Sometimes you are confronted with your own blaring ignorance and are even forgiven. That’s what happened when I had lunch at Bistro 9 just one year ago. The Mediterranean inspired menu intrigued me; a lamb, chicken or salmon skewer, a side of tabouli, hummus or even macaroni and cheese.

My waiter, Antonio asked if I had any questions about the menu and here’s what I asked.

“Is the macaroni and cheese as good as at your family reunions?”

His warm brown eyes looked at me with patience and a kindness usually reserved for children.

“I’m from the Cape Verde Islands. We didn’t have macaroni and cheese.”

And I wanted to die or at least disappear and I can’t remember if I followed my ignorance with a lame attempt at a back peddle, but I stayed and began to learn who this lovely man was, where he came from and his rich textured culture.

On a subsequent visit, I tell Antonio, I just bought an IPod and have a Cesaria Evora song on my playlist.

“Embarcacao. I don’t know exactly what she sings about, but I think it’s about love and time and she makes me sway.”

Antonio tells me a little about the music of the Cape Verde Islands.

“Cape Verde music is a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese and all of West Africa, Morocco down to Angola.”

Antonio loves to sing and he offers to make me a CD of various Cape Verde musicians.

Antonio Teixeira, (Ta-shay-da) is the ninth of twelve children. As the oldest of eight, this piques my curiosity. We agree that sharing comes with the territory and having your own book, toy, room or shirt was not a possibility and yet we know those experiences shaped who we became and the way we view the world.

At twelve, Antonio’s world changed dramatically. His parents divorced and his mother, Maria and brothers and sisters immigrated one by one to Brockton, Massachusetts, thirty miles south of Boston, where there is a large Cape Verdean community. Maria, a former flight attendant who had travelled from Cape Verde to Africa and Europe, now travelled to a factory and labored as a machine operator to support her family.

I’m curious about the culture shock inherent with leaving the tropical island off the West Coast of Africa with its mixture of African and Portuguese roots and arriving in the United States.

“I had to adjust to four seasons, rather than two and I had to learn English.”

Antonio speaks mellifluous English, Cape Verdean Creole which is used colloquially, Portuguese, the official language and Spanish, which he learned from his grandmother.

That first summer in the United States, Antonio fell off his first bicycle, broke his wrist and had a big black eye.

“I couldn’t wait to get back on my bike. I just got it, it was one week old. It was my sister’s graduation from high school and I was in the hospital for three days.”

Today he travels the city on his bicycle without broken wrists or black eyes, sometimes just a flat tire which he repairs with tools he keeps in his backpack.

His mother remains in Brockton and is raising her eight year old grandson. Her seven daughters and four sons are all on the East Coast. Her son Ildo lives in Senegal and Antonio lives here in San Francisco.

Like most Cape Verdeans, Antonio was raised Catholic and on this day he is pensive and says,

“I try to find God in my own little way.”

He often attends Glide Memorial Church.

"They welcome everyone.”

We recognize the aspects we still hold in our hearts of Catholicism: prayer, faith, ritual.

He is gentle when he says,

“You have to believe in something.”

At twenty-one, Antonio knew the climate of San Francisco would suit his warm blood. His first job waiting tables was at Sparky’s Diner where customers provided spontaneous live theatre while he worked late into the night and early morning.

Antonio explores his artistic nature by sculpting in his backyard.

“I mostly do abstracts of human heads. I work in alabaster stone. I’m pretty good at seeing faces in every rock and chisel it out.”

He is also an avid gardener.

“It’s one of my favorite things to do. I have a fig tree, avocado tree, an orange and lemon tree, squash and herbs.”

He also loves to cook particularly seafood prepared with Cape Verdean flavors.

“I was one of the only kid’s my mother let into the kitchen to cook with her.”

Here’s one of Antonio’s favorite recipes.

Baked Portuguese Fish

2 lbs fresh tuna

2 large onions, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

¼ cup of butter

½ cup of tomato juice

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 cloves crushed garlic

1 bay leaf

Sauté onions, celery and tomatoes until tender.

Add all juices, garlic and bay leaf. Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat.

Place fillets in greased baking dish.

Pour the sauce over the fish.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 2 minutes, until fish is done.

And in his native tongue I give thanks to Antonio.

Muito Obrigada.

