In spite of pop, punk, rap, country, R&B, metal, new wave, new world, and other new sounds rattling around in our brains, jazz — still America’s unique gift to the worl... Read More
Claude Jarman Jr. will be 80 on Sept. 27. He doesn’t look it. He doesn’t act it. He doesn’t live it. Many years ago I saw a movie with a youngster named Claude Ja... Read More
Not long ago I heard from Ryan Russo, a young guy who operates Walk SF Tours. He liked something I wrote for my Sketches column and invited me to tag along on one of his tours, The... Read More
Over the past several months, I’ve written extensively for the Marina Times about the efforts of Jordan Angle to open a high-end lounge called Tryst in his grandmother’... Read More
The other day I cleaned out a closet and found a March 1970 Holiday magazine, then a big glossy publication read by big, glossy, discerning travelers with lots of discretionary inc... Read More
Tony Bennett’s birthday is Aug. 3. And where will he have his birthday party? Well, right where he left his heart last time he was in San Francisco — at Gigi’s Sotte ... Read More
DAWDLING THROUGH NORTH BEACH My buddy James Melling, the Gentleman Trencherman of North Beach as I frequently call him, has a habit. Actually, it’s a good habit, and I wouldn... Read More
The reason 2460 Lombard Street in the Marina has been a vacant blight for many years rather than a Pet Food Express (PFE) replete with a $2 million renovation has nothing to do wit... Read More
The other day someone said she thought I was becoming the Herb Caen of North Beach. Good try on a compliment, but I could never match Herb’s wit and wisdom. Bruce Bellingham ... Read More
Recently I wrote a column called “Broadway Kaleidoscope,” the Back Story about what I called the Golden Years of Broadway in North Beach. I said that in the 1960s — m... Read More
At a cafe in Mill Valley, Jordan Angle opens a large binder containing a business plan for Tryst, the high-end restaurant and lounge that he and his partners want to open at 493 Br... Read More
From reading my monthly column, Sketches from a North Beach Journal, one might get the impression that poet, painter, and free-range radical Lawrence Ferlinghetti so dominates the ... Read More
A couple of years ago we were visiting Los Angeles and our usual hotel was booked solid. At the last minute, we took a room at a motel on the border of ritzy Santa Monica and eclec... Read More
Who are the real movers and shakers in North Beach? Let’s see if we can run down a few of them for you. And I believe it’s important to realize that not all movers are ... Read More
North Beach has always had an abundance of fine restaurants, at least as far back as I can remember, and I have a memory that goes back to the time when Fior d’Italia was on Broa... Read More