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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Later-in-life learners credit Project Read, national one-on-one tutoring project
Ollie Smith grew up in the rural south. School wasn’t easy for him and he dropped out at the end of fourth grade to work on the family farm. In 1967, Smith and his wife moved to San Francisco, where he drove a truck and found a job in construction. He was a good worker ...
Casual Bohemian fits this former social worker, now Zydeco dance teacher
FASHIONISTAS – Casual Bohemian is this 70-year-old’s style. Julia Scott-Jackson, formerly a social worker, is now a Zydeco dancer and teacher. Her hobby is portrait photography. She lives in Pacific Heights. Her favorite places to shop are the Gift Shop at Mt. Zion and Citrine on Fillmore.
New literary & art review showcases the works of Osher Lifelong Learning students
A suburban yogi signs up for a spiritual experience, but gets a little more spirit than he’d bargained for. A young man hitches a ride from an older Texan in 1968 and prepares himself for the inevitable clash of viewpoints. A young woman from Indiana who settled in San Francisco in 1968 remembers her precarious ...
Creating Community – From San Francisco to Japan, officials embracing programs to build human connections, curb isolation
CREATING COMMUNITY – In his younger years, Charles Francis was fearless and unconventional, open to trying new things, many of which he recounted in his memoir, “Encounters.” A writer and photographer for NASA and the Veterans Administration, he would regale his friends with stories of his travels and the unusual people he met. Now 92, ...
Young adults find interesting tales and sometimes new family through senior storytelling program
CREATING COMMUNITY – Tiffany Hasker has been listening intently to Harry Wong over the past several months. She’s going to write a book about him. The two have met at least 10 times in a private room in the Rosa Parks Senior Center. A former editor and now full-time mom in her 40s, Hasker was ...
Too many Americans are lonely, not just the elderly. But the costs may be higher.
CREATING COMMUNITY – A 2018 survey by Cigna found that nearly half of Americans feel lonely sometimes or all of time. And the loneliest group, according to the study, is Generation Z, adults ages 18 to 22. And social media use alone is not a factor. By comparison, in a national poll of 2,000 adults aged ...
