Walgreens. It's a great equalizer. We all need toothpaste (well, most of us), Advil, Band-aids, tampons, and deodorant (yes, you do), not to mention hastily selected non-porn birthday cards and toilet paper. Thus, your nearest Walgreens is likely to bring you into contact with everyone who lives within a five-block radius of you at one point or another. For some of us, like those who reside in the relatively calm and gentrified neighborhoods of Noe Valley and the Castro, a trip to Walgreens is a pleasant, deeply American experience. For others of us, it's a gauntlet of psychopaths several days off their meds and store clerks who would rather we were stabbed in the neck by the psychopath behind us than give us speedy service. more ›

On Thursday, real estate site Zillow will officially announce that San Francisco ranks tops when it comes to trick or treating. San Francisco climbed to 2nd on the 2010 list, trailing behind Seattle, but now Baghdad by the Bay reigns supreme when it comes to handing out fun-size, high fructose, corn syrupy treats. more ›

Living Social, a Groupon-ish site, recently concocted a survey about the dining fare San Francisco, and the rest of the country, loves best. According to Inside Scoop, it turns out Italian is our favorite cuisine. Finally, an explanation as to why it's impossible to get a reservation at The Stinking Rose or Bucca di Beppo. Classist gastronomic humor aside, San Francisco does have a delightful array of Italian (e.g., Delfina, Zuni, Gaspare). What's most shocking, however, is that Mexican food came in at second -- second! -- because as everyone knows, Southern California's south-of-the-border fare reigns supremeo. more ›

In a recent bit of linkbait study from Forbes.com, San Francisco was named among the Top 20 Cities in America with the Happiest Young Professionals. In the study, which was conducted by job happiness website CareerBliss.com, young professionals around the country, "were asked to rate eight factors that affect workplace happiness", which were then averaged in to one happiness score for each city. more ›

Lists. Where would struggling sites and bad l'interweb be without them? The most recent one to land in our inbox ranked the coolest and least coolest nationalities in the world. Which is an awful thing to do. Like, incredibly awful. Social media site Badoo "asked thirty thousand (30,000) people across fifteen (15) countries asked to name the coolest nationality." The end result? We rule, it seems. Here are the top ten finalists: more ›

According to Forbes Magazine, Gavin Newsom's alma mater is a better place for higher education than UC Berkeley. NBC Bay Area notes: "Santa Clara University received its highest-ever ranking from Forbes's 2011 list of the best colleges in America, jumping nearly 60 places from the 2010 list to No. 67 -- three spots ahead of the University of California, Berkeley." more ›

Billed as the key reason why romance novelist Danielle Steel skipped town, the city has no sense of high style. In fact, GQ just declared San Francisco the 20th Worst-Dressed U.S. city. Which...fine. We get it. We do. We're a bit lackadaisical when it comes to attire. Or are we? By and large, the city's key demographic goes to great lengths to dress with the right amount of affected insouciance or brightly-colored wan. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the Mission arrondissement where men look like bike-riding sheep (black pants, black shirt, hoodie, Giants cap) while the ladies tend to fashion themselves as third graders (rompers, Etsy jewelry, hairdos riddled with flyaways, cupcakes) so as to appear nonthreatening to men. more ›

San Pellegrino, the fizzy bottled water located below the Vitamin Water and Lipton Brisk at our nearest corner store, revealed their annual World's Best 50 Restaurant awards today. The kicker? Annual favorite the French Laundry was nowhere on the list. (Somewhere in Yountville, in a dark and quiet corner, a plump sprig of thyme shrivels up and rises into the ether.) Grub Street reports: "This year's big snub has to go to Thomas Keller's French Laundry, which was relegated to the runners-up list. In fact, with the exception of Alinea (6), all of the rest of the U.S. picks are based in New York City: Momofuku Ssam Bar (40), Eleven Madison Park (24 — up from No. 50 last year), Le Bernardin (18), Daniel (11), and Per Se (10)." more ›

Michael Bauer added 26 new Bay Area restaurants to the Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants list, which you should pick up on Sunday, April 3, when the guide hits newsstands. It's an annual treat. And now, featuring parenthetical snap judgements and incisive remarks by your SFist editor, the lucky 26 restaurants are as follows: more ›

The Advocate, a gay magazine born of struggle for equality back in the day but which has seen better days itself, just published a list of the 'Gayest Cities in America,' and you know what? San Francisco came in at number 11. ELEVEN! How is that possible, you ask, when by some accounts one in five men in this town prefers the penis to the vagina, and where we basically invented gay marriage AND glory holes? Well, it's possible because the Sadvocate used some asinine formula involving Gay.com memberships (hint: no one uses that site anymore), yellow pages entries with the word 'gay' in them (no one uses those either), number of openly gay elected officials (we have lots), number of Tegan and Sara concerts in the last five years, and the number of gay wedding officiants, which they obviously got wrong. more ›

The American Institute for Economic Research "ranked top cities and towns according to academic environment, quality of life and professional opportunity." And topping that list of metropolitan areas of 2.5 million or more? San Francisco. Yep, Baghdad by the Bay ranked best for college students. New York, Washington DC and (grain-of-salt alert) San Jose followed in second, third, and fourth place, respectively. For the full list and criteria, visit AIER.org. [HuffPo] more ›

