history
Crabs, Communists, and Cops: The Story of Specs’
The bar in question is officially called Specs’ Twelve Adler Museum Cafe, but everyone just calls it Specs’. I don’t recall exactly when I first discovered the joint but I’ve been a regular ever since. To the uninitiated, visiting Specs’ is like walking into a Tom Waits song.
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
The 90s Are Back! We Have Color Changing Shirts!
As 2024 winds down, we’re reflecting on another incredible year of sharing the stories, art, culture, and nightlife that make the Bay Area so unique. BrokeAssStuart.com wouldn’t be what it is without you—our community of readers, supporters, and believers in independent media. This year, instead of asking you to join Patreon
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 guys, “The Kill-Your-Twat”. The beloved Mission neighborhood dive bar institution turns 20 years old Monday, having opened August 4, 1994. Drinks will
Dolores Park: A Poorly Reconstructed History
If you have passed Dolores Park lately you will have noticed that she is undergoing major reconstructive surgery. But while her lower half looks like it was struck by a small meteor, her upper half is open and will remain open throughout the summer. The upper leisure area is noticeably
An SF History Lesson and Advice on How to Fight for Housing Rights
Railroad industrialist Charles Crocker was a real asshole. You know the kind I mean, the bastards who think that just because they have money, they can buy, fuck, and own anything they want. The kind filled with the type of arrogance that ultimately brings down monarchies, leads companies be dismantled
Help Save A Rad Part of SF History by Preserving the Doggie Diner Heads
The Doggie Diner Heads, a San Francisco icon from the 1950’s to the 1980’s are in need of a little TLC. John Law, Burning Man Co-Founder, original member of The Cacophony Society and steward of the little (big) pups has begun a kickstarter campaign to keep them from being sent out to pasture, and
FREE TONIGHT: Get Drunk and Learn About the History of Partying in Brooklyn
Get drunk and party while learning or…learn about the history of partying while getting shitfaced! Tonight you can join the Society for the Advancement of Social Studies (S.A.S.S) at The Bedford as they bring you three lectures that will teach you all about the history of partying. Find out who
Libraries, Galleries, and Hostels: The Broke-Ass Traveler’s Sanctuaries in Italy
Photo by Leigh Cuen Italy is not a cheap place to travel. Expensive culinary delights call out to pedestrians like sirens. Italy’s famous museums are costly and offer the crowded feeling of Disneyland or a zoo. Visitors are herded past masterpieces in lines, which often snake around corners and out