Local Legends

09 Jan 2019

The East Bay Is Invading a Hesitant Hollywood

The 76th Golden Globe Awards aired Sunday night and reports indicate (full disclosure: I had zero interest in watching) the evening was full of scandal, awkwardness and some Fiji Water girl photo bomb situation – really nothing out of the ordinary for an event where Hollywood elite gather to congratulate

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02 Jan 2019

Blur Bar in SF Is Soon to Be a Thing of the Past

The face of Polk Street is changing. Period. But then again, what San Francisco neighborhood is safe from the dreaded “G” word anymore? Little by little, the constants that delivered debauchery and delectable (or dicey) dining that once defined the district are slipping away into a soon-to-be distant past. It

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02 Jan 2019

Oscar Grant, 10 Years Later: “Gone But Not Forgotten”

His name has become nationally synonymous with the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement. The image is now iconic: a young black man with a great smile and a black beanie. His story has been retold in sidewalk conversations, in small bars, on the big screen and covered by

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02 Jan 2019

Mission Thrift Closes For Good After 20 Years

Once upon a time in a land that hasn’t moved but seems so very far away, Werner Werwie was a thrift shop king around here. For decades, he has supplied the city’s frugally fashionable with unique and eccentric duds at well-worn prices. At one point Werwie owned seven thrift stores,

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05 Dec 2018

A Few Good Things George Bush Did for the Bay

President George H.W. Bush is being honored among a cast of characters that make up our past and present, good and bad, inspirational and disturbing – all under one chapel roof in an emotional and fairly awkward collision of worlds. We could wax poetic on the late president’s legacy, but

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21 Nov 2018

People Are Painting the Mezzanine like Chili’s in Protest

Corporate evil-doers are booting the legendary Mezzanine in exchange for some plush office space. For all intents and purposes, it seems like a very sad done deal. But a group of people have started a Facebook event with the goal of saving the Mezz by hiding it in plain sight

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18 Nov 2018

Forty Years from Jonestown: Lest We Forget

A little over a year ago, I joined a team of other journalists at San Francisco State University with a mission to understand how Jonestown could have happened, but along the way we realized the most important part of the history was the people themselves. Many of them were local,

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14 Nov 2018

Long Live La Taqueria! The Battle to Save the Mission Icon Has Been Won

You have to be on your game to be considered “The Taqueria” in an area famous for stuffed tortilla goodness. La Taqueria has been honing their skills for 46 years and with the founder’s purchase of the iconic building, the Mission staple promises to keep it up for many years

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