Elaine and Carlos Lucha, married for 27 years, share a passion for tango – and shopping vintage, consignment and thrift shops, one of their favorite past-times. “We can get just as good or better at slashed prices,” she said. Carlos is also an artist, who likes to paint his shoes, ties, you name it in bright colors.

The Pacific Heights residents met at a salsa club in 1992 but devote most of their two to five dance nights a week to Argentine Tango. Both retired in 2008, Carlos from the U.S. Postal Service and Elaine from executive assistant positions in the legal and corporate worlds. She is from Maine – “with a French background” and moved to San Francisco in 1975. He is from El Salvador but has lived here most of his life.

Elaine calls their going-out style “high end,” whether just going out or to dance at the Verdi Club on Thursdays, Genesis on Fridays and Sundays and either the Russian Center of San Francisco or Allegro in the East Bay on Saturdays.