Market Street (San Francisco), San Francisco CA | Nearby Businesses

• Landmark and Historical Place
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• Street

Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Union Square is the retail and cultural hub of San Francisco. It boasts the city’s largest collection of luxury, department and boutique shopping, making it one of the premier tourist attractions in the Western United States. A spectacular selection of hotels, art galleries, salons, and performance halls also contribute to the area's cosmopolitan, 24-hour character. The center of the neighborhood is a landmark park bordered by Geary, Powell, Post, and Stockton streets and is home to the Dewey monument. You can also get up to the minute info on what's going on in Union Square by following us on twitter @unionsquaresf.

San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the 1880s to 1917. The structure's dome is taller than that of the United States Capitol by 42 feet. The present building replaced an earlier City Hall that was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake, which was two blocks from the present one. It was bounded by Larkin Street, McAllister Street, and City Hall Avenue (a street, now built over, which ran from the corner of Grove and Larkin to the corner of McAllister and Leavenworth), largely where the current Public Library and U.N. Plaza stand today.The principal architect was Arthur Brown, Jr., of Bakewell & Brown, whose attention to the finishing details extended to the doorknobs and the typeface to be used in signage. Brown's blueprints of the building are preserved at the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Brown also designed the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, Veterans Building, Temple Emanuel, Coit Tower and the Federal office building at 50 United Nations Plaza.

Moscone Center is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California. It comprises three main halls: Two underground halls underneath Yerba Buena Gardens, known as Moscone North and Moscone South, and a three-level Moscone West exhibition hall across 4th Street. It was initially built in 1981 by architects Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum as one single hall, Moscone South, and named after San Francisco former mayor George Moscone, who was assassinated in November 1978.BackgroundThe South of Market Area where Moscone Center was built was claimed by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, and a protracted battle was fought by the displaced low-income residents during the 1960s and 1970s.Although the Center is named after the murdered mayor, Moscone opposed the development of the area when he served on the SF Board of Supervisors in the 1960s because he felt it would displace elderly and poor residents of the area. As mayor, Moscone convened a special committee of proponents and opponents of a convention center. Hearings were held throughout SF seeking citizen input. A compromise was reached which was supported by Moscone. He put the matter on the ballot and it passed overwhelmingly.Labor organizations supported the construction of the Center, and were granted full labor jurisdiction. All labor in the Convention Center is performed by I.A.T.S.E. Local 16 Stagehands, Sign and Display Workers Local #510, Brotherhood of Teamsters local #65, IBEW Local #6, Security I.A.T.S.E. Local #B-18, Communications Workers of America, and the Hotel & Restaurant Workers Local #2. McCune Audio/Video/Lighting is the on site rental service.

"Painted ladies" is a term in American architecture used for Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details. The term was first used for San Francisco Victorian houses by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book Painted Ladies - San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians.Since then the term has also been used to describe groups of colorful Victorian houses in other American cities, such as the Charles Village neighborhood in Baltimore, Lafayette Square in St. Louis, the greater San Francisco and New Orleans areas, Columbia-Tusculum in Cincinnati, the Old West End in Toledo, Ohio, and the city of Cape May, New Jersey.San Francisco's painted ladiesAbout 48,000 houses in the Victorian and Edwardian styles were built in San Francisco between 1849 and 1915 (with the change from Victorian to Edwardian occurring on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901), and many were painted in bright colors. As one newspaper critic noted in 1885, "...red, yellow, chocolate, orange, everything that is loud is in fashion...if the upper stories are not of red or blue... they are painted up into uncouth panels of yellow and brown..." While many of the mansions of Nob Hill were destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, thousands of the mass-produced, more modest houses survived in the western and southern neighborhoods of the city.

Zuni Café is a restaurant in San Francisco, California. Named after the Zuni tribe, it was established in 1979 by Billy West. In 1981 he hired Vince Calcagno as the manager, who became a business partner in 1987. West and Calcagno hired chef Judy Rodgers (formerly of Chez Panisse) in 1987. Billy West died on July 1, 1994; Calcagno and Rodgers went on to become co-owners. Zuni Cafe, with Rodgers at the helm, won the James Beard Foundation Award for 'Best Chef: Pacific' in 2000, 'Outstanding Restaurant' in 2003, and 'Outstanding Chef' in 2004. It is located on Market Street in San Francisco. Rodgers became head chef in 1987, and a co-owner two years later. Calcagno retired in 2006. Gilbert Pilgram joined Zuni Café as a co-owner in 2006. Rodgers died on December 2, 2013.

