history
SFCentric History: When Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Created in San Francisco
San Francisco is an old, iron safe filled with gold, glory, disaster, and secrets. SFCentric History is a column, by SF writer V. Alexandra de F. Szoenyi, that digs in the vaults of local history and shares the sensational people, places, and things that rocked San Francisco. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
SFCentric History: The San Franciscans Who Survived The Titanic
SFCentric History is a new column, by SF writer V. Alexandra de F. Szoenyi, that digs in the vaults of local history and shares the sensational people, places, and things that rocked San Francisco. The sinking of the RMS Titanic is one of the biggest disasters in history. Many San Franciscans
SFCentric History: When Houdini Escaped His Way Around San Francisco
San Francisco is an old, iron safe filled with gold, glory, disaster, and secrets. SFCentric History is a new column, by SF writer V. Alexandra de F. Szoenyi, that digs in the vaults of local history and shares the sensational people, places, and things that rocked San Francisco. Harry Houdini (born Erik
Maya Angelou, San Francisco’s First African-American Female Streetcar Conductor
By Alex Szoenyi The first African-American to pen a best-selling nonfiction book. The first African-American and first female to read a poem at a Presidential Inauguration. The first African-American female director. It seems that Dr. Maya Angelou was destined for a life of trailblazing firsts. Perhaps the initial, yet most obscure
Crabs, Communists, and Cops: The Story of Specs’
It’s a sad thing that The Bold Italic has shuttered. They did a lot of really great things for many SF artists and writers and it’s a true shame that they are no longer around. The Bold Italic not only gave SF creatives great exposure, it also actually paid them good
The Secret, Longhair, Radical Activist History of Mayor Ed Lee
Get this — SF Mayor Ed Lee was once a radical tenants’ rights activist back in the 1970s. Yes, I said tenants’ rights activist. The same Ed Lee who currently presides over a stratospheric real estate boom that’s evicting unprecedented numbers of ethnic working class families and elderly people once dedicated his life to
Happy 20th, Kilowatt! The Life & Times of SF’s Favorite Punk Rock-Sports-Biker-Pool Dive Bar
Today’s the 20th anniversary of the The Kilowatt! Or as my hot biker roommate used to call it back when it was her pick-up bar for tattooed, punk rock, pomade-hair biker boys, “The Kill-Your-Twat”. The beloved Mission neighborhood dive bar institution turns 20 years old Monday, having opened August 4,