As a few prior posts have mentioned, the season of the festival is upon us here in San Francisco. One of those is the 57th annual North Beach Festival. Today is the final day of this two day event. Come check out Washington Square Park and the surrounding area come

Every week we feature a different person from the community shedding a little light on their life of brokeitude.  Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something about the human spirit — probably not. Wanna be a Broke-Ass of the Week?  Holler at us here and we’ll send you the questionnaire. Our featured broke-ass this

So usually when you think about Friday the 13th, you might be all, “Uh-oh, maybe I’ll see a black cat today or randomly switch bodies with my mom and learn a valuable lesson,” you know, fun stuff, but you probably AREN’T thinking, “My house is going to burn down.”  I

Full disclosure: I have never been to a strip club. I have heard reviews ranging from “the most depressing experience of my life” to “sort of okay.” I want to believe that Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club embodies the latter — because it’s offering $2 drinks every Tuesday and Wednesday in

North Beach is a tricky neighborhood – enter the wrong bar and you could be accosted by commuting clubbers or hungry tourists looking to carbo-load on massive pasta dishes. But once you know the ins-and-outs of the neighborhood and have scoped out the best dive bars or pizza joints, you

I always seem to be pushing art openings and sometimes can’t decide if that’s due to the expectation of FREE bubbly and snacks or because the work to be shown is supposed to be cool.  I’d like to think it’s both, but who am I kidding?  I’m a scavenger who will

Every week we feature a different person from the community shedding a little light on their life of brokeitude. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something about the human spirit…probably not.

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