In this month’s column, I’m serving up a little of this and a little of that, plus a few loose ends. THE DARWIN AWARDS These days North Beach is full of Segways — you... Read More
Today your personal philosopher (nose always pointed into the wind) will amaze and titillate you with news, notes, gossip, and wild rumors about the North Beach scene. But first, h... Read More
This month’s North Beach Sketches includes a bit of this and a bit of that — Mormons, vigilantes, escaped convicts, some recollections of a rock ‘n’ roll jam ba... Read More
Just as The New York Times always reminds us on its front page, here’s “All the News That’s Fit to Print” this month. Actually, it’s all the news I co... Read More
A REQUIEM FOR CAPP’S CORNER The evening of Tuesday, March 31, I sat in the bar at Original Joe’s in North Beach with my friend, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl N... Read More
UPDATE: A SHORT REQUIEM FOR CAPP’S CORNER The evening of Tuesday, March 31, I sat in the bar at Original Joe’s in North Beach with my friend, San Francisco Chronicle columnist ... Read More
This month I have some good news and I have some bad news. Let’s get right to it. Here are some of the most important things that have happened (or not happened) recently in ... Read More
January was an interesting month for your rambling Sketches columnist. Word came that Grizzly Peak Press in Berkeley will publish my book “Sketches From a North Beach Journal... Read More
If you run across a restaurant where you often see priests eating with priests, or sporting girls with sporting girls, you may be confident that it is good.” I am indebted fo... Read More
Here come the year-end holidays, and not a moment too soon. Winking lights have been strung up along Upper Grant Avenue in North Beach since early November. Shops like Schein &... Read More
There’s a sign over the bar at Original Joe’s in North Beach: “It’s better to live rich than to die rich.” I concur with that sentiment, and here are ... Read More
A POET’S DREAM REALIZED? Recently, I received an invitation from Angela Alioto, international director of the Knights of St. Francis (an unofficial Catholic lay organization ... Read More
Not long ago I heard from Ryan Russo, a young guy who operates Walk SF Tours. He liked something I wrote for my Sketches column and invited me to tag along on one of his tours, The... Read More
Tony Bennett’s birthday is Aug. 3. And where will he have his birthday party? Well, right where he left his heart last time he was in San Francisco — at Gigi’s Sotte ... Read More
DAWDLING THROUGH NORTH BEACH My buddy James Melling, the Gentleman Trencherman of North Beach as I frequently call him, has a habit. Actually, it’s a good habit, and I wouldn... Read More