Everyone knows that Mark Twain never uttered the “coldest winter” quote and that Lombard is not really the crookedest street. But what other San Francisco lore that’s commonly bandied about happens to be patently false? Inspired by the mythbusters at Snopes.com, we put the Snopes to some common tropes to assess the overall veracity and truthiness of several San Francisco urban legends, myths and quirky factoids. So, here are some debunkings and rebunkings of popular SF legend. And if you care dispute any of our verdicts, let’s air it out down in the comments.

Claim: San Francisco is 7 miles by 7 miles and 49 square miles.
FALSE
The square mileage of San Francisco varies depending whether you include Alcatraz, Treasure Island or even the Farallon Islands — all of which are technically part of the City and County of San Francisco. Still, San Francisco is very pointedly not squarely shaped and there are no square mileage estimates that will calculate to an even 49 miles. The US Census Bureau estimates San Francisco as 46.87 square miles while SF Department of Public Works estimates the size of San Francisco as 47.355 square miles.

Claim: Dan White got away with killing Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone using the “Twinkie defense.”
FALSE
White’s attorneys did successfully get his first-degree murder charge reduced to a manslaughter charge in the 1978 shootings of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. But the term “Twinkie defense” is an inaccurate piece of legal slang that misrepresents his attorneys’ actual arguments. White’s legal defense team argued that he suffered from “diminished capacity” due to depression, therefore committing the murders because of his affected mental state than malice. His psychiatrist argued that evidence of White’s depression could be found in his having switched from an exceptionally healthy diet to a diet of almost exclusively junk food, e.g. Twinkies. See also this.

Writer and Merry Prankster Paul Krassner is credited with coining the term “Twinkie defense” in his Bay Guardian coverage of the trial and its unpopular verdict. In the Chronicle, Herb Caen reported hearing an attorney using the phrase “the Twinkie insanity defense”.

“I don't think Twinkies were ever mentioned in testimony,” White’s lead attorney Douglas Schmidt told the Chronicle in 2003. Schmidt did however admit that “HoHos and Ding Dongs” were mentioned in the testimony.

(Photo: green kozi on flickr)

Photo: rulenumberone2

Claim: There are no cemeteries in San Francisco.
FALSE
There are a couple! There used to be cemeteries in San Francisco.up until the graves were moved to Colma beginning in the 1920s. However, a small cemetery still exists at Mission Dolores, there is a military cemetery in the Presidio and archeologists believe that thousands of bodies remain beneath the Legion of Honor.

Photo: Jay Barmann/SFist

Claim: Rice-A-Roni originated in San Francisco
TRUE
While it was originally an Armenian rice pilaf dish, the packaged product we now call Rice-A-Roni is indeed a “San Francisco treat”. As Golden Grain Macaroni Company co-founder Lois DeDemenico told NPR in 2008, she learned the recipe from her elderly Armenian landlord in a San Francisco apartment. Her husband Tom added dry chicken soup to the recipe when Rice-A-Roni was commercially introduced in 1958. Quaker Oats acquired the Golden Grain Macaroni Company in 1986 and the Rice-A-Roni brand is now owned by PepsiCo.

In the second stunner piece of news regarding local media outlets of the last four months, 7x7 magazine announced this morning that they are ceasing print publication after their March 2015 issue. They will continue as an all-digital publication, per an email statement from Editor-in-Chief Chloe Harris. This news follows the abrupt October closure of the venerable San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Says Harris, "Saying farewell to print is bittersweet. For more than a decade, we have relished a creative process that has fed our souls, and the people we have met along the way have become our family and friends. But the growing challenges of the publishing industry are well known to all of us, and the future is online."

She notes that 7x7.com has doubled its traffic in the last year, now numbering 600,000 unique users a month, which is ten times what their print circulation is.

Some layoffs are occurring today, we're told, as the staff count will necessarily get slimmer without the monthly demands of producing a print publication.

Harris adds that the company will occasionally produce special print issues, like their annual City Guide. And, she says, "We remain committed to the quality of the 7x7 brand and its mission to be the premier lifestyle destination for San Francisco. 7x7.com will double our audience over the next 12 months, engaging both the SF Bay Area and the global community that increasingly seeks to travel and relocate here."

Cherish that March issue, 7x7 fans. And later keep in the stack with your beloved back issues of Gourmet.

Fantastic, amazing news for every single SFist reader who's commented (or just thought) "I miss Brock": You can now read his sterling prose, on lovely high-quality stock, for free.

SFist's former editor Brock Keeling left us (we miss him too!) for 7x7 Magazine, a glossy publication that's been celebrating "the best of San Francisco" since 2001. (Disclosure: this reporter presently freelances for 7x7's online edition, but they didn't ask me to write this post.)

SFist has gently ribbed 7x7 in the distant past, but since SFist's former style editor Chloe Harris bought the publication earlier this year, we've found a lot less to grouse about.

The publication routinely offers free subscriptions, and now is apparently the season, as a post on their site today says that you can sign up for a gratis subscription until Sunday at midnight. All you need to do is live in the Bay Area and fill out a form, and you'll have Brock and his colleagues in your mailbox in no time.

