Storied: San Francisco

Listen in as I talk with JoAnne Winter and Vanessa Flores Chacko of Z Space . We chat about the theater production group. Their program Word for Word's next production, Assimilation , includes two short stories, one by E.L. Doctorow and another by Tatyana Tolstaya. For more information and to buy tickets for Assimilation, which runs Oct. 14 through Nov. 8, visit Z Space's website . We recorded thi...

Chris Ryan is the New York Times bestselling author of Sex at Dawn and Civilized to Death , which have each been translated into over twenty languages. Chris' long running podcast, Tangentially Speaking includes more than 800 episodes, has been downloaded over 30 million times and has featured guests such as Rick Beato, Theo Von, Johann Hari, and Neil Strass. Chris is also a friend, and a neighbor...

In Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1, with the origin story of Raina and Vanessa's show, Valkyries, Say Less. It goes something like this … The two went to the first-ever Valkyries game, technically a preseason game, at Chase Center, in 2025. Once she discovered discounted tickets, Vanessa got about 20 friends and fellow teachers to join in. Then folks from the Valkyries cme to Vaness...

When Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely and Raina Mast aren't going bananas about the Golden State Valkyries, they're teaching kids in San Francisco. In this episode, meet and get to know Vanessa and Raina, cohosts of the Valkyries, Say Less podcast . We begin with Vanessa. Her parents met in San Francisco in 1970. Her mom came here the year before from her home country, France. In her mom's first month i...

Listen in as I talk with Kate Campbell , cofounder of WhoDidWhat? , a congressional accountability tracker. Their website goes live October 12. Once it's up, folks all over the country will be able to access their congressperson's voting recording, committees they serve on, any petitions with their names on it, and a score that the site gives them. It will launch covering a single topic, but an im...

Maria Finn is a forager, chef, event producer, author of a fantastic cookbook called Forage Gather Feast and fellow Lagotto Romagnolo dog parent who also happens to be a neighbor of mine on the houseboats in Sausalito. She is founder of The Institute for Ecosystem Based Living and Flora & Fungi Adventures . You can find her on the web at floraandfungiadventures.com and mariafinn.com . Maria's Inte...

Listen in as I talk with Roberto Hernandez , founder of the SF Lowrider Council . The council is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. And their Lowrider Parade and car-hopping contest will take place in the Mission this Saturday, Sept. 19. We recorded this podcast at Roberto's home in the Mission in August 2026. Photography by Tyrone Malow Diaz

In Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1, with Dave's time in Europe to get away from being drafted to fight in Vietnam. By that time, with a couple years at City College taking photo classes under his belt, Dave had built a portfolio. He took all his gear with him because he didn't know whether he was ever coming back. His French cousin had a friend whose mom worked at the US Embassy in...

Dave Glass 's Polish parents met at a displaced persons camp in Europe after World War II. In this Season 9 inaugural episode, meet and get to know Dave. A born-and-raised San Francisco, Dave joined me back in August in the SF Public Press office/studio at Warfield Commons to record the first-ever Storied: San Francisco live episode. Our talk that night comprises this episode. Dave's mom and dad g...

Mani Niall is a chef, baker, author of Sweet! and other cookbooks, a food business advisor—and he was Michael Jackson's first private chef ! Mani's very SF love story takes place at Uncle John's Tree near Fell and Stanyan in 2002. He writes on Substack at mjchefmani.substack.com —here's the oatmeal sour cherry chocolate chip cookie recipe he mentions in his episode.

Listen in as Jeff talks about the coming Season 9: This Is the Place. Then Jeff is joined by Intersections SF host Bowen Dwelle to talk Bowen's new show. Intersections will be part of the Storied universe beginning Sept. 9.

In Part 2, Aft joins us to chat about the band—Top Chefs. We start with the story of how TJ met Aft. A mutual friend of his and Loveberry's, Lucas Hanson, put on a show at DNA Lounge called "Liam Berry and Friends." TJ was just getting out of high school at the time. They asked him to join them on stage, something he'd never really done before. TJ had been playing smaller sets in restaurants, but...

