Storied: San Francisco

Folks, we made it. Welcome to the fifth season of Storied: San Francisco. For five years, we've highlighted humans—artists, doctors, teachers, small business owners—who make this place what it is. Now we turn our attention to places around The City that do exactly the same—help create the mystique around this complicated, beautiful, wondrous place we all call home. In this prequel episode of sorts...

Like many businesses, Secession Art and Design  had to pivot in 2020. In this special episode between seasons, Secession's founder,  Eden Stein , shares stories of opening a gallery in the Mission/Bernal 15 years ago. Starting Aug. 4 and running through Aug. 7,  Secession  will celebrate 15 years of business with a four-day pop-up up the hill on Cortland. Details about the event can be found below...

In this postseason special episode, Jeff reflects on his 22 years in San Francisco. Looking back brings us to today, where there's still so much to love about The City, but there's also plenty of fuckery, including yet another right-wing–originated recall. Here are some resources if you're still on the fence about how to vote by June 7. Hint: Only one SF media outlet is for the recall, and we won'...

In this, the last new episode of Season 4 of this podcast, Caitlyn picks up where she left off in Part 1 . She and a friend she'd been gardening with started selling salad mix and herbs to places like Tartine and other nearby restaurants. They also established a small CSA for folks in the building where their garden was as well as a few neighbors. The success of this project had them thinking on a...

There's an unused square block in the Portola District that's Ground Zero in the fight over land in San Francisco. In this podcast, we learn all about the Greenhouse Project . Volunteer Caitlyn Galloway  shares some of the history of the block bordered by Woolsey, Bowdoin, Wayland, and Hamilton streets as well as the efforts underway to reclaim the area as a green space in The City's southeast sid...

In this podcast, Doug picks up where he left off in Part 1 . He shares stories of his Jewish family's escape from Nazi Germany and their journey to the U.S. His dad went to Basel, Switzerland, first. So many of his friends died in World War II that, after the war ended, he came to New York. Being highly educated and speaking five or six languages, he got a job as an editor at the Academy of Scienc...

Doug Salin  has trouble doing anything longer than one hour. In this podcast, the career photographer shares his life story with us. We recorded in Doug's house in the Sunnyside, the same place we met and talked with ex-San Francisco poet laureate, Kim Shuck ( Part 1  / Part 2 ). Kim is Doug's life partner, in fact. These days, Doug works as a robotics mentor for high school students in The City....

In this episode, Christopher picks up where he left off in Part 1 . He tried college up north for a couple years, but that ended when he lost his scholarship. His dad knew a guy at the San Francisco Art Institute and encouraged Christopher to come see the school. The idea was that he would finish his education learning how to make movies. On that visit, Christopher met George Kuchar, who would lat...

Christopher Coppola  wants to tell you about his dad. In this episode, the filmmaker from the very famous filmmaking family shares his life story with us. Born and raised in Long Beach, he and his brother, Nicolas, spent a lot of time in San Francisco with their uncle, Francis. Christopher starts things off with his dad, August Coppola . According to him, August carried an old family tradition of...

In this episode, Emmy picks up where she left off in Part 1 , with the story of opening her own place. She'd been kicking around the idea of opening her own restaurant. Her classmates had more or less shot it down. Her dad, a restaurant-owner himself, wasn't crazy about the idea either. He couldn't see her raising the kind of money she'd need. But Emmy started saving. And saving. And saving. She w...

Emmy Kaplan and her friends in the restaurant business just wanted somewhere to go after their shifts. In this podcast, Jeff fulfills a 20ish-year dream meeting and recording with Emmy, the namesake behind Emmy's Spaghetti Shack. Today located on Mission Street just below Cesar Chavez, the restaurant recently celebrated 21 years in business. Emmy was born in San Francisco and shares her and family...

In this episode, Maggie picks up where she left off in Part 1 , with her taking over programming duties at GFE 10 years ago. She dives into the story of how GFE was founded more than 30 years ago amid a historic drought in California. The intent was always to create a teaching space, something that distinguishes GFE from other gardens around The City. We talk about biodiversity and how that's such...

Maggie Marks  has deep roots in San Francisco, and that's not a gardening pun. In this episode, Maggie, who today is the director of Garden for the Environment  (GFE) in the Inner Sunset, traces her family's history in The City. Her mom's side goes back at least two generations here; and her dad's side includes the family that owns Guerra Quality Meats . Her parents lived in various spots around t...

