San Francisco Chronicle
- Tails of the City
May 2008 - present
Welcome to "Tails Of The City," the Bay Area Pets blog. If you are a pet owner, or simply have a healthy appreciation for fuzzy, finned, and feathered creatures, you've come to the right place. Owning a pet in the Bay Area (especially in the city) has its challenges, but with them come giant rewards. There's nothing quite like that feeling of being greeted at the door with unconditional love telegraphed through a wagging tail, contented purr or excited squawk...
- Outside the Box: Designing a house to fit an angular lot in Bernal Heights
September 9, 2007
Once upon a time, in a neighborhood where goats once roamed free, an abandoned garage sat alone on a steep, irregularly shaped corner lot. Over the years, many architects and developers visited the site trying in vain to squeeze a traditional boxy design into the angular space, each time failing to win favor with the Bernal Heights Design Review Board...
April 29, 2007- Destiny's Darlings
Jeanne Powell doesn't like to talk about her age. She's been "in her 40s" for more than a decade and likes it that way. But recently, the prospect of owning a condo in one of San Francisco's newest 55-and-older communities has her admitting (albeit quietly) her senior status...
April 29, 2007- Finding homes for aging parents
Anthony Soni's 88-year-old father lives alone in a four-bedroom home in Orange County. According to Soni, he's in great health and still drives everywhere he needs to go. He retired about seven years ago and nursed his wife through breast cancer until she died, leaving a big void in his life...
September 10, 2006- Positively Sixth Street
If you haven't taken an afternoon stroll down Sixth Street in a while (or possibly ever), perhaps it's time you did. San Francisco's infamously gritty neighborhood, between Market and Howard streets, is in the midst of a revitalization -- albeit an atypical one. Call it un-gentrification. Traditionally, artists, musicians and other trendsetters move to blighted urban areas for their affordability. Once they leave their indelible mark, the yuppies aren't far behind...
September 10, 2006- Artwork for sale, and so is building
The Hugo Hotel, or Defenestration Building as it's known to many for
artist Brian Goggin's site-specific sculpture, has stood vacant on the
corner of Sixth and Howard streets for more than 16 years.
Created in 1997 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts,
Goggin's display of distorted, street-salvaged furniture and appliances
(more than 30 pieces in all) still hangs in suspended animation out
of the windows and from the walls of the abandoned four-story tenement
building. (Defenestration means the act of throwing something or someone
out of a window.)
April 23, 2006- A Place to Age in Grace
What if we couldn't wait to be old and wise, just like kids can't wait to be teenagers and drive? Nader Shabahangi believes becoming an elder is something to be celebrated. Instead of accepting old age as a sentence of doddering obsolescence, he believes our elderly have a lifetime of experience and skills that make them vital contributors to society...
- April 23, 2006
- Happy Ending When Cultures Collide
During its early days, AgeSong had a neighborly agreement with the Palestinian market across the street. The Brazilian restaurant below Hayes Valley Care would purchase its produce from the market and, in return, AgeSong employees were welcome to park in their lot...
- September 18, 2005
- High-End Gamble
Misha Breyburg is giving his company an extreme makeover, homes edition. "They aren't for everyone," he says. "But it only takes two."
Breyburg, who is vice president of business development for Structura General Contractors, is referring to two luxury spec homes on Potrero Hill, tucked between 19th Street and what would be Utah Street, were it not for the bustling Highway 101 freeway butting up against the property...