The first individual was brought to the new RESET (Rapid Enforcement, Support, Evaluation, and Triage) Center in SoMa Monday morning, and we'll have to see how this experiment goes.

That forced/coerced sobering center that we've heard about for several months, championed by Mayor Daniel Lurie as an alternative to jail for people who just need to sober up for some period of hours, opened Monday morning, and Mission Local reports on the first arrival — a man photographed being loaded out of an SFPD cruiser, in handcuffs.

The handcuff part is what let's you know this isn't just a sober shelter, it's kind of a weird pitstop where, theoretically, the arrestee is free to leave, but they'll be told the alternative is the county jail. But because this isn't a jail, and people are being sort of held there, it raises some legal questions which were apparently of some concern to the city attorney's office back in February.

This became the subject of a confidential memo to the SF Board of Supervisors, which was subsequently leaked to Mission Local in a mini-scandal that may or may not be connected to Supervisor Jackie Fielder's current mental health leave.

It was subsequently reported that Fielder's office had become the focus of an investigation by the city attorney's office into the leak, with City Attorney David Chiu having some stern words for the leaker and saying they could be subject to "termination of employment or removal from office."

Chiu noted that the leak created potential legal exposure for the city in the case of future lawsuits over the RESET Center.

But anyway, it's open now! Lurie still seems to think it's a good idea, and the supervisors signed off on the pilot project.

The RESET Center is located at 444 Sixth Street, and it's being run by Arizona-based firm Connections Health Solutions (which does business in California as ConnectionsCA). It reportedly contains 25 leather reclining chairs where arrestee/patients can recline and sober up.

The contractor will be paid between $530,000 to $657,000 per month, with the variable based on an incentive-based program, with more money being paid based on the number of people who genuinely sober up, and the number who accept further recovery services.

Sheriff Paul Miyamoto assured Mission Local that the man who was checked in there today will be released in four to eight hours, and Miyamoto's attorney clarified that the man is, in fact, free to leave whenever he likes.

Previously: Mayor Lurie’s Controversial New RESET Sobering Center Will See Its Contractor Paid Based on Performance

The wife of the man who now faces murder charges in connection with the vehicular death of 74-year-old Dannielle Spillman insists that the criminal charges are unfair, and says "My husband is not a villain."

31-year-old Valentino Amil was charged last week with the April 13 murder of Dannielle Spillman. We now learn that Amil was driving with his wife and two children in the car when, pulling out of the Chevron gas station and car wash at Mission and South Van Ness, he encountered Spillman. Amil's Mercedes was blocking the sidewalk as he prepared to pull onto Mission Street, and Spillman allegedly exchanged words with Amil, walked around the front of the car, and spilled water onto the hood from a water bottle.

Surveillance video from the scene show Amil accelerate into Spillman, knocking her onto the hood of the car and then off of it into the street, and subsequently running her over.

This week we learned that Amil's defense will include the claim that he believed his family was threatened by Spillman, and he was protecting them by trying to drive off. In addition to an 11-year-old daughter and his wife, Amil's five-month-old son was also in the car at the time of the incident.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has said that, having viewed the video, there is not evidence to support an argument of self-defense in this case. And adding to the suspicion of guilt is the fact that Amil fled the scene rather than staying to cooperate with police.

As KTVU reports, Amil's wife has come forward in her husband's defense, calling the charges against him, "outrageous" and saying "it’s not fair" that he should face this prosecution.

"It’s not fair that the villain that they’re painting of my husband. My husband is not a villain," says Amil's wife, who did not share her full name with the station.

"My family and I are completely devastated and heartbroken," the woman added.

She tells KTVU that of course she and her family feel sadness for the loss of Ms. Spillman's life.

"We carry, very very deep remorse for Dannielle," she says. "It was a life. We understand that in its entirety."

Spillman, a trans elder and musician who was well known at local guitar stores Real Guitars and Guitar Center, reportedly told friend and nonprofit case worker Derrick Guerra in recent months that she had been feeling less and less safe in the city as a trans person, being frequently misgendered, and feeling more threatened than she had living here in the 1990s.

Amil was scheduled for a court appearance Friday, for a bail hearing. We'll update this post when we learn the outcome of the hearing.

Related: Vigil to Be Held Monday for Pedestrian Killed In SoMa Hit-and-Run

Top image: The Chevron station exit where the collision occurred, via Google Street View

A deceased person was found near a SoMa freeway onramp Sunday night, not long after Caltrans construction crews completed their work on a section of eastbound I-80, which had caused some weekend congestion in the area.

