PHOTOS AND WORDS BY ANDY SAMWICK I have been noticing the growing trend toward tasting menus some restaurants are taking. At Marlena, my companions and I indulged in an exceptionally lavish encounter with the restaurant’s current prix fixe menu. My friends were from out-of-town but had once lived here a

The circumambulation of Mt. Tam. A backyard pilgrimage and hang-out for the Beats since 1956. A student of Zen Buddhism, Snyder had heard of a ceremonial walking practice in Kyoto and around India’s holy Mt. Kailash.

Step into a world of adventure with the San Francisco Beer Passport. There’s no better way to explore San Francisco than to literally drink it in. This passport is amazing! Each one contains 27 coupons to buy one beer, get a second beer FREE at 27 of the finest locally

Written by Arianna Hayes Having been a resident of Nagoya for about seven years, I was asked to write about the differences between The Bay Area and Japan. I’m sure you’re expecting to hear about how Japan supersedes America in all forms, and how anime is amazing. I mean, the

Welcome to The Transgender Sabbatical Blues, an ongoing series exploring Dena Rod’s experience as a transgender, non-binary, Iranian American Bay Area local who took a five-week sabbatical all over the Northern Hemisphere. I couldn’t plan something like a trip to Iran by myself. Despite her fear, Becky still helped with gathering

What sets Martuni’s apart from your average bar is not just its magnificent martinis but the fact that it is also a piano bar. In the back room, you can sing to your heart’s content while being accompanied by the bar’s pianists or catch a drag show where the queens

California’s homelessness crisis is a homegrown problem that is deepening amid a shortage of affordable housing and emergency shelter, and it’s often the brutal conditions of living on the street that trigger behavioral health problems, such as depression and anxiety, researchers found in a comprehensive study on homelessness.

It’s been less than seven months since the start of 2023 and with that in mind, it’s worthwhile to take a second to reflect on some of the strangest happenings in one of California’s strangest locales.  

What to do with mine was so clear to me: I had to go to Iran. After a lifetime of my parents always advising me I should wait until my thirties to sojourn to the motherland (something I’ve explored before), here was the perfect opportunity. What could possibly go wrong with planning this type of adventure?