Local Legends

The Real Duckman of San Francisco
There is a man in San Francisco who walks his pet duck…I know that sounds like the beginning of a joke or a nursery rhyme, but it is not. The Duckman of San Francisco pulls up in a Fiat, casually hops out, and opens the car door for his…duck. The

The Jazz Mobile Meets People Where They Are With Free Live Music
I was walking down Divisadero, back to work at Josey Baker where I shuttle bread to and fro. It’s a good job for someone who wants to keep their head down and to themselves. You see, I’ve been pretty overwhelmed with the existential weight of all the God-awful crap around

Hung Liu: Groundbreaking Oakland Artist Dies at 73
Hung Liu had cemented her place in Oakland history with a long life of contributing art she believed had the power to “change the world.” It was announced Monday that the 73-year-old painter died over the weekend from late-stage pancreatic cancer. Her passing comes less than two months before an

Summer Celebrations: Juneteenth, Pride, and Herd Immunity!
Every Tuesday our subscribers get this awesome roundup in their inboxes. You should sign up right here to make sure you never miss a thing. San Francisco has a lot to celebrate this summer! As The City’s vaccination rate rises, more and more of the events we love are roaring

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the Restless Revolutionary of Prose, Dies at 101
Lawrence Ferlinghetti — the poet, the publisher, the painter, the activist, the man who propelled the Beat Movement and brought City Lights to San Francisco — has died at the age of 101. According to his daughter, Julie Sasser, the lifelong provocateur lost his battle Monday with interstitial lung disease.

Santa Cruz Peace Train’s Curtis Reliford Holds Peace Rally This Friday in Response to Racist Assault
Curtis Reliford, a man of purpose who has dedicated the past 16 years of his life to helping others, was the victim of an attack in Westside Santa Cruz on the afternoon of Sept. 30. As a Santa Cruz resident for more than three decades, Reliford is a beloved and

Two SF Natives Doing Big Things with a Small Record Shop
“I was at Monterey Pop. I was also at the very first Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958. There’s a photograph in the Chronicle with a woman with a baby in a stroller August, 1958. And that’s me. My ex in-laws helped Bill Graham to start a lot of the early things to do with the Fillmore and Winter Land…

Help Keep City Lights Books Alive!
There are few things more holy to the soul of creative San Francisco than City Lights Books. It is part of our DNA, hell it’s part of the DNA of every countercultural movement that has existed in the United States. I love this bookstore so dearly that it would shatter