Storied: San Francisco

In this podcast, Rodrigo picks up where he left off in Part 1 . He came back to the Mission to go to middle school at Horace Mann, where he met many of his lifelong friends. He ended up at Lowell High School near Lake Merced and temporarily lost touch with those friends. From there, Rodrigo went to San Diego for college. He explains the influence on his life that came from Carlos Aceituno, a capoe...

Rodrigo Durán 's parents come from very different backgrounds. In this episode, the host of Real City Ambassadors shares the stories of his parents' respective moves from Mexico to San Francisco. His dad came to the U.S. from Mexico City after becoming disillusioned with the revolutionary movement in his homeland, ended up in The City, and fell in with low-riders and Central Americans here. Rodrig...

In this podcast, Lucia picks up where she left off in Part 1 . She dives into her own personal art history, from always drawing as a kid and young adult to eventually attending college at the San Francisco Art Institute. Before that, while at City College, Lucia got her associates in child development and began teaching, something she continues to do to this day. While at SFAI, she and some fellow...

Lucia Gonzalez-Ippolito is a Mission District fixture. Her dad, a painter and welder, moved to San Francisco from Merida, Mexico. Her mom, an activist, came from Chicago and worked at China Books on 24th Street. They met in the mid-1980s and Lucia was born shortly after that. She was raised in the Mission mostly by her mother, always surrounded by her parents' activist and artist friends. Lucia's...

In this podcast, Jeremy picks up where he left off in Part 1 , talking about the job he got at a skateboarding company that brought him back to San Francisco after a short time on the road. He goes on to catalog the various places in The City where he has lived, including North Beach, the neighborhood Jeremy calls home to this day. The story of his move to that neighborhood includes tips on how to...

Hip-hop, hills, and art drew Jeremy Fish  to San Francisco from 3,000 miles away. In this episode, the prolific and iconic SF artist traces his family line back to both grandfathers. One worked with his hands to make art; the other was a salesman. Jeremy sees bits of himself in both ancestors. He was born in Albany, New York, and spent most of his youth in Saratoga Springs. When it came time to go...

We saved Part 2 of Ida McCray 's podcast with us for a good reason. We didn't want her incredible story to get lost in the chaos and uncertainty that marked last week. And we suspect that you, like us, feel a little better heading into this week, so ... Ida picks up where she left off in  Part 1 , with her release from prison when she was a teenager. She shares the story of when she helped hijacke...

Ida McCray has left San Francisco. In this podcast, Ida, who was born and raised in The City, takes us back to around the time of her birth. Her dad was in and out of trouble and her mom put Ida in Catholic school. An only child, she loved books but school never excited her. She got into her own trouble as a teenager, and found herself in and out of Juvenile Hall. ​ After graduating high school at...

In this podcast, Alan tells us about his discovery of Israel. A friend told him all about the country, smashing Alan's preconceived ideas about the place, and so he went and lived there for a number of years. He shares stories of his return to NYC, drunken addiction, and homelessness. He was in a downward spiral before a friend told him to snap out of it and get help. He did, and roughly a week la...

Alan Kaufman is lucky to be alive. In this podcast, the writer and poet traces his lineage back to his parents, who met in New York in the 1940s. His dad was a Jewish gangster, as Alan describes it, and his mom was a French Jewish Holocaust survivor. Alan details a trip to Europe he took in 2014. His hosts in Zurich drove him to the mountains in Northern Italy where his mother and grandmother hid...

In this podcast, Temi picks up where she left off in Part 1 , talking about founding Pembroke , her PR firm here in The City. She goes on to describe how the company transitioned during the onset of shelter-in-place earlier this year. Then Temi pivots to her own experiences with racism and her awakening to racial and social justice. She ends the podcast talking about joining Represent Collaborativ...

Temi Adamolekun moved to San Francisco sight unseen. Temi  was born in Lagos, Nigeria, but raised mostly in London. Her family visited their hometown often after their move to Europe, so Temi grew up with a good sense of where she was from despite her British upbringing. After boarding school and university, she got a job at Condé Nast doing PR work. As a side hustle of sorts, she started making h...

In this episode, Dale picks up where he left off in Part 1 , with his college years in Santa Clara. After he graduated, he moved to LA where he worked in shipping. He had a few other jobs, mostly in data systems. Dale was living in Scottsdale, Arizona, and his then-girlfriend/now wife was taking care of her father, who was ill, while also going to SF State. So, in 2010, Dale moved back to the Bay...

