Life in the Later Lane
Three generations of a San Francisco family thrived running popular oceanside eatery overlooking Sutro Baths
It was, you might say, the last breakfast. On a summer Saturday in 2020, dozens of family...
Art and science vied for Sarah Young’s heart: Both found a place
Few who end up in the hospital are likely to be thinking about whether there’s a sufficient,...
Baking for bodily autonomy: Nan Wiener tackles controversial end of Roe v. Wade with brownies, macaroons, muffins and more
SENIOR BEAT GUEST COLUMN – Many years ago, I spent a year baking desserts in a restaurant...
New author and former drinker embracing alternative therapies to help others break the habit
Seated in the backroom of a café on Polk Street, Kevagne Kalisch leans against the wall and...
From fisherman to cook to inmate to owner: Frankie Balistreri’s odyssey to opening his dream restaurant
When his mother, Lucrezia, was diagnosed with cancer, then 25-year-old Frankie Gaetano Balistreri cared for her at...
Wisdom of the Japanese Tea Garden helped volunteer Chrisie Giordano come to accept a child’s absence
It’s an overcast summer morning, and Chrisie Giordano is leading a tour of Golden Gate Park’s Japanese...
It’s the little things that count for Margaret Lew, swept up in the world of miniature craftmanship
If you think dollhouses are just for children, you haven’t met the artisans and collectors, like Margaret...
Desire to learn mah-jongg helped Stephanie Riger overcome her own biases toward seniors
SENIOR BEAT GUEST COLUMN – Even though I’m 78 years old, I have resisted seeing myself as...
Retirement can be scary. Library worker hoping the end of his career will be the start of a happy new chapter
Seventy-one-year-old Richard Marino is on the cusp of retirement. And it’s making him anxious. He’s gone through...
German Gonzalez, the maestro of Golden Gate Park, has spread music and joy for more than 50 years
He was in the sixth grade and really wanted to be in the school band. But his...
At 67, Lauren McNamara has embarked on a new career and she’s charming customers at a downtown hotspot.
Lauren McNamara makes sure to remember where the regular clientele at Sam’s Grill like to sit. She...
You can get — almost — anything you want at Joseph Omran’s Nob Hill grocery store
LeBeau Market calls itself Nob Hill’s Community Grocery Store, where you can get almost everything: from Lay’s...
Deborah Drysdale: social justice evangelist, bridge instructor, and amateur mixologist
Summers for Deborah Drysdale meant idyllic days at her grandparents’ cattle ranch in the Blue Ridge mountains...
Jonah Raskin: Tireless Bay Area peace activist, prolific writer, and educator
Jonah Raskin was 10 in 1952, during the height of the anti-communist fervor of the Cold War....
She brought the magic to the screen, finding the perfect San Francisco location to shoot movies, TV shows, and commercials
If you’d been walking along one of the steepest streets in San Francisco one sunny afternoon in...
She relives history as a guide on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, one of the WWII Liberty ships that brought troops and cargo to Normandy beaches
Eve Maher hands out programs to visitors boarding the SS Jeremiah O’Brien for a tour and memorial...
Pen pals from afar build rich relationship over 60 years through old-fashioned correspondence – no WhatsApp about it
A SENIOR BEAT GUEST COLUMN – My correspondence with Jutta Mengersen (now Brockhaus), the “World’s Ideal Pen...
This Mexican immigrant fought in the ring, started a dozen restaurants, raised five children, and never let defeat wear him down.
When 17-year-old Jose Heriberto Garcia came courting the young girl who’d become his wife, his future mother-in-law...
The ghosts of San Francisco’s past are still there if you only look and listen
SENIOR BEAT COLUMN: I got my first job in San Francisco nearly 40 years ago, in the...
Mutual support but separate hobbies and workshops keep crafty couple’s marriage going strong
A stained glass window by Bill and a "fishing" quilt Etta made for him adorn a hallway...
All Posts
Land-use activist fighting SF ‘renovictions’ developed empathy for less fortunate in revolutionary Iran
When the penny Ozzie Rohm dropped into a pond started a ripple, she didn’t know whether she was going to get her wish or not. But she knew she was going to try. As a young woman studying at university in the years around the 1979 Iranian Revolution, she dreamed of a life without conflict. ...
Coping with Covid-19: Retired administrator now more productive at home but less worried about getting things done
Senior Beat writers are reaching out to all of the people we’ve interviewed over the past couple of years to see how they’re adjusting to this new, shelter-in-place lifestyle. We asked: How they feel overall about the situation; How their routines have been affected; If they know of anyone who has the virus; If people ...
‘Shopping for the apocalypse’: grocery worker offers a peek behind the scenes at beloved Rainbow Coop
Sarah Kennedy does it all as a longtime member of the team that runs the Rainbow Coop, one of the city’s oldest worker-owned groceries. Kennedy, 52, has seen plenty of changes over the years, but nothing compared to the effects of the Covid-19 virus. The one thing she never expected entering the food industry was ...
‘I’ll show them:’ After a career challenging sexism, pioneer and icon of underground comix for ‘wimmin’ fends off ageism
Reading comic books leads straight to delinquency. That’s what many parents believed in the 1940s when Trina Robbins, now 81, was growing up. Fortunately, Robbins’ family was not among them. Robbins, who grew up in Queens, N.Y., recalls taking her weekly, 10-cent allowance to the neighborhood candy store and after studying the week’s selection, buying ...
Those who saw something of value in him helped African-American chemist reach career heights
Charles George had charisma, smarts and a purposeful nature. They propelled him through life despite the constraints of poverty and racism. He was shepherded along the way by people who valued his worth. When George was born in 1923 in Wilmington, N.C., life was hardscrabble for most African Americans. “My father took jobs where he ...
Coping with Covid-19: Shanti Project partners with city agency in new program to help the most vulnerable
The Shanti Project, created in 1974 to support people with life-threatening illnesses, has launched a new project to address the coronavirus pandemic, in partnership with San Francisco’s Department of Disability and Aging Services (DAS). The CERV (COVID-19 Emergency Response Volunteer) program provides one-time or occasional practical support to older and vulnerable adults, who are strongly ...
