• When $3,000 was stolen from a toy drive box at a San Jose church, anonymous good samaritans kicked down $8,000 to make up for it. Two anonymous donors both kicked down $1,000 each on Christmas Eve, followed by a $4,000 contribution to the Our Lady of Guadalupe church GoFundMe page. [NBC Bay Area]
• With California’s landmark 1978 Proposition 13 up for possible revision on the 2020 ballot, an East Bay group is conducting Prop 13 walking tours. The Oakland walking tour shows the impact of large landlords paying little in taxes, and another such tour is planned for Berkeley. [KQED]
• Eater rounds up the “prettiest new restaurants” that opened in town in 2019. They include our old fondue friend the Matterhorn, which is not new, but has added some fantastic Switzerland-themed kitsch. [Eater SF]  
• The Salesforce Transit Center has turned the corner from a cracked-beam husk to a legitimate community destination, says the Chronicle. [Chronicle]
• Police warn that a fake gold sleight-of-hand trick is targeting the Taraval and Richmond districts.  [KPIX]
• Christmas nostalgia reigns in this lovely SFGate write up of how the city celebrated the holiday in the 50s an 60s. [SFGate]

Image: Jessicafm via Flickr