the page project

3 weeks into it...

2007-11-09T14:49:00.000-08:00

This is the space that john & I built. the pictures only tell part of the story; the interior vibe (for me, at least) is one of love and beauty and yoga. the delicious warmth of the awesome concrete floors is too tough to convey in words. it sounds so corny "labor of love", but i'm not sure how else to describe the result of our hard work and the challenging journey that brought us here. what joy to share it.

pre-opening day

2007-10-15T03:32:00.001-07:00

For all your love, support and presence (and ganapati, candle and orchids), a million thanks to david, johnny, bhavani & bay. xoxo

stairway to heaven

2007-10-15T03:30:00.000-07:00

Built with love and attention by my man's hands!

24-Hour Countdown

2007-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

sleep not coming, mind-stuff so fluctuating, body a-jittering:Are we really opening tomorrow? the guru poster is in place, the staircase is sturdy, the floor is radiant and toasty, the wc has tp. the gods might get hung, the dog has no balls, the shower is weak, but it works. friends are coming to practice, we have no cubbies or coathooks, no seating, no mat storage. some trim is not there, the thermometer is MIA, the thresholds not painted. I bought some tampons and toe tape.....my back is not bending.

inauguration practice with special guests....

2007-10-12T16:14:00.001-07:00

witness

2007-10-12T16:10:00.001-07:00

screened in

2007-10-09T17:55:00.001-07:00

From the photos-only posts, it's fairly obvious how preoccupied we are with finishing the space. JW is on last-minute, can't-open-without-them details -- heating the floor, swapping sinks, building a staircase, hanging lights and redoing just about everything our "employees" so sadly already did. badly. Today was a big day -- we all walked on the newly stained floor in stocking'd feet and the opaque film went up on the windows. no more looky-loos.
ps. that's bubba sniffing the new storefront -- his last day as a man-dog.

slowly, slowly...

2007-10-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

final inspections: PASSED!

2007-10-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

progress pictures

2007-09-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

walls & windows

2007-09-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

HELP!!!!!

2007-09-19T17:57:00.001-07:00

I am taking color suggestions for the front door to the school (anything but orange or saffron). I photoshopped some options that i don't necessarily like. Please send me any and all ideas to match (or contrast) the puke green building.

guess which makes me smile....

2007-09-13T09:07:00.001-07:00

We're Floored!

2007-09-01T08:29:00.001-07:00

Ah, the feeling of a new foundation, sealed with new smooth floor and no more excavation-like dirt. Flashback to the month of May, when construction started along with our delusions of "a little rouge & mascara" -- just a coat of paint and we'll be ready to go. HA! It's been a journey, a practice in itself to reach this precious point of the remodel. We survived one nightmare contractor, a small earthquake while the building was finely "braced", re-permitting and the city planning office, and arguments too numerous to mention. City life for these country mice has been quite the adventure! I've never celebrated a floor before, but this one was worth the bottle of bubbly we shared Wednesday night!

Radiant!

2007-09-01T08:19:00.001-07:00

With JW on the job, along with our new guy Tony, things are finally moving. And although they retied re-bar several times one sweaty Saturday to meet my very Virgo's very high standards, the last bit was twisted and the radiant heat tubings were laid this week for an eventual warm and cozy concrete floor (if that's at all possible). Above see the "finishing room" through the slats...a staircase will eventually lead up to and down from it.

Tree Time

2007-08-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

With a lot of help from FUF -- Friends of the Urban Forest -- and Farmer John, of course, Page Street is sprouting new greens: two Olives and two Primrose, planted last week (in the midst of a Pacific Gas & Electric sidewalk mess).

Dog Day Afternoon

2007-08-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

The Dig

2007-08-14T16:57:00.001-07:00

When I was 18, I spent the summer on an archeological dig in Israel. Now, this here ain't no Promised Land, I realize, but as I stomp through the sandy floor of the school-to-be, and John presents an old blue Bromo Seltzer bottle that the guys uncovered, the Tel d'Or dig comes to mind.

If the foundation issues weren't enough, we also discovered that the main sewer drain pipe was completely corroded. I don't have to describe what was flowing out of the cracks and into the dirt.

I got into it with Michael's Pit Stop this morning, a patient, sweet older man who calls me yalla,an endearing arabic term, I hope. Anyone? We inappropriately invaded his toilet, which is sitting on rotten wood and has pipes we needed to relocate. oops! He, like we, is less than happy.