It's a day of inside media baseball, as yet another locally-based publication has left us. This time, the deceased is California Home+Design, an upmarket print and online shelter magazine, which Tuesday closed and laid off all employees.

In a mass email sent Tuesday, CH+D Executive editor Erin Feher said "As of today, California Home+Design has ceased operations indefinitely."

Feher told Curbed SF that the publication's parent company, McEvoy Media, "set out to sell the title a few months back. Apparently they are still in negotiations with potential buyers, but regardless have decided to cease publication indefinitely and lay off all staff."

McEvoy Media, part of the McEvoy Group, was once home several magazines, including 7x7, Spin, and CH+D. They've been steadily divesting the properties of late, selling the "prominent yet struggling" Spin to Buzzmedia in 2012 and 7x7 to Chloe Harris/Metropolitan Media Inc. earlier this year.

Rumors began swirling regarding CH+D's future after the latter sale, as the publications shared some content, staff members and, obviously, sales efforts. With CH+D's closure, McEvoy is left with a couple book publishers, most notably, Chronicle Books.

The McEvoy family also owns a ranch in Petaluma, at which they sell olive oil, wine, and body lotion.

[Curbed SF]
[CH+D]

Previously on SFist:
7x7 Editor Chloe Harris Decides To Buy Publication
Beloved Media Watchdog Calls It Quits

Every year, local magazine 7x7 publishes a definitive list of 100 local things you absolutely must eat before you die. Which makes us wonder if we're in some kind of Final Destination situation. But if you have to eat before you die, and most of us do, this makes for a handy resource.

If you didn't quite finish last year's foodie bucket list, you're probably in pretty good shape because there are plenty of classic dishes carried over: the deep-dish Brass Monkey at Little Star Pizza, cracked crab from Swan's Oyster Depot, wings from San Tung. With so many great restaurants opening last year, there are some newcomers as well: the buckwheat waffle from Lt. Waffle, crispy octopus from 1760, just to name two. The biggest category, as Eater SF notes, are three whole roast chickens from Park Tavern, Limon Rotisserie and, of course, Zuni Cafe.

Anyhow, to keep up with the times, the whole list is available as an iPhone or Android app with dining statistics and map-based browsing and banner ads and everything. Back in my day (2009), we just printed the whole thing out at work and stuck it up on the fridge in the apartment.

[7x7]

A drop of inside-baseball publishing news for your consideration: Chloe Harris, Editor-in-Chief of noted local mag 7x7, went ahead and bought the entire publication, thus living many an editor's pipe dream. Though she told her staff last Friday about the change in ownership, the news was made public today.

As reported in SF Biz Times, "She will run 7X7's print and online operations as President and Editor in Chief of Metropolitan Media Inc., with help from her father John Harris, who is CEO of the family owned company."

SFist asked Harris how, if at all, the editorial voice for the style- and design-driven publication might change. "It's business as usual," Harris explained. "We'll continue to build upon the editorial momentum in print and online, with expanded Bay Area coverage and an eye toward long-term growth, diversification, and even deeper community engagement."

Metropolitan Media bought 7x7 (formed in 2001) from McEvoy Media, which owns Chronicle Books and California Home + Design.

Harris, we should point out, also contributed to SFist as our former style editor.

Hey, you. Yes, you. Sitting there glazed-over and glassy-eyed from staring at your preferred choice of online viewing. Listen up: did you know that changes are afoot in the world of local print publishing? It's true. And this time the news involves neither embarrassing attempts to regain ad revenue nor pathetic blanket statements about the future of media from brain-dead journalists. It's good news. Shocking, but true. Here we go:

First, 7x7's executive editor Chloé Harris has given the magazine a much-needed makeover. It's smaller, tighter, and even got its spine back. Literally. We're hearing that they're seeking a fresh new load of writers, photographers, illustrators, and more —e.g., Ethan Watters wrote a piece for their April issue. Their most recent issue, the fashion one, is worthy of picking up or stealing from your dentist's office.

As for the city's other glossy mag, Modern Luxury's San Francisco Magazine, they done got themselves a shiny new EIC. Jon Steinberg (the one who's not the president of BuzzFeed) spent the last six years at New York magazine, focusing on the "Strategist" section. He's also won several National Magazine Awards. Fancy. However, we have yet to find his Twitter or Facebook, so we have yet to form a thoughtful opinion of him. Nevertheless, good luck and welcome to Baghdad by the Bay, Jon!

And finally, had you ever checked out Oakland Magazine? We had not. But their latest issue is all about beer, so it can't be half bad.

7x7's annual list of the 100 Things to Eat [in S.F.] Before You Die has just hit the web, in slideshow form this time. The editors over there have shaken things up with the not often changed list, adding 33 new dishes to the ranks from a bevy of new restaurants, and nixing some dated dishes that, perhaps, you should feel okay dying without eating — lettuce cups at Betelnut anyone?

Among the newly minted must-eats are things like the langos (fried potato bread) at Bar Tartine; the pork belly bun from the Chairman Bao truck; and the Nojo sundae at Nojo. Who makes their favorite ramen? That would be Izakaya Sozai.

