We built this city: Post-Super Bowl shantytowns show the city doesn’t know how

In less than a month, San Francisco built a city for the Super Bowl and tore it down as if it never existed — an amazing feat. Yet, on a recent drive down Division Street, my fri... Read More

Twenty-five years on, the Union Street Easter Parade is going strong

By

For a decade, Leslie Drapkin, co-owner of Jest Jewels, was the Union Street Easter Parade correspondent for the Marina Times. After all these years, she still doesn’t bother ... Read More

Supervisor's Report

Housing development in District 2: A community approach to new development

By Supervisor Mark E. Farrell

San Francisco is in the midst of a serious housing shortage and crisis. For years, as a city, we simply have not produced enough housing to keep up with the growing demand. As a re... Read More

Hungry Palate

The Original U.S. Restaurant: Italian with Sicilian sensibility

By Ernest Beyl

There was rejoicing in the streets of North Beach late last year when the Original U.S. Restaurant reopened after it was forced to close at its previous site. The reopening was a m... Read More

Supervisor's Report

Progressives didn’t cause this problem

By Aaron Peskin

A 1979 relic of a state law permitting developers to add height and bulk if they set aside 13 to 20 percent of units for “affordable housing” has our Planning Departmen... Read More

Bellingham by the Bay

The helpful elf and the compassionate politico

By

I need that eclectic mind of yours, Brucie.” So said Herb Caen on the phone about a hundred years ago. “You know what eclectic means, Herb?” I asked. “It me... Read More

Sports Corner

Yay, super void

By Steve Hermanos

How we fill the voids in our lives tells volumes about who we are. There’s the void in our heart — the person filling that space is a living manifestation of our essence. T... Read More

Political Animal

Another dog dies at the hands of Petco groomer

By Susan Dyer Reynolds

Yet another dog has died at a routine grooming session at a Petco store. Joe and Cynthia Eaton took their Jack Russell terrier, Skip, to a Petco in Napa on Dec. 30, 2015, after emp... Read More

The Adventures of Skylar Grey

The night before Jazzy passed away, she was with Steve, Blue, and me in our usual motel room after another treatment at UC Davis, part of a fibrosarcoma research project with the American Cancer Society. When she was diagnosed, the head of the oncology department gave her two months to live. "This is an incredibly aggressive tumor," he explained.... Read More

The Tablehopper

Openings and a reopening: The Company, Wise Sons Bagel & Bakery; Alfred’s Steakhouse

By Marcia Gagliardi

MARINA/COW HOLLOW The Mina Test Kitchen will open its third pop-up, The Company (2120 Greenwich Street) on March 2, featuring Indian cuisine (with a particular inspiration from Nor... Read More

Back Story

The ‘nude’ girl in the fish bowl

By Ernest Beyl

The other day I had lunch at Original Joe’s with Maxine Maas, 90 years old, great legs with trim ankles and a face that reminded me of Ursula Andress, the Bond girl in the mo... Read More

Movie Reviews

Movies for grownups

By Michael Snyder

Now that the Oscars have come and gone, entertainment awards hysteria is on hold until the Emmys in early fall. That generally means more adult fare at the cinema until the movie i... Read More

New & Notable

Lasan brings traditional and innovative Indian food to Cow Hollow

By Julie Mitchell

The story of Lasan on Fillmore is a love story. It’s the tale of a chef who founded a successful San Francisco restaurant, which he then had to sell to deal with family healt... Read More

North Beach Journal

No such thing as a free lunch for your columnist, and other neighborhood updates

By Ernest Beyl

THE HABERDASHER Gentleman haberdasher Wilkes Bashford missed my deadline last month. He died just after I turned in my February column. I counted Wilkes a friend, and patronized hi... Read More

La Deliziosa Vita

Use store-bought tortellini for a warming weeknight soup

By Susan Dyer Reynolds

I remember watching my grandfather and my mother make tortellini — ring-shaped pasta they filled with cheese. It was a labor of love; not hard to do but not something you’d... Read More

2016 February