Men's Health magazine, a fitness/softcore gay porn publication, has announced its official list of the best and worst cities in which to raise your little blessings. Basing their results on specific statistics -- i.e., accidental deaths, car-seat inspection locations, sex offenders, and abused-children protection -- San Francisco came in third place. more ›

San Francisco ranks no. 7 when it comes to living a vegetarian lifestyle. According to the fruits and nuts at Peta, we're pretty neat. more ›

Following Out Magazine's 'Power 50' list, which failed to mention a single popular powerful San Francisco-based homosexual, The Advocate (the bookish bottom to Out's circuit party top) also came out with their annual 'Forty Under 40' issue this week. And, yet again, much to our dismay, no one on said list resides in Baghdad by the Bay. more ›

Out Magazine's annual 'Power 50' list came out, if you will, last week. Her Holiness Ellen DeGeneres rules the gays this year, taking the top spot. Politician Barney Frank, Anderson Cooper, butch on-air personality Rachel Maddow, and American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert round out the top 5. more ›

Say what you will about The Chronicle, the gastronomes at Fifth and Mission know grub inside and out, period. Today some of The Chronicle's noted food writers reveal their favorite Bay Area dishes. While Chicken Joy at Jollibee was left off the list (sheer egregiousness), there are some true gems. Lynn Char Bennett likes the Mossabaha at Old Jerusalem Restaurant. Stacy Finz would like to binge eat Michael Mina's "deliciously decadent" lobster pot pie. Wine Editor Jon Bonné mainlines Verduno Pelaverga at SPQR and Perbacco whenever he has the chance. And dear Paolo Lucchesi temps the cavity creeps with a fondness for the caramels at Manresa. Michael Bauer, however, drops our jaw by fawning over the Jan Brady of In-N-Out: the single cheeseburger. "It's a secret indulgence," he coos. (The single cheeseburger, eh? Not the Double-Double? Damn you, Bauer, for you will never cease to fascinate and surprise.) Read the list in its entirety. more ›

This past weekend, SF Chronicle food scribe Michael Bauer released his annual 'Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants' guide. The usual suspects (RN47, Flour + Water, Frances, Barbacco) made the list during their first year out, while some notables from the 2009 list had to be cut. This morning, he writes about having to prunes some of his faves. Falling victim to Bauer's delete key from 2009 are: Aqua, Bistro Aix, Barber's Q in Napa, Buckeye Roadhouse in Mill Valley, Cortez, Fonda in Albany, Gitane, Jack Falstaff, Kokkari, Martini House in St. Helena, Marzano in Oakland, Matterhorn, Moss Room, Nick's Cove in Marshall, Nettie's Crab Shack, Sea Salt in Berkeley, Ton Kiang, Ubuntu in Napa. more ›

Comedy.com complied a list of the 20 worst bars in the U.S. Among them is "Bow Wow’s Cocktail Lounge." Tastefully described as "a Vietnamese whorehouse," the North Beach institute wins a spot on the unsavory list mainly because of the Yelp reviews it's garnered. more ›

Not that we're pouting... certainly the good folks at Muni Diaries deserve some recognition, and we did take the Weekly's readers poll this year, so we're not sweating it either. But the SFBG Readers Poll actually has a number of respectable winners in the food category (no Pasta P for Best Overall here...) who we'd happily sit beside, like Delfina for Best Italian and Chez Panisse for Best Overall. more ›

Another list? Does this mean we can look forward to a more list-generating Chronicle? Because this is a Heart publication we can get behind. Today, one of San Francisco's daily paper of note compiled a rather smurfy top-10 sex scandals of San Francisco list. They include: early '60s "cable car nymphomaniac," who sued Muni for $500,000, after a cable car accident "triggered an insatiable sexual desire that drove her to take 100 lovers; North Beach's Condor nightclub's infamous sex romp cum piano crushing death; a cocaine- and booze-addicted Mayor Gavin Newsom caught fucking his best buddy's wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk; and, well, the Gettys. We were, of course, surprised to see that Fatty Arbuckle and Virgina Rappe at the St. Francis didn't make the list (the disgraced silent comedy star's "accidental" sex-killing involvement, or lack thereof, in Rappe's death resulted in Hollywood's vile Hays Code), but it's a decent list nevertheless. If you can think of any other sexual intercourse-based scandals in SF, do let us know in the comments.. more ›

The fine folks over at Eater came across the May issue of Esquire, which boasts their annual list of the Best Bars in America. San Francisco scored big, with Zeitgeist (cyclists and porta-potties!), Toronado (somewhere in the Haight!), 21 Club, (grit!) Bourbon & Branch (never been before!), Cantina (secret basement fumblings!), Vesuvio (North Beach at its most preserved!) and Tosca Cafe (Sean Penn!) making the annual list. more ›

Because we love us some music lists and just featured our staff's favorite songs and albums of 2007, we thought it would be nifty to feature up-and-coming efforts of '08. more ›

If you have ever wondered what the SFist staff is listening to, wonder no more. In no particular order, we are listing each staffer's favorite album and song from 2007. We think you'll be surprised at our wide variety of music affections. Here's the list: more ›

Here are the top 20 Popscene shows of 2007, as voted by the fans of Popscene: more ›