California Highway Patrol reportedly found a dead body near the freeway on-ramp at Harrison and Seventh streets in San Francisco around 11:35 pm Sunday.

As the Chronicle reports, via the CHP, foul play does not appear to have been involved, and a CHP spokesperson said it appeared "to be a death possibly related to a drug overdose."

No further information about the victim has been released.

The on-ramp near Seventh Street to southbound 101 had not been closed during  the two-day closure during which Caltrans was making repairs to the eastbound freeway deck between 4th and 17th streets. The westbound I-80/southbound 101 deck had been open to traffic.

The work was completed and the eastbound freeway reopened around 11 pm Sunday, seven hours ahead of schedule.

This construction work is part of a two-year project begun in January to rehabilitate the Central/Bayshore freeway viaducts.

Related: Expect Weird Traffic This Weekend as Section of I-80 In San Francisco Will Be Closed For Two Days

Video that was posted to Reddit appears to show the moments before, during, and after a woman was killed near the intersection of Mission and South Van Ness on Monday.

The hit-and-run collision that occurred Monday, in which the driver of a Mercedes allegedly struck an elderly woman in SoMa and fled the scene, does not appear to be a traffic accident on a busy street, as some might have assumed.

This video [Warning: it is graphic in nature and may not be suitable for all viewers or viewing situations] which was linked from Reddit and appears to come from a nearby surveillance camera, shows the victim walking from the rear to the front of the suspect vehicle as it sits straddling the sidewalk, attempting to pull out from a driveway onto the street.

This appears to have been some sort of confrontation, and the driver appears to accelerate into the victim as she passes in front of the vehicle, knocking her onto the hood and onto the ground before running her over.

A white pickup truck, likely the same one described as being at the scene and cooperating with police after the collision, can be seen driving into the frame in the lane where the victim's body was laying, and attempting to drive around it.

Also in the vicinity we see a Waymo vehicle, which likely captured much of the incident on its cameras.

On Monday, shortly after the crash, police detained 30-year-old Valentino Cash Amil, who apparently led police on a brief chase in a black Mercedes. Amil, who reportedly had a small child in the car at the time, was arrested on charges of homicide and felony hit-and-run with injury.

Strangely, on Wednesday, another video surfaced on Reddit and was picked up by KRON4, which shows a black Mercedes nearly striking a bicyclist as it makes a speedy right turn at 8th and Mission streets — a few blocks away from Monday's hit and run — veering into the bike lane on Mission. It's not clear what day this video was captured, or if this was the same black Mercedes sedan, though the driver appears in a photo to be significantly older than 30 years old.

Previously: Police Arrest Mercedes Driver Suspected In Fatal SoMa Hit-and-Run, With Baby In Car

Top image: Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

This post has been corrected to show the correct gender of the victim, who has been identified by friends as 74-year-old Dannielle Spillman.

An individual was found dead from stab wounds Friday afternoon in SF's SoMa district, and details are so far slim.

Police were called to a residence in one of the newer buildings on Howard Street between Fifth and Sixth streets, as Mission Local reports, around 2:10 pm Friday.

There they found a victim suffering from multiple stab wounds. Lifesaving measures were reportedly performed, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

This appears to be San Francisco's 10th homicide of the year to date. As SFist noted last week, the city is seeing about double the rate of homicides since the beginning of the new year as we saw last year — and triple the amount we had seen as of this time last year.

There have been an average of almost one homicide per week since January 1.

As of this time last year, there were only three SF homicides on the books, and the city finished the year with a record-low number of homicides.

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Carl Jones, Jr., who grew up in SF’s Fillmore District, was fatally shot on Sixth Street on March 3, and a neighbor who rescued Jones’s dog Teddy G at the scene collaborated with others to reunite him with one of Jones’s siblings.

As Mission Local reports, 43-year-old Jones lived at the Henry Hotel on Sixth Street with his small dog Teddy Graham. In the early morning of March 3, Jones was shot near Sixth and Mission streets in the SoMa neighborhood.

Neighbor Charles Toyner told Mission Local he was walking up Sixth Street when he heard two shots and quickly hid behind a pole. He then saw Teddy G run across the street in distress. Toyner caught Teddy G and told officers he’d take care of him.

Jones died at a hospital shortly after the shooting, and police arrested 33-year-old suspect Siaosi Aleamotuay later that day.

