Do you remember when you fell in love with San Francisco? For me, it was on a concrete slide in Eureka Valley, around the corner from my mother’s …
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Total SF
Explore the fascinating corners and characters of San Francisco and the Bay Area with Culture Critic Peter Hartlaub.
Updated May 25, 2024: We added two more Starter Pack items suggested by readers of the Total SF newsletter. Subscribe to Total SF at …
The Bay Area is an infuriatingly expensive place to live. But the biggest-ticket item will always be free. Beautiful views are a true constant in the …
Two fuzzy, new-with-tags, his-and-hers bathrobes. Half a dozen bags of cat food, rejected by a picky feline after just a few scoops. A baby bottle …
When Lou Seal took the field at Candlestick Park for his debut on April 4, 1997, he was an insult to mascots and seals. The San Francisco Giants’ …
Pete Shaw was a new San Francisco resident in 1974, working on the fifth floor of 180 New Montgomery St. at Howard, when a river of humanity began …
On July 1, 1953, the San Francisco Chronicle published its first column linking Monarch the bear, a longtime Golden Gate Park resident and history’s …
The Crosstown Trail, a citizen-designed 17-mile urban trail through San Francisco, turns 5 years old this week, and organizers are giving local …
When Anchor Brewing Co. shut down last July, brewer Patrick Machel says, it felt like so much more than a job loss. Employees formed a collective to …
Expectations couldn’t have been very high in the summer of 1972, when filmmaker George Lucas walked into the Tamalpais High School gymnasium in Mill …
San Francisco has a lot of dogs, and a lot of cliffs. Turns out that’s a perilous combination. San Francisco firefighter Josh Davis said dog rescues …
Want to win a birdhouse replica of your home? Subscribe to the Total SF newsletter and follow the instructions at the end of this story. While some of …
The perfect holiday outfit for your ride on the 38-Geary has finally arrived. After years of watching BART’s ugly sweaters sell out, Muni unveiled its …
When news broke on Tuesday that Willie Mays had died at 93, I thought about kids eating ice cream. On Feb. 16, 1963, Mays threw a party for …
When Al Wilson found a great white shark eating from his net of starry flounder on Aug. 19, 1980, the Tomales Bay fisherman knew what to do: Gently …
One space was there where a great crystal lay A jewel set within a rim of gold Whose waters leaped and sparkled, laughed and sang Article continues …
‘It feels like a roller coaster’: Take a ride on S.F.’s steepest Muni route Climb on board, hold on tight and get to know the 67 Bernal Heights When …
As fun as it was to watch Klay Thompson play basketball, some of my favorite memories from his tenure are of watching the former Warriors guard not …
Every time someone writes an article or personal essay declaring San Francisco dead and over, I think of my own barometer: As long as Red’s Java House …
The start of the 2024 Paris Olympics is still a week away, but its first official event — the torch relay — has already begun. In fact, it’s been …
The San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, June 27, 2024, delivered the broad and engaging mix of sports journalism I’ve been used to since I …
This journey always starts with a very hard decision. Maybe you’re late for a work meeting with the boss. Maybe you need to pick your kid up at a day …
It’s less than an hour before Oakland Ballers game time, and Scrappy the possum is still hydrating. Sixty ounces of water and a quarter of a …
Like most San Francisco Giants fans, my memories of pitcher Rod Beck are of mean glares and athletic domination. The 1990s closer had a mustache and a …
A surprising item showed up on the new Caltrain online store this week alongside the tote bags, T-shirts and transit-themed ugly holiday sweaters: A …
No one had a hard time viewing the land that became Corona Heights Park after the 1906 earthquake. When the quarry and brick kiln located there …
How a free running club is busting the anti-Oakland narrative It’s an unforgiving 82 degrees at the Laney College track in Oakland, one of endless …
The building at 200 Franklin St. is the kind of San Francisco mystery that becomes more confounding the longer you’ve lived here. Situated on prime …
Mount Olympus may be San Francisco’s biggest anticlimax. The hilltop mini park in the center of the city rests at the dead end of a winding road, just …
