Local Legends

02 Mar 2022

10 Legendary Writers on San Francisco

The evolution of San Francisco is a curious one, an LSD-laced trip towards that ever-elusive thing named Progress. Innovation. Utopia.  Here are 10 writers on San Francisco over the decades, volunteering both gripe and glorification. Rudyard Kipling “San Francisco has only one drawback: ‘Tis hard to leave.” Tongo Eisen-Martin  all

Lydia Sviatoslavsky 0
23 Feb 2022

Consulting the Crass: 5 Filthy Writers You Should Know

The price that great writers pay for cursing convention and soiling the milquetoast ranks, it seems, is braving an inflamed collective that refuses to acknowledge the filth at its feet. At best, such artistic confrontation is met with a wince. At worst, literary banishment. And so writers who present an

Lydia Sviatoslavsky 0
31 Jan 2022

Cafe Du Soleil Is Coming Back To Lower Haight!

It’s true, I swear. We did report in April 2020 that it was gone forever, but now, it’s back, with a freshly painted logo, and across the street from its former location! Word on the street is that this new spot has a larger kitchen space, so we could be

0
26 Jan 2022

New ‘Visual History’ Book Celebrates the Legacy of SF-based Experimental Group The Residents

“I’ve been creating coffee-table books for bands largely from the ’80s for the last few years,” says Aaron Tanner, a visual artist known for his design work with Ween and the Pixies. “When the opportunity presented itself to do a book with one of the most inspiring visual groups ever,

Lydia Sviatoslavsky 0
19 Jan 2022

Documentarian Nicholas Taplin Releases 6.5 Years Worth of Photos From the Oakland DIY Scene

If you’re a regular at Oakland house shows, you’ve likely shared a room with Nicholas Taplin.  In 2015, Taplin began filming DIY shows and sharing footage under the name Post-Consumer. Feeling “unconditioned socially” given his Quaker boarding school education on the East Coast, Taplin discovered this form of documentation both

Lydia Sviatoslavsky 0
17 Jan 2022

What’s A Bodega To A Corner Store?

Regionality, mostly. The name is seemingly so universal yet specific to New York, and grappling with this contradiction are people on Twitter who bemoan that bodegas and corner stores are the same thing. Went to New York and now I can’t stop saying bodega pic.twitter.com/EzpV7O2B6e — Colin Blanc (@icewintrs) January

0
17 Jan 2022

The World’s First Cryogenically Preserved Man Has Waited 55 Years For A Cure

As the first man to be cryogenically frozen, James Bedford may wait, preserved in liquid nitrogen, for a cure to the terminal cancer that he died from in 1967, SF Gate reports. Last Wednesday, January 15, marks the 55th anniversary of his freezing. After earning a master’s in teaching at

0
08 Dec 2021

The Dark & Disturbing History of the St. Francis Hotel

The Westin St. Francis Hotel looms on the edge of Union Square, bearing silent witness to flocks of tourists and shoppers who likely know nothing of its history. Built in 1904, the St. Francis Hotel is now known to be one of the most haunted hotels in California. Many notable

Lydia Sviatoslavsky 0