If you want compare, here's last year's list.

[7x7]

After almost a decade in Union Square, local lifestyle magazine 7x7 will pack up their staplers and Post-Its and move to SOMA—glorious, rad, joyous, dirty, homelessy, wealthy South of Market. The publication(s) will move into the old Chronicle Books spot at 680 Second Street, right next door to Ironside (home of the city's best Cuban sandwich.) But why the move? SFist asked Chloé Harris, 7x7's sparkling new executive editor, for more details.

"We're making the move to SoMa to join our sister company, Chronicle Books, at 680 Second Street," Harris explains, adding, "We'll miss Union Square—we've been here since 2003 and have grown very used to window shopping at lunch—but I think we're all excited to launch the new look of 7x7 (redesign debuts in March) from a fresh new space. The building is architecturally stunning, and I love the creative energy coming from all the tech startups, design and artist studios in the neighborhood. I know our sister mag California Home + Design is looking forward to that, as well as to proximity to the design center."

7x7 will get to call Current TV its neighbor.

Also noteworthy? The office space, a mixture of glass and opulence, won an American Institute of Architect Award for its stellar interiors.

What with the city's attention so clearly fixated on Ingleside and Silver Terrace, 7x7 Magazine wants you to be aware of these little-known San Francisco neighborhoods: the Mission, Hayes Valley, and Dogpatch. It seems, at least according to April's "Neightborhood Issue," they should be on your radar. Why? 7x7 explains with harrowing, soothsayer-like detail: "If restaurants, pop-ups, and micro-roasters are any indication of the city's future -- and rest assured, they are -- then these are the three neighborhoods you'll be flocking to next."

We look forward to next month's issue, which, presumably, will feature articles such as: how electronic mail will change they way people communicate, the cupcake craze, and how gay cancer has affected the Castro's confirmed bachelor population.

Since you live in a classy major American metropolitan area, you've probably noticed an abundance of discount sites shilling for local businesses at deep discounts. We recognize you are a busy person with a limited number of dollars in your wallet, so in "What's the Deal?" SFist will be cutting through the crap to break down the most recent deals. We promise all mentions are 100% editorial and we don't make any money off this garbage.

Yelp Deals: 50% Off Risque Tour for Two: Remember when we used to be able to pass off our interest in touring the San Francisco Armory as purely historical? (Yeah, us neither.) Then came the Kink.com renovations and last year's (semi) exclusive tours, now it's basically the Alcatraz of porn and you don't even have to ride a ferry there. The advantage of Yelp offering deals is that you get to see what all your Yelp friends think about the place first. (Just kidding, no one on Yelp is your friend). In the end, you'll have to decide for yourself whether two tickets for an hour-long tour of porn sets are worth 30 bucks. [YelpDeals]

GiltCity: 50% off 7x7 Magazine Subscription: $7 for a one year subscription to 7x7 Magazine seems like a great deal until you remember they were offering these up for free a couple months back (and also, they have a website, duh). We'd tell you to save your seven bucks for a burrito, but we're afraid a recent 7x7 cover story already put the burrito trend to sleep. [GiltCity]

$35 for one 60-minute singing bowl therapy group session: Have you ever wanted to sit in a room for an hour with a group of other people and listen to a bowl vibrate? Now that service is more affordable than it used to be. Personally though, we'll be spending 30 bucks on cocktails and feeding the remaining Lincoln to the jukebox. Enjoy your singing bowl though. [kgb]

Slightly modified header photo by Angelo DeSantis

San Francisco's much-loved (and overstuffed!) carne asada burritos have been put to the test. What test? The taste-test. Ryan Farr (4505 Meats), Prisca Chen (winner of burrito judge contest on 7x7.com), Matthew Accarrino (SPQR), Margo True (Sunset magazine editor), and Charles Hodgkins (Burrito Eater). El Farolito and Papalote, unsurprisingly, were tops. Check out 7x7 to see who reigns supreme. [via Grub]

Things sure have changed since the Hartle era at la-di-da 7x7 Magazine came to an end. For example, it's now less la-di-da. And we like that. Another example? This month the local mag boasts Vernon Davis, a brawny, black footballer player, sans shirt on its cover. We like that, too. ("During his sophomore year at the University of Maryland, he changed majors from criminal justice to studio arts, his passion," they point out. "'Once I got into college, I felt free...It didn’t matter what anyone had to say about me.'" We hear you, Vernoin. We hear you loud and clear.)

Anyway, it's all part of their annual "Hot 20 Under 40," the annual issue where the editorial staff plucks young-ish SF ilk deemed worthy of glossy print. Admittedly -- save for Davis, D6 Supervisor candidate Jane Kim, and Bar Tartine's Chris Kronner -- we don't recognize most of the names on the list. (Mint.com founder Aaron Patzer, we would be remiss not to point out, looks like a searingly hot piece of tail in his photo. So, you know, kudos to him on being hot and boo to us for not knowing who he was beforehand.)

Check out who made the cut here.

Anyone under the obviously creepy and unforgivable age of 40 you think should have been included? Let us know in the comments.