Our 101 [Lombard building] neighbor, Sofiya, is ready to take on the world now! Since giving birth to infant son Eli last winter and then graduating from law school that spring, Sofiya has spent the last several months studying for her bar exam. Now that it’s behind her, she’s seeking a job in her new profession.

Sofiya is not unaccustomed to challenges.

She was born in Latvia and came to this country at the age of nine with her parents and sister. They lived in the Richmond District and, speaking no English, Sofiya admits the transition was initially difficult. Yet she became a stellar student in a relatively short time, taking AP [advanced placement] classes in high school. During her school years, she also held part-time jobs as a lifeguard, a clerk in the assessor-recorder’s office, and an assistant in a legal aid office where she frequently performed translating duties. (She speaks Russian.)

Cathy Fiorello is a bookseller who also writes books. Her latest, Al Capone Had A Lovely Mother, is a memoir told in three cities: New York, where she was born; Paris, a mid-life passion, and San Francisco, whose spell she now lives under. “Each city,” says Cathy, “Has played a major roll in shaping who I was, who I became, and who I am now.”

A native of Michigan, Rich earned a BS in Engineering from Michigan State followed by an MBA from the University of Minnesota. After a stint in Europe traveling throughout 17 countries, he returned to California to take a job with Hewlett-Packard.

He spent the bulk of his career—25 years—there as a technical marketing engineer in corporate materials,computer operating software, and internet security, which, in turn, gave him several opportunities to experience life abroad on extended business assignments.

Joanna and her husband Jeremy moved here to 101 Lombard almost two years ago when Jeremy's job transfer brought the couple (back) to the City. They'd enjoyed a stint in Los Angeles but were happy to return "home."

Joanna's considered San Francisco her home since graduation from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in film. San Francisco, she believes, nourished her creativity, and she launched her first career here as a greeting card designer. She developed a boutique greeting card line called he said. she said.

OK, so the nickname was one bestowed on Russ when he was a little red-headed, freckle-faced kid growing up in Pleasanton, about 35 miles east of here. It was a sleepy dairy community of fewer than 2,000 back in the 'fifties.

David is our 101 neighbor and he has recently been installed as the president of the Barbary Coast Neighborhood Association. You should know that the BCNA represents this very neighborhood in which we live. The organization strives to maintain the quality of life in our neighborhood, protect its basic character, and perpetuate the historic traditions of the neighborhood's place in San Francisco history.

Barbara Boyle is newly retired from an exciting career in the world of advertising. Or perhaps she’s just taking a break. She plans to figure that out in the coming months!

Barbara and husband Kim are newlyweds of one year and their apartment here at 101 [Lombard] has had Barbara devoted to making it a home since they purchased it last summer.

It’s been a labor of love to have worked with the architect and construction crew (Barbara oversaw the work as her own contractor) and transform what was a very handsome but dark and masculine space into an exquisite, airy home that takes full advantage of its Bay views.

Marv Pheffer is a native of the Bronx and a Marine Corps combat veteran who served during the Korean War. Marv cracks that the military recruiter promised him training for later civilian work, but as a machine gunner, he couldn’t find a job in that field upon discharge.

Instead, he entered pharmaceutical sales where he was strikingly successful. (At age 23, he won a Dale Carnegie national award for Best Sales Talk.) His employer, Marion Laboratories, transferred Marv to Northern California, asking him to open up the territory here.

Tushar has come a long way from his native Surat, India. He spent his childhood in a family of five boys. His father, employed as an engineer by the Indian National Railways, built bridges all over northwest India. The family moved frequently (27 times during Tushar’s youth) to the next construction location.

Following university in India, Tushar ventured to California to attend Stanford. During his quest for a PhD in Electrical Engineering, he designed and built a hearing aid that became the new standard in technology for that device.

Riki has called 101 Lombard home for almost 15 years now. She and husband Bob arrived here via Sonoma County having raised their three children there during the ‘seventies and ‘eighties. (Seven grandchildren have been added to their brood in recent years!) Interestingly, Riki and Bob’s adventure together began in their childhood back in Queens, NY where they were schoolmates and neighbors and eventually sweethearts.

