Window Film in North Beach, San Francisco

Privacy Window Film for North Beach Flats Above Storefronts

The typical North Beach building is two to four stories of flats over ground-floor commercial space, with bay windows that hang directly over the sidewalk. Those bays are wonderful for watching the street and not so wonderful when the street watches back. Diners at sidewalk tables, people waiting outside bars on Grant and Broadway, and buses on Columbus all have a clear line into a second-floor living room.

Frosted or gradient film on the lower panes of the bay keeps the sightline from the street closed while leaving the upper glass clear for light and sky. At night, when streetlights and neon outside meet lamps inside, frosted film still works, which is not true of mirrored film. For bedrooms that face the street, a decorative film with a fine pattern can stand in for curtains that never get opened. Street noise is the other complaint we hear, and we are honest about it: window film is too thin to do much for sound. It solves privacy, glare and UV, not late-night conversation on the sidewalk.

Storefront Window Film on Columbus Avenue and Grant Avenue

Columbus Avenue cuts across the grid on a diagonal, so its storefronts face roughly northeast or southwest. The southwest-facing side takes the afternoon sun at an angle that reaches deep into cafes and restaurants, warming the front tables and putting glare on the espresso machine and the menu boards. A light solar film reduces both and leaves the room as visible from outside as it is now.

Grant Avenue and the side streets hold smaller shops, galleries and delis in narrow storefronts. Clear UV film is the most useful product for them, since it keeps window displays and anything on shelves near the glass from fading. For businesses with older single-pane fronts and wood frames, we fit the film inside each pane and leave the original woodwork as it is.

UV Window Film for North Beach Bookstores and Galleries

North Beach has a long literary and arts history, and the shops that carry it on are full of things that fade: book spines, prints, posters and paintings. Paper and inks are especially sensitive to ultraviolet light. A clear UV film blocks nearly all of it and is nearly invisible on the glass, so a bookstore window can keep its display in the sun without the covers bleaching to pale blue over a season.

The same film works for restaurants with framed photos and memorabilia along the walls near the front windows. Old photographs and signed menus are just as sensitive to light as anything on a bookshelf, and many of them cannot be replaced. Film keeps them on the wall where people expect to see them.

• Clear UV film on bookstore and gallery windows
• Light solar film on southwest-facing cafe fronts
• Frosted film for restrooms and back offices
• Security film for doors on late-night blocks

Window Film for Homes on the Telegraph Hill Side of North Beach

Up the slope toward Coit Tower, the streets turn into stairways and the houses and apartments look east over the Embarcadero to the Bay Bridge, or north toward the water. East-facing glass there takes strong morning sun and bright reflection off the bay. A neutral glare film keeps the view and takes the sting out of the light at breakfast.

Around Washington Square, apartments facing the park and Saints Peter and Paul Church get open southern and western light with nothing to block it. Heat control film helps on the warm days, and UV film protects floors and furniture year-round. Units on the east side of the square face west and take the late sun most directly.