Culture + Travel Archives

8 Fantastic San Francisco Activities for Staying (Kind of) Sane

28Sep

By paoloshmaoloNo Comments

8 Fantastic San Francisco Activities for Staying (Kind of) Sane

These are the walks, beaches, workouts, and bookshops to stave off the existential dread just one day more. Is the triumvirate of the financial market, climate crisis, and looming political collapse getting you down? Is your dragon’s den of Bitcoin just not shining the way it used to? New district attorney into prosecuting kids as adults while reminding us they aren’t smart enough to vote? It sounds like you could be experiencing Living in San Francisco in the year of our lord 2022. Don’t worry — it gets better. While I’m not at liberty to discuss food and drink in this forum, though happy to elsewhere, I am at liberty to detail the ways I have managed to (for the most part) stay sane in the Paris of the West. Major caveat: I am not a clinical psychotherapist! Nor a psychiatrist, ...

SF’s Dreamforce Is Back. And I Still Hate ‘Techies’

21Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Culture + Travel, Essays

SF’s Dreamforce Is Back. And I Still Hate ‘Techies’

They've returned to the summit of all summits. The very concept of Dreamforce isn’t inherently dystopian nor distasteful; there’s nothing off-putting about creating a community around a vocational cohort. It’s also become a (mostly) reliable calendar staple for local small businesses, particularly restaurants and bars, to financially benefit from. Startups, even if they haven’t entirely fledged the nest of profitably, will cheerfully throw $14,000 to reserve an entire 40-seat eatery for their employees, clients, and angel investors. I’ve seen this happen. On more than one occasion Again, the surface-level notions that decorate the mobile over Dreamforce aren’t offensive. It’s just that the realities of having 40,000 “techies” inundate a city so affected by their normalized six-figu...

San Francisco’s Prettiest Drag Queen Is Getting an Exhibit Dedicated to Their Life’s Work

15Sep

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Queerness

San Francisco’s Prettiest Drag Queen Is Getting an Exhibit Dedicated to Their Life’s Work

'Juanita: 30 Years of MORE!' celebrates Juanita MORE!’s decades-long influence... which shows no signs of dimming. You can’t utter “San Francisco drag” without either a direct or indirect nod to Juanita MORE!. She’s both the zenith and epitome of queer culture in San Francisco — forever charitable, endlessly creative, and disarmingly captivating — simultaneously. I’ve had the pleasure of sharing countless meals in the presence of MORE! over the years. When she plunged into the details around Juanita: 30 Years of MORE! — a fiscally sponsored exhibit from the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), curated to honor her impact and unmatched legacy that reaches well beyond SF — over duck noodle soup one evening, I was as thrilled for her as I was for those who’ve ever wanted to see the art t...

Car-Free JFK Drive Is Getting Large-scale Public Art Pieces, FYI

13Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories

Car-Free JFK Drive Is Getting Large-scale Public Art Pieces, FYI

The sidewalks, curbs, and other slabs of concrete will soon glow up on one of SF’s beloved permanent post-pandemic Slow Streets Corridor. Since becoming a permanent car-free street in April, the 1.5-mile section of JFK Drive — or now better known by pedestrians, cyclists, and runners as the “JFK Promenade” — has grown in popularity. On any given weekday after 5 p.m., people throng the road in an orchestra of bicycle honks, clanks from scooters and rollerskates, and rubbery thuds from runners trudging up and down the street. Weekends see the same concert of niceties throughout the day… just with more leashed canines in tow. And from now until the end of October, there will be even more reason to fawn over the JFK Promenade: the inclusion of large-scale pieces of painted public art, ...

I Simply Can’t Unsee This Hella Creepy BART Train Replica

12Sep

By Matt Charnock1 Comment

Culture + Travel, Editors' Picks, Queerness

I Simply Can’t Unsee This Hella Creepy BART Train Replica

I’ve tried to wash its deformed human-like face from my memory… to no avail. Like any good hyperlocal Twitter Gay, I keep up with all things Bay Area Public Transit Twitter. (To those asking: Yes, these are, in fact, things — and these online communities complement one another exceptionally well.) This past weekend, it was BART’s 50th birthday, which was punctuated by a birthday bash at its Lake Merritt Station. Thousands of people showed up. There was a themed cake. Children played tactile games. A piece of the BART’s rail system was up on display (for curious passersby to touch); a crowd sat underneath a marquee tent and sang “Happy Birthday” to the rapid transit agency that's made up of 120 miles of train track. It was a glorious event to live vicariously by way of thumbing throu...

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...

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...

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...