But today is a good day, after all, as we finally let go of the contractor -- YIPPEEEEE!! and have an honest, hard-working guy to finish this endless and relentlessly painful job.

Construction Distraction

2007-07-26T09:32:00.001-07:00

Hubba Bubba

2007-07-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

Meet Bubba-ji Lender, the newest addition to Page Street. Although we are big on big dogs, we opted for this pint-size pet for city-pooping purposes. He's a shichon pup (shitzu-bichon). Yup, a designer dog, of course.

Plastic Fantastic

2007-07-05T06:32:00.001-07:00

On a recent trip to the East Bay, the big blue-and-yellow building beamed down on us as we neared the Emeryville exit, beckoning us into the land of cheap, chic and cheap furnishings. Our last and only visit to Ikea was with Guruji and family over a year ago. The guru stayed in the car while we shopped - smart man. The monolithic Disneyland of Swedish style was teeming this mid-week day with eager consumers, and it was only 11 a.m. Never again, we said to each other as we blindly shuffled through the bottom floor in deer-in-headlights bewilderment. Still, armed with our trusty colossal cart, we persevered, hunting down a pair of smart sawhorses for our new makeshift desk, white blinds at a bargain basement price and this plastic lotus-like lamp, that might pass for a fashionable fixture when it's hanging 18ft overhead. Salivating thoughts of an O Chame lunch in Berkeley helped us through the 45 minute wait at check out, as we chanted "never again" over and over. PS. We returned a week later for more blinds. Never again.

F***ing Foundation

2007-07-04T18:34:00.001-07:00

Finally, a workman or two punch in. They knock down the last walls, and inadvertently break a pipe. Water gushes into the Pit Stop's basement and no one knows how to turn off the water main. Clark, our 260-pound contractor, supermans it shut in the end. Minor blip, compared to the following day. One by one, one guy snaps off the floorboards. He pops a hole through the Pit Stop's wall, accidentally. Another blip, unparalleled with the end-of-the-day ridiculous discovery: The foundation -- rotten, rotted, and in some places, the brick collapsed and disintegrated into the sand. Progress, at the very least.

Sew What?

2007-06-28T06:20:00.001-07:00

With a great gap in the construction process -- think worker no-shows, building discoveries we wish we never uncovered, foundation issues, and general summer slowpokiness, I had to find more reliable help, at least in the home-ec department. My handyman happened upon this aging appartus at a yard sale up the street, handed the owner a fiver, dropped $35 for a new pedal, and jumpstarted a new career in curtains. Check back soon for results.

Dad, we bought a building!!

2007-06-16T07:19:00.001-07:00

And we're opening a yoga school! See construction photos for proof....

Breaking & Entering

2007-06-16T07:03:00.001-07:00

Permits have finally been pulled to make this project by-the-book. The city is a bitch when it comes to building improvements, but we're not taking any chances. One will basically be able to party in the potty, which, with full wheelchair access, will be as massive as a mud house in Mysore. This hot-water boiler (above) that heats the entire building will soon be hoisted above the commodious commode-to-be, while the entrance to the school (see top 2 pics)will be repainted and rejiggered. One day, we will be a 2-toilet, 1-shower school with 20 super-tight mat spaces and a tiny finishing room. One day....

demo & dust

2007-06-07T05:59:00.001-07:00

Slowly slowly, we peel away the cigarette-infused surfaces, uncovering rotten wood, secret doors and uneven beams. The lifted linoleum reveals beautiful redwood (it will be salvaged for the upstairs makeover), which will be replaced with a radiant-heat concrete slab. We'll cut a whole through this back wall next week, connecting the two commercial spaces and cutting into my temporary practice room on the other side. Uh oh!

www.aysf.net

2007-06-01T07:08:00.001-07:00

Toiling away at the school website this week. Thanks to genius web-guru Roberto Maiocchi, the site is quickly unfolding and we should be open for cyber-biz a few weeks before the shala itself is ready. Bless you, Roberto!!

Hollywood-Haight

2007-06-01T07:05:00.001-07:00

Back @ headquarters...

