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
Startups pitching products at Aging 2.0 conference focus on keeping people at home
Mid-November brought the Aging2.0 OPTIMIZE conference, a global network for innovators in aging to San Francisco. The conference attracted tech start-ups looking for partners and funding, and venture capitalists in search of new projects. As someone accustomed to the format of 90-minute presentations and roundtables at conferences addressing societal needs, Aging2.0s schedule of 5-minute pitches ...
Upper Haight shopper says his favorite styles are vintage and ethnic
SENIOR FASHIONISTA – Thomas Kennedy, 49, is the manager at La Boulangerie in Noe Valley. He’s from Cape Cod, Mass., but has been in San Francisco for 22 years. Describing his favorite styles as vintage and ethnic, he said he tried to shop locally. Most of his clothes come from three stories on the same block ...
Eclectic is the style guide for retired Municipal Railway employee
SENIOR FASHIONISTA – Do you know an older adult whose a sharp dresser? We might want to feature them in this column. Email janrobbins-sfseniorbeat@gmail.com. Martha Huey, 74, lives in the Lower Pacific Heights and shops on Fillmore Street. Her favorite stores are Mio and Ruti. She calls her style eclectic. Retired from 45 years of ...
In dress, artist-sculptor-photographer-curator keeps it simple
SENIOR FASHIONISTAS – We found Sue Kubly, 73, at the DeYoung Museum, at an event celebrating dancer and performance artist Anna Halprin, who turned 98 this year. Kubly, who describes her style as simple, is wearing a blouse from Target, pants from H&M and pearls from London’s Portobello Road Market, the world’s largest antiques market The ...
115 city benches: public space enthusiasts giving back – and building community
Chris Duderstadt founded the Public Bench Project six years ago. On the second Sunday of the month, people gather on Irving Street at Ninth Avenue to enjoy the Inner Sunset Flea. For folks listening to jazz, needing a respite, or talking with friends, Duderstadt’s colorful benches provide a place to sit. “There is enough space ...
Green burials, space burials, ash tokens: More options – and more decisions – for your final frontier
“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” – Isaac Asimov. Doulas, green burials with wicker caskets and corpse location monitoring devices, space burials, resomation, diamonds colored by funeral ashes: Death’s vocabulary is expanding. New – and old – ways of dealing with dying and death are emerging in this century. Traditional funeral ...
