Feature Pieces Archives

Working for Boba Guys Comes With a Dollop of Toxic Workplace Culture

21Oct

By Matt Charnock4 Comments

Feature Pieces, Food + Drink, Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

Working for Boba Guys Comes With a Dollop of Toxic Workplace Culture

Workplace allegations against arguably the most notable Bay Area boba chain keep piling up — and make it clear working for the company comes with its own set of demoralizations. What began as a self-described pipe dream in 2011, Boba Guys — the nationwide boba tea chain founded by Andrew Chau and Bin Chen (who met while working at Timbuk2) — has matured into fruition over the past eleven years. Their first store, the company’s Mission District storefront at 3491 19th Street, began like many successful restaurants in the 2010s: a popular pop-up that was snaked with long queues and became a darling among Instagram influencers. That very same location unexpectedly shuttered Wednesday amid a company-wide backlash; this store’s closing also comes in tandem with accusations that Boba Guys ha...

The Danger of SF Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s Anti-Trans Language

29Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Editors' Picks, Feature Pieces, Queerness

The Danger of SF Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s Anti-Trans Language

Dehumanization begins with the smallest instances of maligned word choice. It’s quite a feat of mental gymnastics to comprehend how far we’ve come as a country in queer representation and gay rights over the past decade. Gay marriage is now law of the land— though it is now precariously positioned on the Supreme Court's cutting board. We’ve seen hundreds of members of the LGBTQIA+ community come out as their authentic selves in various sports leagues and branches of local, state, and national government. The FDA approved Truvada, which became the first HIV PrEP drug to come on the consumer drug market. The transgender military ban was repealed; “they” became a word of the year. All of the above represent incredible accomplishments that have been decades in the making. However, this isn...

5 Sad Girl Autumn Things to Do Around San Francisco

23Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Feature Pieces, Queerness

5 Sad Girl Autumn Things to Do Around San Francisco

San Francisco is full of places to let out a good cry or just sit in your feelings. It’s officially here: Sad Girl Autumn. Yesterday, September 22nd, was the first official day of fall, at least here in the United States. (Fall, in fact, doesn’t come to much of the Southern Hemisphere until March, while the month of September is when the Northern Hemisphere enters the foliage-filled month.) It’s that sacred time of the year where everything is pumpkin spice. Somewhat thicker than usual layers of clothing are worn around the Bay Area. Taylor Swift’s Red album again enters into the cultural zeitgeist. Of course, now’s the time of the year when we get into our feelings. Call it "Sad Girl Autumn" — the antithesis to "Hot Girl Summer." Fortunately for us in SF, there’s a plethora ...

For San Francisco’s Foremost Hiker, Exploring Urban Nature Is All About Connecting With Others

22Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Editors' Picks, Feature Pieces, Nature + Climate Crisis

For San Francisco’s Foremost Hiker, Exploring Urban Nature Is All About Connecting With Others

‘Hiking helps me connect with friends, and it did especially during the height of the pandemic.’ You’re never more than a ten-minute walk from a City-managed park in San Francisco. AllTrails — the outdoor activity mobile app that includes a wide roster of user-generated hiking trails — has 89 scenic pathways in the City by the Bay. And it’s likely that Alexandra Kenin, the social media maven behind [at]UrbanHikerSF on Twitter and Instagram, has already strolled that trail.. or has it on her to-walk list. Ironically enough for Kenin, exploring urban landscapes hadn't always been a passion. It wasn’t until she relocated to San Francisco in 2007 after landing a job at Google that her love affair with urban exploration began. “[Hiking] wasn’t something I was really exposed t...

1Sep

By Sean AngNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Feature Pieces

Finding Her Operatic Voice: Angela Yam

Angel Yam's carrer is a 'very expensive hobby,' but it's paid off in magnitudes In the most self-assured way, Angela flashed a mischievous smile my way and proclaimed, “Oh, I am a very bright person.” Out of all my friends and acquaintances, there has never been a truer statement. Her kind smile and warmth generally radiate bright energy, but her wit and thoughtfulness become readily apparent as you begin to talk to her. Angela Yam and I met in college and navigated a tricky college music program where it felt like performers were never the priority. I watched in awe and admiration as she pivoted from piano to violin before stumbling upon voice, and immediately began excelling. She then moved on to a graduate degree from Sacramento State and recently completed a graduate diplo...

Love Letters to the Apartments I Never Rented in San Francisco

1Sep

By NikkiNo Comments

Essays, Feature Pieces

Love Letters to the Apartments I Never Rented in San Francisco

Lovelorn adventures in SF apartment hunting, as experienced by the author and her partner Those who have lived in San Francisco for any amount of time can attest to the joy of daydreaming about apartments that never were. They are the domiciles that for whatever reason evaded us, the enchanting studios — and even one-bedrooms! — we never had the chance to organize our succulents inside, the ones that got away. Over the years, I've amassed a laundry list of San Francisco apartments I may have inhabited in an alternate universe, had things gone just a little differently. So, in an act of wishful thinking and gratitude, here are my love letters to them. Oh, tall-ceilinged, sun-infused studio in Pacific Heights, How gloriously San Franciscan you were. Images of you remain burned ...

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...