Life in the Later Lane
Former art galley president helps people craft their deepest feelings in ‘lasting letters’ to loved ones
Looking out at Monterey Bay from Santa Cruz early one morning last year, a pair of silhouetted...
September 1, 2026
S.F. protest’s Tin Man has a history of making good trouble on behalf of empathy and kindness
Arthur Persyko loves to make trouble. The good kind, that is. As a young man, he protested...
August 24, 2026
Born to dance: Tammy Thornton struts her stuff with the Warriors’ senior dance team
It’s game night at San Francisco’s Chase Center and the Golden State Warriors are not the only...
August 10, 2026
Childhood bond with an older neighbor steered law officer’s choice of career and community work
A tarnished silver coin from 1964, likely worth only $10 to any dealer, reminds Richard Lyons Corriea...
August 2, 2026
As a teacher, playwright & screenwriter, Cary Pepper has lots of inside Hollywood info to share
You probably stream most of your movies. But if you happen to rent a film on old-style...
July 15, 2026
All-women punk band still on stage thanks to leader’s career, which started in a mortuary
Invite Klara Lux somewhere, and she’ll always show up early – except on the rare occasion when...
July 6, 2026
Playwright Lynne Kaufman, the author of two dozen plays and five novels, is still going strong, despite some hiccups
The day after Lynne Kaufman retired in 2005, she woke up in tears. “What had I done?”...
June 29, 2026
A win for people power: Supervisors and mayor restore millions of dollars in cut to services for city’s most vulnerable
A months-long campaign by advocates for seniors, the disabled and other vulnerable populations has convinced San Francisco's...
Following in the footsteps of heroes: My visit to the cradles of Civil Rights
SF SENIORBEAT COLUMN – March 17, 1886. A date you probably never considered. Carroll County, Mississippi. A...
June 4, 2026
Couple’s script for their own movie? Shared creative passions and a bent for banter
“I'm Chiquita Banana, and I'm here to say, bananas have to ripen in a certain way,” Margot...
May 28, 2026
Nonprofit director is happy to bug you, whether you’re 2 or 92, about saving the wild
If you grow up in Los Angeles, where do you find the wild? Norm Gershenz is not...
April 14, 2026
As the city’s older population swells, seniors who can no longer live at home face high costs, limited choices
EDITOR'S NOTE: See full profiles of the seniors interviewed by clicking links within the story. A panoply...
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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 ...
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 ...
