Matt Charnock, Author at Underscore_SF

Y’all Know BART Is Slashing 50% Off Fares This Month, Right?

2Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Y’all Know BART Is Slashing 50% Off Fares This Month, Right?

It’s in honor of the rapid transit agency’s 50th birthday. BART has been even more on a roll recently. On August 30th, the public transit — which suffered 90% drops in ridership amid shelter-in-place order and general unease during the pandemic’s infancy in 2020 — recorded its second busiest day since COVID-19 entered our collective lexicon. A ridership figure of 161,236 was recorded; it was only second to the 2022 Warriors Championship Parade in June. Now that we’re officially in September, BART riders can (automatically!) get 50% off their fares in honor of the rapid transit agency’s 50th birthday. The fare slash is also honored with existing “Youth/Senior/Gator Pass/Clipper Start/RTC” discounts. “No promo code needed,” BART tweeted earlier this week, before mentioning t...

On Editorial Adaptations and Shoe Droppings in San Francisco

1Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Essays

On Editorial Adaptations and Shoe Droppings in San Francisco

The culmination of experiences — to meet a moment of opportunity For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a storyteller — wordsmith, writer, scribbler of thoughts onto the page. I filled notebooks with nonsensical jargon at five years old. While my vertical height grew unfortunately slow, my pen grew mightier. Stronger. Steadier. Far quicker and more intentional. By the time I had left third grade, I knew I wanted to, somehow, create a life that had its axiom around the written word. However, there was no present blueprint in my immediate family to build that lifestyle from. My neurodivergence (read: severe dyslexia) didn’t help, either. Time and maturation and work ethic, thankfully, can serve as a trifecta to complete objectives that seem too far out of reach, so long as you heed th...

‘Please, Motherfuckers Ain’t Stopping [You]’

1Sep

By Matt Charnock2 Comments

Essays

‘Please, Motherfuckers Ain’t Stopping [You]’

‘Be *that parrot*’ Hey Babes, It’s the end of the day, and I’m brewing oolong tea, trying to come down from it all. I think you know what I’m talking about, but just to make sure: What I mean by “it all” is the nagging obstacles, tasks, and bouts of insecurity that come with our new jobs. You thought it would be something great — a welcomed career shift. A change of pace. A new landscape, blossoming with fresh opportunities and perspectives. The pay was also *chef’s kiss.* Remember how incredibly drunk we got after you accepted the offer letter? (It was the only reason we were able to polish off those hellacious PR bottles of red vino from Snoop Dogg's new wine label.) There was so much joy that flooded that moment. A lot of that has evaporated away as of late. Promises f...

1Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Hyperlocal News + Stories

Hey There. Welcome to Underscore_SF

[Insert three waving hand emojis] Over the past decade, hyperlocal publications about San Francisco have gone the way of wooly mammoths — which is to say they’ve evolved into susceptibility. The introduction of financial stressors or left-of-center cadences or stories that existed outside the proverbial fray of traditional publishing would, more often than not, throw them off their collective rocking chairs, each one falling into any semblance of destitution. In a last-ditch effort to rescue whatever archive was amassed during said outfit’s lifetime, a large, corporatized syndication would swoop in (with a massive check) and promise to save the day (without any real plan in place). Inevitably, the purchaser learns they don’t know what to do with the bought assets… because they were ne...

This Quasi-Secret Bar in SF Is a Tucked Away Gem

1Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Food + Drink

This Quasi-Secret Bar in SF Is a Tucked Away Gem

Secluded… but inclusive San Francisco has no shortage of themed bars. Still crawling out from the financial pitfalls that moated the city’s gastronomic landscape, an air of levity and growth has now replaced the contracting atmosphere synonyms with restauranteering in 2020. 2022 has seen over two dozen new watering holes open in SF alone. (Among the most hype-worthy additions to the city’s bar scene continue to be Key Klub, Pie Punks, and Members Only, the latter entry taking over the once-shuttered two-story bar space in the Saratoga hotel). And there’s an unmistakable flashness — for some, even gimmicky — in how they’re attracting patrons. However, there’s a standout among the bunch. It’s a bar that transcended trends; it’s an establishment that believes in word-of-mouth above ext...