As Bay City News reports, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office charged Aleamotuay with murder, along with an allegation that he personally used a deadly firearm, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to prosecutors, Aleamotuay was seen on surveillance footage removing a gun from his backpack, crossing the street, and shooting Jones, who didn’t appear to be armed, per Bay City News. A possible motive has not been released.

Mission Local reports that Jones grew up in San Francisco’s Fillmore neighborhood with his siblings, and his family sometimes struggled with food and stable housing.

Jones lost both of his parents as a teenager. His father died when he was 16, and his mother died two years later. He spent time in the foster care system and eventually lived at Edgewood, a group home in the Ingleside neighborhood, per Mission Local.

Despite those challenges, Jones excelled in school and earned a 4.0 grade point average, particularly in reading and English. His sister told Mission Local he toured several historically Black colleges and universities and had the potential to attend nearly any school he wanted, but life circumstances ultimately got in the way.

“He never lost his big heart,” she said. “He was always loving. He always had a smile on his face. He would give you advice, and it would always be supportive.”

Mission Local reports that after the shooting, Toyner contacted the Gubbio Project for help locating Jones's family. Outreach worker Terry Morris told Mission Local Jones was remembered for having “bright eyes” and a warm, approachable presence. Morris also recalled how devoted Jones was to Teddy G.

Rio Amor, a drug-overdose educator and substance-abuse specialist at the nonprofit, helped Toyner track down Jones’s relatives. In the meantime, people who met Teddy G offered to adopt him.

Per Mission Local, Amor reached Jones’s sister Amelia in San Jose the following day, and she and other relatives drove to San Francisco to bring the dog home.

Photo of Carl Jones via Amelia Jones/Mission Local

A proposed development so massive that Caltrain seems afraid to show people, just yet, how big the buildings would be, gets a few more renderings this week, as the transit agency submits its application for the 20-acre Railyards redevelopment project.

The roots of the project already date back almost two decades, when SPUR presented a think piece about the potential for developing on top of the massive Caltrain railyards that sit between SoMa and Mission Bay into housing — something late Mayor Ed Lee would also float during his tenure. Developer Prologis, which owned the railyards property then and still does, has now submitted an application to the city imagining a development timeline of 15 to 20 years, as the Chronicle reports.

The first phase of the development would include a "world-class" transit station at 4th and King streets with an 850-square-foot tower above it, according to published plans. Several other towers stepping down in height would later join it, and the Chronicle notes that one tower of unclear height would be at 7th and King streets.

A component of the eventual development would be moving Caltrain's tracks underground — and with that comes a connection to the still unfunded Portal project, formerly DTX or the downtown underground extension of the tracks that will ultimately bring them, and the still hypothetical high-speed rail, under Second Street and into Salesforce Transit Center, where an underground concrete box awaits their arrival.

But, Prologis says, the Railyards project can get underway with or without the Portal, because that can just be added on later. (Though it would seem like doing all that digging at once would make more sense? Suffice it to say, for anyone who lives in the area, things are going to be getting dug up for a very long time once all this starts.)

Renderings like those below show the happy streetscape but don't actually show the scale of the buildings, which seems strategic. All we have is the far-away rendering seen above, showing the comparative heights of the development with the nearby Transbay district and the "Hub" at Van Ness and Market, which should be rising sooner.

Plans call for 8 million square feet, with around 2,500 housing units, and an unknown mix of retail, office, and possibly hotel mixed in. The first phase would include about 2.5 million square feet of development, with the residential and commercial mix to be decided later based on market conditions.

There are also plans for a public park being referred to as the Sixth Street Park, which would sit on top of the new overpass where the train tunnels begin.

"The SF Railyards project application comes at a pivotal moment for transit in the Bay Area. Caltrain and our fellow transit agencies are navigating real near-term financial challenges — but this project points toward a different future,” says Michelle Bouchard, executive director of Caltrain, in a statement to the Chronicle. "This visionary, multi-phased project is a bold bet on San Francisco and on the long-term value of connecting people, housing, and jobs through great transit."

And Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement, "This project will continue that momentum up into SoMa, leading with public space and transit access. The team behind this project has a bold vision for the neighborhood, and I appreciate their dedication to our city’s comeback."

A new club is coming to 11th Street in San Francisco's SoMa district, from Oakland-born rap artist Budda Mack, and it will be called The Budda.

Known for tracks like "Swerve" and 2023's "Twerk," Budda Mack is looking to branch out into club ownership, and he says he'll be opening his club The Budda in January in the former Slim's space (333 11th Street).

