Tom Wolfe on the streets of San Francisco

A 1985 Chronicle profile of Tom Wolfe, who died May 14, was written by Blake Green, between the time when “The Bonfire of the Vanities” had been published as a serial in Rolling Stone and its publication as a book. According to the piece, that pattern — write for a magazine, then rewrite, then publish as a book — is how Wolfe worked on “The Right Stuff,” too.

When preparing that book, he told Green, he forced himself to stay home and work by wearing a black turtleneck and khakis, in which “I’d never appear in public.” Outside, Wolfe always dressed in formal clothes, the most familiar costume being a cream-colored suit. “The thought of leaving the house without a necktie,” he once said, “is personally and morally abhorrent to me.”

Wolfe got a lot of Chronicle ink. I’d written a profile of him in 1981, just after the publication of “From Bauhaus to Our House,” a book about architecture. We had lunch somewhere on Nob Hill, and together looked down California Street from the corner of Powell, at the buildings that seemed at the time (ha!) to be dominating the downtown skyline.

It didn’t make sense, he said, that “So many people of wealth and power have paid for and put up with so much architecture they (detest) as within our blessed borders.” He said the Hartford Building (at 650 California St.) “looks like a lot of television screens.” Embarcadero Center is just “another one of those boxes with struts.” The Bank of America building, he said, “is in the wrong place.”

What he did like: “The Transamerica pyramid, because of the furor it kicked up. The whole thing looks like a gigantic spire. The contempt that was heaped upon it was unbelievable because it was doing something a little new. It’s a playful building, people kind of love it now.”

As to any connection between his passion for architecture and his passion for meticulous dress, both can be seen as examples of “intellectual fashion. People who engage in intellectual pursuits don’t believe there is such a thing.” But “If you live in a city, you are surrounded by, working in, the results of the fashion . ... Nothing has escaped fashion . ... The intellectual world is no different from the garment industry and the furniture industry. Shifts in taste have no natural connection with consumers.”

As to his own preferences, “I don’t require that anyone have my taste,” he said. *** ⏩ Fruit ’n’ fish? Deep in the neighborhood blog Bernalwood, I learned that on

Sunday mornings, Jeff Krupman, owner of PizzaHacker on Mission Street, uses the ovens from that establishment for bagels, and the space becomes Bagel Macher. Attached to the story about the glory of his (limited edition) homemade bagels is a menu that includes the Big Macher (a “Big Macher” is equivalent to a big cheese) sandwich. This offering includes lox, cucumber, red onion, capers, cream cheese and preserves, the last ingredient being so unusual that Krupman has added the note “Jelly and Lox. Just trust me.” As Tom Wolfe said, “I don’t require that anyone have my taste.”

⏩ As to last week’s Tesla autopilot mishapcaused accident, Norm Goldblatt says the driver will be charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of unrealistic expectations.

⏩ Donna Von Joo-Tornell adds to a series of bathroom warnings, this one from a woman’s bathroom near Hanoi, Vietnam. “Do not flush: Nappies, sanitary towels, paper towels, gum, old phones, unpaid bills, junk mail, your ex’s sweater, hopes, dreams of goldfish down this toilet.” The only question here: Was it supposed to be “dreams or goldfish,” or do people really dream of them?

there will Wiegand’s There be will speeches will be June songs, be memories, at 4 memorial, David there alas, but there this will is to be certify, neither barking nor woofing nor arfing. A sentimentally motivated plan to allow dogs, including the late writer/editor’s beloved Angus, at the event has been

thwarted “It’s a lovely by the idea law. and we love dogs,” said Kent Jamieson, general manager of the Great American Music Hall. “Service animals are OK, but ‘Hey, everybody, bring your dogs’ doesn’t work. We serve food here.”

PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING

“I seriously feel discriminated against. Why does everything have egg in it?”

Woman to husband, overheard at Rocco’s Cafe by Mark Mohrmann