World War II hit Baghdad by the Bay like a ton of block busters. Overnight the self-contained, self-satisfied city whose population had stood absolutely still…
Posts published by “Herb Caen”
Being a fun-loving San Franciscan (redundant) I play a lot of games in this hallowed space—self cancelling phrases (working press). Namepheraks (Fran and Bill Flesher…
Mr. and Mrs. San Francisco are drawn irresistibly to the sea on a sunny Sunday. They drive in droves through Golden Gate Park, straining for…
The biggest Chinatown outside of Asia. Where 30,000 people are crowded into a few blocks, so they can attract tourists and disease. Chinatown. Beloved indulgently…
The warden of one of the world’s largest and most overcrowded penitentiaries might reasonably be expected to be a burly, hard-spoken disciplinarian, packing a gun…
I'm not sure that William Saroyan, author, playwright, and genius, can be legitimately described as a San Franciscan, but we like to claim him, although…
For a world-famous city, San Francisco has a surprisingly small coterie of so-called “celebrities” (a celebrity being, I would say, someone who is widely known…
Let’s see how a day looks in San Francisco. To those who bend over a desk or a hot stove for eight hours, I guess…
San Francisco, to me, is like a house of cards: postcards in glowing colors stacked against the hills that march from the Bay on one…