In this podcast, Vandor picks up where he left off in Part 1 . He traces his family history back to his grandfather, who moved from Mobile, Alabama, to San Francisco around the time of the Second Migration and met his wife (Vandor's grandma) here in The City. She was born and raised here; he was a quiet, strong man who learned how to dress from his new wife. When he was two, ​Vandor's dad left the...

There's a dude in the Mission who makes vegan donuts and break-dances. In this episode, we meet Vandor Hill . Vandor was born and raised in The City. He recently turned 40. He shares the story of how he came to love baking. It starts in the predominantly female house he grew up in. Surrounded by his grandma and aunt, Vandor says a lot of his baking went uncredited. No one believed that he was the...

In this podcast, Mason picks up where they left off in Part 1 . We continue our conversation about Mason's background as a photographer. In 2010, they were, as they say, dating someone out of their league. They were celebrating New Years at a joint in South of Market and needed to pee. Naturally, they went outside. When it was their partner's turn, she gave Mason her purse. An SFPD cop approached...

Note: Our guest this week raises issues, true stories from their own life, of sexual and gender-based violence. Listener discretion is advised. This story starts in 1978. A young San Francisco punk rock woman with two kids saw that many of her peers were getting hooked on drugs. Suddenly, there was an influx of abandoned children and she decided to do something about it. She established a foster h...

​In this podcast, we continue our visit at Sisterhood Gardens and our series on City Gardens. Today, we meet Sisterhood volunteer Tim Wong . Tim shares his life story with us. He grew up on the Peninsula and moved to The City in 2016. This coincided with the founding of Sisterhood Gardens. Tim grew up in an area replete with butterflies, something he was drawn to from a young age. He was intereste...

Our City Gardens series continues with a visit to Sisterhood Gardens . Located on Brotherhood Way (get it?) in the OMI area of southwest San Francisco, the garden was established in 2016. In this podcast, we meet master gardener and Sisterhood volunteer Jamie Chan . In addition to her work at Sisterhood, Jamie teaches at SF State, where she's also a doctoral student. Jamie shares her story with us...

In our last episode, we met Danielle Fernandez  briefly when she told us all about the 10-year vision she's realizing out at Calibird and Bee Pollinator Sanctuary. In this podcast, we get to know Danielle. Danielle's parents were born and raised in San Francisco. They met at Sears and Roebuck on Geary and Masonic in the Sixties. After they were married and started having kids, the young couple mov...

In this podcast, Isaiah Powell  ( Part 1 / Part 2 ) catches us up with what's been going on since his Storied: SF episodes back in the summer of 2020. Between the land he and Danielle stewarded at Florence Fang Community Farm and today, they were at Adam Rogers Park . The philosophy behind Dragonspunk has always been that they go where the help is needed; it's never been about a single location. T...

In this podcast, Connie picks up where she left off in Part 1 . After living in San Francisco for about five years, she decided to go to UC Davis. While at college, she rode a bike for the first time, a story she shares with us. She majored in religious studies and classical Chinese. Both subjects were of interest for Connie; they didn't necessarily constitute a post-graduation or career plan. Aft...

Connie Chan  used to love listening to music at Tower Records. In this podcast, we get to know Connie, who's beginning her second year as supervisor of San Francisco's District 1 (more or less the Inner and Outer Richmond). She and her brother were born in Hong Kong and raised in Taiwan. Connie shares the story of how her parents met: Her dad was a Hong Kong cop who worked with youth; Connie's mom...

Trigger warning: Vincent's story is a difficult, painful, and traumatic one that involves several tales of violence, crime, and drug abuse. Please be warned that these episodes contain potentially triggering content. In this podcast, Vincent picks up where he left off in Part 1 . He describes a week-long crime spree he went on when he was 15. As he fought sentencing and was holed up in Oakland juv...

Trigger warning: We're extremely grateful to Vincent for sharing his life story. But it's a difficult, painful, and traumatic story that involves several tales of violence and abuse against women and children. Please be warned that these episodes with Vincent contain potentially triggering content. Vincent Ray Williams 's ancestors on both sides moved to the Bay Area for a better life. In this pod...