Special Project: Senior Housing
As the city’s older population swells, seniors who can no longer live at home face high costs, limited choices
EDITOR'S NOTE: Full profiles of the seniors interviewed will be published each day after today's introductory story. Publishing dates are noted in the...
Life in the Later Lane
Stephanie Ernst-Scott runs the last tackle shop in San Francisco. It’s been in her family for 60 years.
Walk through the doors of Gus’ Discount Fishing Tackle, and you’ll likely be greeted before you even...
City College café owner customizes and caters to make students, staff and professors feel at home
Thanks to Alberto Campos, students at City College of San Francisco’s Mission Campus can get an affordable...
One bold step opened up education and a career charting demographics in low-income countries
Sara Seims, an 18-year-old British girl, walked into the admissions office at New York University and knocked...
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....
All Posts
Launched by a friendly job counselor he still remembers, lensmaker finds the perfect fit for a lifelong trade
When Jose Minor was 16, his Mexican-born parents sent him from his hometown of Richmond, California, to Mexico, where he had never been. It was 1969. They were worried he was getting into trouble at home,” he said. “So, they sent me and my younger brother to Grandpa to get straightened out.” Minor has four ...
Writer unearths family ancestry in novel exploring Pacific Northwest when fur traders and American settlers collaborated and clashed on Indian lands
You might say Alix Christie’s first historical novel was inspired by her interest in words. “Gutenberg’s Apprentice” charts the creation of the printing press in medieval Germany and the men behind it. She began her writing career as a journalist. She was a reporter and columnist for the Oakland Tribune and foreign service editor for ...
As kids, we want to be older; when we’re older, not so much. Contemplating our mission as we experience the stages of aging.
GUEST COLUMN My husband’s older cousin, Stuart, told an amusing story some years back. It went like this: As was his usual Saturday custom, he went into his local McDonald’s restaurant and ordered a coffee. The cashier took his order and rang him up. “That’ll be $1.09, sir.” Stuart was surprised. “No, I think you ...
Potrero Avenue ‘collective’ soup kitchen is the hostess with the mostest: Everything’s free, no government paperwork or religion attached
It’s lunchtime at Martin de Porres House of Hospitality, and the Potrero Avenue soup kitchen is abuzz with activity. A few dozen people are sitting down to a meal of macaroni salad, vegetable soup, and tea. Others are lined up for a shower. A volunteer is distributing socks and other clothes, and a few guests ...
Retired teacher who is legally blind memorizes the streets she travels to avoid “trippers”
It’s a walk of only about two-tenths of a mile from Meg Gorman’s apartment on Laguna Street to Geary Boulevard, which she crosses on her way to the Japan Center. But Gorman is legally blind and must contend with more than a dozen places where the sidewalk is broken or raised by tree roots. She ...
Sunset native’s determination to show district past fascinating not boring sparks late-in-life career as San Francisco historian
With the exception of Golden Gate Park, San Francisco’s Sunset District is well off the beaten tourist track. The sprawling neighborhood bordering the south side of Golden Gate Park has its attractions – Ocean Beach, Stern Grove, Depression-era murals – but its foggy weather, wide and sometimes treeless streets, and row upon row of lookalike, ...