The SHN Orpheum Theatre is a performance venue located at 1192 Market at Hyde Street in the Civic Center district of San Francisco, California. The theatre first opened in 1926 as one of the many designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca for theater-circuit owner Alexander Pantages. The interior features a vaulted ceiling, while the facade was patterned after a 12th-century French cathedral. The Orpheum seats 2,203 guests. In 1998, there was a $20 million renovation completed to make the Orpheum more suitable for Broadway shows after a previous renovation in the 1970s. The Orpheum is a locally designated San Francisco landmark as determined by the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board.The theater has hosted a number of Broadway shows, and from April 30 to May 4, 2007, hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and was recently home to a two-year sit-down production of the musical Wicked from January 27, 2009, through September 2010. The Grateful Dead gave six performances here in 1976: July 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18.Productions that were staged at the Orpheum prior to opening on Broadway have included Bring It On: The Musical (2011-2012), Evita (1979), Mama Mia! (2000-2001), and The Act (1977).

Located in the historic Mission District of San Francisco, the ornate and stately Victoria Theatre, seats 480. The theatre, built in 1908 as a vaudeville house, is now a city landmark and the oldest operating theatre in San Francisco. Originally called Brown's Opera House, it was operated as a vaudeville showcase by the ancestors of two California governors. The theatre drew crowds who delighted in observing the grand performances of international stars who came to San Francisco. As cinema began to displace live on-stage entertainment, the character of the Victoria Theatre began to change. In the 1930's, it became a motion picture house offering dishware door prizes to entice movie goers. In the 1950's the Victoria Theatre was renamed El Teatro Victoria, showing Spanish-language films for the growing Latino community in the area. In the 1960's, under the name New Follies, the theatre became a burlesque house and closed in 1976. The Victoria Theatre lay dormant for two years. After a year of reconstruction, the theatre was refurbished from top to bottom and now is restored to its original intent and grandeur. You can see everything here. Locally produced plays such as the San Francisco premier of Hedwig and the Angry Inch which ran for six months, concerts, film festivals (the theatre has video and 35mm with Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound), musicals, international performing companies and many other kinds of performances. Many personalities have appeared at the theatre through its long and colorful history, including Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Irwin, Donald O'Conner, Michael Moore, Mae "Come up and see me sometime" West, and many others. Several filmmakers have used the site to shoot their films. You can also see the Victoria Theatre in the movies such as, "The Laughing Policeman," starring Walter Matthau made in 1973, Joshua Grannell's film "All About Evil and Marielle Heller's "The Diary of A Teenage Girl."

Sundance Kabuki is an independent film movie theater in the Japan Center complex in San Francisco's Japantown neighborhood. Formerly the AMC Kabuki Cinema 8, it was acquired by Robert Redford's Sundance Cinemas chain in 2006 as part of an anti-trust agreement allowing AMC to acquire Loews. Sundance renovated the theater, and reopened it under its current name in December 2007, as the chain's second theater.The theater was the first multiplex in San Francisco. It has been host to San Francisco's Cherry Blossom Festival activities, is one of a small number of theaters showing performances by the San Francisco Opera, and has screened several films for San Francisco International Film Festival and San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival as recently as 2011.

