KGO-TV reporter Don Sanchez, who began his career at the station in 1972, retired after his broadcast last night. In recent years he's been the affable, mustachioed, always coiffed arts and entertainment correspondent for the ABC affiliate, going on all the junkets that one goes on as an arts and entertainment reporter — like a recent jaunt to Scotland with Pixar on the eve of the release of Brave, and various trips to the Oscars. And, of course, he's been the movie critic who rates things based on a full, half-full, or empty bucket of popcorn. It's been a cushy way to slide into retirement.

People who grew up in the Bay Area have always known Don't mug on their TV, and he's played pretty much every role a local newscaster can play, from cub reporter to sportscaster to nightly news anchor.

We've joked about Don being a wig model, but in all honesty, we have no confirmation that that is not still, against all odds and visual instincts, his own hair. His hair and mustache have been his signatures over the decades, and as he tells his one-time co-anchor Cheryl Jennings in this farewell piece, there was just one brief moment in the 70s when he shaved it off, but when he did a stint as a sportscaster the network told him he looked too young and ought to grow a mustache, so it returned.

The news of Don's retirement follows quickly on the recent announcement that longtime anchor Dana King was leaving KPIX to pursue her penis sculpting career.

Obviously, he will be missed, and we here at SFist wish him the best.

[ABC 7]