Linda's the chair of the Social Committee here at 101 [Lombard building]. She and husband Jim, a geologist, have resided at 101 since 2006 having moved up from the peninsula to be closer to Jim's office.

With their two young-adult sons now independent and living away from home—Scott, a recent grad from University of WA and Aaron a teacher of English in Japan—Linda somehow finds hereself busier than ever before.

Brenton, an Ohio native, followed the good weather to California a few years ago. An athlete who especially enjoys cycling and golf, he first scored a job as a golf pro at the southern California resort, Rancho Las Palmas.

The parent company of that resort and The Bay Club are one and the same, paving the way for Brenton to join the Bay Club staff last year. He’s membership director at present but his goal is to be a club manager so he’s acquainting himself with all aspects of the business.

If you see someone strolling around Barbary Coast who looks just like Susan Brown, Barbary Coast News’ newest writer/representative, you’re not seeing double. You may be encountering her identical twin sister who lives a few blocks away at the Infinity in SoMa (South of Market).

Whether you’re meeting for a job interview, picking up an important paper, getting together with a friend, or merely hankering for a smooth cup of coffee while you people-watch, chances are you’ll “meet at the Russian lady’s coffee shop.” Everyone knows where you mean—Lana Yelnin’s Coffee Roaster on Davis Street, an institution at the southern end of Barbary Coast.

Need a computer doctor – someone to answer your questions, solve your problems, teach you how to use the damn thing? Dave Casuto is your man – and he makes house calls.

Dave is a founder of a company called Senior Surf whose mission is to help those of us who came into the world long before the technology revolution learn to co-exist with it – it’s not going away. In addition to providing affordable, accessible computer education to Bay Area retirement centers, Senior Surf brings computer classes directly to you, offering in-home private instruction for all levels and topics. It also offers tech support for those times when you’re tempted to toss your Dell off the balcony. We’ve all been there.

Linda calls Bellingham, Washington, home, but for the past three years she has been living in San Francisco. She found the invitation by a widowed friend to join her in California irresistible, as this is her home state and she loves “every region within its borders.”

Mary Lou grew up in Washington, DC and moved to California at age 12 when her father was transferred by the Defense Department. She has a BA degree in English from Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California and a Masters Degree in Health Services Administration, MHSA, at the University of Michigan.

About 3600 years ago, they say, people in China and Egypt began doing what Pam Mees has been having fun doing in her Gateway townhouse for the past four years. And two years before that in Santa Fe. And before that in Australia. And before that in Great Britain.

Eamon Doyle lives on Treasure Island, works on the Embarcadero, and volunteers in the Mission. He has The City covered.

And he wears many hats.

San Francisco needs serious fiscal reforms.
As the “signature district” of San Francisco, District 3 is the economic engine than runs the City! Within our borders are the hotels, restaurants, Union Square stores and financial district firms that generate jobs and tax revenues that fund the City's budget.

She says of herself that she's "volunteered up to my eyeballs." And when you meet her, you'll think to yourself, "If only everyone were this civic minded, what a wonderful world it would be."

For 40 years Linda and her attorney husband lived in the small enclave of Piedmont in the Oakland Hills. Then once children were gone and life became simpler, Linda had a wish. She wanted to live

Across the street from the United Nations office in New York stands a building housing an organization you probably never heard of. Neither had I until last week. That organzation is the IIE, or Institute of International Education.


Recently, over 400 women in Yemen applied for IIE’s Women in Technology (WIT) program.

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Founded just after World War I by two Nobel Peace Prize winners, IIE is a global organization—in fact, one of our country’s largest and

DRILL DOWN: Male. Handsome. Foodie. Nerd. Truffle hunter.

If you passed Dan Beltramo in the produce aisle at Safeway you’d never guess what lies beneath his gentlemanly manner and winning smile. Make no mistake, he’s that: gentleman. But he’s so much more.

I first met Dan last year. At the time I was running my own opinion poll on our Barbary Coast News website, and my polling software left much to be desired. Dan offered to improve the usefulness and visual appearance of the Opinion Poll which appears on our Home page.

Getting to Know: Nancy Spivey

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