Welcome to PanIQ Room San Francisco. Do you have the critical skills to survive? Experience 60 minute live escape games like you’ve never before. Each escape room is built around a different story; the characteristics and style of the room are shaped with the help of accessories and interior design connected to the story. Live Escape games are a type of physical adventure games in which people are locked in a room and have to use elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the room. Choose between 3 escape games: Our rooms: Psycho Slowly you regain consciousness and realize you're inside a psycho’s apartment. You’re alone but not for long... escape before he gets back! Prison Find your way out of the Prison you are held with your fellow prisoners! Geek You work for a startup company and you have to stay and work overnight in the office. Your goal is to find an investment check hidden in a safe then escape the room! Main page: www.facebook.com/paniqroomusa Our other locations on Facebook: PanIQ Room Hollywood - www.facebook.com/paniqroomhollywood PanIQ Room San Francisco - www.facebook.com/paniqroomsf PanIQ Room Miami - www.facebook.com/paniqroommiami PanIQ Room Phoenix - https://www.facebook.com/paniqroomphx MagIQ Room Beverly Hills - https://www.facebook.com/magiqroom

Noisebridge is a space open to anyone interested in the creative uses of technology, art, craft, and science. You and anyone else are free to use the space and most of its contents at any time: just ring the doorbell at 2169 Mission Street to come in. Everyone is welcome! Noisebridge is inspired by its fellow hackerspaces all around the world, from Alberta to Zurich. If you'd like to know more about how we work, and what we offer, visit the website at http://www.noisebridge.net/, or join the weekly Tuesday meeting at 8PM. Noisebridge is solely supported by individual donations by its users. You can donate through PayPal on our site or in the donation bins across the space. If you use Noisebridge regularly, set up a regular donation. A $10-$40 monthly subscription is a great way to ensure Noisebridge stays around. You can also become a member, which means you can take part in decisions about Noisebridge -- but you don't have to be one to use our space. You can also keep Noisebridge running by helping out in the space. Noisebridge is a "do-ocracy": if you think something needs improving or fixing, feel free to go ahead and do it.

華藏寺弘揚 南無第三世多杰羌佛、 南無釋迦牟尼佛教法。 舊金山華藏寺被譽為全美國最正宗寺廟，佛像被評為全世界最莊嚴之佛，華藏寺弘揚 南無第三世多杰羌佛、 南無釋迦牟尼佛教法，有許多世界級高僧大德長老都來依止修學，現有聖德高僧駐寺，尤其擁有佛法神通展現的聖寶： 1.南無第三世多杰羌佛法音 2.聖樹降甘露 3.蓮池神通力 4.須彌佛舍利 5.法帳現無常 6.甘露聖法缽 7.佛像放毫光 8.拙火實證物 9.先知預言瓶 10.百法明門黑關擇決 Hua Zang Si in San Francisco is known as the most authentic Buddhist temple in the United States. The Buddhist statues at Hua Zang Si are recognized as the most dignified Buddhist statues in the world. Hua Zang Si propagates the teachings of His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III Holiest Tathagata and Sakyamuni Buddha. Many world-renowned eminent monastics and virtuous Buddhist leaders come to Hua Zang Si to learn, rely upon, and practice such teachings. Currently, there are eminent monastics of holy virtues residing at Hua Zang Si. Moreover, the temple contains holy treasures which manifest supernatural power of the Buddha-dharma. These treasures are (1) dharma of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III; (2) a holy magnolia tree that rained nectar; (3) a lotus tub lifted by supernatural power; (4) Mt. Sumeru with sariras of Sakyamuni Buddha; (5) a dharma tent revealing a sign of impermanence; (6) a mani treasure discovered after being hidden; (7) a holy dharma bowl that received nectar; (8) a Buddha statue that emitted brilliant light; (9) dharma objects through which true tummo (inner-heat) realization was manifested (10) a golden vase for prophecy.

Zuni Café is a restaurant in San Francisco, California. Named after the Zuni tribe, it was established in 1979 by Billy West. In 1981 he hired Vince Calcagno as the manager, who became a business partner in 1987. West and Calcagno hired chef Judy Rodgers (formerly of Chez Panisse) in 1987. Billy West died on July 1, 1994; Calcagno and Rodgers went on to become co-owners. Zuni Cafe, with Rodgers at the helm, won the James Beard Foundation Award for 'Best Chef: Pacific' in 2000, 'Outstanding Restaurant' in 2003, and 'Outstanding Chef' in 2004. It is located on Market Street in San Francisco. Rodgers became head chef in 1987, and a co-owner two years later. Calcagno retired in 2006. Gilbert Pilgram joined Zuni Café as a co-owner in 2006. Rodgers died on December 2, 2013.

