Life in the Later Lane
Retirement sends Vonn Scott Bair full speed into long days as actor, playwright and game developer
"Do what you want, and you will never work a day in your life." That old adage,...
The play’s the thing as Michael Sullivan and the San Francisco Mime Troupe bring new meaning to “A Christmas Carol”
Michael Gene Sullivan’s version of Charles Dickens’ traditional “A Christmas Carol” is not about Scrooge, the miser...
From weddings, funerals and proms to Dead concerts, Mandela and Pope visits, Hoogasians have been flowering SF since 1928
In San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s, before the internet, match.com, and social media, flower stands...
Seniors take on new roles with ‘Drama with Friends,’ a Zoom project that had its first live performance
Herbert and Gloria are flirting. Like spooning teens, the elderly pair are joking about their relationship and...
Podcast hosts leaned into aging, a topic they call ‘cutting edge’ and ‘sexy’
They met harvesting bananas on a kibbutz in Israel, part of a summer tour introducing young Jews...
Her name honors a famed New Zealand author. With her first novel published, Sally Abbott is also leading the life of a writer.
Sally Abbott believes her role as a novelist was written before she was born. It started with...
Retiree wants your blood: Donor Ambassador devotes his all to Red Cross collection efforts
Mark Sugarman wants to repair the world. The 79-year-old Financial District resident has spent his whole life...
Bruce Neuburger: The life of a student radical turned farmworker, turned author
Bruce Neuburger was never an armchair radical. Organizing against the Vietnam War while in the Coast Guard...
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...
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From Kezar to Levi’s stadiums, No. 1 49ers fan has kept the faith – and the facts
Martin Jacobs’ love affair with the San Francisco 49ers was in its infancy in 1952 when the nine-year-old entered Kezar Stadium for the first time. He still has that ticket stub and over the years has become a go-to authority on all things 49ers, a collector of team memorabilia, and the author of scores of ...
After the ‘food shock’ and a challenging beginning in U.S., Mexico City emigre finds her way back to her life of art
When Esperanza Villanueva arrived in Lake Tahoe from her native Mexico City in 1994, her hardest adjustment was to the food. “That was a shock,” she said. “There was no food I liked here, not many Mexican products.” She joined her siblings and their families who’d come years earlier and she laughs as she recalls ...
What’s in a memory? And why these – random, insignificant things and events – not the big, more important ones?
SENIOR BEAT COLUMN Over 30 years ago, my mother caught sight of her reflection in a shop window. “Who is that familiar old woman?” she asked herself, and she smiled broadly telling me the story. “Suddenly I realized it was me! I was so shocked I could only burst out laughing!” I remember also, when ...
Social worker turned fiduciary finds meaningful career in protecting seniors from scammers
The battle to protect seniors from scammers after their savings or property is a never-ending one. Tom Lucas is one of its warriors. Lucas is a professional fiduciary obligated by law to act in his client’s best interests. In California, fiduciaries are appointed by the probate court to take care of an adult who is ...
SENIORS TALK: What do you do for fun and relaxation?
The On Lok 30th Street Senior Center on Aug. 22, opened in 1979, when a small group of seniors asked for a room in the building to start a social club. Today, in addition to meals, health workshops, bilingual case management and aging and disability resource center, some 6,700 older adults participate in its more than ...
Intent at eight years old on making art everyone can see, Mexican artist forges path to widespread public acclaim
When he was eight years old, Victor Mario-Zaballa told his family he was going to be a public artist when he grew up. “I wanted to make art that everyone can see and enjoy.” Today, his tile and cut-metal works adorn the entrance to the 16th St. Mission BART station, the gates for the Visitacion ...
