SF News Racist History of Piedmont to Be Commemorated With Memorial For First Black Family Driven Out A very racist episode in the history of the City of Piedmont, in the East Bay, is likely going to be commemorated with a memorial sculpture park, as the town's leaders announce this Juneteenth.
Arts & Entertainment Field Notes: Bold Films, Pride Hikes, Show-Tune Karaoke, and Skateboarding Legends This week’s mix of culture, nature, and flavor includes queer hikes, show-tune karaoke, booza ice cream, an Oakland-based wine company, Lake Temescal swims, Foster City Eichler homes, SF skate history, and bold films at BAMPFA.
Arts & Entertainment Notable Humans: Record-Breaking Bay FC Women’s Soccer Star Empowers Zambian Youth Now on Saturdays! Racheal Kundananji uplifts Zambian youth through sport; historian and retired librarian Dorothy Lazard inspires the community to preserve Oakland's past; and Sven Jobe and Mallie Testerman transform Pier 70 into an artists' hub.
Arts & Entertainment Notable Humans: Thomas Bennett’s Dedication to Miyako Ice Cream and the Fillmore Community This week’s notable humans include Thomas Bennett, who made Miyako Ice Cream a Fillmore gem; Jilchristina Vest, curator of the iconic mural honoring the women of the Black Panther Party; and Denise Ebright, a dedicated teacher and coach recognized on Good Morning America.
Arts & Entertainment Notable Humans: Walnut Creek Teen’s ‘Key Future News’ Aims To Empower Gen Z This week's notable humans include San Rafael resident, retired SFFD lieutenant, and dedicated volunteer John Chung; San Francisco author and historian Beth Winegarner whose work aims to remember the forgotten; and Walnut Creek's Anya Gupta, 16-year-old founder of Key Future News.
SF News City Council Considers Renaming West Oakland Intersection After Former Black Panther Elaine Brown Elaine Brown, former chair of the Black Panther Party and founder of dozens of revolutionary programs, might be getting a West Oakland intersection named after her.
Arts & Entertainment Tripling in Size, The Tenderloin Museum Doubles Down on Its Legacy The Tenderloin Museum is tripling in size, adding a neon gallery, and relaunching 'Compton’s Cafeteria Riot' to honor the neighborhood’s rich history of activism, nightlife, and LGBTQ+ resistance.
Arts & Entertainment New Book Reframes The Story of Magid Bateh, The Young Arab Boy Accused Of Burning Down Jefferson Elementary School in 1959 Local author Raine Bajalia-Evans recently released a book about her uncle Magid Bateh, who in 1959 was wrongfully accused of burning down his school in the Sunset in 1959.
Arts & Entertainment The Rousseau Family: Prolific Beaux Arts-Era San Francisco Architects The Rousseaus were a high society family of Beaux Arts-era architects who built hundreds of buildings during the reconstruction of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. They also had their fair share of scandals.
Arts & Entertainment Historic Oakland Music Landmark Vandalized, GoFundMe Campaign Launched Thieves recently stole 40 plaques from Oakland’s Walk of Fame, erasing tributes to music legends like B.B. King and Aretha Franklin. A GoFundMe aims to raise $150K to replace them and restore the landmark.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink 7 Mile House Celebrates Its 167th Anniversary This Sunday, With $1.67 Jack Daniels Shots Sunday marks the 167th anniversary of the 7 Mile House bar and restaurant, and they’ll be marking the occasion with $1.67 whiskey shots, free adobo, and a historical presentation of 7 Mile House’s (often criminal) 167-year history.
Arts & Entertainment Back In The '80s, San Francisco Banned Arcades (And Blamed Tommy Guerrero) Chronicle culture critic Peter Hartlaub pens a piece about the early ’80s when San Francisco politicians declared war on arcades and the media painted Tommy Guerrero, who was a 14-year-old skateboarding prodigy and "Scramble” wizard at the time, as a delinquent.
