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
Nonprofit worker/consultant championed community improvements through collaboration with schools and juvenile services
Some people like to fix cars, children’s toy, or broken furniture. Bruce Marcus likes to fix nonprofit organizations. Over a 38-year career in nonprofit work, management and consulting, he initiated innovative programs in juvenile justice and drug and alcohol education, championing partnerships between nonprofits and public schools. Hoping to share his vision of nonprofit managers ...
Like a Santa Claus for dogs of the homeless, he travels miles, his cart loaded with food, blankets, medications and toys
It’s a chilly January morning, and Paul Crowell is pulling a heavy steel wagon up a street in the Bayview. It’s loaded with hundreds of pounds of pet food, animal medications, blankets and pet toys. He turns south on Selby Street, a desolate stretch of road under the elevated 280 freeway. He’s there to drop ...
Emigre sheds shame of early surgery scars through founding of Chinatown performing arts center, writing scripts and poetry
Clara Hsu is sitting at a studio upright piano in her office at the Clarion Performing Arts Center in Chinatown. There’s a box of crayons and a stack of children’s books on the piano bench. She’s wearing a black and white print dress over long black sleeves, a contrast to her reddish, bob-cut hair She ...
Colorful crates carry arts and communications retiree’s tools to better the brains of children
If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. Albert Einstein Suzanne Korey loves giving away books to kids. By her latest count, she’s handed off 22,650 over the last two years. She loads her silver, 6-foot-long van with ...
Longtime Laguna Honda Hospital residents hang on under cloud of relocation from their longtime home and safe haven
When forty-five-year-old Felipe Martinez suffered a massive stroke that left him unable to stand, walk, swallow or handle any of the activities of daily living, the one thing he was certain of was that Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center wasn’t for him. “That’s for the elderly, that’s not me,” he thought at the time. ...
My fashion wants are clashing against the lure of fast clothing and my need to be a good environmental steward
A SENIOR BEAT COLUMN Several recent online purchases of clothing that turned out to be flubs got me to soul searching. Maybe if they had been winners, I wouldn’t but they weren’t. As a woman who enjoys fashion, I want new clothes, but thought: Do I need them? I remember becoming aware of the difference ...
