Life in the Later Lane
Three generations of a San Francisco family thrived running popular oceanside eatery overlooking Sutro Baths
It was, you might say, the last breakfast. On a summer Saturday in 2020, dozens of family...
Art and science vied for Sarah Young’s heart: Both found a place
Few who end up in the hospital are likely to be thinking about whether there’s a sufficient,...
Baking for bodily autonomy: Nan Wiener tackles controversial end of Roe v. Wade with brownies, macaroons, muffins and more
SENIOR BEAT GUEST COLUMN – Many years ago, I spent a year baking desserts in a restaurant...
New author and former drinker embracing alternative therapies to help others break the habit
Seated in the backroom of a café on Polk Street, Kevagne Kalisch leans against the wall and...
From fisherman to cook to inmate to owner: Frankie Balistreri’s odyssey to opening his dream restaurant
When his mother, Lucrezia, was diagnosed with cancer, then 25-year-old Frankie Gaetano Balistreri cared for her at...
Wisdom of the Japanese Tea Garden helped volunteer Chrisie Giordano come to accept a child’s absence
It’s an overcast summer morning, and Chrisie Giordano is leading a tour of Golden Gate Park’s Japanese...
It’s the little things that count for Margaret Lew, swept up in the world of miniature craftmanship
If you think dollhouses are just for children, you haven’t met the artisans and collectors, like Margaret...
Desire to learn mah-jongg helped Stephanie Riger overcome her own biases toward seniors
SENIOR BEAT GUEST COLUMN – Even though I’m 78 years old, I have resisted seeing myself as...
Retirement can be scary. Library worker hoping the end of his career will be the start of a happy new chapter
Seventy-one-year-old Richard Marino is on the cusp of retirement. And it’s making him anxious. He’s gone through...
German Gonzalez, the maestro of Golden Gate Park, has spread music and joy for more than 50 years
He was in the sixth grade and really wanted to be in the school band. But his...
At 67, Lauren McNamara has embarked on a new career and she’s charming customers at a downtown hotspot.
Lauren McNamara makes sure to remember where the regular clientele at Sam’s Grill like to sit. She...
You can get — almost — anything you want at Joseph Omran’s Nob Hill grocery store
LeBeau Market calls itself Nob Hill’s Community Grocery Store, where you can get almost everything: from Lay’s...
Deborah Drysdale: social justice evangelist, bridge instructor, and amateur mixologist
Summers for Deborah Drysdale meant idyllic days at her grandparents’ cattle ranch in the Blue Ridge mountains...
Jonah Raskin: Tireless Bay Area peace activist, prolific writer, and educator
Jonah Raskin was 10 in 1952, during the height of the anti-communist fervor of the Cold War....
She brought the magic to the screen, finding the perfect San Francisco location to shoot movies, TV shows, and commercials
If you’d been walking along one of the steepest streets in San Francisco one sunny afternoon in...
She relives history as a guide on the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, one of the WWII Liberty ships that brought troops and cargo to Normandy beaches
Eve Maher hands out programs to visitors boarding the SS Jeremiah O’Brien for a tour and memorial...
Pen pals from afar build rich relationship over 60 years through old-fashioned correspondence – no WhatsApp about it
A SENIOR BEAT GUEST COLUMN – My correspondence with Jutta Mengersen (now Brockhaus), the “World’s Ideal Pen...
This Mexican immigrant fought in the ring, started a dozen restaurants, raised five children, and never let defeat wear him down.
When 17-year-old Jose Heriberto Garcia came courting the young girl who’d become his wife, his future mother-in-law...
The ghosts of San Francisco’s past are still there if you only look and listen
SENIOR BEAT COLUMN: I got my first job in San Francisco nearly 40 years ago, in the...
Mutual support but separate hobbies and workshops keep crafty couple’s marriage going strong
A stained glass window by Bill and a "fishing" quilt Etta made for him adorn a hallway...
All Posts
Gigantic miniature train layout resurrected at Randall Museum by retired seniors, a student and an engineer who ‘thought they could’
If you like trains, why not take a ride on the Sierra Nevada and Pacific Railroad, or as railroad buffs call it, the SN&P? It will take you over bridges, through mountain tunnels and snow sheds as you head to the foothills of the Sierra, passing through Napa, Richmond, Fairfield, Lodi, Stockton, Sonora, Summit, and ...
No more hugs since Covid, but caregiver to chronically ill compensates with art projects, interesting activities, and for himself, a filmmaking sideline
The last 20 of Stan Stone’s nearly 70 years have been devoted to the lives of the chronically ill and dying. It’s a job that can present more than a few heart wrenches. Luckily, Stone is not only caring but upbeat. He’s got a sense of humor. He’s good-natured. If there’s anything that bothers him, ...
‘Dean Scream’ did little to deter first-time campaigner from a life of political activism for social justice and now elder issues
In 2004, when political hopefuls were lining up to challenge incumbent President George W. Bush, Maxine Anderson yearned for someone to really push a progressive agenda. But she’s not a Democrat. “He oversaw the expansion of universal health care for children and pregnant women in his state, which made me feel we could get to ...
Opera veteran helps wartime veterans with PTSD by guiding them to create their own music and poetry
Richard Harrell has studied and thought about the power of music and the human singing voice for much of his 70 years. “There is nothing in life that fires up your brain as much as music—nothing!” he’s concluded. After decades of singing on the opera stage and directing professionally, that insight led him to found ...
Uncle’s stolen Buick, used in gang killing, triggered lifelong interest in crime, for ‘Notorious San Francisco’ author and Crooks Tour operator
The average armchair sleuth or true crime addict thinks he or she knows something about humans breaking the law. They haven’t met Paul Drexler. The Ingleside Terrace man can spew details of a crime that happened almost a hundred years ago, half a world away. But his specialty is San Francisco. “San Francisco has a ...
Launched by a friendly job counselor he still remembers, lensmaker finds the perfect fit for a lifelong trade
When Jose Minor was 16, his Mexican-born parents sent him from his hometown of Richmond, California, to Mexico, where he had never been. It was 1969. They were worried he was getting into trouble at home,” he said. “So, they sent me and my younger brother to Grandpa to get straightened out.” Minor has four ...
