Hyperlocal News + Stories Archives

First Lady’s Documentary Flops in San Francisco With Only Dozens of Tickets Sold Ahead of Opening Weekend

30Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories

First Lady’s Documentary Flops in San Francisco With Only Dozens of Tickets Sold Ahead of Opening Weekend

Melania is expected to make around $3 to $8 million this weekend — way, way short of its $40 million production budget alone. Melania Trump’s evasion of her own husband (and most responsibilities as the First Lady of the United States) deserves admiration and study. Melania’s presence in the White House has remained sparse; she comes in, and through sliding glass doors, it seems, only to disappear moments after a press junket. Her documentary, Melania, is billed as an intimate, detailed, unprecedented glimpse into the First Lady’s life. But those hyperboles aren’t generating either good reviews or healthy ticket sales for the documentary. Made on a $40 million production budget and pushed by a $35 advertising budget footed by Amazon MGM Studio, the film’s opening weekend sales figu...

In Memoriam: A Love Letter to Wig Master Rosalie Jacques of Rosalie’s New Looks

29Jan

By Juanita MORE!No Comments

Essays, Hyperlocal News + Stories, Queerness

In Memoriam: A Love Letter to Wig Master Rosalie Jacques of Rosalie’s New Looks

She was a true quintessential San Francisco character I first met Rosalie in 1993, when I visited her wig and hair salon, Rosalie’s New Look's, in North Beach. After moving to San Francisco from Stockton in 1957, fresh out of beauty school, Rosalie quickly found her place doing hair. She soon opened her own shop, making wigs for the drag queens at Finnocchio’s nightclub and styling the topless dancers of North Beach. When topless entertainment became legal in the early 60s, she recalled the famous stripper Carol Doda visiting her shop and jumping into the window full of wigs and starting to strip. Rosalie also crafted merkins for dancers during that time to comply with legal restrictions. She proudly did hair for Charles Pierce, who preferred to be known as an actor rather than a femal...

San Francisco Was Warmest Major City in Lower 48 Today While America Freezes

28Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

San Francisco Was Warmest Major City in Lower 48 Today While America Freezes

San Francisco will also be one of the warmest major cities in America over the next week or so as another Arctic storm barrels into the United States. Record-breaking temperatures and life-threatening winter conditions — mercury readings and snowfall that tens of thousands in Minneapolis are pushing through to protest ICE and its inhumane, fascist advancements on the midwestern city — continue to constrict the country. Single-digit temperatures are consistently benignly recorded in large metros like Chicago and Cleveland; Texans are contending with an absentee senator who fled the state before history-making snowstorms dogpiled across much of the Lone Star State; New Orleans, though snow-free as of publishing, is seeing temperatures in the low 30s, straining its infrastructure and creatin...

Coyote Runs Past News Crew in San Francisco Covering ‘Wayward’ Mountain Lion

28Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

Coyote Runs Past News Crew in San Francisco Covering ‘Wayward’ Mountain Lion

In what felt like an absolute fever dream, ABC7 News watchers were treated to a sight when a coyote passed behind an on-site news crew yesterday morning. San Francisco is truly a wild place. There’s perhaps been no better crystallization of this observation as of late than this: a coyote filmed running behind an ABC7 News team covering the capture of San Francisco’s "wayward" mountain lion. Your eyes do not deceive you. That's a coyote strolling on by during ABC7's Frances Wang live shot. Ironically, she was reporting on the capture of a 2-year-old mountain lion who was seen roaming around San Francisco streets. https://t.co/oLF6kRdF75 pic.twitter.com/4rIIVHrKMK — ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) January 28, 2026 “Your eyes do not deceive you,” reads a post on X by the local ABC affi...

SF Mountain Lion Internet Named ‘Jumanji’ Has Been Captured and Will Be Relocated

27Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Editors' Picks, Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis, News to Know

SF Mountain Lion Internet Named ‘Jumanji’ Has Been Captured and Will Be Relocated

Following a hefty dose of sedatives, the confused and lost young mountain lion roaming San Francisco was successfully caught this morning on California Street, around Pacific Heights. San Francisco police, animal control, and even SF Zoo vehicles encircled Lafayette Park earlier this morning to contain a lost mountain lion after the big cat was spotted in and around the area over the weekend and into Monday evening. With the help of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the young cougar was successfully trapped and subsequently tranquilized. Mountain Lion contained to Lafayette Park area near California St. SFPD, SFFD, Fish & Wildlife, SF Animal Care & Control, SF Zoo on scene. pic.twitter.com/aUcKR81Q9v — SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT MEDIA (@SFFDPIO) January...