"San Francisco, Bay Area get ready for the opening of my night club in SF," Budda Mack announced on Instagram. "January is about to be different," he says, adding that The Budda will be"a new club bringing energy, culture, and unforgettable nights to the city."

Also, he says, "This isn’t just another venue, it’s a movement."

An announcement on the club's new Insta also says that the club is actively hiring.

Slim's, of course, was famously opened by Boz Scaggs in 1988, and it quickly became an iconic SF music venue, hosting legendary, intimate shows by Prince, No Doubt, Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Snoop Dogg, Sheryl Crow, Beck, and many more. Slim's closed in 2020, and was reborn, briefly, as YOLO.

It's not clear if The Budda will exclusively be a hip-hop venue and club, and Budda Mack has not spoken publicly about the project, that we're aware of, outside of the Instagram announcement.

Stay tuned as we hopefully learn more. And, that January timeframe, just given how things tend to go around here, might be optimistic.

Corner stores in parts of SoMa would be forced to close at midnight if the district’s Supervisor Matt Dorsey gets his way, as Dorsey proposes a corner store “curfew” similar to the one that’s been placed on parts of the Tenderloin.

Back during the London Breed administration, she proposed that corner stores in certain parts of the Tenderloin be forced to shut down between midnight and 5 am in hopes of discouraging the notorious drug trade and nighttime street circus in that area. That proposal became law in June 2024 (it went into effect the following month), and liquor stores on this 20-block area of the Tenderloin are now forced to close at midnight. The law is a pilot program that’s set to last for two years, until July 2026.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey says he likes the results he’s seen, and KGO reports that Dorsey wants a similar corner store curfew in his South of Market district. Just as with the Tenderloin curfew, this would mean that many liquor stores now open until 2 am would be forced to close at midnight.  

"This is a strategy that's working. And it's not just displacing or pushing the problem around, it's actually reducing crime," Dorsey told KGO. “I think it's going to work to improve conditions on the Sixth Street corridor and elsewhere in South of Market."

Dorsey’s proposal is not yet submitted, and does not yet even have a map detailing which streets it would cover, and which stores would be forced to close early. Dorsey apparently hopes to introduce the proposal to the full Board of Supervisors in December, and get it passed in January 2026. In this case, the pilot program would be for 18 months, unlike the longer two-year curfew in the Tenderloin.

Naturally, SoMa convenience store owners think this is a terrible idea.

"Not just for me for example, the business owner, but also even the workers,” Habibi Market owner Abdulwahab al-Mehdhar said to KGO. “We're going to lose a lot of workers. A lot of workers, they're going to lose their money.”

The SF Standard points to a study conducted by Italian researchers that claims the Tenderloin liquor store curfew reduced drug crime by 56% during its first nine months, and did not push more drug crime to surrounding neighborhoods. (You can read that study here).  

Though quite obviously, many people would dispute these Italian academics’ claim that Tenderloin drug crime is down by anything remotely approaching 56%.

"That's not true,” Habibi Market’s al-Mehdhar told KGO. “I have another business in the Tenderloin and that's not happening at all.”

Related: Latest City Hall Remedy for Tenderloin Street Circus Is Shutting Down Corner Stores at Midnight [SFist]

Image: Kevin Y via Yelp

Gwyneth Paltrow's all-powerful Goop brand got into the restaurant business four years ago in Southern California. And now, three Goop Kitchen outposts are headed to the Bay Area.

For the gluten-free, health-conscious, and/or dietarily nervous out there, a new lunch option is headed to SoMa, and it's Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Kitchen. The SoMa location will be opening in December, as Eater reports, at 60 Morris Street — the former Ben's Fast Food, off of Bryant Street betwee Fifth and Sixth sreets.

Opening in October and November, respectively, will be Goop Kitchen locations in San Jose (949 Ruff Drive), and Sunnyvale (1026 West Evelyn Avenue).

Goop Kitchen is led by chef Kim Floresca who formerly worked at the Restaurant at Meadowood in wine country and at Thomas Keller's Per Se, and the menu is focused on healthful meals like bowls, featuring rotisserie chicken or salmon, salads, wraps, bento boxes, and gluten-free pasta and pizza — including with real pepperoni from Zoe's. There are also loads of vegan options, including things like mushroom "carnitas" and BBQ-glazed tofu.

Everything on the menu comes with optional side sauces, dressings, and "crunchies," and per the web copy, "All dressings, sauces and crunchies made in-house marked GCC are goop Certified Clean (no processed sugars, processed foods, gluten, dairy, peanuts, or preservatives)."

