Special Project: Senior Housing
As the city’s older population swells, seniors who can no longer live at home face high costs, limited choices
EDITOR'S NOTE: Full profiles of the seniors interviewed will be published each day after today's introductory story. Publishing dates are noted in the...
Life in the Later Lane
Stephanie Ernst-Scott runs the last tackle shop in San Francisco. It’s been in her family for 60 years.
Walk through the doors of Gus’ Discount Fishing Tackle, and you’ll likely be greeted before you even...
City College café owner customizes and caters to make students, staff and professors feel at home
Thanks to Alberto Campos, students at City College of San Francisco’s Mission Campus can get an affordable...
One bold step opened up education and a career charting demographics in low-income countries
Sara Seims, an 18-year-old British girl, walked into the admissions office at New York University and knocked...
K.D. Sullivan: From Park Bench to Publishing House
At 15, K.D. Sullivan was homeless, hungry, and sleeping on park benches in Honolulu’s Aina Haina neighborhood....
Retired conference consultant embraces San Francisco and its history with tour of her own neighborhood
As she strolls toward the smallest park in San Francisco, Bonnie Wallsh calls back to the group...
Farm life couldn’t compete with the excitement of big cities and the challenge of the executive life
In college, Bob Britt worked as a night auditor at a roadside Holiday Inn in Southern Illinois....
Successful sous chef finds equilibrium and support after career sidetracked by health and hard times
Jon Insco has been a go-getter most of his life — always hustling for his next adventure....
Being an ‘old soul’ isn’t just about age but an attitude – best nurtured by intergenerational contact
SF SENIORBEAT GUEST COLUMN – There’s a corner of Gen Z internet culture that has popularized the...
How a dedicated teacher of young children became a dedicated civic volunteer.
Sharon Yow’s father drove a truck and tried his hand at farming. Her mother worked a switchboard...
Famed boogie-woogie pianist embroiders her performances with her own hand-crafted art
Caroline Dahl has never forgotten the glamorous, red-haired woman in a sequined dress she saw at a...
The biggest, best walk – and bath of a lifetime.
Tina Martin SENIORBEAT GUEST COLUMN – I love San Francisco, and I love to walk. So when...
‘So hard, all the losses and pain:’ Personal and world tragedies led daughter of Holocaust survivors to life of helping others help others
Juliet Rothman was living in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1992 when her 21-year-old son Daniel attempted a double...
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....
All Posts
Reframing Aging – Sharing joy never gets old: Bayview woman brings steel drumming and other ‘feel good’ activities to community’s seniors
Is 73 too old to feel beautiful, travel the world, learn a musical instrument or lead an exercise class? Ask any of those questions to 73-year-old Susie Tyner and you’re likely to get a rather astonished look and a firm “No way.” Tyner, who is one of five older adults featured in the city’s recently ...
Reframing Aging – Courage never gets old: A journey from drugs and destitution to role in Apple commercial
On a fine spring afternoon earlier this year, Chet Peeples found himself on Apple’s futuristic Cupertino campus. He wasn’t there as a tourist or a job-hunting techie. Peeples, a 64-year-old recovering addict, was there to appear in a promotional film as a stand-in for Apple CEO Tim Cook. Standing beside Tim Cook seemed utterly unexpected ...
Habit started from thrift leads Chinese singer to vintage dress, fabrics career and reunification with her culture
She’s walking down the street in a stunning vintage Chinese outfit and you think she’s off to model in a fashion show. But that’s typical of Terri Wong. She owns no jeans or sweats. “Since 2013, I have dressed daily in either Chinese or western fashion, or my own knitwear, always with a hat.” She ...
Filmmaker mines lessons for aging well in documentary on the lives of older lesbians in a NorCal health study
Deborah Craig has a certain empathy for older lesbians: She watched her mother come out at age 50. Vulnerabilities felt in aging can be magnified with worries of being accepted, she learned. That was in some part the impetus for Craig’s most recent film, “A Great Ride,” which explores the lives of lesbians aged 69 ...
Meals on Wheels CEO favors low-key style – but with occasional outbursts of ‘unique statement’ pieces
Ashley McCumber, the CEO of Meals on Wheels San Francisco, sported one of his “fun” jackets at the 2019 Norma Satten Community Service Innovation Award. He describes himself as a casual dresser who likes a periodic injection of unique statement pieces. “I’m a gray, blue and brown person with colors like pink and purple thrown in for ...
Colored paper and fabric swatches help women consider new style choices for a new stage of life
They sat at tables topped with fabric swatches, pieces of paper in a variety of colors, scissors, glue and colored pens. But it was a group of older women not kiddies getting set to dig in. The women mixed and matched colors and fabrics, gluing their choices on heavy paper. “This is just like kindergarten, ...
