Volume XL, No. 5
June 2016
Our 40th Year
THE NOE VALLEY VOICE First Woman in The Editor’s Seat Trailblazer at the SF Chronicle By Matthew S. Bajko
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t one point in time, Audrey Cooper wanted to be named a U.S. Supreme Court justice. It was largely due to her idolizing the court's first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, the only woman she knew of who held a position of power. Then the realization she would first need to graduate from law school set in, and Cooper turned her career aspirations toward journalism. In 1999 she graduated magna cum laude from Boston UniverCONTINUED ON PAGE 9
It Bobbles the Mind. Noe Valley resident Audrey Cooper has a fondness for San Francisco Giants bobbleheads as well as a penchant for investigative journalism. Photo by Beverly Tharp
The State of the Economy for Noe Retail New Stops. Muni mapped a more efficient pathway for the 35-Eureka bus. It now goes to Glen Park BART. Photo by Pamela Gerard
The Wheels on The Bus Arrive More Often
High Rents and Online Shopping Put the Squeeze on Local Merchants
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By Tim Simmers
hen store manager Inci Caner noticed a woman photographing a dress in her Rabat clothing boutique recently, she sensed what was next.
The woman returned to the 24th Street shop in Noe Valley and asked Caner if she could match the price of an identical dress online. “It’s very frustrating,” sighed Caner, who’s up against a cultural change she CONTINUED ON PAGE 13
35-Eureka Route Changes By Olivia Starr
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n April 23 of this year, the 35Eureka—a community bus line neglected for decades and once threatened altogether—finally got some traction. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency made two major service improvements on the line, which runs northsouth on Eureka and Diamond streets through Noe Valley. The first was to ex-
Time Passages. This hallway in Hank Dunlop’s 23rd Street Victorian exudes a warm and inviting richness. Photo by Najib Joe Hakim
Surrounded by History
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Local Mom Lives For LEGOs
What It’s Like to Live in a Noe Valley Victorian By Richard May
Bricks 4 Kidz Franchise a Hit With Schools
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By Heather World
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hree years ago, around the time her toddler started playing with LEGOs, Upper Noe resident Kim Nguyen-Ehrenreich had an epiphany: maybe the popular toy could lay the foundation for her own future. A scientist at a medical device firm for nine years, Nguyen-Ehrenreich had long dreamed of teaching science to children, especially to disadvantaged youth. “That’s my passion—to provide these kids with the different opportunities that CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
Working More for Less. Dona Taylor of When Modern Was looks relaxed in this photo but confesses to a nervousness about the future for Noe Valley retail. Photo by Pamela Gerard
an Francisco is famous for its Victorian architecture, and Noe Valley is well-known as one of its Victorian neighborhoods. There are bus tours and walking tours galore of our neighborhood and others throughout the city, especially Alamo Square with its “Painted Ladies.” But Victorian buildings—built during and after the reign of Queen Victoria, from 1837 to 1901—are disappearing, and have been since they stopped making them. The Great Fire of 1906—after the Great Earthquake of the same year—was the first great destroyer. The next great CONTINUED ON PAGE 14