There are also several gluten- and dairy-free desserts on the menu, including a dark chocolate and sea salt brownie, a seasonal maple pumpkin bread, and a vegan and gluten-free chocolate-chip cookie — which is covered in coconut flakes, so therefore not for everyone.

Currently, there are just 10 Goop Kitchen locations, all in Southern California, so this marks the first foray for the company outside of the LA environs.

And this means that opening elsewhere in the city where Goop fans might be inclined to enjoy the food, like in Pac Heights, the Marina, or the Castro, would mean a conditional-use permit process because Goop Kitchen now qualifies as formula retail, with 11 or more locations.

Now a few months into the speed-camera era of San Francisco traffic enforcement, the most notorious block for speeding covered by the cameras is at Third and Bryant streets, which accounts for nearly 25% of all SF speed camera tickets.

When San Francisco’s new speed limit enforcement cameras started taking pictures of scofflaw, lead-foot drivers in March of this year, the first batch of data showed that the block where the cameras were catching the most speeders was at Fulton Street between Arguello Street and 40th Avenue in the Outer Richmond. But that first batch of data was from April, before all 56 cameras in the speed camera system were up and running. As of August 5, all of those speed cameras are now up and running.

With the full new network of cameras now snapping pictures of vehicles exceeding the speed limit, we have a new block where the largest number of speeders is being nabbed. The Chronicle sifted through SF Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) data, and found that the largest number of camera-issued speeding tickets is coming from Third and Bryant streets, or rather, the block of Bryant between Second and Third streets.  

That data is from August, the (nearly) first full month that the cameras were all operating. And that month showed that the Third and Bryant streets block generated 4,000 speeding tickets for the month, or about 130 speeding tickets per day. That one block alone accounted for nearly 25% of all speeding tickets issued systemwide by all 56 speed enforcement cameras.

SFMTA analysts were not surprised. That block pulls in many drivers zipping off I-80 at the Fourth Street exit ramp, where the speed limit quickly lowers from highway speeds to 25 MPH on a four-lane stretch of Bryant Street that is all one-way traffic. On average, the speeders there were caught going 39 MPH, or 14 miles above the speed limit.

For those drivers going 14 MPH over the speed limit, that first offense would just get them a first-time warning. But the second offense would get the driver a $50 ticket. And those going 16 MPH or more over the speed limit get no warning, and a $100 ticket.

As a reminder, the fines for getting caught by the speed cameras start at $50 for those going 11-15 miles over the speed limit (and the first such infraction just gets you a warning). Fines move up to $100 for those going 16-25 miles over the speed limit (with no first-time warning), $200 for those going more than 25 miles over the speed limit, and a $500 fine if you somehow manage to be going more than 100 miles per hour over the speed limit on a San Francisco street.

Related: No More Warnings: SF Speed Cameras Will Start Issuing Fines, Starting Tuesday [SFist]

Image via Google Street View

Folsom Street Fair weekend will be a lot less joyful on the dance floors, as local DJ Bus Station John had his shoulder shattered in a recent sidewalk fall, and then someone robbed him while he was injured on the ground.

Anyone who’s been around the SF gay club scene over the last 20 years is surely familiar with the bearded bear behind the DJ decks known as Bus Station John. Perhaps best known for his underground disco club Tubesteak Connection at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge and Disco Daddy at The Eagle, Bus Station John was also a driving force behind the mostly male Mikes on Bikes contingent that used to ride in the Pride Parade. And Bus Station John has always been an iconoclast in openly discouraging cellphones on the dance floor, hoping to foster connection in the crowd.    

But this weekend’s upcoming Folsom Street fair parties will unfortunately not feature one of the leather scene’s favorite DJs. According to KRON4 Bus Station John was badly injured in a fall and then robbed recently in South of Market, shattering a shoulder and now looking at a months-long recovery.

“On a recent Friday night in SOMA on his way to The STUD, our DISCO DADDY aka DJ Bus Station John tripped and fell on a raised crack in the sidewalk near 7th & Folsom, shattering his shoulder when he hit the cement,” according to a GoFundMe for DJ Bus Station John. “While laying face down on the pavement in a state of shock---and to add insult to (literal) injury---BSJ was robbed of his wallet by a passerby who'd initially approached him pretending to ‘help.’"

That GoFundMe campaign adds that DJ Bus Station John has “undergone surgery to repair multiple fractures in his left shoulder, and now faces the painful, lengthy process of recovery and physical therapy to help regain the use of his arm.”

Needless to say, losing the use of one’s arm affects one’s ability to DJ.