NEXT WEEK: I’LL INTRODUCE YOU TO MY OPTOMETRIST/ DR. KURTBAY

In 1959 Seamus Gavney left Monaghan, Ireland, trained as an auto mechanic, immigrated to New York where he married Marie. She was originally from Cavan, Ireland. They began their family, which in time would produce six sons.

In 1967, when Gary, the fourth of the six boys was two and a half, the Gavney family moved to 40^th Avenue in San Francisco and Seamus started Emerald Auto, named after the greenery of his homeland.

Seamus trained four of his six sons the auto mechanic trade and today, two of his sons; Gary and Jim carry Emerald Auto forward.

I wonder about the joys of this business.

“My Dad started it and we’re still doing it. He’s proud. My Dad gets a kick out of it!”

The challenges?

“Parking. We are usually working on double the amount of cars that we have space for.”

This is why Gary, Jim, or one of their employees finish the repair, then wander the neighborhood for a parking spot until the owner's can pick up their car. I’ve discovered streets I didn’t know were here when I picked up my car one afternoon, Lurline Street, for example.

I thought I might take Gary for coffee or lunch close to the garage but the garage is so busy this foggy Friday morning in August, Gary opts to conduct the interview in a Toyota Forerunner that’s next up for repair. To the side of this SUV, is a canary yellow 1949 Chevrolet pick-up truck awaiting a routine maintenance check.One N Judah heads to the beach, while another N Judah stops on the corner and heads downtown.

Gary was one of six brothers; I was one one of six sisters, so I’m curious about our differences and similarities. A house full of boys is a lot different than a house full of girls, just in towels and socks. We share a religion, Gary and his brothers attended Holy Name, and Gary and his brothers Gerard, Jim and Kevin were Altar Boys.

I had Sister Charlene and her metal ruler, slammed against my knuckles, Gary fondly remembers his favorite nun.

“Sister Mary Ellen, she was so nice.”

We were both brought up with a diet of meat and potatoes. I wonder if the potatoes were served nightly every which way.

“No mostly mashed.”

Ditto.

Marie and Seamus have a lot to be proud of. Their two sons keep Emerald Auto the neighborhood repair shop Seamus designed; friendly, honest and competent.

Their four other sons display their gifts and talents: Gerard/ Chef, Kevin/ Beer distributor, Mike/ Carpenter and Pete/ Plumber.

I ask Gary his proudest accomplishment.

“My family. My wife Kathleen, my five year old son Shane and two and a half year old daughter Brook.”

I am so happy that finally there is a girl in the Gavney clan.

Let me leave you with this Irish saying.

“May the luck of the Irish

Lead to happiest heights

And the highway you travel

Be lined with green lights.”

NEXT WEEK: LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO ANTONIO, WAITER, BISTRO 9.

Ann Bergin fell in love with San Francisco as a visiting sixteen year old. She came to California to see her older brother, who was in the Naval Air Force, stationed in Alameda. She remembers eating a donut at Donut World at 9^th and Judah and hoped San Francisco would one day be her home.

After the visit, she returned to her hometown Steger, Illinois, a small town south of Chicago. She finished high school and junior college and completed dental hygienist certification.

In 1978, Ann moved to San Francisco and began her career as a dental hygienist. After a decade here, she married a dental student and had her daughter Erica, who is now seventeen years old.

Today, Ann is married to Alejandro and travels to his native Bolivia where she purchases alpaca shawls, sweaters, hats and leather handbags and she sells the handcrafted merchandise in her shop, La Paz Imports.

For the past three years Ann would walk from the Inner Richmond to the Inner Sunset and frequent Sunny & Co. a small store owned by David Man. He sold tea cups, jewelry greeting cards and a variety of Asian inspired bric a brac. She would occasionally buy something, but she loved the space and thought it would be perfect for her. She had a checklist- a small piece of real estate, walking distance from her home and she wanted to be in a cold part of the city.

One Saturday morning she walked thru Golden Gate Park rented a video at Le Video and wandered over to Arizmendi Bakery for coffee. The N Judah screeched to a halt, headed downtown and then she saw the small, “For Rent” sign on the Sunny & Co. window.

“Negotiations went quickly and smoothly.”

On June 1, 2008, Ann Bergin took ownership of the petite storefront and she’s now the new girl on the block selling her merchandise at La Paz Imports.

The city of La Paz was founded by Spanish settlers as Nuestra Senora de La Paz, (The City of Our Lady of Peace). The Spanish came for the Bolivian gold and took the gold mines away from the Aymara people and forced them into slavery.