2007-06-01T06:47:00.000-07:00

Although construction is moving at a snail's pace here on Page, Macs meet and cells compete in the penthouse of our place. The bustle of business and visitors has been nonstop and we are loving every minute of it. The Page offers street-view rooms that tremor with traffic, high-speed internet (with usernames like sexytime and g-string108), anytime chai and loving, if not stressed-out hosts. Reservations -- and earplugs -- recommended.

J. Crew?

2007-05-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

No, J. Dub.

Flynn City

2007-05-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

school foyer

One-day Cleanse

2007-05-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

With a little help from the great Got Junk truck, we managed to dump the depris and diesel from the garage and cleared the former tenants' garbage (you can't even imagine)from the school space. With his trio of new trusty ladders, jw discovered a treasure of trash in a not-so-nice nook in the ceiling, including a foam mattress, slide projector and a heap of rubble. All clear for the start of construction; not to mention plenty of parking. Ahhhh....

reclamation

2007-05-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

with the wave of a magic wand (and much creative thought and elbow grease), we hope to quickly convert this current sty into the new home of ashtanga yoga san francisco.

Introducing....

2007-05-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

marketing in the making...see also, ashtangayogasanfrancisco

Get Well, Guruji

2007-05-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Took a break from the Page Project to be with our teacher, Pattabhi Jois, and support his recovery from a sudden bout of blood-sugar imbalance and infection. Saw him safely out of the hospital and into his bed at home, where we hear he is improving, slowly slowly. We wish our 92-yr-old guru, a picture of unwavering strength and determintation, a full and speedy recovery!

The Plan

2007-03-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

So, we’ve got our project; all we need is a plan. Tiptoeing even further into the frightening world of the mature and responsible, we interviewed a handful of architects – three Johns and a James. They ranged from young and enthusiastic to severely modern and extreme (“tear it down to studs, lift the entire building and see where it cracks”) and even a small-world story, friend of the family who fell somewhere in between. We chose a guy both practical and edgy, excited and inspired: John Lum. (His people skills were a plus.)

The plan is to give a shot of botox to this wrinkled Edwardian, merge our two top units into one, and recreate the backyard space which right now includes a dilapidated metal garage, rotting wood staircase, antique washing machine, and garbage-can storage that looks like the dump itself. Dreams of a home for our cars (ahhhhh), a mod staircase, a spot of green and our very own roof garden are just that right now: dreams. But we’re refining the art of realizing them.

God says, "Park anywhere!"

2007-03-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Our first Sunday morning in the city, the night after a semi-tame St. Pat’s day, we were awakened by a boisterous bevy of finely-threaded churchgoers who had assembled right below our living room window. Ebenezer’s Baptist church sits a few doors down on Divisadero, you see, and Sunday morning service, apparently, is one helluva hallelujah happening. The corner of Page & Diviz was soon filled with gospel-gabbing participants who seemed to be amassing from all over the city, decked in their best and soulfully singing through the intersection en route to mass. One voice in particular bellowed for most of the morning – stationed outside our bedroom, the “valet”, a true believer for sure, was double-parking the congregant’s cars up and down Page Street.

Room with a View

2007-03-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Swapped the house on the beautiful Bay for the building on the busy block. But we’ll always have Humboldt.

Cast Away

2007-03-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

The toughest part of the process, aside from the shmoes and sharks in the real estate underground, has been vacating units. In order to create our new home (the entire top floor) and yoga school (one of the commercial units), we had to ask some very kind folks to move, or more frankly -- move out. Not a pleasant job for the karmically-minded….but who’s to say whose karma is whose. San Francisco loves its tenants (remember Michael Keaton in Pacific Heights?), and has its landlords pay a rather high fee to see them go. So we are paying, and with pockets full, they are going. I was dreaming up their angry acts of reprisal, and arrived on the scene cowering -- a sheet-white, wimpy new landlord. Aside from the gruff construction dude in the garage (think Billy Bob in Slingblade), who has since chummed up to John in a builder-to-builder kind of way, all parties have thankfully been amenable and understanding. Good thing too -- we declined the terrorism insurance.

One Day at a Time

2007-03-15T06:37:00.001-07:00

Call him Schneider, although her prefers Mr. Roper. My handyman, my hero, my soon-to-be husband, a self-proclaimed MacGiver is already at it. The front door closing mechanism cracked the first day we opened it (it was a good sign, i'm thinking), a downstairs shower was overflowing and leaking and another tenant's front door was tagged (not very creatively I'm afraid) the other night while a homeless chap slept in the doorway. Armed with plunger, pliers and high-performance duct tape, my repair guy is taking care of biz. So what if the Chrissy downstairs is really Christof. A Valerie (Bertinelli?) lives next door.

