Life in the Later Lane
K.D. Sullivan: From Park Bench to Publishing House
At 15, K.D. Sullivan was homeless, hungry, and sleeping on park benches in Honolulu’s Aina Haina neighborhood....
Retired conference consultant embraces San Francisco and its history with tour of her own neighborhood
As she strolls toward the smallest park in San Francisco, Bonnie Wallsh calls back to the group...
Farm life couldn’t compete with the excitement of big cities and the challenge of the executive life
In college, Bob Britt worked as a night auditor at a roadside Holiday Inn in Southern Illinois....
Successful sous chef finds equilibrium and support after career sidetracked by health and hard times
Jon Insco has been a go-getter most of his life — always hustling for his next adventure....
Being an ‘old soul’ isn’t just about age but an attitude – best nurtured by intergenerational contact
SF SENIORBEAT GUEST COLUMN – There’s a corner of Gen Z internet culture that has popularized the...
How a dedicated teacher of young children became a dedicated civic volunteer.
Sharon Yow’s father drove a truck and tried his hand at farming. Her mother worked a switchboard...
Famed boogie-woogie pianist embroiders her performances with her own hand-crafted art
Caroline Dahl has never forgotten the glamorous, red-haired woman in a sequined dress she saw at a...
The biggest, best walk – and bath of a lifetime.
Tina Martin SENIORBEAT GUEST COLUMN – I love San Francisco, and I love to walk. So when...
‘So hard, all the losses and pain:’ Personal and world tragedies led daughter of Holocaust survivors to life of helping others help others
Juliet Rothman was living in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1992 when her 21-year-old son Daniel attempted a double...
Rock ‘n’ roll and diamonds shaped the life of Arthur Indenbaum
WRITER'S NOTE: Arthur Indenbaum died on November 28, 2025, with his wife and daughter by his side....
A lucky phone call steered him into a 54-year career as a shipping executive.
Tony Hanley felt stuck. He’d flunked out of San Francisco City College and was working at an...
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Intent at eight years old on making art everyone can see, Mexican artist forges path to widespread public acclaim
When he was eight years old, Victor Mario-Zaballa told his family he was going to be a public artist when he grew up. “I wanted to make art that everyone can see and enjoy.” Today, his tile and cut-metal works adorn the entrance to the 16th St. Mission BART station, the gates for the Visitacion ...
San Francisco podcaster and sister-city advocate earned his news chops freelancing for BBC in South America
Jim Herlihy spent years managing investments for major banks in South America. While stationed in hotspots like Chile and Ecuador, he used his insider knowledge to write about the region as a freelance reporter for the BBC and other news services. Years later and pushed into retirement, the 75-year-old New York native leveraged his time ...
Concert pianist gets a surprise from the past: One of her own compositions, performed in 1980, pulled from university archives for publication
It was 1980 and Katrina Krimsky prepared to perform at the Piano Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York. An accomplished, but at the time not widely known pianist, she launched into one of her own compositions, a 42-minute piece called “Soundscape.” Years later, critics praised the difficult, somewhat esoteric compositions she performed that day, ...
Apiarist, Aquatic Park swimmer, and volunteer first-responder is as busy as the bees in her backyard
Beekeeper Gigi Trabant remembers vividly that spring day 11 years ago in the backyard of her Outer Richmond home when she began her new hobby: She got stung 35 times. She had just been delivered her starter package: a bee family, or colony, in a small box: about 10,000 bees with the queen in a ...
SENIORS TALK: To drive or not to drive, that is the question.
Driving has always been part of the California dream. But as we age, driving becomes difficult or unaffordable for some of us. SeniorBeat went to the Castro Senior Center and asked seniors if they still drive their own cars, how they cope if they don’t, and do they think it would be fair to require ...
Gigs at worldwide festivals support entertainer’s humanitarian work: ‘Clowns without Borders’ and the ‘Medical Clown Project’
Nurses smile and wave as a slim man in an oversized coat strides briskly past them. His wiry hair sticks out, Bozo-like from under his floppy hat, a ukulele is slung over his shoulder and he’s brandishing a gigantic paper sunflower. His nose is bright red and shiny over his KN95 mask. Popping into an ...