According to the GoFundMe, Bus Station John does have health insurance to cover the medical bills. But he will be unable to work or maintain his livelihood for at least the next several months, and will need support for living expenses like “rent, utilities, food, non-covered therapy treatment and other survival essentials [that] loom ahead.”

Related: Hi/Lo: Bus Station John vs. The Fairmont [SFist]

Instagram via tablehooper

This week across the Bay Area: From Santa Cruz Boardwalk to Big Sur’s Pfeiffer Falls Trail; Flyaway Productions’ in the TL to SoMa’s book readings; Hispanic Heritage Month and “A Taste of Oakland;” Coach Don’s and the SF Pizza Lady's kindness; West Oakland trees; and Eureka Fellowships.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the country’s fave

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk won the title as the nation’s top pick, a place where the Giant Dipper’s wooden roar never really fades. Its rides spill onto sand that has carried surfers since Hawaiian princes first paddled out in 1885. Around the edges, Pacific Avenue’s music, murals, and surf shops keep the whole town humming.

It’s a boardwalk that feels both timeless and restless, stitched into California’s coast with salt and color. On summer nights the lights throw a carnival glow across the shoreline, and even in winter the waves and carousel music keep it alive. — Fodor’s

Big Sur’s iconic redwood hike rebuilt

Big Sur’s Pfeiffer Falls Trail has reopened after a winter storm toppled a redwood and smashed its 70-foot bridge two years ago. Repairs, including new decking, rails, and a custom fiberglass base piece, were completed with help from the California Conservation Corps and Save the Redwoods League.

The 1.5-mile hike through redwoods to a 60-foot waterfall is now fully accessible again for families and campers. — Bay Area News Group

Planting trees in West Oakland

Oakland biology educator Mr. Kelkar explains the importance of native plants, highlighting how they provide habitat for birds and insects, shade streets, and improve air quality. Through September 30, West Oakland residents and workers can sign up for a free California native tree for their yard or sidewalk.

No property ownership is required, but interested participants must submit an interest form by the end of the month. — West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project

History moves in the Tenderloin

At Turk and Taylor streets, Down on the Corner brings dance, song, and film to the site of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot. Queer, transgender, and cisgender performers carry the riot’s energy into the present, with nightly talks and two 35-minute shows.

The project honors past defiance while acknowledging the building’s current use as a reentry facility. Shows run October 3–4 and 9–11, free to all. — Flyaway Productions

‘Fire’ season ignites in SoMa

Fire and creativity converge at Cafe Suspiro and Arc Gallery for STIR: Fire Season, South of Market’s seasonal reading series. Award-winning authors and performance poets — including Charlie Jane Anders, Syr Hayati Beker, Charlie Getter, and Lehua M. Taitano — examine survival, transformation, and the sparks that drive change in a world on fire.

The night blends readings, a panel discussion, and audience Q&A with the energy of SoMa West’s thriving arts scene. Grab a coffee, settle in, and dive into two hours of immersive storytelling and conversation on October 2.

Hispanic music, dance, and heritage

Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month is in full swing throughout the Bay Area through October 15. Latin Grammy-winning bands like La Santa Cecilia perform, while opera singer San Cha showcases her experimental work, Inebria Me. Families can enjoy festivals, interactive shows, and community gatherings across San José, Oakland, San Francisco, and beyond.

Many events will also highlight the contributions of Afro-Latinx artists through music, dance, and visual art that reflect their histories and impact on the region’s creative landscape. — KQED

Modern Western roots meet city soul

Next Sunday, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza will pulse with music, style, and food at “A Taste of Oakland,” a festival celebrating the legacy of Black cowboy and cowgirl culture. Live performances by artists such as Dee Dee Simon and Elijah Baker Presents Top Shelf, line dancing, and a modern Western fashion show bring local culture to the forefront, while Oakland chefs, artists, and businesses showcase their craft.

From DJ sets to jaw-dropping photo ops, the day blends history, creativity, and community energy. — A Taste of Oakland

Three decades of play, kindness, and community

Donald Arreola-Burl, also known as Coach Don, a beloved PE teacher in Berkeley, was recently named the winner of the Chris Kindness Award in recognition of decades spent inspiring kids with energy, encouragement, and inclusion.

Alongside his family, he runs Recreation and Team Sports (RATS), a nonprofit teaching kids teamwork, sportsmanship, and fun — welcoming everyone, no matter ability or income. Former students still remember his games, his laughter, and the way he made everyone feel seen. For the Berkeley community, Coach Don is a living lesson in kindness.

