Issue #10: Mr. San Francisco

“One day if I do go to heaven...I'll look around and say, 'It ain't bad, but it ain't San Francisco.’”

For nearly 60 years, Herb Caen gave San Franciscans something to believe in. A legendary San Francisco Chronicle reporter who held the “voice and conscious of San Francisco,” Caen was beloved for his daily 1,000 word marinations, pontifications, and reports on our city.

In his obituary, the New York Times wrote: “To call Mr. Caen ''Mr. San Francisco,'' as was sometimes done, was redundant. No other newspaper columnist has ever been so long synonymous with a specific place.

Over the years Mr. Caen’s journalistic work habits became as effortless as breathing: he wrote in the morning, held court in bars or cafes in the afternoon and took the pulse of the city at A-list events in the evenings, where the man with the cherubic smile and bald pate fringed with curly gray hair was as much a star as anyone he wrote about.”

Caen won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1996. The same year, San Francisco pronounced a 3-mile stretch of the Embarcadero “Herb Caen Way.” Caen’s magic was oscillating between sharing gossip and pointing out injustices across the city and beyond. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and spoke widely against California’s death penalty policies.

I write about Herb Caen for two reasons. First, I love city legends. Maybe you do too. Second, I’m ready for the next omnipresent SF spokesperson. Who is M_. San Francisco today? Of course diffuse news sources and social media make it harder to choose any one person. But, I believe there is room in San Francisco for a Herb Caen-reincarnate.

Could someone rise from shared frustrations of the housing market? Daisy Hernandez of The Apartment Plug is trying. Could they come from the city’s obsession with food? Instagramers are angling! Could Daniel Lurie be Mr. San Francisco? IMO we need someone besides the Mayor.

If you have a hypothesis about who it could be, comment or send me a note.

Grab Bag:

• On Wednesday I shared a (killer, if I do say so myself) SF summer bucket list. A few additions:

  • On 9/18 SFGate is bringing it’s newsroom to the street, giving residents a chance to talk to their journalists. I love this idea and think it’s a great way to create buzz around local reporting.

  • Hardly Stricly Bluegrass is October 2nd to 4th. Unfortunately Steve Martin is not playing this year.

  • The Blue Angels are back from October 9th to 11th Last year the Angels didn’t fly due to one of the longest government shutdowns in history. Our Canadian allies, the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds, put on the show instead.

• Rick Steves of Rick Steves Europe fame just bought a one-screen movie theatre in Edmonds, Washington. Steves’ purchase is an example of the movie theatre resurgence nationwide.

  • In CCC, I’ve written about both Neil Mehta of Greenoaks buying the Clay Theatre on Fillmore and SF resident Nellie Killian opening The Portal Cinema.

  • America’s love for theaters waned in the age of streaming, with many theaters going out of business or being converted to non-profits. However, earlier this year The Guardian reported that independent cinemas were growing rapidly, with Gen Z leading the moviegoing charge. As consumers crave IRL community, I think we’ll continue to see theater resurrections, with owners prioritizing both movie viewing and event space.

• Let’s bring back Sutro Baths. Perhaps the perfect submission for Mike Moritz’s $150M competition to improve the city?! If you are a developer interested in resurrecting an iconic community hub, let’s chat.

• A few weeks ago I wrote about SCRAP SF, a community art supply store. Next, I bring to you Building Resources, a non-profit selling reclaimed materials from tiles to lumber. Next time you commit to a home improvement project…this is your place.

Talk to you Wednesday. I’m curious if anyone will see the mountain lion in the panhandle?! If so, send photos and I’ll include them in the next letter.