There's a band in San Francisco comprising musicians from The City and whom I discovered on social media playing shows on a stoop here in SF. I can't quite be sure when I discovered them, or whether it was me or my wife, but either way, right from the start, we knew we'd stumbled upon something special. Something truly unique. Something joyful, beautiful, free … something for the people. People co...

In Part 2, we begin with Todd and me rapping about how much digital technology has changed just in our lifetimes. Even when he was in school in Colorado, San Francisco had been a goal for Todd, a destination. He got his impression of The City from skateboarding magazines and TV shows. But before moving here, Todd went to Europe, as he puts it, "chasing a girl." He even tried living overseas. When...

Todd Kurnat is everywhere. In this episode, meet and get to know Todd. These days, he's also known as Ink Letterman for his art and DJ Circuit 73 for his musical stylings. We begin in Michigan. Both sets of Todd's grandparents grew up in Greenville, Michigan, about an hour outside Grand Rapids. His parents met in high school in that small town. They eventually moved to Grand Rapids, the big city i...

Listen in as I chat with German Gonzalez , musical conductor and principal director of the Golden Gate Park Band , now in its 144th year. We recorded this podcast in Golden Gate Park in June 2026.

In Part 3, we hear from Keiko and Michael about the history of the San Francisco Mime Troupe . In the late-1950s, a San Franciscan named R.G. Davis taught a class in movement—mime, dance, physical interpretation of stories … that sort of thing. A performing troupe sprang out of that class, and it was known as the R.G. Davis Mime Troupe. It was the era of the early Civil Rights and Anti-War movemen...

Both sides of Michael Gene Sullivan 's family are from Detroit. In Part 2, we get to know Keiko's fellow SFMT collective member. Michael was born in Livonia, Michigan, a small town outside of Detroit. His parents met at a summer camp, but we need to rewind a bit before we get to that. When his dad was a boy, he was kidnapped. Yes, really. He and his brothers, all Black boys, were taken from Detroi...

Keiko Shimosato Carreiro was born in the Bay Area … the Boston Bay Area. In Part 1 of this episode, meet Keiko. Today, she's a longtime member of the San Francisco Mime Troupe collective. But her story goes back to her parents' migration to the US from Japan after World War II. Keiko's dad got a Fulbright scholarship to come to this country. He studied medicine. Her mom came to visit the US for on...

In Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. While in college at Marymount, Theo ran the Boys and Girls Club program with Phillip Redd. He liked the connections and impact he had made in SoCal, and wondered whether he could do the same at home. This was back when Barack Obama was first running for president, and there was a prevailing sense of hope and possibility pervading life for a lot of...

Today, Theo Ellington is the secretary at the Ruth Williams Opera House. This born-and-raised San Franciscan is also running to be the next D10 supervisor. In Part 1 of this episode, meet Theo. His maternal grandfather, Clifton Weeks, came to SF because his sister, Marie Weeks (Theo's great-aunt), had come here. Clifton and his sister had grown up in rural Natchez, Mississippi, but they came out W...

Listen in as I chat with Frameline50 Associate Director of Programs Kate Bove about this year's historic 50th annual LGBTQIA+ film festival, which runs June 17–27. For more information, including this year's program and to buy tickets, please visit frameline.org . Follow Frameline on Instagram @framelinefest . We recorded this podcast at the Frameline office in South of Market in June 2026.

Painter George , aka George Harry Crampton-Glassanos, is fine if you wanna call him just "George." In this episode, meet and get to know George. Both of his parents came to San Francisco early in their lives. His mom hails from the East Coast and her family were all working-class folks. His grandpa was a business agent for a machinist's union in Massachusetts. That grandfather shaped George's late...

Listen in as I chat with Circus Bella founder and performer Abigail Munn . If you enjoy this podcast, you might also like the episode we did on Club Fugazi and Dear San Francisco . We recorded this podcast at Abigail's home in the Mission in May 2026. Photography by Jeff Hunt

Listen in as I chat with past guest Connie Chan about her run for US Congress. To learn more about Connie and her vision of representing San Francisco in DC, head to her website, ConnieChanSF.com . Please consider this episode an endorsement of Connie's campaign. And please vote, by May 26 (today) if you're mailing in your ballot, or on June 2 if you're voting in person. One of the most important...