Hyperlocal News + Stories Archives

This Is Such a *Wild* Weather Radar Picture of San Francisco

24Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

This Is Such a Wild Weather Radar Picture of San Francisco

An intact tropical storm system descended on the SF Bay Area on March 21st, bringing with it textbook behavior and astonishing satellite imagery. San Francisco saw nearly hurricane-level winds this week that blew windows off buildings, sofas off porches, and cause more trees than we can shake a stick at (pun intended) to fall across the seven-by-seven. It just feels like we can’t get an atmospheric break these days; yet another weather event is likely to descend on the SF Bay Area next week — bringing with it even more winds, even more rain, and even more seasonal depression. If anything, these past few months have proved we *really couldn’t make it* living in Portland or Seattle. Infrastructure-shattering gusts aside, what was perhaps the most spellbinding radar imagery eve...

This Old Chevy on Lombard Street Is Pure San Francisco Nostalgia

21Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories

This Old Chevy on Lombard Street Is Pure San Francisco Nostalgia

Look at SF's Coit Tower looking all kinds of cute in the background! I find it increasingly hard to envision a San Francisco that wasn’t defined by tech companies, sky-high rents, and the presence of wildfire smoke (the latter of which, thankfully, hasn’t been as severe this year). Times when the city’s innate bohemian, free-wheeling spirit coincided with affordability. The days when you could make an earnest wage and comfortably rent a two-bedroom-one-bathroom domicile in Nob Hill — for $250 a month. Alas: Windows into a San Francisco that didn’t include the City failing thousands of unhoused people and pee-soaked sidewalks are fleeting, brief flashbacks that never mirror the present moment. But when I yearn to see San Francisco framed in gentler years, I turn to Reddit. And a rec...

This Tenderloin Mural Is a Celebration of SF’s Working Class

20Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories

This Tenderloin Mural Is a Celebration of SF’s Working Class

You’re technically considered a ‘low-income earner’ in San Francisco if you make less than $82,200 a year San Francisco has become insurmountably difficult for anyone not making about twice the average U.S. salary to carve out a living — let alone flourish. Even the smallest of studio apartments in the city will require the lessee to make upwards of $80,000 to responsibly afford. (Don’t get us started on how much you’d need to make to afford a statistically modest two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit.) It’s an abundantly sad, and, quite frankly, demoralizing reality that’s now synonymous with SF life. But a new mural at 455 Eddy Street titled “Pesca Pesca Redouble la Force” by former SF-based artist Erlin Geffrard is shedding a light on the working class. You know: The socioeconomic cohort...

(Most of) the SF Bay Area Is Drought-Free. But That’s Not All.

17Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

(Most of) the SF Bay Area Is Drought-Free. But That’s Not All.

The recent onslaught of rain has been both good and bad, across the board. Teetering on the better side: California's major water reservoirs are in their comeback era. Hallelujah: For the first time in over three years, the San Francisco Bay Area is not experiencing any drought levels. 44% of California now also falls in that same drought-free category. The most recent atmosphere river dropped inches of rain across California, all while sending 50-plus mph winds across San Francisco; residential buildings saw panes of glass fall hundreds of feet to the ground; a local beer company took the heavy winds to produce some *chef’s kiss* social media content that surely attracted customers. As a result, drought conditions that have plagued the Golden State continue their path to improvemen...

What If We Got Rid of All the Parking Lots in the SF Bay Area?

15Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Editors' Picks, Hyperlocal News + Stories

What If We Got Rid of All the Parking Lots in the SF Bay Area?

For one: There would be enough space left to create 60 public greenspaces the size of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It’s been over a month since my Prius was stripped of its catalytic converter. The part is *at least* a few months out because people are assholes and stealing these at a dizzying, maddening, unrelenting rate. By proxy, I’m effectively now car-free… sans the few times a week when I force the engine into a lion’s roar and move the car a few blocks. My relationship with car ownership has never been more forced — honed in, zoomed out, dissected. I grew up around cars; I was born in the suburbs of North Texas, after all. And over my three decades on this mortal coil, I’ve owned seven vehicles… half of which were totaled by either an act from a Higher Power or a no-fault a...

