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
Deciding ‘that’s not who I am,’ heavy drinker quits then uses his experience – of trauma, homelessness, addiction – to help others
It’s not quite six o’clock on a June morning in 2021, and the fire alarm was going off yet again in the building Paul Hickman had called home since 1996. “Stay or go?” he asked himself, remembering the many times he wandered downstairs, responding dutifully to the frequent false alarms. Then came a pounding on ...
Curry Senior Center tech program for low-income seniors turns one into a ‘Zoom-aholic’ and helps another stay on top of multiple medical issues
The consumer technology many of us take for granted is more than a convenience for Dan Jordan: It keeps him healthier, less isolated and connected to friends, relatives and caregivers in a way he’s never experienced. “I’m happier, more efficient and more knowledgeable,” he said. Important chores like staying on top of medical appointments, prescription ...
Life experiences drew her to challenging work: special ed teacher, domestic abuse counselor and senior center volunteer
As a child, Darlene Crisp watched her mother spoon-feed and pillow-prop her brother. Born with muscular dystrophy, he needed care 24-7. Decades later – Crisp is now 79 – memories of David, who died at 28, persist. At a younger age, they led her to a career in special education. “I wanted to be a ...
Where will I go when I’m gone?
A SENIOR BEAT COLUMN My cousin’s daughter had a baby last week, just a few days before I turned 80. My thoughts exalted, I riffed on baby Zoey’s beautiful new life in London with her American mother and French father. She’ll be bilingual and will be so adored as the first grandchild on both sides. ...
Raised in a tiny Illinois town, Walgreens’ pharmacy tech never imagined the life of travel, arts and culture he’s established in San Francisco
When the Loma Prieta earthquake hit San Francisco in 1989, Mack Dudley, a Walgreen’s pharmacy tech, was at his post: the pharmacy counter at the Ocean and Mission store. “I wasn’t sure what it was, but my coworker panicked, and took cover in this empty cabinet we had. The only part of him that fit ...
A little walking goes a long way: from neighborhood jaunts to work on Bay Area Ridge, SF Crosstown trails and Walk San Francisco
When Karen Rhodes retired from a career in communications in 2017, she began walking to get to know San Francisco. She walked for exercise. She walked as meditation, to gather her thoughts. While walking, she noticed the many stairways that made it easier to navigate her hilly Bernal Heights neighborhood. Rhodes made a game of ...
