New Terrace Grocery. And Coca-Cola predates 7-Up!
Credit: SF Public Library. 1972
1940s—1970s
Wayne and Della Cairns ran the grocery store from about 1948 to 1964; through the mid-1970s, it was Yuey Kai Hom. It is believed the Kim family took over in the late 1970s or early 1980s. “New” has been added to the store name.
73 Years Ago:
Terrace Market, December 7,
1941
Florence Holub wrote about the New Terrace Market in the Noe Valley Voice, July/August 1990 (reprinted in the NVV August/August 2004 and reprinted with permission.)
Last month, when the Gorbachevs visited our city, Raisa departed from her scheduled tour to visit a small mom and pop grocery store, the New Terrace Market, at the corner of 17th Street and Uranus, in the Upper Market area. This visit prompted a flood of memories, for my husband Leo and I had often
shopped at that store after our marriage on July 3, 1941. We lived, with our big yellow cat Manfred, just around the corner in a small "fixer-upper" cottage to the rear of a large, peak-roofed house on Mars Street [42 Mars].
… On Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, we awakened late, as was our custom, got dressed, and leisurely strolled around the corner to buy the Sunday newspaper at the Terrace Market. There we found the grocer and his wife [Ryan family] tearfully telling the
customers the shocking news: Pearl Harbor had been bombed in a devastating attack by Japanese bombers. At home on the radio, President Franklin D. Roosevelt angrily and eloquently spoke to the nation. We were at war.
1923—late 1940s
In 1923, Agnes and Michael Ryan owned the building and ran the store. (The Ryans owned several properties on Uranus and they built the large apartment building on the southwest corner or Uranus and 17th in 1958.) The great grandson of the Ryans, Ryan Chatley, tells us that during the Great Depression, his grandmother, Claire Ryan Lambertson, snuck into the back of the meat ration truck while the driver was making a delivery to the store. The
driver eventually caught on as this seemed to have happened more than once—missing meat? When the delivery person finally caught on, he locked the back of the truck while she was still inside, and drove her around on his route to teach her a lesson. The great grandson also recalled that the market introduced the idea of a self-service grocery very early—the 1920s.
1916—1923
The grocery and building was owned by Dennis
McCarthy, who owned the grocery at 131 Corbett Avenue.
1894—1916 Martin Van Buren Stevens Market Before the market at Uranus and 17th became the Terrace Market, it was the home and market of Martin Van Buren
Stevens (1834-1900) and his third wife, Harriet, and four children of his nine children. (Probably Stevens was named after the 8th President—Martin Van Buren.) Stevens was listed as an architect and living at 5 Uranus in 1891; and in 1892 he was a contractor and builder at the SW corner of Uranus and 17th. He later became a grocer, first noted in 1894, and ran the market until sometime in 1900 when it became insolvent.
Soon after, while working as a
railroad foreman, Martin Stevens was killed at age 66 while working on a railroad bridge near Colma on September 8, 1900. (San Francisco Call & Post, September 9, 1900, p. 40). Family members remained, including a son, a grocer, at least until 1909, when he left after his marriage. Harriet died in 1916 at her son’s home in Crescent City.
1900
135 Years Ago: The lot at the southeast corner of 17th at Uranus was advertised for sale at $800 for several months beginning March 17, 1889 through September 2, 1889 when Mr. Stevens bought it.
San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 1889, p. 2
Mr. Stevens was active in the neighborhood organizations as early as 1890: Clarendon Heights, Park Lane (now Clayton Street), and the 17th Street Improvement Clubs; the clubs met at Stevens’ Hall. Their main interests were the extension of 17th Street from Uranus
to Ashbury (completed 1894), an elementary school, and a mail box at the corner, which is still there. In March 1890, Martin V. Stevens was named President of the Park Lane Tract Improvement Club, which petitioned Adolph Sutro to deed the local streets to the city so that they might go to work to improve their properties. In November 1894, the grocer made the news when “gold” was discovered in Eureka Valley at the corner of Uranus and 17th while a contractor was drilling a tunnel for
the Spring Valley water main. “By evening the population of Eureka Valley knew about the mine and the grocery did a fine business….the grocery looked like a stone-yard” (San Francisco Examiner, November 17, 1894.)
The Spring Valley water tap records record that water was turned on at the site on November 23, 1895.
Spring Valley Water Tap, Vol. 6/2096, November 23, 1895 M.V. Stevens 4499
Over the Years
The grocery store at 4499 17th has been in operation since 1894. We hope that you will visit soon. Be sure to tell Sam that CHN send you.
New Crossing Light at Hattie & Danvers
In addition to the anticipated speeding camera on the 3000 block of Market Street, there is a newly installed pedestrian push
button and beacon to stop traffic for pedestrian street crossings, to improve safety and reduce speeding on this block. Thank you Supervisor Mandelman for listening to neighbors’ concerns.
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