San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the 1880s to 1917. The structure's dome is taller than that of the United States Capitol by 42 feet. The present building replaced an earlier City Hall that was destroyed during the 1906 earthquake, which was two blocks from the present one. It was bounded by Larkin Street, McAllister Street, and City Hall Avenue (a street, now built over, which ran from the corner of Grove and Larkin to the corner of McAllister and Leavenworth), largely where the current Public Library and U.N. Plaza stand today.The principal architect was Arthur Brown, Jr., of Bakewell & Brown, whose attention to the finishing details extended to the doorknobs and the typeface to be used in signage. Brown's blueprints of the building are preserved at the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. Brown also designed the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, Veterans Building, Temple Emanuel, Coit Tower and the Federal office building at 50 United Nations Plaza.

The SHN Orpheum Theatre is a performance venue located at 1192 Market at Hyde Street in the Civic Center district of San Francisco, California. The theatre first opened in 1926 as one of the many designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca for theater-circuit owner Alexander Pantages. The interior features a vaulted ceiling, while the facade was patterned after a 12th-century French cathedral. The Orpheum seats 2,203 guests. In 1998, there was a $20 million renovation completed to make the Orpheum more suitable for Broadway shows after a previous renovation in the 1970s. The Orpheum is a locally designated San Francisco landmark as determined by the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board.The theater has hosted a number of Broadway shows, and from April 30 to May 4, 2007, hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and was recently home to a two-year sit-down production of the musical Wicked from January 27, 2009, through September 2010. The Grateful Dead gave six performances here in 1976: July 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18.Productions that were staged at the Orpheum prior to opening on Broadway have included Bring It On: The Musical (2011-2012), Evita (1979), Mama Mia! (2000-2001), and The Act (1977).

"Painted ladies" is a term in American architecture used for Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details. The term was first used for San Francisco Victorian houses by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book Painted Ladies - San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians.Since then the term has also been used to describe groups of colorful Victorian houses in other American cities, such as the Charles Village neighborhood in Baltimore, Lafayette Square in St. Louis, the greater San Francisco and New Orleans areas, Columbia-Tusculum in Cincinnati, the Old West End in Toledo, Ohio, and the city of Cape May, New Jersey.San Francisco's painted ladiesAbout 48,000 houses in the Victorian and Edwardian styles were built in San Francisco between 1849 and 1915 (with the change from Victorian to Edwardian occurring on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901), and many were painted in bright colors. As one newspaper critic noted in 1885, "...red, yellow, chocolate, orange, everything that is loud is in fashion...if the upper stories are not of red or blue... they are painted up into uncouth panels of yellow and brown..." While many of the mansions of Nob Hill were destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, thousands of the mass-produced, more modest houses survived in the western and southern neighborhoods of the city.

Cafe Du Nord is a bar and restaurant located in the Swedish American Hall, a music venue and event space located in the same historic building in San Francisco’s Upper Market neighborhood.HistoryCafe du Nord has been serving San Francisco continuously since 1907. Reopened after restoration in the summer of 2015, it is once again providing San Franciscans with good food, good drink and good times. Tucked into the back of the historic bar is the Viking Room, a restaurant serving fresh seafood, American bistro cuisine, cocktails and champagne. The space which was previously a music venue, now has live music nightly Tuesday - Saturday in The Viking Room at Cafe du NOrd.In 1906 the Swedish American Society engaged Swedish-born San Francisco architect August Nordin to develop plans for a new building for the group to call home. Laying of the cornerstone took place in an impressive ceremony amid gala festivities and dedication of the completed structure, designated The Swedish American Hall, occurred on December 22, 1907. Since that historic day, the Hall has been home to many businesses over the years, but there has been one strong voice behind the iconic building, The Swedish American Society.In addition to the newly renovated bar, Café du Nord and the Basque-inspired restaurant, Aatxe, the Swedish American Hall now houses three event spaces that take over the second and third floors of the building; Freja, Odin and Balder Halls that have held countless celebrations over its 107 year history. With old world charm and fresh blood flowing through it, Ne Timeas Restaurant Group and The Bon Vivants bring a fresh approach to events with full-service catering, catering partners and craft cocktail bar service for weddings, corporate events, conventions, meetings, parties, dinners, receptions, recitals and other special events.

