Life in the Later Lane
Former art galley president helps people craft their deepest feelings in ‘lasting letters’ to loved ones
Looking out at Monterey Bay from Santa Cruz early one morning last year, a pair of silhouetted...
September 1, 2026
S.F. protest’s Tin Man has a history of making good trouble on behalf of empathy and kindness
Arthur Persyko loves to make trouble. The good kind, that is. As a young man, he protested...
August 24, 2026
Born to dance: Tammy Thornton struts her stuff with the Warriors’ senior dance team
It’s game night at San Francisco’s Chase Center and the Golden State Warriors are not the only...
August 10, 2026
Childhood bond with an older neighbor steered law officer’s choice of career and community work
A tarnished silver coin from 1964, likely worth only $10 to any dealer, reminds Richard Lyons Corriea...
August 2, 2026
As a teacher, playwright & screenwriter, Cary Pepper has lots of inside Hollywood info to share
You probably stream most of your movies. But if you happen to rent a film on old-style...
July 15, 2026
All-women punk band still on stage thanks to leader’s career, which started in a mortuary
Invite Klara Lux somewhere, and she’ll always show up early – except on the rare occasion when...
July 6, 2026
Playwright Lynne Kaufman, the author of two dozen plays and five novels, is still going strong, despite some hiccups
The day after Lynne Kaufman retired in 2005, she woke up in tears. “What had I done?”...
June 29, 2026
A win for people power: Supervisors and mayor restore millions of dollars in cut to services for city’s most vulnerable
A months-long campaign by advocates for seniors, the disabled and other vulnerable populations has convinced San Francisco's...
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...
June 4, 2026
Couple’s script for their own movie? Shared creative passions and a bent for banter
“I'm Chiquita Banana, and I'm here to say, bananas have to ripen in a certain way,” Margot...
May 28, 2026
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...
April 14, 2026
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...
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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 ...
Senior center in the cloud creates family of friends across 41 states
Thursdays are Nicolette Noyes busiest days. She’s on the phone from noon to 7 p.m. And when she’s not at home, she’s listening all day. “I listen in the car. I hear it in the background when I’m folding laundry or just doing stuff around the house, said the San Francisco senior. You could say ...
City College professor and new author mostly just wants to keep on teaching
Alexandra Nickliss is thrilled to have published her first book – and even more thrilled to still be teaching U.S. History at City College San Francisco. That puts her in good company with other older adults who want to keep working, such as U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, 85, television journalist Lesley Stahl, 77, and U.S. ...
Well-made products and funny frogs brighten collector’s home – and the weekly lunch crowd
Larry Boysen’s 1919 yellow Inner Sunset bungalow holds collections of radios, phonographs, records, kitchen appliances, furniture, light fixtures and telephones from the early 1900s. “I love the craftmanship, history and engineering of items from the 20th century – the everyday stuff that made people’s lives easier.” He also has hundreds of new and old glass, ...
Study proves harmonic: Lonely newcomer fills her life with one choir then two
CREATING COMMUNITY – Five years ago, Judi Lewis moved to San Francisco from Nebraska to live with her daughter. It was a big move, and for many months Lewis “spent a lot of time walking around the house, humming.” She was lonely. “I had left all my friends behind. I was kind of timid and ...