There were many years that La Paz did not look like a city of peace.

Today La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, and is known for its topography, unique markets and commitment to traditional culture. The Spanish Colonial architecture still stands and the Bolivians can kick at soccer.

Ann maintains relationships with the women who hand craft the hats, sweaters, and shawls for La Paz. She has visited these women who manufacture and design the goods out of their own homes.

“This store is my dream. I fell in love with the merchandise.”

At one point, Ann thought she might have to settle on selling the Bolivian Imports at flea markets and holiday fairs, but her La Paz dream came true.

I tell her that David Man’s daughter, Karena contacted me after her father closed Sunny & Co. and she thought I might like to interview Ann. I was impressed with the generosity of her spirit and that she wanted Ann’s business to flourish as her fathers had. It was time for him to retire, and time for a new business owner to begin their journey.

I believe Ann will bring a sense of a Lady of Peace and warmth to the neighborhood. Welcome.

NEXT WEEK LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO GARY, OWNER EMERALD AUTO

Micky Powell has a love for dance, children and a profound respect for her deceased mother,Ruth Berdje Jevarian.

Although barely five feet tall,Ruth was a professional dancer before she married Micky’s father, Sam. Sam followed the Armenian dance troupe from venue to venue, city to city, state to state. Sam pursued Ruth as did many other suitors. Ruth was adamant that she did not want short children. Micky’s father was 6 feet tall. Micky is 5’9 and even as a young girl was quite tall for her age and ethnicity.

“Armenians are typically short. I sat down at a lot of our cultural functions. Whenever I stood up, people would start whispering because I was even taller than the men.”

She reflects,

“Sometimes adults just don’t realize how much their words can hurt children.”

I wonder why she followed in her mother’s dancing shoes.

“I was born to dance. My mother told me I was dancing in the womb, and came out pirouetting.”

Micky’s grandmother was originally from Turkey and her husband was dying. He urged his wife and three daughters to flee the country as the violence and massacre between the Turks and Armenians became their backdrop. They fled to France.

After time, they left Marseille and headed to America, for a chance at the American Dream. They arrived at Ellis Island and mother and three daughters settled in New York City.Ruth was twelve years of age and lied about that, in order to get a job. She then began ballet lessons for $5.00 a class, extraordinarily expensive for the time.

She excelled at dance. As she got older;Ruth started an Armenian dance group and began touring. Armenian dance has been an integral part of the Armenian culture since B.C. The origin began when priestesses would tend to the sick by performing circle dances as well as administering medicinal potions. Over the centuries, the form developed into ethnic folk dances, and today, Armenian dance is very much alive. The music and the movements exude a proud and vital passion.

There were a lot of Armenians in both Fresno and San Francisco and Ruth gravitated to San Francisco, while Sam, also Armenian pursued her. They married and made San Francisco their home.

Micky remembers her mother fondly,

“My mother was a special lady. She had a lot of soul, a lot of love and warmth. She treated people beautifully, it came out, and people understood that.”

Initially, Micky’s father, Sam Jevarian was a truck driver, but in time would open a Mom and Pop grocery store on Page Street in the Haight. There was an Armenian Hall above the store.

“That’s where Armenians would gather. There were dances, dinners, it was a lot of fun, but that’s where I realized how tall I was. I was skinny and looked even taller than I was.”

Customers would come into their grocery store, conversation would ensue, and one mother asked Ruth if she could teach her daughter to dance.

She didn’t have a dance school, but the Armenian Hall was just upstairs and available. She rented the hall and one mother told another mother and so on and so on.

At this point, Micky’s parent's bought their home on 10^th Avenue and Sam designed the lower level for Ruth's dance school and for forty years, this was the home of Star Dance Studio.

When Micky was sixteen, she taught her first class for her mother at Star Dance Studio and she has been teaching ever since.

In 1996, the same year Ruth Berdje Jevarian passed away, Star Dance Studio re-located to its present address at 300 Moraga Street.

And now, below this studio space, five and six year old girls scurry into the studio clad in their pale pink tutus, slippers secured. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star can be heard in the background as the young ballerinas approach the bar and begin their ballet class.

Though she's adept at Jazz, and Ballet,Micky's forte is tap dancing and believes for a non-dancer or a dance challenged person it is the easiest form to learn.

“All you have to think about are your feet.”

Which I consider to be huge.

She smiles and says,

“All forms of dance are beautiful.”

