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. This time it’s all

Photo: David Sawyer/Flickr The Mission is the oldest neighborhood in San Francisco. With that distinction, comes antique architecture and notable addresses. Such is the case of the Tanforan cottages at 214 and 220 Dolores St. These homes belonged to Toribio Tanforan and his family and are two of only about

I’ve got some awesome news! We received a grant from the Civic Joy Fund to put out a literary magazine celebrating SF and acting to counter the stupid “Doom Loop” narrative. It’s a gift to the people of San Francisco. And after months of working on this project it’s now available

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. Chinese culture is an

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

Muhammed Ali. Joe Louis. Larry Holmes. Mike Tyson. George Foreman. These incredible fighters are household names and legends in the boxing world. But do you now who the first African-American heavyweight champion of the world was? The man Ali called the greatest? His name was John Arthur “Jack” Johnson, and he trained, fought, and won right here in San Francisco.

Fire Chief Dennis T. Sullivan’s cautionary words proved prophetic, as the city was thrown into a disaster which destroyed over 80% of the city and killed about 3,000 people–including Sullivan.

Ah, the hanky: Our community’s polychromatic tradition of flagging the way we like to fuck. Being a perv and a nerd, I’m obviously a fan, with it’s origins supposedly going back in the mists of time to square dances full of randy forty-niners and wayward sailors out for a hot

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