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
Hilton manager fills the needs of the neighborhood with the excesses of city hotels and commercial buildings
Thousands of used mattresses, blankets, pillows, decorative bolsters, linens, furniture, and unclaimed swag from conferences – hotels produce a mountain of waste. What to do with it? For many hotels, the answer was, and remains, sell it to a liquidator, hold an employee sale or haul it to the dump. Holger Gantz, general manager of ...
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 ...