I Tried the Only Chef’s Tasting Menu in Monterey, and It Was Such a (Sumptuous) Vibe

1Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Food + Drink

I Tried the Only Chef’s Tasting Menu in Monterey, and It Was Such a (Sumptuous) Vibe

Living in the Bay Area affords you the chance to leapfrog across various touchstones in the region, many of which exist just a 90-minute drive away from downtown San Francisco. I, myself, have grown privy to partake in micro-adventures that span across the Golden Gate and Bay bridges. (Sausalito will always exist as a bastion for houseboats and calmness backdropped by the SF Bay; Mare Island has become synonymous with hyperlocal walks into Mother Nature’s reclamation of a now-defunct naval base; Guerneville… because queerness.) But a longer trip south on the 101 will see you pass sea-swept Santa Cruz, garlic-infused Gilroy, and, eventually, Monterey — where a recent summer trip to dine at the City’s only chef-guided tasting menu, served inside the historic (and breathtaking) Monterey Pl...

This Picture Showing the Golden Gate Bridge’s Underbelly Is Hella Unique

1Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories

This Picture Showing the Golden Gate Bridge’s Underbelly Is Hella Unique

Alexa, play 'ALIEN SUPERSTAR' by Beyoncé Images of the Golden Gate Bridge populate almost every available postcard that’s meant to evoke a sentimentality of San Francisco life. Greeting cards of the seven-by-seven are rarely made without mentioning at least a sideways glance to the iconic, 1.7-mile long cable-stayed bridge; it’s a marvel of human ingenuity, no doubt, and one that deserves all the signal boosts. While most of us are familiar with what the bridge looks like driving over it — a rusty-red spiderweb made of strong metal, predominantly high-tensile steel, that humps with two superstructures and, as of late, has also begun whistling in the presence of strong winds — I’d wager to say many know very little about what it looks underneath. I, myself, am guilty of such a v...

Monarch Butterflies Are Now Endangered. Here’s Where to See Them Near San Francisco

1Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis, News to Know

Monarch Butterflies Are Now Endangered. Here’s Where to See Them Near San Francisco

Insects are like the canaries in the coal mine in regards to how we can assess the health of ecosystems. When these invertebrates are in healthy, balanced numbers, it’s a sign that said environment is chugging along nicely; conversely, if their numbers are declining rapidly or are ballooning uncontrolled, something’s out of whack. And something is indeed not right with the migratory monarch butterfly as its population counts continue their downward trend. It’s why the species was declared “endangered” back in July by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global leading authority on the status of biological diversity. Why? Well, populations of the butterfly— which is famous for its twice-yearly, 2,500-mile journey across the continent between its summer and wi...

On Watching Sunsets Fall Atop Presidio Tunnel Tops

1Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Essays, Feature Pieces, Hyperlocal News + Stories

On Watching Sunsets Fall Atop Presidio Tunnel Tops

It's an exercise in finding gratitude and absorbing enchantments — while celebrating SF’s ‘most hyped’ park in years For the most part, I've healed from the worst, most searing case of burnout I’ve ever experienced in my life — a sullen period marked by a listless numbing over sometime in June. During Pride Month, a time marked by queer frivolity and remembrance, my body felt apathetic to the stimulus around it. Everything began feeling, tasting like ash; the glossy veneer enveloping the career successes I’ve amassed over the past five years began to grow opaque. By the middle of the month, I decided to let the majority of vocational responsibilities I was juggling in the air go uncached. To see what would hit the floor and inevitably bounce back up; allow the weightier, denser, squar...

Meet the San Francisco-Based Muralist Behind _SF’s Cover Art

1Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Feature Pieces, Queerness

Meet the San Francisco-Based Muralist Behind _SF’s Cover Art

To solely describe Elliott C Nathan as a muralist doesn’t do his catalog justice. Yes, Nathan’s painted now-iconic outdoor art pieces across a myriad of local landmarks — like the “Loads of Love” mural outside Powerhouse and his sprawling kaleidoscope of colors and characters along the Dore Street-facing wall at 1345 Howard Street — but his creativity knows many media. Nathan’s acrylic jellyfish are as adorable as they are mesmeric. His use of reclaimed wood to build multidimensional compositions is applaudable. How he wields both utilitarianism and flamboyancy to create functional theatre props is a talent few possess (at such scale). Perhaps no one in the city knows their way around a can of spray paint better than Nathan, himself. And the thirty-something artist, too, i...