Storied: San Francisco

Tara DeMoulin  grew up collecting eucalyptus buttons in the Panhandle with her mom. In this podcast, the singer/songwriter, activist, and filmmaker shares the story of her life. It starts in San Francisco in the late-1980s, travels east to Maine and New York City (where she discovered and became obsessed with Broadway), starts to circle back west with a stop in Texas before scooting over to Southe...

In this podcast, Jaime picks up where he left off in Part 1 , describing his evolution as an artist. Like a lot of kids his age, Saturday morning cartoons were a big influence. Comics in the newspaper also played their part. We shift back to his return to SF after high school. He worked as a screen-printer at The Color Machine and Winterland. The music venue was closed, but Jaime shares stories of...

Jaime Crespo 's first drawings were made on the blank pages in a Bible. In this podcast, the cartoonist traces his lineage back to his mom, who was born in Northern Mexico and is Yaqui/Yoeme. She came to LA with her brother in the early 20th century. When their mom got deported back to Mexico, she moved up to run a cafe in Sacrament, where she ended up meeting Jaime's dad. But his mom took Jaime t...

In this episode, H.P. picks up where he left off in Part 1 . He had moved with his mom to Daly City and starts off telling a story about the Colma Target. It involves a kid he met while hanging out at Radio Shack and Walden Soft at Serramonte Mall across the freeway. From there, we go on to talk about H.P.'s first feature-length movie, Colma: The Musical . He shares how he went about writing the s...

So, we're doing something a little different here. Way, way back in Season 1, on Episode 14 (Part 1 / Part 2), we had friend of the show H.P. Mendoza  on. Back then, we were all about stories, not necessarily people's stories , like we are today. And so, we asked H.P. to come back on and share his personal history with you. He starts off with his birth (St. Luke's in the Mission) and his childhood...

In this podcast, Wanika picks up where she left off in Part 1 . After high school, her band Mystic Youth became more of a full-time gig, writing music, playing shows, recording. She shares the mischievous story of how she got started playing bass. Self-taught at first, she eventually took lessons, and that made her think that music school at City College was a good idea. She came to think of herse...

Wanika King-Stephens ' life is full of music and church. In this episode, Wanika traces her life back to her parents' move to San Francisco from Los Angeles in the 1960s with their four-month-old daughter. Her dad's dad was an evangelist in the Pentecostal Church. It was a strict upbringing where, if her father as a young man wanted to listen to so-called music of the world, country music was the...

In this podcast, we pick up where we left off in Part 1 . After college out east, Modesto's Tomas Moreno  moved to the Bay Area. His mom is a recently retired high school teacher who taught kids with disabilities, and Tomas feels that her work instilled in him a drive to serve others. That eventually led him to Maitri. Tomas is joined by Maitri Executive Director, Rev. Fr. Rusty Smith , to share w...

In this podcast, Maitri Compassionate Care 's Executive Director, Reverend Father Rusty Smith , shares stories of his youth. His very New Mexican mom was a powerful figure in his early life, shaping the liberal world view Rusty espouses to this day. Rusty traces his military family upbringing all over the country and the world. The family eventually settled in Texas for his high school years. Afte...

​ Ed. note:  As with Part 1 of Larry's episode, a reminder that we recorded under the BART tracks, so we took pauses when trains passed by overhead. We left that audio in the final edit and we hope you enjoy. In this podcast, Larry picks up where he left off in Part 1 . He talks about going to Lowell High School in The City and then Academy of Art University, where he first got to know people very...

Ed. note:  This one is special for a couple reasons. First, Larry blew us away with his kindness, energy, and knowledge. Also, we recorded under the BART tracks, so we took pauses when trains passed by overhead. We decided to leave that audio in the final edit because, well, it was part of the experience that day. We hope you enjoy. ​ Larry Dorsey, Jr. 's parents came to the Bay Area from the Sout...

Marcia Gagliardi  could've ended up in LA. In fact, if it weren't for the 1994 Northridge earthquake, there might be no Tablehopper. In this podcast, Marcia picks up where she left off in Part 1 . She came back to the Bay Area and found a place in the Western Addition (where she still lives today!). She chronicles various jobs at design firms before the 2000 "dotbomb." Not long after that, she sta...

