The Darwin Awards, sauerkraut juice cocktail, U.S. Restaurant reopens, and the best free ice cream

In this month’s column, I’m serving up a little of this and a little of that, plus a few loose ends. THE DARWIN AWARDS These days North Beach is full of Segways — you... Read More

North Beach Journal

Capp’s Corner rebirth, a penny dreadful, book launch, Rube’s Lab, praise for reporters, and neighborhood gossip

By Ernest Beyl

Today your personal philosopher (nose always pointed into the wind) will amaze and titillate you with news, notes, gossip, and wild rumors about the North Beach scene. But first, h... Read More

North Beach Journal

Street names from Brannan to Green, the restaurant scene, Deadheads, and remembering Ornette Coleman

By Ernest Beyl

This month’s North Beach Sketches includes a bit of this and a bit of that — Mormons, vigilantes, escaped convicts, some recollections of a rock ‘n’ roll jam ba... Read More

North Beach Journal

It’s the season of the itch

By Ernest Beyl

Just as The New York Times always reminds us on its front page, here’s “All the News That’s Fit to Print” this month. Actually, it’s all the news I co... Read More

North Beach Journal

The times they are a changin’ in the old neighborhood

By Ernest Beyl

A REQUIEM FOR CAPP’S CORNER The evening of Tuesday, March 31, I sat in the bar at Original Joe’s in North Beach with my friend, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl N... Read More

North Beach Journal

Cheers to Capp’s Corner

By Ernest Beyl

UPDATE: A SHORT REQUIEM FOR CAPP’S CORNER The evening of Tuesday, March 31, I sat in the bar at Original Joe’s in North Beach with my friend, San Francisco Chronicle columnist ... Read More

North Beach Journal

Good news and bad news — more on Mama’s and Capp’s Corner, a new supervisor, and a Primo Angeli retrospective

By Ernest Beyl

This month I have some good news and I have some bad news. Let’s get right to it. Here are some of the most important things that have happened (or not happened) recently in ... Read More

North Beach Journal

Kerouac and Cassady, Capp’s Corner, and the Angela conundrum

By Ernest Beyl

January was an interesting month for your rambling Sketches columnist. Word came that Grizzly Peak Press in Berkeley will publish my book “Sketches From a North Beach Journal... Read More

North Beach Journal

The last of Capp’s Corner?

By Ernest Beyl

If you run across a restaurant where you often see priests eating with priests, or sporting girls with sporting girls, you may be confident that it is good.” I am indebted fo... Read More

North Beach Journal

If the old neighborhood ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and several other year-end holiday suggestions

By Ernest Beyl

Here come the year-end holidays, and not a moment too soon. Winking lights have been strung up along Upper Grant Avenue in North Beach since early November. Shops like Schein &... Read More

North Beach Journal

Pasta and Puccini, Angela’s street party, Marcia’s neighborhood summertime

By Ernest Beyl

There’s a sign over the bar at Original Joe’s in North Beach: “It’s better to live rich than to die rich.” I concur with that sentiment, and here are ... Read More

North Beach Journal

Popcorn, pasta, Poets Plaza, Puccini, Joe DiMaggio Playground … and a kick in the ‘calzoni’

By Ernest Beyl

A POET’S DREAM REALIZED? Recently, I received an invitation from Angela Alioto, international director of the Knights of St. Francis (an unofficial Catholic lay organization ... Read More

North Beach Journal

The Beats, Upper Grant, the martini, and Live Worms

By Ernest Beyl

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

North Beach Journal

Filthy McNasty, Freddie Freeloader, Magnolia Thunderpussy, Lavern Cummings … and a happy birthday to Tony Bennett

By Ernest Beyl

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

North Beach Journal

The Gentleman Trencherman, the bartender, the barista, the philosopher, the photographer, the cop, and the mama

By Ernest Beyl

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

North Beach Journal