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
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 ...
