To close out 2015, we've asked our local neighborhood editors to choose their favorite stories from the past year, and to explain why they loved them so.
Today, we hear from local editor Brittany Hopkins:
Few people have something nice to say about Sixth Street. “Skid Row,” many call the stretch that runs from Market to Howard. Having lived right on the edge of the blighted corridor for over a year, I’ve seen the good — friendly neighbors in lawn chairs chatting outside SROs — I've seen the bad — cops armed with pepper spay chasing suspects through the street, and I've heard the worst.As soon as Hoodline expanded to SoMa this summer, I set out to learn why the corridor — just steps from the picturesque Yerba Buena Gardens and the quickly transforming Mid-Market — looks and feels tossed aside. Unwanted and forgotten. In the process, however, I found that as challenging as they are, not everyone has given up on those three blocks right in the heart of the city.
Below is an excerpt from the original story, published on June 23rd, 2015.
For Gianluca Legrottaglie, opening Montesacro — the newest eatery in the Sixth Street corridor — has been quite the roller coaster.
With dreams of opening a pizzeria, $3,000 in the bank and not a single investor lined up, Legrottaglie — a partner and the wine director at neighboring Italian restaurant 54 Mint— drained his family’s bank account to lease a storefront at 510 Stevenson St., just around the corner from ever-popular brunch spot Dottie’s True Blue Cafe.
At first, there was nothing appealing about the storefront except its size and affordable rent, Legrottaglie said. The abandoned space had a series of walls that looked like a back room, but there was no entrance. The landlord willingly knocked down the walls, and both he and Legrottaglie were amazed at what they found: two 100-year-old coal-fire ovens, in perfect condition ...
Continue reading one of Brittany's favorite stories of 2015, "Life On Sixth Street: Montesacro's Gianluca Legrottaglie On Turning Around The Blighted Corridor."
