At its busiest, the Buena Vista, a beloved San Francisco landmark, serves up thousands of Irish coffees per day. For travelers and locals alike, the Buena Vista is a hub for mingling over sourdough, crab cakes, eggs Benedict, and of course, the café’s world-famous Irish coffee. We met with owner Bob Friedman for a glimpse […]
Illustration by Carlos Gamero Morales I awake to the barking seals of Fisherman’s Wharf at precisely 10:34 a.m. After scrolling through Reddit from my bed with one sleepy eye, I head to the bathroom to drink some fresh Hetch Hetchy water straight from the sink. I look outside. It’s sunny, like it always is, and […]
Photograph submitted anonymously My breaking point came late one Tuesday night, about a week into the shutdown. I had just finished reporting (virtually) on a local school board meeting after multiple 12-hour-plus workdays, and the thought of writing one more word about the pandemic made me feel like crawling into bed and never re-emerging. I […]
Darius Foster is heading into his final season as a USF baseball player and one of two Black teammates on the roster. Photograph by Chris M. Leung, courtesy of USF Dons Athletics. Within seconds of seeing his future teammates, Darius Foster knew he’d be representing his race alone. As he was ushered around the University […]
Along with tens of thousands of San Franciscans, Margaret Valentine LeLong embraced the freedom and mobility bicycling offered. Illustration by Colin Hunt. When Margaret Valentine LeLong decided in 1897 to ride a bicycle, alone, from Chicago to her home in San Francisco, everyone around her implored her to reconsider. No woman had ever dared try […]
Illustration by Danielle Calibird Fernandez “The ballrooms were like a big announcement and front door…into The Life.” – Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Listen to the curated playlist that accompanies this piece to hear a selection of live and studio recordings from the height of San Francisco’s rock ballroom era. A show at one […]
In pre-digital SF, writer Richard Loranger roamed and occasionally wreaked havoc in the streets of the city as a bike messenger. Illustration by Nien-Ken Alec Lu. For a couple of years in the mid-1980s I was a private bicycle delivery person for ARCH Drafting Supply in San Francisco. I’d been a bike courier for a […]
Filmmaker Jacalyn Evone directs her team in an outdoor shoot. Photograph by Pauline Russell. When the lockdowns began, we turned to art—particularly of the streaming variety. We binged Tiger King, Bridgerton, the last of Schitt’s Creek, and dabbled in at least three Marvel spin-offs. Some of us hit a nostalgic ’90s phase, returning to ER […]
Amanda and I started The San Franciscan in November 2018 to give physical form to our deeply felt connection with the Bay Area. We reached out to potential collaborators―dreamers all over the Bay who hungered to create, to experiment, and to connect with their community. Many of us learn to hide our dreams, to shelter […]
Local pop-ups offer fresh bread, arepas by bike, and jars of kimchi via bright red bucket. Illustration by Maddie Meharg Victor Aguilera had $60 left in his bank account when he started selling homemade arepas. The San Francisco restaurant where he worked, The Brixton, had closed due to the Bay Area’s stay-at-home order, and it […]
Home Magazine Issue 2 of The San Franciscan $10.00 Issue 2 of The San Franciscan (Print) Magazine Details: Includes work from 21 talented creatives based in the Bay Area Features fiction, poetry, art, cartoons, photography, and nonfiction articles, profiles, personal essays, interviews, and even a locally-themed crossword Perfect-bind book with matte cover Limited edition print […]
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Issue 6 of The San Franciscan includes work from 27 talented creatives based in and around the Bay Area. A limited edition, perfect-bound print with a matte cover, the issue features fiction, poetry, art, photography, nonfiction, profiles, personal essays, interviews, and even an SF-inspired cartoon. If you haven’t heard of the The San Franciscan before, […]
The difficulty of making a living as an artist in San Francisco is no secret. In recent years, “the cost of living has driven a lot of artists and galleries out of the Bay Area,” said Vanessa Woods, a full-time art teacher and working artist. But if financial challenge is a defining feature of the […]