mayor gavin newsom

Filmmaker George Lucas and Tosca Cafe owner Jeannette Etheredge

Photos by Catherine Bigelow

Tosca Cafe, the most jaunty of the city’s gin joints, is also well-known as a destination for the celebrity set.

But last night in North Beach when Jeannette Etheredge celebrated the 90th anniversary of her beloved bar, the place was jammed with that most local of breed: San Franciscans.

Generations, in fact, gathered to raise a glass to this historic watering hole -- from cops, politicians, artists, ribald raconteurs to ballet dancers, theater folks, ink-stained wretches and the jet set.

Mayor Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, at the SF Ballet Gala January 2009

Photo by Catherine Bigelow

Actress-filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom and her husband, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, welcomed the arrival of their first child today.

Weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 20.5 inches, Montana Tessa Siebel Newsom was born at 12:39 p.m.

Their daughter is named after the state where the couple's July 2008 wedding was held on the grounds of the Siebel family's Bitteroot Valley ranch. Her middle name honors the Mayor's late mother, Tessa Newsom, who died of breast cancer in 2002.

Arts Medallion recipients Dede Wilsey and Willie Brown at the Spring 09 SF Museum of Performance and Design awards lunch

Photo by Catherine Bigelow

UPDATE: Another resignation has been tendered to the beleaguered SF Arts Commission by René Bihan, a Managing Principal Architect with SWA Group, a local design firm in San Francisco.

Bihan has served as a volunteer Arts Commissioner since April 2008. His resignation is based upon various business-related reasons and was not spurred on by the below-discussed Daly Debacle.

Mayor Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom

Photo by Catherine Bigelow

So I just got off the phone with Mayor Gavin Newsom! But really, no biggie.

Considering the catbird seat I am often afforded at numerous galas, openings and super soirees, it just goes with the territory that civic leaders and politicians would send an email the previous evening telling me to ring them at 9 a.m. (PST) to check in with the G-Man.

Policy? Party planning? It’s all rather similar territory.

The tricolor Republic of Ireland flag at City Hall

Photos by Catherine Bigelow

There was much wearin’ of the green last Friday at City Hall when Mayor Gavin Newsom and his Office of Protocol declared Irish Heritage Week in San Francisco with the raising of the Republic of Ireland’s tricolor flag.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom and her husband, Mayor Gavin Newsom at the Hotel Kabuki

Photos by Catherine Bigelow

No official declarations were made last night at the Hotel Kabuki, site of the (presumed gubernatorial) “I Knew Him When ...” fundraiser for Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Peter Stern and his wife, Lori Puccinelli Stern with their hosts, Maryanne and Marcello Iacomini, in Pebble Beach

Photos by Catherine Bigelow

Anyone who knows or works with PR pro Lori Puccinelli Stern is more than familiar with her trademark and enthusiastic phrase employed in any situation, terrific or tragic: “It’s all good!”

And so it was -- even beneath stormy skies which forced cancellation of the final round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Tourney -- when The Pooch corralled friends, far and wide, to celebrate her 40th birthday last weekend in Carmel.

Wendy Paskin Jordan (left) with her husband, former Mayor Frank Jordan and holiday hostess Dede Wilsey

Photo by Catherine Bigelow

The alpha and the omega of the Swell set’s holiday hootenanny typically kicks-off in early December at the shindig hosted by dynamo Dede Wilsey and concludes with the birthday blowout of philanthropist-composer Gordon Getty.