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
His daughter wanted to play soccer, so he started an all-girls team; last month, they took on the Chinese women’s national team.
Two women’s soccer teams face off at Kezar Stadium. One is local, the other a world-class opponent. With the game tied 1-1, the SF Nighthawks‘ forward head-butts the ball, sending it off at a 90-degree angle. Her teammate corrals the pass and aims a swift kick toward the goal. It misses, but a cheer resounds ...
Radiologist who served his country in public health rather than battleground revisits Vietnam War era in one-man play
If you ask Edward Lebowitz why he went to medical school, you might be surprised by his answer: the war in Vietnam. “This was the greatest influence on my decision to become a doctor,” said Lebowitz, now 75 and a clinical professor of radiology at Stanford University. “I have no idea what I would have ...
Longtime owner of Inner Richmond neighborhood bar keeps the Irish flowing
It’s 5 o’clock on a Friday evening and customers are just starting to crowd into O’Keeffe’s, a no-apologies Irish bar in the Inner Richmond. Annie O’Keeffe, the diminutive owner, is serving up $4 beers and $6 shots of whiskey. It’s not too busy yet, so she takes a couple of minutes to fetch a bowl ...
Was it the coffee stain, the thick glasses or maybe the Kleenex? Recovering my cool after a brush with feeling old
A SENIOR BEAT COLUMN When I came back from the mall today, I sat down on a bench outside my apartment building, taking in the sun. After a minute, I took off my mask and tapped out a couple of tortilla chip crumbs. I brushed a couple more from the sides of my mouth. Then ...
Chinese immigrant whose motto is ‘seize opportunity, work hard, take risks,’ finds success as nursing assistant, caregiver
Yanzhen Guo and her family moved to San Francisco in 2011. Like many newly arrived immigrants, they couldn’t afford a home of their own, lacked marketable job skills and spoke limited English. Eleven years later, the family is living in a two-story townhouse in Hunters Point. Guo is now a licensed nursing assistant, works steadily ...
Mom and I had vastly different dress styles: elegant tops and skirts vs. cargo pants and T-shirts. As we’ve aged, we’ve swapped
A SENIOR BEAT COLUMN It got hot in Carmel, and I was wearing my San Francisco fog clothes: jeans, turtleneck, sweatshirt. I’d left the misty, chilly city in early morning darkness and driven 125 miles south to visit my invalid mom, 95, at my childhood home in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Oddly, despite the coastal closeness, it was ...