Rare Mountain Lion Sighted in San Francisco Near Popular Park, Billionaire’s Row

27Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

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

Rare Mountain Lion Sighted in San Francisco Near Popular Park, Billionaire’s Row

A rogue mountain lion was sighted and documented in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood, blocks away from Billionaire's Row — a first in San Francisco's recorded history. San Francisco is no stranger to wild things. The City’s official animal is an introduced species; sea lions draw hundreds of thousands of tourists each year to Pier 39; thousands just recently flooded Golden Gate Park to celebrate the iconic life of one albino alligator that called the seven-by-seven home for over 17 years before his untimely passing last month; the COVID-19 pandemic became synonymous with coyote sightings along empty streets. A mountain lion has been spotted in SF, near Lafayette Park. If you see a mountain lion pick up children, keep dogs on leash and back away slowly - do not run. If it ap...

The (Belated) Weekend Catch-up: Thousands Come Out to Celebrate Life of San Francisco’s Albino Alligator

19Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

The (Belated) Weekend Catch-up: Thousands Come Out to Celebrate Life of San Francisco’s Albino Alligator

Plus: One of Amazon's self-driving cars struck a vehicle, and the vast majority of San Francisco families now qualify for free or discounted child care. Few people, let alone animals, could draw an afterlife fanfare comparable to Claude, SF’s unofficial mascot of the California Academy of Sciences. The albino alligator, which died of an undiagnosed liver cancer in September, called the San Francisco science center home for over 17 years; Claude came to Cal Academy already a teenager, assumed to be at least 13 years old. And in that time, the thirtysomething reptile became nothing short of an iconoclast. View this post on Instagram A post shared by California Academy of Sciences (@calacademy) C...

Workweek Catchup: San Francisco Records First Homicide of 2026 After Mission District Shooting

18Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories

Workweek Catchup: San Francisco Records First Homicide of 2026 After Mission District Shooting

Plus: Claude gets a new street named after him ahead of the remembrance ceremony, and the world’s biggest popstar could be coming to SF. On Thursday night, San Francisco police responded to a call involving a shooting at the intersection of 16th Street and San Bruno Avenue next to Highway 101. When officers arrived, on-site first responders discovered a victim suffering from at least one gunshot wound. Unfortunately, the individual was pronounced dead on the scene by paramedics after life-saving measures performed on the victim failed to revive them. Per Bay City News, the shooting was reported about 9:42 p.m. and involved at least one victim — the individual discovered by onsite officers and paramedics, who was later pronounced dead. As of publishing, no further information is...

SF Food News This Week: Taco Bell’s Hyped, Waterfront Cantina Opens in SF Tourist Hot Spot

18Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Food + Drink, Hyperlocal News + Stories

SF Food News This Week: Taco Bell’s Hyped, Waterfront Cantina Opens in SF Tourist Hot Spot

Plus: A beloved Chinatown staple closes, and yes … you can still find $1 wings in San Francisco. Taco Bell elicits one or two reactions from the general population: a feeling of utter jubilation, wrapped with young-adult nostalgia, or an opinion of disdain and disgust. Thankfully, the vast majority of us fall into the former — Crunchwrap dreams and bean burrito wishes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Daniel Lurie (@danielluriesf) That popularity led to an explosion in the fast food restaurant’s physical footprint over the past decade; Taco Bell saw its international restaurant figure nearly triple from 400 to over 1,000 locations between 2017 and 2024 alone. Its Cantina iterations...

Wayward Deer Filmed Crossing SF’s Golden Gate Bridge

10Jan

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

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

Wayward Deer Filmed Crossing SF’s Golden Gate Bridge

2026 might as well be called the “Year of the [Rogue] Deer" in San Francisco after one was filmed crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on hoof. After last year’s toll increase, it now costs just a quarter shy of $10 to cross the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco from Marin. That price, too, will only get higher; a five-year plan approved by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (GGBHTD) in 2024 will see at least $0.50 annual increases through 2028. There remain just two sure-fire ways to cross the Golden Gate Bridge into SF without paying a dime: become a pedestrian or saddle up on a bike or scooter. (Mind you: Only people riding bikes or scooters can use the Golden Gate Bridge’s pedestrian sidewalk after sundown — a longstanding policy implemented to mitigate ...