San Francisco Chronicle (Sunday)
@MissBigelow
GLAAD gala to honor Getty; Gump’s tributes continue.
Actress and #MeToo advocate Alyssa Milano will be honored by GLAAD on Saturday, Sept. 15, at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco for her work amplifying acceptance of the LGBTQ community. However, the GLAAD award she receives has been renamed for Ariadne Getty, another LGBTQ activist.
Yup, those Gettys. Ariadne, who lives in Los Angeles, is the niece of our very own philanthropist-composer Gordon Getty. She is a GLAAD trustee who recently gave $15 million to the organization’s Media Institute ensuring LGBTQ stories receive representation in Hollywood and the news. Getty also runs her own foundation assisting disenfranchised populations and working with the United Nations Foundation on such issues as women’s health and climate change. Green scene: Speaking of climate change, that burning topic — even more crucial since the president’s Paris Accord pullout — overtakes our fair city this week with the arrival of some 4,500 delegates participating in the Global Climate Action Summit, an initiative conceived by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The heavy lifting will be provided by scientists, world leaders, politicians, business executives and activists such as former N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Heck, even legendary rocker-poet-badass Patti Smith will alight Friday (Sept. 14) at the Masonic for the Pathway to Paris concert with the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir.
But thanks to smart thinking by protocol chief Charlotte Shultz, the arts community plans to be out in force, too, as a way to welcome delegates and engage San Francitizens.
“The summit takes place at Moscone Center, an area surrounded by numerous cultural organizations,” Shultz notes. “So I reached out to Nan Keeton (SFMOMA deputy director), Jonathan Moscone (YBCA’s director of civic engagement) and Pat Kilduff (Children’s Creativity Museum) to engage the Yerba Buena Arts district.”
The core group quickly expanded from six people to 35, creating affiliate climaterelated events to echo the invitation-only summit.
“Charlotte asked, and because of how much she does for the city, we all signed on — it’s just how she gets things done,” Moscone said. “And her protocol office has provided incredible support,” Moscone continued. “What I’m also excited about is now we have a template to quickly organize for future events shining a national spotlight on San Francisco.”
Shultz’s germ of an idea blossomed into the Culture for Climate celebration (Sept. 8-16) for both summit delegates and the public.
“We want the whole town to express that San Francisco is committed to climate change — from the arts, to the restaurants, hotels and airports,” Shultz said. “We just can’t use balloons.”
Through Sept. 16, summit delegates receive free admission at nearby institutions such as the S.F. Museum of Modern Art (itself a LEED-gold building), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the California Historical Society as well as SF Camerawork and the Luggage Store Gallery.
But come Green Thursday (Sept. 13), non-delegates receive free admission (5-9 p.m.) at affiliated Yerba Buena venues plus an outdoor concert at Yerba Buena Gardens.
And the S.F. Symphony is playing along, too: Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas conducts a series of environmentally evocative concerts (Sept. 13-16) that will include “Appalachian Spring” as well as performances by Yuja Wang and Abigail Washburn accompanied by images from the “Coal + Ice” exhibition (at Fort Mason Center) and a conversation with Coal + Ice Festival Director Tom Corwin.
“Culture for Climate is a collaborative effort of the Yerba Buena and surrounding arts community to amplify the issues of climate change through performance, art and engagement,” Moscone said. “The arts, for me, are the most universal access point for anyone to creatively engage in crucial topics.” Gump’s in the dumps: Well, we finally faced the beast — the almost empty shelves at the once-vaunted Gump’s. And if you haven’t used those gift cards tucked away in your sock drawer, it’s too late. That deadline, along with registry credits from your last wedding, has passed.
The once-proud staff, now weary and beleaguered, attempted optimism the store could stay open until the end of the year, replenished by a mysterious warehouse full of merch. But they had no idea, when asked for the gazillioneth time, whether Gump’s beloved Christmas ornaments might appear for this slashand-burn sale.
Formerly a Gold Rush-era gem of exotic goods — from gleaming South Seas pearls, (real) teak furniture and handcrafted stationery to exquisite china, crystal and silver — Gump’s was as deeply entwined in EssEff allure as our cable cars, Dungeness crab and, even, the fog.
Charlotte Shultz may miss Gump’s the most: For decades she shopped there for friends and dignitaries alike. Gump’s printed her Office of Protocol holiday cards and created speciality gifts such as mayoral ornaments and S.F. scarves.
“I even knew Richard Gump, the founder’s son,” Shultz recalls. “He was a charming San Francisco character, always mentioned Herb Caen’s column. But the charm really left the store when the family sold and it changed locations.”
Still, a few last-minute shoppers scored treasured mementos: Maureen Dowling found a broach, and her daughter, S.F. Giants Community Fund trustee Kathleen Dowling McDonough, sourced pre-wrapped Christmas gifts.
“I gave one early to a friend, who was thrilled just for that box,” McDonough says. “Those are now collector’s items!”
Ah, nostalgia is a powerful drug: the classic gold lid emblazoned by “Gump’s” in black ink. Inside, crisp sheaths of folded tissue gently rested atop your treasure. Sigh.
Another EssEff native, Meagan Levitan, found the Gump’s sale depressing: “It was like a biblical scene with locusts descending on notthat-great merchandise.”
Levitan vividly recalls her excitement when she became engaged to her husband, Dale Carlson: She enacted a sacred San Francisco bridal tradition by registering at Gump’s.
“Dale wanted nothing to do with that,” Levitan says, with a laugh. “But my mom (Maureen Sullivan) and I were in heaven for hours picking out china, silver and crystal.”
Levitan still treasures the die-cut plates from their Gump’s engraved wedding invitations. And for a recent casual Sunday supper, she used her Gump’s wedding china and silver.
“And I threw it all in the dishwasher! I believe in making the traditional parts of your life fit into conventional practicalities,” she explains. “I shopped at Gump’s yearround. And that was the point about growing up with Gump’s: It was special.
“Now as more of our old city touchstones are disappearing, I believe we have to work harder to find what remains special and honor that.”