Das Black Hawk war ein Jazzclub in San Francisco, der von 1949 bis 1963 bestand.Der Jazzclub Black Hawk war eine der bekanntesten Veranstaltungsorte für Jazzmusik in San Francisco während seines Bestehens von 1949 bis 1963. Er befand sich Ecke Turk Street und Hyde Street im Tenderloin-Viertel. Besitzer des Clubs waren Guido Caccienti sowie Johnny und Helen Noga. Die intime Clubatmosphäre war ideal für kleinere Jazzgruppen. 1959 konnte der Club für Jazz-Veranstaltungen Honorare von $300 bis über $3.000 pro Woche zahlen. Eine Reihe von Musikern nahmen hier Alben auf; dazu gehören Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Thelonious Monk, Shelly Manne und Mongo Santamaría. Billie Holiday und Lester Young gaben hier ihren letzten Konzerte an der Westküste, das Modern Jazz Quartet sein erstes. Auch Charlie Parker fand sich zu einer Jamsession im Black Hawk ein. Weitere bekannte Musiker, die hier auftraten, waren u. a. Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Johnny Mathis, Art Blakey, Shorty Rogers, Art Pepper, Art Farmer, Gerry Mulligan, Horace Parlan und Russ Freeman. Art Tatum gab hier in den letzten 18 Monaten seines Lebens Konzerte; er spielte 1955 im Black Hawk.

Noisebridge is a space open to anyone interested in the creative uses of technology, art, craft, and science. You and anyone else are free to use the space and most of its contents at any time: just ring the doorbell at 2169 Mission Street to come in. Everyone is welcome! Noisebridge is inspired by its fellow hackerspaces all around the world, from Alberta to Zurich. If you'd like to know more about how we work, and what we offer, visit the website at http://www.noisebridge.net/, or join the weekly Tuesday meeting at 8PM. Noisebridge is solely supported by individual donations by its users. You can donate through PayPal on our site or in the donation bins across the space. If you use Noisebridge regularly, set up a regular donation. A $10-$40 monthly subscription is a great way to ensure Noisebridge stays around. You can also become a member, which means you can take part in decisions about Noisebridge -- but you don't have to be one to use our space. You can also keep Noisebridge running by helping out in the space. Noisebridge is a "do-ocracy": if you think something needs improving or fixing, feel free to go ahead and do it.

BLUSH! The Ultimate Wedding Experience San Francisco, CA, Sunday, March 29, 2015 – BLUSH is a wedding event intended for planners and industry pros and for savvy couples seeking a more personal and unique experience while planning their wedding day. Unlike traditional bridal shows, this event will have something for everyone, including the groom and the same sex couple, which we feel are equally important. This event is something completely fresh, unusual, interactive and promises to ignite the senses and get the creative juices flowing. Combining an eclectic array of independent artisans and wedding purveyors, the event will feature: - 30+ fresh and unique wedding purveyors offering creative + current wedding ideas + resources - The latest trends and out-of-the-box ideas in wedding and event design - Yummy food bites + decadent desserts - Delicious craft cocktails - Outdoor Cigar Bar - Bright Lip and Lash Bar - An incredible fashion show - Beats to keep the party going - Swag Bags! + Raffles! - Judgement free atmosphere welcoming gal + dude, gal + gal, dude + dude, couples of all kinds! - All of the above and more!

Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968-1971. Named after Graham's original "Fillmore" location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it stood at the southwest corner of Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue. There is now a Honda automobile dealership at that location.HistoryThe Carousel Ballroom, was originally a big band dance palace. Later, Fillmore West booked primarily African American performers as part of the Chitlin Circuit, prior to 1967. Blues legend B.B. King played before his first primarily white audience there in February 1967, with Bill Graham promoting.The Carousel Ballroom was for a few months in 1968 operated by a collective formed by the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother and the Holding Company, as a social/musical "laboratory experiment". The "six-month run may well have corresponded with the height of the whole '60s Haight-Ashbury/San Francisco thing." Bill Graham then took it over.

