Matt Charnock, Author at Underscore_SF

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

1Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

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...

Francisco Park Is Still Giving ‘Mini Dolores Park’ Energy

1Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories

Francisco Park Is Still Giving ‘Mini Dolores Park’ Energy

And I v much continue to be here for it I've gone to one of San Francisco’s newest City parks — which is among the largest of its kind to open in almost 40 years — almost every single day since it opened this past on a gloomy Wednesday in April. I’ve seen the sunrise here in citrus Pantones; I’ve seen the afternoon blue sky wash over the horizon atop the park’s gorgeous staircases; I’ve witnessed our solar system’s nearest star dip below the Marin Headlands come sundown… while I was planking on a patch of open, green grass. I've planted herbs in the community garden. I completed a thirty-minute HIIT workout on the park’s shouldering steps (that run from Francisco Street to Bay Street down below). I’ve snuggled more dogs than I can count. I saw young humans partake in the blissful merri...

On Crowded Walks Through San Francisco’s Panhandle

25Aug

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Editors' Picks, Essays, Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

On Crowded Walks Through San Francisco’s Panhandle

There’s specific happiness in finding yourself in step with strangers. To be a human being means existing in perpetual dichotomy: to juggle two (or three or four or five) juxtapositions in tandem, weighing each notion against the other with muted certainty. My job — cutting teeth and grinding molars, extrapolating reflections and ideas onto the page — lends itself to straddling the line that splits introverted and extroverted activities. I’m inherently, innately, overtly on the side of the former social quality; I’m a reticent individual who can masquerade as a jovial winged insect under blips of manic conviviality for about ninety minutes at a time. But I, too, am a member of a social species. Finding myself amongst kin is as vital to my continued existence on this mortal coil as secur...