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Glen Park’s Modern Past takes in a Valencia corridor refugee

January 18, 2015 by Elizabeth Weise

Modern Past December 12, 2014 event, Noche de la Virgen. Mia Gonzalez seen among her many friends.
Modern Past December 12, 2014 event, Noche de la Virgen. Mia Gonzalez seen among her many friends. Photo by Ric Lopez.

Story and photos by Murray Schneider

Modern Past businessman Ric Lopez is using his store as an incubator.

The Chenery Street merchant, purveyor of mid-century modern furniture, isn’t interested in producing baby chicks, though.

Men's clothing created and manufactured in San Francisco by Scissors and Cloth.
Men’s clothing created and manufactured in San Francisco by Scissors and Cloth.

Surrounded by home furnishings that could double as interior set designs for “Vertigo,” the longtime retailer and president of the Glen Park Merchants Association, on a recent Friday, pointed to a line of clothing that looked nothing like James Stewart might have donned in the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock thriller.

“They’re made by Scissors and Cloth,” he said, looking at men’s shirts that might be more at home along the hip Valencia Street corridor than in Glen Park’s homey village. “Scissors and Cloth needed a helping hand, so I’m letting them utilize space here.”

“Everyone needs a leg up,” he said. “Facilitating a custom clothiers move to storefront retail by allowing it to incubate here until it becomes established is how I can help.”

Pop-up stores aren’t a new phenomenon. Uniqlo, one of the largest clothing retailers in the world, began its enterprise in San Francisco as a Post Street pop-up store before moving to its Powell Street location several years ago.

Lopez is simply following the mega store’s lead and lending a helping hand at the same time.

Mia Gonzalez and Ric Lopez sitting in Modern Past.
Mia Gonzalez and Ric Lopez sitting in Modern Past.

Facing an extraordinary rent increase at her 20th and Valencia Streets store, after being in business for 16 years, Mia Gonzalez was more than happy to move to space in Lopez’s store.

“My rent more than tripled,” she said, standing next to Lopez and nodding at her product line of imported Mexican folk art, which now takes center stage on Lopez’s floor.

After Gonzalez fell victim to rising rents, Lopez opened his door to her on December 1, green lighting her to bring her south-of-the-border inventory to his store.

On December 12, Modern Past became a surrogate venue for a La Virgen de Guadalupe celebration, co-hosted by Gonzalez and Lopez. For the legions of Gonzalez’s poet, writer, film director, musician and artist friends, upset by her displacement, it was like a homecoming party.

“We’ll be a launching pad for her new gallery,” Lopez said. “I call Mia’s inventory ‘Miel,’ which means ‘honey.’”

Before she was priced out of Encantada Gallery, Gonzalez added seasoning and flavor to the Mission District.

“Encantada means ‘delightful’ or ‘charmed,” said Lopez, surveying Gonzalez’s wares, displayed only a few feet from Modern Past’s doorway.

“The tenor in San Francisco now is to move businesses out,” Gonzalez opined. “Ric is allowing me to stay here until January 31.”

Mia Gonzalez displaying a T-shirt mixing and matching a Day of the Dead mask with San Francisco Giants logo.
Mia Gonzalez displaying a T-shirt mixing and matching a Day of the Dead mask with San Francisco Giants logo.

Gonzalez’s entrepreneurial spirit isn’t confined to fine linens, Dia de los Muertos masks and Frida Kahlo ceramics.

“See this,” she said.

She lifted a T-shirt from a shelf. “I designed it after the Giants won their first San Francisco World Series in 2010.”

Bench imported from Mexico by Mia Gonzalez of Encantada Gallery, formerly on Valencia and 20th Streets.
Bench imported from Mexico by Mia Gonzalez of Encantada Gallery, formerly on Valencia and 20th Streets.

She stood behind a black and orange shirt. Dwarfing her, it was embossed with a Day of the Dead mask. The figure was topped with an iconic orange “SF” logo, and the word “Gigantes” was stitched above it.

“I want to continue working on projects such as this,” she said. “I want to stay in San Francisco.”

If Ric Lopez has his way, she will.

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Glen Park Association is at Glen Park Greenway.
13 hours ago
Glen Park Association

Saturday’s Glen Park Greenway Work Party is Cancelled.

“I’m very sorry to say that
we have cancelled our Work Party for this Saturday July 12, along with all organized volunteer activity on the Greenway until further notice.
As you may have read in the news, our fiscal sponsor, San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA), has shut itself down. Just as SFPA has shut itself down, the Greenway, as an organized part of SFPA, has also been “shut down.” We are busy looking for a suitable alternative fiscal sponsor that is willing to replace SFPA. That search is going well but it is a slow process. We had hoped to find temporary ways to enable the Greenway project to function responsibly as a community activity without a fiscal sponsor. Sadly, despite our best efforts and the help of many others in Glen Park, we have failed. That is why we must cancel our Saturday Work Party and discontinue future work parties and other organized volunteer activity on the Greenway (like weeding and watering) until further notice. We recognize that the Greenway is public open space and that the organizers of the Greenway project have no control over the activities of you or of anyone else on the Greenway. However, if you do venture onto the Greenway to satisfy your urge for outdoor recreation, please be aware that your activity is not in any way organized or sanctioned by the organizers of the Glen Park Greenway project. I’m well aware of the efforts that many of the
Greenway’s supporters are making to get the Greenway organized with a new fiscal sponsor and I’m confident that this will be arranged within weeks or perhaps a few months.
However long it takes, I will contact you with news of our progress.
Many thanks for all that you do for the Greenway.”

Nicholas Dewar, volunteer Project Director

#glenparkgreenway #glenparksf #sanfrancisco @rafaelmandelmand8 @danielluriesf @crosstowntrail
#crosstowntrail #sfparksalliance #publicspace #nature
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Wonder what’s stopping just organizing it separate from that non-profit. It seems like the volunteers largely come from Glen Park.

Glen Park Association is at Laidley Street SFO.
4 days ago
Glen Park Association

It was a beautiful day for the annual #july4th celebration on Laidley street!

📷: Photos courtesy of Michael Waldstein

#glenparksf #sanfrancisco #laidley
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It was a beautiful day for the annual #july4th celebration on Laidley street! 

📷: Photos courtesy of Michael Waldstein 

#glenparksf #sanfrancisco #laidley
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