Marcia Gagliardi 's family used to own a pizzeria and Italian deli in the Sierra foothills. In this podcast, the Tablehopper  creator and author goes a couple generations back to trace her family's story and how they ended up in Northern California. Her Italian grandparents went back to their homeland shortly before Marcia was born, but we'll get back to that. Marcia grew up on the Peninsula, one...

In this podcast, Matt picks up where he left off in Part 1 , with his involuntary foray into placing temp workers. Turns out, he loved the job. He moved around from job to job over the next few years, but returned to thank the person who pushed him into this new career. A trip to Paris led, in a very roundabout way, to Matt starting his own French recruiting firm. With that, he moved to Europe and...

Matt Leum  has more friends from his school days now than he did back then. Matt grew up in Glendale, a suburb north of LA. His family's swimming pool was the only one on that block. His dad owned a chain of supermarkets in the greater Los Angeles area. His parents met at the flagship store of that chain back when it was just a corner market. Matt grew up the youngest of six; his younger brother d...

In this episode, Morris picks up where he left off in Part 1 , sharing some of the pot edibles he was making with a friend. This was back when California had legalized medicinal marijuana, but not yet recreational. And the US government, as they still do to this day, more than frowned upon even this limited use. Morris walks us through the evolution of his business, from a medicinal marijuana cult...

Morris Kelly 's great-grandfather was a sharecropper who bought his own freedom. In this podcast, Morris, who today owns SF Roots  cannabis company, shares the story of how he came to grow up in The City. He chronicles the various schools he went to, talks about Muni rides to arcades and movie theaters all over town, and car rides with his grandparents on which they'd visit non-chain stores and re...

In this podcast, Alia picks up where she left off in Part 1 , sharing stories of joining her mom on pot-brownie runs in The City in the late-'70s. She pivots from there to just a few years later, when Alia witnessed the devastation of AIDS first-hand. She also speaks of communities coming together around the epidemic to provide support for those who needed it. We fast-forward to around 2000, when...

It isn't every episode that we get to learn more about the main character in a book. First of all, if you haven't already read Home Baked , Alia Volz's autobiography about her mom, her dad, and the pot brownie business they had in San Francisco in the 1970s, please do. In this podcast, Alia, who was born and raised amid that booming business four decades ago, dives deeper into her parents' stories...

This one's pretty much all about San Francisco politics 20 years ago. Matt talks about how it was that he ended up running for political office to begin with. He walks us through Tom Ammiano's write-in campaign for mayor in 1999 and Matt's eventual ascension to the Board of Supervisors the next year. What brought him into my sphere was Matt's run for mayor in 2003 against Willie Brown heir-apparen...

Matt Gonzalez's life could've turned out very different. ​Born in McAllen, Texas, and raised there and across the river in Reynoso, Tamaulipas (Mexico), Matt recalls spending a lot of time camping and playing football when he was a kid. His family moved around a bit—Louisville, Baltimore, New Orleans—before returning to South Texas, where Matt finished school and played more football. The sport ev...

Arthur Gaus  came of age in the Golden Era of comedy in San Francisco. Picking up where he left off in Part 1 , Arthur sets the stage for his beginnings doing stand-up by describing the comedy scene in The City in the 1980s. He rattles off a list of funny folks who got their start here—Will Durst, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Greg Proops—and talks about comedy venues in San Francisco, some of...

Arthur Gaus  grew up on a famous block in The City. In this podcast, the native San Francisco comedian traces his story back to his parents' choice to buy a house on Ashbury just off Haight Street in the late-'70s. Arthur shares stories of growing up in his family's Victorian and hanging out on Haight Street, in Golden Gate Park (despite how dangerous everyone said it was back then), and in his ba...

Renel grew up going to Giants games at Candlestick Park. So when the team reached out to her in 1999 about the possibility of becoming the PA announcer in their brand-new stadium, she immediately thought of her family and the long line of baseball fans she's a part of. Renel shares her experience auditioning for the job at Candlestick in November 1999 and takes us through her journey as she approa...

Renel has always enjoyed entertaining people. Born in Oakland and raised there, in Berkeley, and in Richmond, Renel suffered when her family moved to Menlo Park on the Peninsula. She went to Mills for college, where she studied classical voice and sang in a band with some guys who went to UC Berkeley. After college, she got an entry-level job at KCBS radio and worked her way to writing copy for on...