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 burning desire to forge beauty out of raw materials: North Beach jeweler and metalcrafter carries on family’s legacy business
Dan Macchiarini was just six years old when his father started teaching him how to torch, solder and braze metal. Peter Macchiarini, described by some who knew him as a classic “San Francisco beatnik” and artist, mentored his son through his teen years and into adulthood. Dan – DannyMac to his friends – went on ...
A quintessential American success story: from juvenile addiction and jail to some of San Francisco’s most influential offices
Most longtime San Franciscans remember Bill Maher as a controversial city leader who was a twice-elected president of the school board, a three-term supervisor and then executive director of Parking and Traffic along with other high-profile roles. For the last 11 years. Maher has been the senior advisor to the Executive Director of the San ...
Threats in Guatemala spark activist’s journey to a new land and language; after homelessness and despair, he finds resurrection in helping others like himself
Gonzalo Guoron arrived every morning at 5:45 a.m., threw open the doors at 6 a.m., and ushered 50 to 90 tired souls up all night in the cold into the warmth of the Episcopal Church of Saint John the Evangelist. Until the pandemic closed those doors, Guoron was a hospitality monitor for the Mission District ...
Clowning, singing and comedic skits keep “free spirit” in good spirits
As a teenager in the ‘50s, Juanita Rusev dreamed of becoming an actress in the mold of Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn. But she didn’t think she had what it takes. “I thought actresses had to be beautiful,” she said, “and I was average looking, big, gangly, and unconfident. So, she put aside that dream ...
Chinese musicologist brings wide range of instruments and influences to teaching, movie and theater scores, original CDs and local performances
It’s a chilly March evening in Glen Park. Thirty or so music fans have crowded into Bird & Beckett Books and Records, a neighborhood haunt for live jazz and poetry performances. Tonight, though, classical Chinese music is on the menu as San Francisco celebrates Chinese New Year. “How many of you are Tigers?” Betty Wong ...
Longtime Randall Museum ceramics teacher and SFMOMA docent believes all humans hardwired to be creative
How many teachers do we know whose deepest concern is over-enrollment? That was a worry of Dennis Treanor, a practiced art educator. Through word of mouth and social media, his ceramics classes filled to the brink every term. He worried about limited resources and his ability to give sufficient time and energy to each student. ...
