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...
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First-ever celebration of all abilities joins Sunday Streets at the Civic Center Plaza
Sunday, Sept. 8, the day of the first annual Getting There Together: a Celebration of All Ages & Abilities dawned bright and beautiful. By the opening hour, 11 a.m., the resource tables were greeting the first fairgoers, the morning exercise leaders had warmed up, and the earliest audience members had taken seats in front of ...
Beauty is in the eyeglasses of the beholder; retiree’s eclectic style requires many pairs
Mary Novie, seen at an SF Jazz concert with her granddaughter Autumn, says her style is classic but eclectic. The 70-year-old confesses to be an eyeglass junkie. She has many pairs, she said. It doesn’t hurt that the retiree works part-time at OPT Optometric on Valencia Street. As for clothing, she shops at boutiques such ...
Army medic settles into good life and his own home after leaping discrimination hurdles
Dugal Mitchell spent five years in the Army as a medic, two in the Korean War. After all he did and saw, his passion was to become a doctor. But when he came home and applied to the University of Texas Medical School, he was turned down. It was the early ‘50s and segregation was ...
San Francisco’s first-ever Older Adult Hiring Fair was so popular, they might just do it again
Sel Butler worked concessions for the Warriors in Oakland. A San Franciscan, he wanted a job on this side of the Bay. Angela Lee, an experienced cook, was looking for a cooking job that paid more than minimum wage. Maureen Sansburn has been looking for work for the past eight months, since leaving her job ...
‘Mayor’ of Tenderloin turned his troubles into blessings for the neighborhood
Del Seymour has seen the Tenderloin from the bottom as a street addict and later from the top, as executive director of Code Tenderloin, a jobs program for neighborhood residents, and as co-chair of the city’s homeless coordinating board. “I like the position I’m in now, but I learned how to help others from my ...
He fought for our country, then battled for dignity and justice for its veterans
Michael Blecker joined the army in 1967 to get out of Reading, Pa. “Our generation’s model of manhood was the early John Wayne war movies: Wayne never flinched and always won, that’s what we wanted. Plus the GI Bill made the Army very attractive.” Nine years later, as a law student at the activist New ...