Dale Johnson is the descendent of Black cowboys. In this podcast, Dale traces the history of his family, from New York state and a Black settlement in Texas called High Prairie to the Bay Area. His parents met at a park in the East Bay and Dale was born seven years later. He grew up in "deep" East Oakland. He touches on some of the changes that he remembers, with industrial jobs being off-shored a...

There's a battle going on in the world of San Francisco street art. In this episode, we get to know street artist  Ricky Rat . Ricky's grandparents come from many different heritages. His parents moved to San Francisco, separately, in the '80s and met at a Halloween party in the Mission. Ricky spent some time with his dad (also a comic artist) in the Mission in the 1990s (fun fact—his dad took him...

In this podcast, Michelle and Alex pick up where they left off in Part 1 , discussing how the sale of 111 Minna that left them as co-owners went down. The original owner, Ei Ming, left Michelle in charge, and there was a lot of stuff she had to figure out how to do. A few years down the road, she brought Alex in to help, and soon enough, the two ended up buying the place from Ei Ming. 111 Minna Ga...

Ready your SF bingo card: Michelle Delaney is a punk rock mom who runs an art gallery in The City. In this podcast, we get to know Michelle and  111 Minna  co-owner Alex Kivelstadt . The two talk about their lives leading up to the moment they purchased the art bar/cafe from its previous owner. Check back Thursday for Part 2, when we'll hear the story of Michelle and Alex taking over  111 Minna ,...

You got to know Marke Bieschke earlier this season ( Part 1 / Part 2 ). In this special episode, we catch up with him to hear what's gone on with 48 Hills and The Stud since the pandemic began. We also discuss Marke's book, Into the Streets: A Young Person's Visual History of Protest in the United States , which was published over the summer. Find the book at your local indy bookstore. If you want...

This one is a little different from what we normally do, and what we've been doing during September. We haven't met  Pop's Bar  owners Tom or Spike, nor do we know bartender Charlie yet. But a mutual friend connected us and we couldn't pass up the chance to hear some history of the Mission drinking hole and also their experiences during the pandemic. Spike (who also owns  Madrone Art Bar ) and Tom...

Catch up with Adam Bergeron , whom you met earlier this year ( Part 1 / Part 2 ). Adam fills us in on how the Balboa Theater has responded to the pandemic and shelter-in-place orders. The  Balboa Theater  is open for "social distance popcorn pop-ups" every Friday and Saturday from 4–8 p.m. and Sundays from 2–6 p.m. Please visit their  website  for other ways to support them during the pandemic. We...

Steph Miller got her first dog in New Orleans. In this podcast, Steph picks up where she left off in Part 1. She returned home from New Orleans with her dog, Ruby, who joined two other dogs at Steph's parents' house. You could say that the pack ... got into some trouble. But luck related to Steph's adopting Ruby eventually led her to a career training and working with dogs. She got a job at  Missi...

Steph Miller used to have dreams of playing professional baseball. Her parents met out east, where they're from. But their families weren't so keen on their respective different backgrounds, so the young couple came to the West Coast. Steph's dad got a job in a San Francisco law firm while her mom taught French. Steph talks about her childhood, and she and Jeff start to realize how much they have...

Catch up with Babylon Burning's Mike Lynch in this special episode. Mike talks about adjusting his business in the face of a major downturn, with many of his usual clients pulling back on T-shirt orders. While he normally keeps his screenprinting shop open, literally, to the public, his doors have been mostly closed during the pandemic. And 63 Bluxome Gallery, which is part of Babylon Burning, has...

Catch up with Dino Medardo Rosso , whom we featured in Season 2, Episode 19 ( Part 1 / Part 2 ). After losing a lot of his business when restaurants shut down in March, and then getting laid off from his teaching job, Dino made a critical change. Learn more in this podcast. In addition to hiring Dino for language services, you can donate to his  GoFundMe  to help fund his new business/adventure. W...

Del Seymour 's arrival in San Francisco was one wild ride. In this podcast, Del describes his literal first hours in The City. He touches on nearly two decades of drug addiction and sets the scene at a park in the Tenderloin where he was inspired to sober up a little more than a decade ago. Around that time, he started  Tenderloin Walking Tours , inspired in part by Del's time driving cabs in San...