SF News 34 Years Ago Today, the Bay Was Shaken By the Loma Prieta Quake, and One Local News Anchor Stayed as Cool as Can Be The Bay Area's last major earthquake over 6.5 in magnitude occurred 34 years ago today, on a day when the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's were coming onto the field for their first-ever Bay Bridge Series.
SF News Throwback Thursday: A Sitting U.S. President Died in San Francisco, 100 Years Ago This Week Warren G. Harding, roundly considered one of the worst U.S. Presidents of all time, kicked the bucket exactly 100 years ago this week at SF’s Palace Hotel, which is still the Palace Hotel at Market and New Montgomery streets.
SF News The Cable Car Turns 150 Years Old Today As you may know, the cable car was a San Francisco invention, conceived of as a solution to some tragic accidents that involved horse-drawn streetcars. And August 2, 2023 marks the 150th anniversary of the first cable car being tested on Clay Street.
SF News San Francisco Was Declared Dead, and Full of AIDS and Drugs and Homeless People, Multiple Times In the Last 50 Years The local and national news media has loved to declare San Francisco in a state of decline and/or crisis on many occasions in the last five or so decades, so this is just a primer for everyone who wasn't aware of that and bought into the "failed city" and "doom loop" narratives too hard.
Arts & Entertainment Amid Gentrified Lofts and IKEA, Few Remember That Emeryville Was Once a Gamblers' Haven One of the last vestiges of Emeryville's former era when it was dubbed the "Rottenest City on the Pacific Coast" is the Oaks Card Club, and its owner hopes it can live on amid a city that looks far different than it did half a century ago.
SF News Huge Booty of Sunken SF Gold Rush Treasure To Be Auctioned Off Saturday in Reno The S.S. Central America sunk in 1857, and 425 people did not make it off alive. But their artifacts have been recovered, and will be up for auction at a Saturday antiquities event in Reno.
Arts & Entertainment Did You Know There Was an Internment Camp For Suspected Japanese Spies During WWII on San Francisco Property? One internment camp specifically for "enemy aliens" was on San Francisco property, set up in 1942 next to a municipal golf course just south of the city proper.
Bay Area Sports The USF Dons' Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, and the Alley-Oop Origin Story Bill Russell's recent passing at age 88 highlights the evolution of the game of basketball, and the countless contributions made by two Bay Area-bred greats.
SF News Photos: SFMTA Celebrates First In-Person Muni Heritage Day in Two Years With Free Rides on Vintage Vehicles This past weekend, the SFMTA honored Muni Heritage Day by offering free rides on some of the city's historically significant (and rarely ridden) buses and trolleys to the delight of droves of public transit nerds — a first since the pandemic began in March of 2020.
Arts & Entertainment Look Up Who Was Living In Your Apartment In 1950 Via Newly Released Census Records Ever been curious who lived in your house or apartment 72 years ago? Want to know how your grandparents or great-grandparents responded to census-taker questions when they came around in 1949 or 1950, or who their neighbors were at the time? Well, you're in luck.
SF News Five Gold Ingots From China, Looted From an 18th Century French Shipwreck, Returned to French Government Via SF The Department of Homeland Security just returned a trove of artifacts deemed to be the property of the French government, and five gold ingots that were likely smuggled to the U.S. decades ago and which landed in a Bay Area auction house, were among them.
SF News 135 Years Ago Today, San Francisco Saw Its Most Significant Snowfall to Date The last time measurable snow fell in San Francisco was February 7, 1976, when snow covered the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands, with snowflakes also coming down to sea level. But February 5, 1887, saw the city's most plentiful snowstorm ever recorded — when nearly 4" of snow buried downtown.
Arts & Entertainment In Its History, SF's Conservatory of Flowers Has Burned Down Twice, and Was Nearly Destroyed By a Windstorm In 1995 The history of the grand Victorian greenhouse in Golden Gate Park that has served as the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers since 1879 is kind of crazy, and it's had to be rebuilt three times already.
