Professional Services in Piedmont

Spin your sauciest spaghetti with haste and utter disregard for the cleanliness of your clothes. Today’s Groupon gets you $40 worth of dry-cleaning services at The Wash Club on Frederick Street for $20. Wash Club’s fashion hygienists will free you from the crippling fear of spills and stains that have kept you on the sidelines of life’s messiest treats.The Wash Room (13 episodes): Set in a Baltimore laundromat that was more community center than cleaning business, this sitcom starred Jackie Hartley as wise-cracking laundress Ruth Givens. From her perch behind the laundry counter, Ruth would dispense advice and crack wise with local do-nothings like Marvin and Sleepy Pete, and memorable guest stars like Joe Namath.

Jere Visalli of Visalli Photographics wields his 20 years of fine-art photography experience to expertly ensnare relaxed smiles. His wedding photography blends photojournalistic candids with thoughtfully composed portraits, deftly capturing multiple facets of the event. During family sessions in his expertly lit studio, Jere immortalizes resemblances across multiple generations and breeds of cat. Blending photojournalist sensibilities with stylized portraiture, Jere captures intimate moments during weddings or jubilant shows of affection with engagement photos. He also journeys outdoors for naturally lit snap sessions, and can provide subtle retouching and editing to ensure all models look their finest.

Behind a scarlet door buzzes Dickerman Prints' cadre of technicians, busily cropping, printing, and touching up memories frozen in glossy photographic amber. A Polielettronica LaserLab printer embosses Fujicolor crystal archive paper with chromogenic prints of images fed from the lab's Mac workstations or FTP upload site. A selection of archival papers hums happily through the shop's Epson inkjet printer, yielding images that are up to 64 inches wide and capable of withstanding the passage of time and the grubby hands of time travelers. Existing photos and negatives become indelible when scanned and digitized, and the lab's crew also retouches and mounts photos. The techs process film in a darkroom to keep jealous computers from editing themselves into family photos.

Backdropped by Union Street's romantic sights, from Gough to Steiner, and Fillmore Street's illustrious shops, from Union to Lombard, the third annual Union Street Has a Crush on You Valentine Wine Walk fills glasses with vine-ripened flavors from around the state and across the world. Although this event is free to the public, pass holders enjoy free access to wine tastings, saving them the trouble of fumbling with billfolds and retina scanners. Participating wineries include Cresten’s Eden Canyon Vineyards, Rosa d’Oro Vineyards, and Terra Sávia, a champion of organic wine. Myriad merchants complement the wine sipping with opportunities for singles or couples to browse such bountiful commodities as organic food and lingerie. Although parking is available downtown, attendants are encouraged to consider public-transportation options so they can leave their cars, trucks, and saddled walruses at home.

In 1959, when KQED’s then general manager Jim Day vowed “to educate, inform, and entertain” the people of the Bay Area, he knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Just a few years earlier, the station had been relying on donated egg cartons to soundproof the studio, and they nearly ran out of money altogether. This spurred them to come up with the idea to create tiered memberships. Then, they could use the memberships as a way to encourage its audience to sustain the station without having to bring in advertisers or a money tree.

Today, more than five million people hear, watch, and stream KQED's radio, television, web, and educational content, which includes world-renowned NPR and PBS programs right alongside locally produced shows such as The California Report, This Week in Northern California, and Essential Pépin. And while the programming has expanded and diversified, more than half of the station’s annual budget still depends on contributions from listeners, viewers, and radio-transistor repairmen.

My Buddy Cleaners proves that environmental responsibility does not have to come at the cost of stylish clothing by using only environmentally friendly cleaning methods to keep clothes looking their best. The store handles all its clothes-cleaning services with either Green Earth dry-cleaning technology or the Faultless by Nature laundering system. The shop also offers by-the-pound wash-and-fold service, alterations, and tailoring, ensuring every garment flatters patrons’ figures and style without formulating a wardrobe of shrink-wrap clothes. Clients can drop off their apparel or take advantage of free biweekly or on-call pickup and delivery services that are quicker than a greased roadrunner.