Joe Kukura

Following last year’s untimely death of her mate Blue Boy, 28-year-old mute swan Blanche has gone on to the great lagoon in the sky, as the swan who lived nearly her whole life at the Palace of Fine Arts died last Thursday.

Wise Surfboards founder Bob Wise ran his surf shop for a staggering 51 years, and changed the culture of surfing in San Francisco, but we now learn he passed away in late December.

Meet the Mills Bow-Front Violano Virtuoso, a 350-pound, 110-year-old antique musical apparatus that self-plays a piano and violin at the same time, now performing regularly at the always-quirky Musée Mécanique.

San Francisco’s latest Shake Shack addition had its ribbon-cutting and grand opening Thursday, as the Stonestown Galleria welcomed SF’s third Shake Shack to crowds clamoring for ShackBurgers and crinkle-cut fries.

On the heels of a dressing-down from the SF Historic Preservation Commission, North Beach’s Condor Club was still awarded entry into SF’s Legacy Business Registry, 58 years after becoming the first topless dance club in the U.S.

Things have gone sour for the milk tea shop at 19th and Valencia Streets, as the original Boba Guys store that opened in 2011 has permanently closed amidst a spate of labor strife and bad publicity.

Effective December 21, one of SF’s favorite homegrown grocery chains Gus's Community Market will take over operations at Glen Park’s Canyon Market, and not one single employee will be losing their job at the Christmastime transition.

The SFPD station at 18th and Valencia Streets was not looking or smelling good Monday afternoon, as a Recology garbage truck was forced to dump a load of steaming trash there after suffering an apparent truck fire.

The SFMTA will decide the fate of nearly two dozen Slow Streets on Tuesday, and it’s pretty clear how they’re going to vote on all of them — except for one, the highly contentious Lake Street, and it’s anybody’s guess what will happen with that one.

The 4 Star Theater has been closed for nearly three whole years, but the scrappy little theater at Clement Street and 23rd Avenue will rise again this week, with movies plus pizza and bagels provided by nearby neighbor The Laundromat.

A Sunday afternoon one-alarm fire spread to both the first and second floors of the Buchanan YMCA in Japantown, and the facility that serves mostly seniors will remain closed until further notice.

There are new images and plans just released for the possible 2,900-unit housing village and parks in what is currently the Stonestown Galleria parking lot, an ambitious proposal that would completely reimagine that section of the 19th Avenue corridor.

The OfficeMax that wouldn’t die has finally succumbed to online retail and pandemic business loss, with the SoMa office supply store’s signage now ripped down and tagging quickly sprayed all over the building.

More than 20 Black-owned retail businesses are getting a new home in the Fillmore District, as the new marketplace In The Black is moving in beneath the Fillmore theater at the end of this month.

North Beach strip club the Condor Club’s application for Legacy Business Status advanced Wednesday, but the SF Historic Preservation Commission told the club to do more legwork with regard to gender equity issues.

The bad news is that 24th Street Indian soul food spot Ritu just permanently closed. The good news is that replacement is already lined up, a new Greek food venture called Gyros and Tzatziki, from the co-owner of the Castro’s Gyro Xpress.

It may be four years late, $300 million over budget, and some people are still sore about the name, but a few members of the public were allowed inside the Chinatown-Rose Pak Station for the first time Thursday.

A 5,000 square-foot, city-sanctioned roller rink at Fulton Plaza opened Saturday, and will remain there until December 31, and possibly longer.

Plans for a six-story apartment building at Divisadero and Oak Street are now a wash, as the developer has surrendered the property back to the previous owners of Touchless Car Wash.

The Haight-Ashbury Street Fair was abruptly “postponed” in June, but it’s back (with beer!) this Sunday, and the renowned rapper Talib Kweli on the main stage.

Plenty of questions are swirling over a new viral video of a woman wearing nothing but a bikini and high heels walking out of a San Jose Fire Department truck and into an “All Nude Adult Entertainment Club.” Or at least, that's how it looks to the naked eye.

The popular Sunset-Parkside free outdoor movie series Movies in McCoppin returns Friday for the first time since 2019, with a free family movie every Friday night of October.

The new boss is the same as the old boss at the Outer Sunset’s popular organic brunch spot Outerlands, as general manager Riley Bartlett now owns the place, and he’s already reopened the restaurant.

Dolores Park has its first big Indigenous People’s event Saturday, with an all-day program of DJs and dancing, and some wild projections after the sun goes down.

The Alexandria Theater at Geary and 18th Avenue has been an empty eyesore since 2004, but a reported new plan could make it as many as 76 units of housing.