Store Trek is a regular Voice feature
profiling
new stores and businesses in Noe Valley. This month, we
introduce a men’s
clothing boutique featuring designs fresh from Paris, and a
children’s
“playhouse” located in the heart of Downtown Noe Valley.
Youngsters
Sophia (left) and Izabella show Teresa Blea the pictures
they drew at Playhouse at Noe Valley.Photo by Pamela Gerard
Children love to play. They love to make puzzles,
root around in
dress-up trunks, and build castles with colorful blocks. Now
they have a place
to play and learn right on 24th Street: the Playhouse at Noe
Valley.
Teresa Blea and brother John Blea, along with
Teresa’s son Marino
Cacciotti, opened the Playhouse in early February in the
former Vivon
storefront at 3961A 24th St., across the street from Whole
Foods Market.
They describe their business as a child
enrichment program,
offering classes and drop-in play time for toddlers to age 5,
accompanied by
parent or caregiver.
“It gives the parents who don’t put their
children into a day care
or school other options to provide enrichment in a child’s
life,” says Teresa
Blea, who also owns Mio Preschool in the Excelsior.
The morning schedule, aimed at children 18 months
to 3 years, is
made up of a variety of classes which change from day to day.
On Mondays, kids can jump and roll in Gymnastics
for Children.
Wednesdays, they can dance to the sounds of Alison Faith
Levy’s “Big Time Tot
Rock.” Then on Thursdays, all can relax and stretch in Yoga
for Children.
Classes are $25 each, $90 for four, or $100 for five.
“I wanted to make each class not only something
interesting to the
children, but something that the parent could enjoy
participating in,” says
Blea, who has 35 years in early childhood education.
She says she and the Playhouse staff—which
includes her niece
Candice Caceres and daughter Isis Walls—like to engage the
kids in hands-on
activities, “because that’s how children learn.” But they also
teach proper
social behavior, courtesy, and safety skills.
Four afternoons a week (Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday, 3
to 6 p.m.), the Playhouse shifts to a more informal program.
Children from
infancy to 5 years—also with caregiver—choose their own
activities and play at
their own pace. If they like building with Lego bricks or
putting on a puppet show,
they can sit on the floor beneath the sunny bay window in the
front room of the
remodeled Victorian residence. For those who prefer snuggling
up with a picture
book or acting out stories, there is a comfy sofa and a trunk
full of costumes.
Drop-in play time is $12 an hour.
A resident of Potrero Hill and a third-generation
San Franciscan,
Blea says she picked Noe Valley for her second location
because of the great
family-feeling in the area. “There are a lot of little
children out in
strollers all day long,” she says.
She hopes Noe Valley parents will try Date Night
Child Care, a $22
per hour babysitting service the Playhouse offers on Saturday
evenings from 5
to 9 p.m.
The space is also available for birthday parties
on weekend
afternoons. And on Sundays it hosts a free parent and infant
meet-and-greet
from 10 to 11 a.m.
The Playhouse at Noe Valley is open every day but
Tuesday. For
detailed costs and schedule, visit the school’s website, www.theplayhouseatnoevalley.com.
Casual
but elegant is how store manager Thomas Farmer describes
the menswear at the new Sean boutique.Photo by Pamela Gerard
Paris fashion has arrived in Noe Valley. Men’s
fashion, that is.
Sean, a new men’s clothing store on 24th Street near Castro,
sells everything
from T-shirts to suits, designed exclusively by French
couturier Pierre Emile
Lafaurie.
Sean Cassidy, a resident of New York City, met
Lafaurie in Paris
at the opening of Lafaurie’s flagship boutique in 1995. The
pair became friends
and eventually launched a partnership, opening their first New
York store in
1997. Now they have nine Sean boutiques scattered around the
U.S., including
three in San Francisco.
After an extensive remodel of the space at 4080
24th St., once the
home of Accent on Flowers, Cassidy unveiled the Noe Valley
Sean in
mid-February.
The boutique is currently showing Sean’s
spring/summer collection
(Lafaurie designs two collections a year). “The collection is
conceived as a
whole—the clothes are made to go together,” says store manager
Thomas Farmer.
“We do have people who buy everything here except shoes and
underwear.”
Racks of European-made suits and jackets and
shelves of neatly
folded sweaters and shirts line the neutral-toned walls. Two
curtained dressing
rooms and a large mirror provide ample room for customers to
experience the
look and feel of the collection. “We wanted the store to be
like the clothes:
really elegant and casual, open, friendly, airy, and chic,”
says Farmer, a
former New York art dealer.
Farmer says the clothes are selling extremely
well in San
Francisco, because the style is a good fit for the city. “The
clothes are based
on classic lines—not overdesigned,” says Farmer, as he
arranges the sleeves on
a brown cardigan with a subtle row of white stitches running
up the zippered
front ($138). “It’s simple. Good fabric and beautiful cuts.”
Sean offers a casual, 100 percent cotton blazer
($295) in four
colors—gray, navy, khaki, and brown. Farmer suggests pairing
it with a collared
or buttoned-down shirt or T-shirt and jeans. “The weight is
perfect for here.
It’s a nice step up from North Face without being overly
dressed; a great
weekend jacket.”
Lafaurie also designs European-style wool suits
($620). In keeping
with European tradition, pants and jacket are sold in any mix
of sizes.
Final transactions at Sean take place with the
parties seated in
chairs around awhite
marble table. “We wanted it to be friendly to the
neighborhood—that’s why there
are chairs,” says Farmer, who rings up sales on an iPad.
“Shopping for clothes
should be fun. We don’t want it to be work.”
Sean is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m.
to 7 p.m.,
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6
p.m.
