October 2008

Construction Company President Mixes Business with Commitment to Community

By Herman Wong

Keith Goldstein’s first trip to Nepal in 1986 tested his senses:  pedestrians walked side by side with cows on streets crammed with fruit stands and temples.  Chants and the pungent smell of curry pierced the air.  Then something grabbed his attention.  “I looked up and I could see the Himalayas in the distance,” he said.  The sight would leave a lasting impression.  When Goldstein started his construction company on Potrero Hill’s Missouri Street in 1999 he named it Everest Waterproofing and Restoration.  The company has more than doubled in size since then, growing from 30 employees to 70, with an expected $10 million in revenues this year, up from $8.5 million in 2007.  

A native of London, England, Goldstein followed an American girlfriend to Philadelphia in 1974.  He cruised across the country in a convertible blue and white Volkswagen camper, landing in San Francisco in 1975.  “The day I drove across the bridge I fell in love with the place,” said Goldstein, 58, who is tall with a Buddha’s round belly and speaks in a deep baritone.

Goldstein’s first job in the City was painting houses for $2 an hour; he’s been in the painting business ever since.  With a couple of partners he founded Gitane Painting, which successfully completed a number of high profile projects, including at City Hall.  Everest specializes in waterproofing building exteriors, including cleaning walls, sealing cracks, and painting.  The company has completed a number of significant projects, such as at the historic 355 Buena Vista East condominium, formerly St. Joseph’s Hospital, which appears in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.  

Goldstein was originally drawn to Nepal in college, when he was attracted by the mysticism of Buddhism and the promise of hashish.  But his interest in Asia and its people has taken a more profound turn.  Since his first trip, Goldstein has visited the country nine more times, and co-founded the nonprofit Social Educational Environmental Development Services to help impoverished Nepalese villages build clinics and schools.  Everest makes a point to hire and train Tibetan and Nepalese workers.  Though some of the English-speaking foremen find it frustrating communicating with Tibetan employees, they have to put up with it, Goldstein said.  “It’s well-known in my company that I’m favorable toward my Tibetan staff.”  

Goldstein’s loyalties are also with Potrero Hill, where he’s lived since he came to San Francisco, moving from Vermont to Rhode Island Street before settling with his wife Donna into their three bedroom home on Kansas Street.  “It was very sleepy.  No one knew how to find it all,” Goldstein said, recalling that there was only one restaurant on the Hill in the mid-1970s, Asimakopoulos Cafe.”  Now he sees young families with strollers among the old Italian and Russian families that have lived in the neighborhood for generations.  

Three year’s ago he became involved with the Potrero Hill Association of Merchants and Businesses, and is now its president.  Joining the group and interacting with fellow Potrero business owners has made Goldstein feel more a part of the community.  “I particularly like the fact that I know who my neighbors are,” he said.  “I walk around the Hill and wherever I go I see people that I know.”

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