Feeding neighbors & fighting food waste

Andrea Carla Michaels, who’s known as the “Pizza Lady,” has spent years turning discarded food into daily meals for her neighbors in SF’s Polk Gulch. She delivers what’s needed — bagels, bread, produce, and sometimes clothing or personal items — with care and efficiency, brightening faces while keeping boundaries.

A Harvard graduate, published New York Times crossword writer, Scrabble champion, and former TV writer, Michaels carries many titles off the streets. But here, she’s just a neighbor making sure nothing useful goes to waste. — Broke-Ass Stuart

Forty years of backing Bay Area artists

The Fleishhacker Foundation has handed out $40,000 unrestricted grants to a new wave of Bay Area visual artists — twelve creatives over three years, marking the 40th anniversary of the Eureka Fellowship. The grantees are artists in various stages of their careers working in a range of media, from Cat Alden and Marlon Mullen to Sahar Khoury and Masako Miki. Since the fellowship isn’t tied to any one project, artists have the time, space, and freedom to focus fully on their work without restrictions.

Panelists from the Smithsonian, Walker Art Center, and MIT List Visual Arts Center saw work that taps into the region’s rich human stories, beyond tech hype and market trends. Forty years in, the program has brought nearly $4 million into the local arts ecosystem, helping generations of artists sustain their work and keep Bay Area arts alive. — Fleishhacker Foundation

Image: Austin Forbord/Flyaway Productions

The sizable restaurant space in the base of the Airbnb building in SoMa that was, pre- and post-pandemic home to Spanish restaurant Bellota, will be coming to life again.

I have to say I miss Bellota, whose lifespan straddled a pandemic, and which, for a time, was San Francisco's most exciting yet somehow most unsung Spanish restaurant. Where else in the city could you get paella de cordero and paella de setas in a pan side by side, or get jamon iberico and pinxtos from a roving cart? It was a kind of clubhouse for Airbnb employees, being in the base of their building, but I'm not sure enough of the rest of the city got to appreciate it.

Bellota closed last summer, and the space was briefly given over to a Mexican pop-up that seemed like it could be a try-out for a pivot in the space by The Absinthe Group. But now we learn via Tablehopper that the new concept will be called Bosco, and it will be Italian. ("Bosco" means "woods" or "forest" in Italian.)

The menu will reportedly be driven by live-fire grilling, coal roasting, and plancha cooking — the Bellota kitchen was already tricked out with a wood grill, but possibly a new, even larger hearth is being added — but not much info has been released so far. Tablehopper also found menu clues including fire-roasted vegetables, whole-animal butchery, sustainable seafood, flatbreads, fermentation, and imported Italian ingredients along with local, seasonal produce.

SFist has reached out to the restaurant group for more details, like a chef or an opening timeframe — a nascent website is online but only says it will open "this summer." An Instagram account is also live but is empty so far.

What we do know is that this restaurant can seat around 200 people, and already had a large and handsome bar area.

We'll alert you as we learn more.

Bosco - 888 Brannan Street - Opening this summer

In this week’s Field Notes: A family rides SF to Guerneville, Prelinger Library invites curiosity, Berkeley’s lanterns relit, origami honors Ruth Asawa, a solo show unpacks identity, kids pitch inventions, Monopoly refreshed, Tilden grows rare plants, salons spread health info, and dance dives deep.

A Berkeley neighborhood’s lanterns return after 60+ years

Two early-1900s lanterns that once lit the corner of Hopkins and The Alameda in Berkeley’s Northbrae neighborhood are getting re-lit this weekend. Thanks to a community fundraiser, they’ve been rebuilt by metalsmith Jerry Coe and his apprentice, Sofia Barron-Kardos.

On Saturday, the neighborhood will flip the switch during an official ceremony  — complete with a walking tour, lantern-making, history talks, and a bronze-welding demo. — Berkeleyside

Ruth Asawa’s legacy, one square at a time

San Francisco artist Lilli Lanier is currently showcasing a series of origami portraits at Café Alma in Bayview–Hunters Point, including a striking piece of her grandmother, the late Ruth Asawa. Lanier’s portrait of Asawa is made from over 10,000 folded paper squares in 20 shades — a skill she first learned from her grandmother as a child.

