Special Project: City Budget Cuts
Seniors and people with disabilities fight down to the wire to save programs that serve them
As Yogi Berra once said, "it ain't over till it's over." The baseball legend was referring to sports, of course, but the adage...
Life in the Later Lane
Following in the footsteps of heroes: My visit to the cradles of Civil Rights
SF SENIORBEAT COLUMN – March 17, 1886. A date you probably never considered. Carroll County, Mississippi. A...
Nonprofit director is happy to bug you, whether you’re 2 or 92, about saving the wild
If you grow up in Los Angeles, where do you find the wild? Norm Gershenz is not...
Bass playing lawyer takes on the landlords when seniors call for help
During the day, you’ll find Thomas Drohan in court or at his law office on Mission Street....
Former SFSU teacher shifts to helping union workers build leadership abilities
Like some people need coffee, Joan Wong needs to walk – and talk. Mornings, she puts in...
Joe Edley, a three-time national champion, has been racking up great Scrabble scores for decades
Joe Edley tucks his co-authored book, “Everything Scrabble,” under his arm and surveys the room. Around him,...
Robert Wachter, the doctor who is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to treat patients
Robert Wachter is the doctor who oversees all the other doctors at the University of California, San...
Couple beat ‘fast furniture,’ pandemic and other challenges to keep upholstery shop going for nearly 50 years
J & G Upholstery stretches back farther than it looks from the sidewalk on Balboa Street. Stacks...
As the city’s older population swells, seniors who can no longer live at home face high costs, limited choices
EDITOR'S NOTE: See full profiles of the seniors interviewed by clicking links within the story. A panoply...
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...
All Posts
City workshops aim to arm every resident with a plan for a personal medical crisis
Tomi Cunningham didn’t want her daughter to have to go through what she experienced last fall. She had to step as medical surrogate during a health crisis that that put her mother in the hospital, unable to make decisions. “It worked out well; she made good choices, but she had to guess what I wanted,” ...
Matchy matchy is not this styler’s first consideration
SENIOR FASHIONISTA – When shopping for clothes, Kathleen Massoni’s mantra is “fun.” “I buy fun pieces because I like them, not to match. I make everything my own.” SENIOR FASHIONISTA – The 76-year-old Pacific Heights resident says she shops mostly in second-shops. Her favorites are Goodbyes, Jane’s Consignment, Crossroads, Goodwill, the Symphony Store and Seconds ...
Poet’s interest in herbs and healing leads to growth of Kitchen Herbalism workshops
When Marina Lazzara was 13, she held a tea party for friends with herbs she picked from her backyard in Easton, Pa. The problem was the plant she had so carefully prepared was not peppermint, as she thought, but poison ivy. One of her guests got a rash, and Lazzara’s eyes swelled up, but her ...
It’s a honey of a job, but the payoff is in saving the creatures who foster our food
When she was 15, on a beautiful sunny day in Toronto, Canada, Terry Oxford was enjoying an outdoor jazz concert when the sky went dark. Everyone looked up as a gigantic swarm of migrating monarch butterflies made their way across the sky. Even the band stopped playing. People were so awed they applauded when the ...
Emergency alert devices go modern, but old TV ad catchphrase won’t fade away
SENIOR TECH – Almost everyone remembers the 1980s commercial in which an elderly woman lies on the floor next to her toppled walker crying “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Sitcoms from the Golden Girls to Fresh Prince of Belair used it as a reliable laugh line into the ‘90s. It was also ...
Colorful couple share passion for tango – and thrift shopping
Elaine and Carlos Lucha, married for 27 years, share a passion for tango – and shopping vintage, consignment and thrift shops, one of their favorite past-times. “We can get just as good or better at slashed prices,” she said. Carlos is also an artist, who likes to paint his shoes, ties, you name it in ...