The Grease Guys

2007-03-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

Our parking garage -- a shoddy metal hunk of junk -- is currently housed by one commercial tenant, an east bay construction dude, and the Gas Guys, who run a veggie grease filling station, complete with french-fry oil pump and bio-diesel conversion tactics. The cast of characters that filler up from vegrev in their worn VW vans, old Mercedes boats and occasional brand new bug makes for a sure-fire San Fran scene. Yes, our corner is green, but it's also greasy.

nopa nope

2007-03-15T05:57:00.000-07:00

For those in the know, we are considered Lower Haight or -- eek! -- even Western Addition. But I prefer NOPA (north of panhandle) -- although this isn't entirely accurate -- a freshly mushroomed acronym hailed by the hip foodies up the street, who are upping the hood's status with the 1-year-old NOPA restaurant. YUM!

The Move

2007-03-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

Puttering cross the Golden Gate in our new black bug (diesel, thank you), filled to the brim with bathroom leftovers, stacks of papers and the contents of our noisy, decaying fridge (homeade quince jam and some greens from our sad-but-still lively Marin garden) we waved buh-bye to Tiburon with tears in our eyes. See ya funky old tear-down with jaw-dropping vista, our one-acre sanctuary studded with budding magnolias, beefy lillies and a family of deer, forever feasting on our forest. Bye solitude and space and hello city, with all its vivacious energy, horns, traffic and choices.

The four weight-lifting pros from Ahmed's Moving Express in San Rafael putt-putted behind us as we pulled onto Page Street -- one of those gloriously sunny Norcal days that makes you just LOVE living on the left coast.

too weird for tv

2007-03-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

We were persuaded by Spindler to audition for an HGTV pilot, Sleep On It, where we would “test-drive” one of our potential purchases (even though we only had one), sleep over, conduct a yoga class and discuss the ins and outs of the place in front of cameramen and producers. We thought our yoga parlor tricks (a back-breaking, thong-exposed supta kurmasana and a jean-clad urdvha kukatasaa) along with stories of rat-hunting in our India kitchen cinched our place on the reality show, but thankfully they never called.

The Background

2007-03-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

After months of disappointment in the DIY search, doing the Craigslist crawl and sapped into cyber real estate scams, we hired Zephyr’s number one real estate pro, Bonnie Spindler. No matter that she is the sis of a gal I used to work with at Fairchild Publications many moons ago (although connections in these cases can’t hurt); her fast-talking, real-estate know-how, bulldog confidence and unabashed persuasion was a major link to our involvement in The Page Project.

The sellers, who will remain anonymous for obvious reasons, are in the midst of a scorching divorce, which showed up in the form of stacks of unpaid bills and general lack of or spiteful communication. She ran off to a Habitat for Humanity project, totally MIA, when we offered our bid, and again went missing (to therapy, apparently) when it was time to sign. It was a sleepless 45 days, to say the least, but with the support of Pamela Adams of Adams Insurance (insurance), Lyssa Paul of Sirkin Paul Associates (co-ownership agreement), Lona Flament (all things financial) and Clifford Fried and Frank Miller of Wiegel & Fried (real estate law), we closed on March 2nd and I became something akin to Old Mother Hubbard, with so many tenants she didn't know what to do.

Make no mistake, the purchase part was no party; more like a comedy of errors. The deal was contingent on the abstraction of commercial tenant #1, Michael’s Pit Stop. We conducted a kitchen table talk with the owner who has an iron-clad, long-term lease. If we would pay all his expenses, including his 2 kids’ college tuition for 2 years, he would move. Uh – I don’t think so. We decided to keep the porn-and-package store in place (and it has truly grown on me ☺) and moved onto plan B and C and D, all concoctions my partner dreamed up in the middle of the night. Persistent and creative, he brainstormed our way into the building into which we are moving in 2 days.

Noblee Properties, LLC is the company we formed (a combo of our middle names) to make the purchase, and Legal Zoom, an online legal document service, did the deed. Boring though it is, thought it best to keep a record of all the deets.