For a very, very long time I was completely averse to the idea of hiking. It evoked images of stumbling upon creepy men with hatchets,  climbing mountains, dehydrated beef and special shoes. When I realized rather late in the game, hiking is often just a fancier term for a “slightly

Update for 2016: This originally appeared in my SF book. While North Beach has changed for the better, and my attitude with it, my opinion of Sam’s is still the same. I love that place! I’m posting this today in honor of the passing of Mile “Pops” Shawa, the owner of

By now you’ve probably heard the incredible story of Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who literally bailed on his job by cursing out an unruly passenger before grabbing two beers and jumping out the emergency slide onto the tarmac at JFK. I’m sure all of us have felt the

As human existence goes on, I’m continually fascinated by the objects people put into vending machines. Candy bars, hot sandwiches, coffee, ice cream bars delivered by vacuum tubes, used women’s underwear, iPods, etc. But Traif Bike Gesheft’s shop installed a vending machine that sells bike parts, and I’m willing to

You know how you live in a city for a long time, but never do the super touristy things in that city?  For example, I’ve never done the double-decker hop-on, hop-off bus tour, been across the water to Alcatraz, or had sex with a hooker-tranny in the ‘Loin. But today

Besides its oft-maligned grey facade, one of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s more notable characteristics is its curational tendency towards the work of the living. This tendency, it seems, extends to even music. The Whitney Live series, which has previously hosted acts like Toro y Moi and Bear Hands, returns tonight with

Living in the country is supposed to be nice because it has nature, breathable air, that scene from ‘œDELIVERANCE’…. I don’t know. I’m actually a little confused why people live in the country. They are missing out on so many important things; for instance: hanging out on rooftops. Living in

We’ve all been there. I was there this morning. That special, upsetting place that exists in the early morning — probably on your floor — where you wake up disoriented, groggy and with six missed calls indicating the necessity of your presence at a place where you obviously are not.