We’ve been members of San Francisco Zoo for the past three years, and I go there frequently with my young child. But after a patron was killed at the zoo and two others critically injured by a tiger today, I’ll be reluctant to return. The man who was killed was outside the tiger, Tatiana’s, [...]
Beachgoers in the Bay Area have been seeing seabirds covered in oil after a container ship rammed into the Bay Bridge, spilling 58,000 gallons of fuel oil. Fuel oil, which is “what’s left after oil is refined for gasoline,” is notoriously hard to clean up.
The spill could have serious long-term consequences for fish, birds and [...]
Adrienne Shelly’s weirdly wonderful Waitress is now playing at the Balboa. At first, I thought this might be another misguided foray into Southern stereotypes (as a native of Alabama, movies in which non-Southerners attempt Southern accents always put me on guard), but within the first five minutes of the film I was fully invested in [...]
I took a turn signing books at the Booksmith booth at the Cole Valley Street Fair today. Thanks to everyone who came by and said hello! My friend Ellen Sussman, editor of Bad Girls, was also there. You can see her on The Today Show on Tuesday.
The fair’s still going on. Some great stuff for [...]
There’s lots of talk these days about the softening housing market. But in San Francisco, here’s one bit of anecdotal evidence to the contrary. My husband and I saw a beautiful three-story house in the Outer Richmond during its first and only open house on Sunday, two days ago. The house has sweeping views of [...]
If you were up late last night or early this morning in Northern California, perhaps you saw the Perseid meteor shower. I read about it yesterday in the Chronicle, which advised heading to the Oakland hills for a good view, but I simply stepped out on my back porch in the city and was able [...]
When I went in to Simple Pleasures yesterday morning to get my frothy au lait, Dae was doling out horoscopes, compliments of Christopher Renstrom at the Chron. This was mine:
The planets urge you to pursue your heart’s desire. There will be hell to pay, but it doesn’t matter because getting what you want will feel [...]
I recently bought a food chopper from one of those little stores on Clement Street specifically for the packaging, which described the humble object thus:
Functions:
1. Let the big pieces fall down (which are sticking sometimes on the wall, as you know.)
2. Let the chopper stand alone on the table.
3. Turns on the wall of the [...]
While I was sipping my au lait at Simple Pleasures in the Richmond this morning, I overheard a conversation between two fellows who also happened to be sitting at my table. They started out by talking about Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels–the younger guy was in the process of reading it, and the older guy [...]
Out in the Richmond, the earthquake that happened about three minutes ago felt pretty significant. About 5 to 6 seconds of serious jarring. Not the rolling quake but the other, jerkier type. According to USGS, which has not yet assigned a Richter number, the epicenter was 1 km northeast of Lafayette.
Update: I just called into [...]
