Aubrey Abrakasa Jr. was killed 12 years ago, and his mother Paulette Brown has lobbied for justice for almost as long On May 2, as one of his last acts as Police Commission president, Julius Turman presented Paulette Brown with a signed letter for the Department of Public Works that would protect her son’s crime … More One San Francisco mother refuses to give up on her son’s cold case
“I always knew I was destined for something … I was so capable of the most immense fantasies.” Fanny Renoir is a woman of mystery. She is one of North Beach’s local celebrities, one of the artists distinctly tied to her neighborhood and skeptical of the digital age. She cannot be emailed, she cannot be … More A rainbow hunter finds her niche in North Beach
San Francisco Police’s Central Station is one of the smallest precincts with the most people, covering North Beach, Chinatown, the Embarcadero, Fisherman’s Wharf and parts of the Financial District. It has more tourist attractions than any other district, and hosts millions of tourists every year. Its popularity has also made it vulnerable to “auto boosting.” … More The Thursday morning beat in North Beach is not what you think
A supposedly straightforward DUI verdict is marred by bias Last year, a 59-year-old man rear-ended another man on a rainy March evening at 26th and South Van Ness streets in San Francisco. Rather than exchange information, The first man took off for Bernal Heights, and the victim followed. What happened next was how he ended … More The People v. Ronaldo Tobar
Sgt. Wendy Bear and Lt. Arran Pera took their seats in the front row of Room 400, 15 minutes before the start of the February 21 San Francisco Police Commission Meeting at City Hall; their report was early in the agenda, detailing the department’s efficacy of testing of rape kits in the department’s backlog, something … More Rape kit testing at SFPD is getting faster, but the courts aren’t
Just a half hour before the start of San Francisco’s International Women’s Strike rally, volunteer “peace ambassadors” in neon yellow vests raised tents and a microphone for the impending two-hour event to an empty Civic Center plaza. No police were present yet, and many passing pedestrians were distracted by the life-size, interactive chess set that … More International Women’s Day and Day of Sl-action
North Beach is full of characters. Many of its notorious stars you will never see on Instagram: longtime resident Fanny Renoir does not use the internet, former Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman prefers to roam around the neighborhood in his red scarf, and Millie Gardiner hawked roses and polaroids face to face. Gardiner passed last year … More Behave, Millie Gardiner
In the last seven days, there have been 38 earthquakes across the San Francisco Bay Area. The Association of Bay Area Governments says large earthquake for San Francisco is certain, and the most vulnerable neighborhoods are those closest to the water, built on landfill rather than bedrock. The San Francisco neighborhood of North Beach was … More Seismic retrofits in North Beach a necessary evil
Much of the news coming out of North Beach parallels that of other culturally clustered neighborhoods like the Mission and the Haight: the rents are getting higher, with increases reported as high as 340%, aging neighborhood spectacles are dying like Richard Simmons of Specs’ Twelve Adler Museum Cafe, and local businesses old enough to retire … More A breach of North Beach
North Beach Bugle 