The Menuhin Tour of San Francisco Part 1
Not to keep going on my yoga journey, BUT I've been thinking about the different places yoga has taken me, how it has intertwined with music-making, and the many lessons I have learned, am learning and must eventually relearn. One of the most significant points on my journey was the dissertation I wrote about Violin and Yoga titled “Using Iyengar Yoga to Enhance Violin Playing.”
That whole research portion of writing an academic anything made me borderline obsessed with Yehudi Menuhin (and BKS Iyengar, but that is for a different day). At one point, I probably knew more about Menuhin than most other people. I have read (I think) every one of his books, autobiographies, and biographies. I have compared videos and recordings from different stages of his career. I've watched BBC specials featuring him, and about him. I know about his school, the festival in Switzerland, his siblings, who he married, what he did during World War II, his feelings about airplanes, his work with UNESCO, his recommended yoga poses, diet when touring for concerts, and where he lived and when.
Menuhin was born in New York City, but his family moved to San Francisco when he was very young. While reading Yehudi Menuhin, A Life by Humphrey Burton, I came across one of Menuhin's first addresses in San Francisco: 732 Hayes Street. I texted my friend in San Francisco and asked if she ever passed by this address or knew where it was, and it turns out it is right down the street from her. She snapped a picture the next day on her way to work. Last year, I was in the Bay Area for a visit and requested a walk past it to see for myself.
Turns out, I might be the only person who cares that a very important violinist who changed the world’s perception and appreciation of yoga and many other things in ways we still don’t fully appreciate because it is not particularly well-kept. It lacks any sort of commemorative markings and appears (because, yes, I definitely peered through the windows in the middle of the day like a stalker with no shame) to be just an ordinary rental building that any person could live in without even having to audition. This kind of blows my mind. Maybe I'm too much of a fangirl, but I was stunned that the world keeps turning without some Trust or Musical Society making more of a commotion about this. The apartments don't look fancy, but they probably cost an arm and a leg in rent. At least it has charm and history.
The Menuhin family lived at 732 Hayes Street from around 1918 or 1919 until Autumn of 1923 when the expanding family moved into a larger home at 1043 Steiner Street. Menuhin's biographer, Humphrey Burton, wrote that the Steiner St. house boasted, "a double living room, normally divided by sliding doors into dining and living rooms but capable when opened up of seating sixty guests at an informal concert – an astonishingly grandiose concept for a young couple of limited means with three very small children." (24)
Frustratingly, I can't believe that I didn't remember this address last year when I was in San Francisco. If I could make an excuse for myself, it would be that Hayes is a much more famous street than Steiner in San Francisco history. Fortunately, I will be back in Northern California in a few weeks, and you can bet your bottom dollar that I will walk over to Steiner Street and take a photo or 2 of the house…and probably stare through the windows of this place too. Maybe that one has a plaque?
Stay tuned…
References:
Humphrey Burton, Yehudi Menuhin, A Life. Northeastern University Press: Boston, 2000.