Life in the Later Lane
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
Social justice lawyer and activist infusing others with her love of SF’s Great Blue Herons and dedication to conservation
One day in 1993, on her daily walk from her Richmond District home to Golden Gate Park’s...
April 29, 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
Bass playing lawyer takes on the landlords when seniors call for help
During the day, you’ll find Thomas Drohan in court or at his law office on Mission Street....
April 5, 2026
Former SFSU teacher shifts to helping union workers build leadership abilities
Like some people need coffee, Joan Wong needs to walk – and talk. Mornings, she puts in...
March 25, 2026
Joe Edley, a three-time national champion, has been racking up great Scrabble scores for decades
Joe Edley tucks his co-authored book, “Everything Scrabble,” under his arm and surveys the room. Around him,...
March 16, 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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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. I was fortunate to have played bridge with him at SF’s Aquatic Park Senior Center. He loved to teach us what he knew, and we appreciated his great New York sense of humor. By the time he was ...
A lucky phone call steered him into a 54-year career as a shipping executive.
Tony Hanley felt stuck. He’d flunked out of San Francisco City College and was working at an unsatisfying job as a stock clerk at Jackson Hardware and Houseware in the Sunset District. For three years, he shelved merchandise, made deliveries, and swept floors. He was 20 years old and had no idea how to find ...
He rode the rails, he slept on the streets, Kevin Fagan spent decades reporting on the homeless for the San Francisco Chronicle
It’s a Friday night at Chief Sullivan’s, an Irish-themed bar in North Beach, and The Irish Newsboys are about to perform one of their signature Irish tunes. But don’t expect to hear a song about leprechauns and pots of gold. The Newsboys’ repertoire favors songs about Irish freedom like “The Rising of the Moon” and ...
Circus Bella veteran juggler and ‘right-hand man’ keeps his family in on the act
Lots of parents talk about juggling responsibilities when it comes to their kids. Not so many literally juggle their kids. Carlo Gentile is one of the few. With much experience as a juggler, clown, unicyclist and diabolo artist, Gentile is now booking and production manager for Circus Bella, a “fiercely homegrown” San Francisco-based circus, where ...
Retired scientist, avid cyclist, and world traveler faces the challenge of Alzheimer’s
For many high school biology students, dissecting a frog is an unpleasant rite of passage. But for Shirley Lowe, the exploration of amphibian physiology “was fascinating, seeing all of its parts and how they were interconnected.” Her skill and enthusiasm led to a student award and a decision to major in clinical laboratory science in ...
A tale of love and lighting on Divisadero Street
How deeply did Yury Budovlya fall for Liya Klets, an 18-year-old Siberian beauty? When she traveled to his Ukrainian village, Korosten, from her native Siberian town of Novosibirsk for her uncle’s funeral in 1977, how soon did he know she was the one? Instantly. A metalworker, he’d been hired to fabricate the railing around her ...
