Whatever happened to… ?
It
was just about a year ago, in July 2000, that both the Call and the
Chronicle noted the passing of a neighborhood institution — the
Home Drug Company on Russian Hill. Pharmacist Eugene Malmquist had
called it quits and taken a job as a staff pharmacist at the Marina
Safeway, blaming pressure from insurance companies for keeping drug
prices below the profit level.
At the time, the former owner of the building, Don
Glasgow, observed, “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but
it won’t be another drugstore.”
Glasgow
was right. Today there isn’t a pharmacy in the vicinity. The empty
store at Union and Hyde carries a large “For Lease” sign in its
paper-covered windows. And former patrons are directed to the
Marina, where their records have gone, along with the man who used
to prepare their prescriptions.
B.C.