A Lil’ Rundown on San Francisco’s Invasive Flora and Fauna

15Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

A Lil’ Rundown on San Francisco’s Invasive Flora and Fauna

The SF Bay Area’s alien animal and plant neighbors are as diverse as the city's residents... and didn't chase six-figure salaries to get here. San Francisco’s green spaces and waterfronts are crammed with a myriad of flora and fauna. We have seals, native dolphins, whales, and even the breathtaking San Francisco garter snake slithering south of SOMA. Not too long ago, there was even a gator living its best life in Presidio’s Mountain Lake. Interestingly, most of the beautiful species we San Franciscans see on a daily basis didn’t come from here. San Francisco Bay has one of the highest concentrations of invasive species anywhere in the world. And as a self-knighted ecologist, I’ve always found this San Francisco quirk interesting—and sometimes worrisome. Let’s get to know some of ou...

Some LEDs on the Bay Bridge Literally Won’t Turn Off

15Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories

Some LEDs on the Bay Bridge Literally Won’t Turn Off

"The Bay Lights" installation along the Bay Bridge is so broken, even the switch to turn it off was "on the fritz" until Monday night. But some LEDs refuse to go dark. It’s been over a week since “The Bay Lights” — the 25,000 LED art installation on the Bay Bridge that beamed for just over a decade — went dark. Backdropped by a gloomy, chilly, rain-soaked evening, the vast network of glowing diodes was turned off amid financial woes. A recent fundraising campaign started by Illuminate, the nonprofit behind the public artwork (as well as many others in the Bay Area), has raised over $107,000 toward “The Bay Lights 360” project, which would see the Bay Bridge light up with LEDs again come fall with a host of improvements; the fate and likelihood of the artwork again lighting up the Bay ...

You’re Not Alone: Tens of Thousands of SF Bay Area PG&E Account Holders (Still) Without Power

14Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories

You’re Not Alone: Tens of Thousands of SF Bay Area PG&E Account Holders (Still) Without Power

At today's peak, over 155,000 PG&E account holders in the SF Bay Area were without power. Much like modern-day pop-music releases: the atmospheric river that descended on San Francisco early Tuesday was a tad bit overhyped — but better safe than sorry. Promised all-day rain spells evolved into spats of wetness in SF, though forecasted wind gusts did pummel the city and elsewhere in the Bay Area. (A downed tree in Burlingame caused massive traffic delays after it blocked traffic on El Camino Real.) As a result, PG&E’s woefully antiquated utility equipment flailed, fell, and failed after experiencing those wind speeds. The contentious utility company’s outage map still showed swaths of the SF Bay Area experiencing power outages around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 14th; most of th...

The Weekend Catch-Up: Saint Patrick’s Day Descends on an Empty Downtown San Francisco

13Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories

The Weekend Catch-Up: Saint Patrick’s Day Descends on an Empty Downtown San Francisco

One of the rarest animals on earth was recently seen off Monterey Bay... and (most) Silicon valley Bank deposits will be accessible today. Saturday and Sunday saw varying degrees of precipitation and wind speeds spin around San Francisco. This weekend’s weather was both a reminder of the prior atmospheric river that gripped the SF Bay Area, as well as a preamble to the other one that’s arriving Tuesday. (According to recent predictions, parts of San Francisco could record more than an inch of rain and gusts between 40 mph and 50 mph; areas near the Santa Cruz mountain could see far more rain and wind speeds in excess of 70mph.) Flooding is hella likely in the southern and eastern parts of the region. Nevertheless, Saint Patrick’s Day crowds navigated around downtown SF Sa...

Here’s What San Francisco’s Cliff House Looked Like 80 Years Ago

13Mar

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories

Here’s What San Francisco’s Cliff House Looked Like 80 Years Ago

Back in 1943, there were just 139 new cars built in the United States back due to World War II — and San Francisco's vehicle scene was pretty sparse. San Francisco will forever exist as a dichotomy of itself. On one hand, it’s a metropolitan synonymous with spearheading humanity into the future. And on the other palm sits a seven-by-seven-mile slice of Northern California rich with history, which remains on display around almost every corner. (On my morning walks to commune with the sun — a circadian necessity when one’s window faces into a dark concrete corridor — I’m often gobsmacked by the sheer amount of patina and storied concrete around me.) On January 1st, 2021, San Francisco’s beloved Cliff House restaurant closed after 137 years in operation. Like hundreds of Bay Area ga...