Bell'occhio

On the first day of my recent trip to San Francisco with my sisters, we had a wonderful lunch at Zuni Cafe. Afterwards we decided to search for the elusive Bell'occhio specialty store. After driving around for a good 15 minutes, we finally found that it was across the street from Zuni Cafe, tucked onto a small side street called Brady. Needless to say, we could have walked.

But the adventure of searching for this store made the finding of it all the more special. And when we entered we were dazzled by the treasure trove we had discovered.

Bell'occhio is Italian for "beautiful eye." It is obvious that a someone with a "beautiful eye" selected these goods. Everywhere we looked we saw gorgeous ribbons, twine, boxes, jewelry, cake stands, sewing kits, even specialty scissors for cutting fringe. Bell'occhio describes itself as being a specialty shop offering antiques and curiosities as well as rarefied merchandise produced by historic ateliers.

The smallness of the store with its jewel-like beauty and attention to detail reminded me of specialty stores in Paris. And its old-fashioned ambiance made me think of the gift shop in "She Loves Me," the musical based on the movie, "The Shop Around the Corner" from 1940.