Fillmore West foi uma histórica casa de shows em São Francisco, Califórnia, fundada pelo empresário de rock Bill Graham. Seu nome é advindo do Fillmore original, que funcionava nas esquinas da Fillmore Street e Geary Boulevard.Em razão da deterioração urbana da vizinhança e da capacidade exígua do Fillmore original, Graham decidiu mudar sua casa de shows para o local antes conhecido como The Carousel Ballroom e El Patio, nas esquinas da Market Street e South Van Ness Avenue. Renomeou o empreendimento para Fillmore West em contraste a seu Fillmore East, então em funcionamento em Nova York.No começo da década de 1970, Graham decidiu afastar-se da indústria musical, fechando a casa em 4 de julho de 1971 com uma leitura de poesia por Allen Ginsberg e concertos das bandas Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead e Quicksilver Messenger Service. O documentário Fillmore, retratando os últimos concertos, e um LP triplo, Fillmore: The Last Days, foram lançados em 1972.

Sundance Kabuki is an independent film movie theater in the Japan Center complex in San Francisco's Japantown neighborhood. Formerly the AMC Kabuki Cinema 8, it was acquired by Robert Redford's Sundance Cinemas chain in 2006 as part of an anti-trust agreement allowing AMC to acquire Loews. Sundance renovated the theater, and reopened it under its current name in December 2007, as the chain's second theater.The theater was the first multiplex in San Francisco. It has been host to San Francisco's Cherry Blossom Festival activities, is one of a small number of theaters showing performances by the San Francisco Opera, and has screened several films for San Francisco International Film Festival and San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival as recently as 2011.

Welcome to PanIQ Room San Francisco. Do you have the critical skills to survive? Experience 60 minute live escape games like you’ve never before. Each escape room is built around a different story; the characteristics and style of the room are shaped with the help of accessories and interior design connected to the story. Live Escape games are a type of physical adventure games in which people are locked in a room and have to use elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the room. Choose between 3 escape games: Our rooms: Psycho Slowly you regain consciousness and realize you're inside a psycho’s apartment. You’re alone but not for long... escape before he gets back! Prison Find your way out of the Prison you are held with your fellow prisoners! Geek You work for a startup company and you have to stay and work overnight in the office. Your goal is to find an investment check hidden in a safe then escape the room! Main page: www.facebook.com/paniqroomusa Our other locations on Facebook: PanIQ Room Hollywood - www.facebook.com/paniqroomhollywood PanIQ Room San Francisco - www.facebook.com/paniqroomsf PanIQ Room Miami - www.facebook.com/paniqroommiami PanIQ Room Phoenix - https://www.facebook.com/paniqroomphx MagIQ Room Beverly Hills - https://www.facebook.com/magiqroom

The Hartford Street Zen Center, temple name Issan-ji, is a Soto Zen practice-center located in the Castro district of San Francisco.HistoryIssan Dorsey (a former drug-addict and drag queen) brought the center from its early beginnings as The Gay Buddhist Club of 1980 to the modern-day Hartford Street Zen Center (HSZC), becoming Abbot there in 1989. In 1987 the group had opened the Maitri Hospice for those dying of AIDS, to which Dorsey himself succumbed in 1990. It was the first Buddhist hospice of its kind in the United States. For a time the center leased a building next door to house the sick, eventually offering nine hospice-beds for persons in extremis. The second Abbot was Kijun Steve Allen, who departed after a difficult tenure of one year. In 1991 famed Beat-era poet Zenshin Philip Whalen assumed the abbacy, until ill health obliged him to retire in 1996; he died in 2002. By 1997 the hospice had outgrown the Hartford Street location and was moved to a new, custom-designed facility at Church and Duboce Streets in San Francisco with space for fifteen residents. Meanwhile, practice continued at Issan-ji under the guidance of Rev. Ottmar Engel, who served as Practice-Leader until health-concerns necessitated his return to his native Germany in 2001. After an interregnum, during which the Board of Directors, assisted by Rev. John King, took care of things at Hartford Street, Rev. Myo Denis Lahey, who was completing a tenure as Prior (Tanto) at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in Carmel Valley, California, was invited to be Practice-Leader, and as of October 2013 was installed as HSZC's current Abbot.