About San Francisco's Eureka Valley

San Francisco Home Sales Report: Eureka Valley/Dolores Heights

January 1 - March 31, 2011

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OK, I'll admit it-- I never ate at Ike's sandwich place when it was at 16th and Sanchez because I hate crowds and lines. I'm told the "Dirty Secret Sauce" and home made bread make it worth the wait, but I don't care if Alice Waters is serving her goat cheese salad for free: I'm simply not going to stand in a line for up to three hours just to get something good to eat.

Other people hate lines too, especially Ike's former neighbors. His old shop was pushed out in the fall because up to 30 people in line at a time turned a fairly quiet residential neighborhood into a noisy dirty place that made living there nearly intolerable. Double parked cars with boom box music. Noisy conversation. Shouting across the street. And trash. Lots of trash. So the neighbors protested. Loudly.

The kerfuffle grew big enough that it eventually hit the New York Times, which of course only made the situation worse. Now out-of-towners joined the natives to worship at the altar of the Papa Sam, the Vegetarian Backstabber and the Jessica Rabbit (just a few of Ike's whimsical names among his 200+ different kinds of sandwiches).

Owner Ike Shehadeh solved the problem temporarily by moving into Limon Restaurant around the corner at 2247 Market Street. Limon only operates during evening hours and was generous enough to loan out its kitchen during the day so Ike patrons could continue to get their daily fix of Spiffy Tiffys or Hella Fat Bastards.

Happily, San Francisco's Planning Commission gave Ike unanimous approval last Thursday to open a larger shop near Church and 16th Streets early next year -- just a block from the old one that closed in September. The new place will have anough room for an interior line that will zig zag, just like the ones for rides at Disneyland. They are also eliminating outdoor seating, and Ike promised to be respectful of his neighbors.

But here's a little secret: my clients who bought in the neighborhood told me I can just order ahead and pick it up at the hour they tell them it's ready. Or you can just go to one of Ike's quieter out-of-town locations in Redwood City or the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

In this case, that's exactly what drove the desired look prior to coming on the market. A colleague of mine asked me to stage his seller's property earlier this year with the idea of keeping the mid-century/modern integrity of the home consistent (inside and out). It was a beautiful William Wurster home in the Eureka Valley/Dolores Heights neighborhood that still had the original wood walls and general layout intact. When my eye hit the "blonde" media console piece (in the back of the photo), I knew THAT was the piece to build on.

*With the overabundance of 'wood on wood' in the room, I found that selecting high contrasting furnishings seemed to have the best effect. Combined with an aggressive listing price and keen marketing by the listing agent, this home was in contract in less than a week. (scroll down the comments section to see the Dining room 'B & A')...