She wants to know if I can dance. I tell her no. She wonders if I have rhythm. Negative.I tell her I can't clap, but aspire to. I explain my attempt at Salsa. The instructors really wanted me to get the count. I no longer wanted to disappoint them and quit.

Micky knows discipline is an integral part of any art form and she wants to instill this in her young dancers, but also that dancing is fun.

“The delightful thing about having a children’s business, it that it’s primarily word of mouth. People with dogs and children, they talk to one another.”

Dancers Micky taught as children twenty or thirty years ago, have now returned to enroll their children in Star Dance Studio.

“Children bring the greatest joy.”

She explains the beauty of the discipline.

“There is team work. They learn to take turns and that they can’t always come first.”

Her favorite dancers?

Cyd Charisse, Fred Astaire,

Fred Astaire said, “That Cyd! When you danced with her you stayed danced.”

Micky also loved Gene Kelly, and Ballet dancers Rudolph Nureyev and Maria Tallchief.

“Maria was Native American. She was a beautiful ballerina, and I always related to her because of her last name.”

Micky loves this neighborhood.

“I was raised in this neighborhood since I was eight years old, I like the atmosphere.”

She and her husband raised their two children here and now as a grandmother, she welcomes young dancers into her studio and her heart.

“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star..."

NEXT WEEK: LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO ANN, OWNER LA PAZ IMPORTS.

This August will mark forty years that Progress Hardware has been our local Hardware store at 9^th and Irving Street. Prior to 2002, Joseph Blair managed the store for the previous owner and at that time he had the opportunity to buy the business. With a background as a Sales Rep for a wholesale plumbing company, he can answer any question about valves, snakes, PVC pipes or no hub couplers. A self proclaimed, Jack of all Trades, he enjoys the customers and the diversity this neighborhood provides. His customers range from Chinese, Russian, Spanish, German, Korean, French, Japanese, Turkish, Indian, and Filipino. He only wishes that language was not the barrier it sometimes is, but creativity and pantomime can fill the gaps. He speaks fondly of his customers.

“These are people that believe in fixing things, rather than replacing things. Our business is customer based, and I’m here to help in any way possible.”

Joe has nine employees, two that work full time. His employees with the most longevity: Adam and Jeff, with 10 and 8 years of experience. For his part-time employees he arranges their hours around their school schedules. He’s hired people with absolutely no hardware experience.

I wonder how this is possible. The thought would scare me, but I’ve never owned a wrench or a hammer. I usually borrow from a neighbor, and keep it so long, I believe it’s mine.

“You’d be surprised. By the time these kids leave and move on to their career, they have a little bit of hardware knowledge.”

He exudes a sense of calmness and patience.

“I tell my employees to look at this employment as almost a classroom. Learn from your experience here and take it with you.”

He said there can be questions from left field, he can’t remember an exact one, but the thought brings a chuckle.

Joe will joke with customers if he drops something down the aisle.

“That’s why I never made it to the majors.”

Having played baseball as a child in Palo Alto, becoming a baseball player was one of his childhood dreams. Today his proudest accomplishment,

“Being a business owner.”

I ask a little about his family. His father and mother came to the Bay area from Oklahoma, and his father was a sheet metalist at Hunters Point Ship Yard. Joe and his younger brother learned a few skills from their Dad. Both brothers can diagnose a problem, build and repair. Joe’s younger brother is a carpenter. He talks a little about his wife, his daughter Madelyn Grace and his son Randy, an actor living in New York. Randy completed his training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and auditions often.

What does he like about this neighborhood?

“Everything is in walking distance. Sometimes I don’t get off the block.”

I know the feeling.

“The Park, the restaurants, and I look forward to the re-opening of the Academy of Science. It brings tourism to the area.”

We both lament the closing of Black Oak Books.

And now that I record these interviews, I carry batteries in my purse. I want to know about batteries. Are they all the same?

“There are lithium batteries. Its how they’re made. They’ll hold a charge three times longer than an alkaline battery.”

Progress Hardware recycles batteries as well as fluorescent tubing and any San Francisco resident is welcome to drop their used batteries and fluorescent tubes for recycling.

Progress Hardware is open 361 days a year and whether you need a toggle dimmer switch, a conduit, a can of paint or some knowledge, Joe, Adam, Jeff and any other employee, are happy to help.

NEXT WEEK: MEET MICKY POWELL, DIRECTOR, STAR DANCE STUDIIO