The exhibit runs through September 1 and also features portraits of figures like Stephen Curry, Frida Kahlo, and Martin Luther King Jr. Among the largest is Origami la Virgen de Guadalupe, made from 20,000 folds. — Mission Local

A public library like no other

Tucked into an unmarked SoMa building, Prelinger Library is a privately funded public space open three days a week serving as part archive, part art project, and part sanctuary. Its image-rich collection of 19th- and 20th-century maps, periodicals, pamphlets, and books is arranged in a geospatial system that starts with the land beneath your feet and ends in theory and space, as described on the library’s website. Visitors are welcome on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sundays — with experimental music often playing on Sundays.

Founders Rick and Megan Prelinger founded the library in 2004. Rick, an archivist and “old school punk,” has spent his life preserving forgotten media. Megan, a writer and former member of the zine collective Bad Subjects, helped shape the library’s unique organizational style of arranging materials by thematic and conceptual connections rather than traditional categories. Their 7,000-title zine archive captures a wide range of creative, personal, and independent voices. — empowa, KALW

SF to Guerneville via Clipper Card

This resourceful family made the trip from San Francisco’s 24th Street Mission Station to Guerneville in Sonoma County using only their Clipper Cards. The leisurely journey took about six hours, with stops for lunch at the San Francisco Ferry Building and ice cream in Santa Rosa. It involved four transit agencies and cost around $36.80 round trip per adult.

They recommend catching the ferry by noon to allow plenty of time. The bus from Santa Rosa isn’t on a timed transfer, so expect some waiting, and check each agency’s website for the most accurate info. — bikecuriouslive

The wonders of Tilden

The East Bay's Tilden Regional Park’s crevice garden is a unique space designed to mimic high-altitude conditions, allowing rare alpine plants like the elusive Sky Pilot, which was procured from atop Mount Whitney, to grow at low elevation. Using thick slabs of slate to protect roots and provide drainage, the garden supports species that struggle to survive elsewhere in the Bay Area.

With 3,600 native plants including over 700 rare or endangered — Tilden is a living archive dedicated to preserving California’s botanical diversity against climate change and time. — Bay Area News Group

Using salons to bridge health gaps

Stanford student Diba Dindoust is enlisting hair salons to connect low-income women with free healthcare services they might not know exist. Through her Makala Women’s Collective, she posts resource guides in local shops and trains stylists to share the information with clients.

Stylists are learning how to start conversations about everything from free cancer screenings to mental health resources, making the salon chair a surprising gateway to care. — NBC Bay Area

Young entrepreneurs master financial literacy

San Francisco’s Boys and Girls Club teamed up with the University of San Francisco for a summer financial literacy camp that wrapped up with a “Fish Tank” pitch event. In preparation for the kid-friendly take on Shark Tank, campers brainstormed inventions — from expandable shoes to dissolving gum, which won top prize.

The program blended budgeting, banking, and entrepreneurship with creative teamwork, offering opportunities often out of reach for low-income kids. — Chronicle

Hope amid conflict

In Israel, Hend Ayoub was the Arab outsider. In the US, she’s often cast as the terrorist. In Home?, the Palestinian actor unpacks these contradictions with sharp wit, tracing her journey from a divided homeland to the New York stage — all while facing the question, “Where are you really from?”

The solo show moves through checkpoints, culture clashes, and casting calls, as her mother wonders if she’s found a home yet. This performance might be the closest answer. Runs through August 16. — KQED

Asking the big question through dance

Joe Goode Performance Group’s latest site-specific work, Are You Okay?, transforms San Francisco’s Rincon Center into an immersive meditation on loneliness, anxiety, and the search for connection.

Drawing on conversations with Mission District residents — where the group’s dance studio is located, as well as mental health workers and longtime collaborators, choreographer Joe Goode blends dance, theater, and song into a roaming experience of intimate moments and sweeping views.

Co-created with vertical dance artist Melecio Estrella and scored by composer Ben Juodvalkis, the piece invites the audience to face their vulnerabilities together, embracing it as part of the human experience. Runs from August 14–31. — Mission Local

World’s largest Monopoly board gets spruced up

Volunteers gave San Jose’s world-record-holding Monopoly board a much-needed refresh last weekend. Covering 930 square feet in Discovery Meadow, this massive granite game is the largest Monopoly board sculpture on the planet, with corner slabs weighing nearly 250 pounds each.

Since its 2002 debut, it’s become a local favorite photo spot and gathering place, complete with oversized dice and life-sized tokens that visitors can rent for actual play. The board’s spaces are also personalized with San Jose landmarks. — KGO

Top image: Google Reviews

Previously: Field Notes: 'Dolores' Opera, Rooftop Roller Rink, Rebel Lit, Tree Guide, and Coastal Wineries