People & Places >>

• Readers' Poll Winners
  Best Activist Matt Gonzalez Best Mechanic Robert Kim Action Auto Care Best Bartender Adrian Ruiz (deceased) at Blue Light Best Chef Ben Paula at Sauce Most Fashionable Tie: Roisin Isner & Peaches Christ Best Radio Morning Crew Sarah and No Name Best Talk-Show Host Michael Krasny Best... More >>
• Best BART Musician (1 Comment)
  Jesse Morris
  San Francisco musician Morris read Johnny Cash's autobiography as a teenager, and the result is a BART artist who earns the crumpled dollars tossed into his guitar case from something other than a nagging sense of pity. If you're lucky on weekday mornings as you pass through the 24th Street or... More >>
• Best Fisherman's Wharf Street Performer (10 Comments)
  Kenny the Clown
  So maybe we've gotten a little wary of the Bush Man scaring the bejesus out of us like some tree-branch-costumed nightmare as we escort our out-of-town guests along Fisherman's Wharf. But then there's Kenneth Kahn, aka Kenny the Clown, the 6-foot-3 clown with the purple wig who humors kids with... More >>
• Best Morning Radio Crew (24 Comments)
  The Woody Show, Live 105
  The Woody Show began airing on Live 105 in January 2006 with the unenviable task of replacing Howard Stern in the station's morning slot (5:30-10 a.m.).Woody and Co. were wise to avoid Stern's shtick in favor of a relatively frill-free morning show. And that's what we love most: The show really... More >>
• Best Blogger
  Brock Keeling, SFist
  As the editor of (and most frequent contributor to) the obsessively updated tribute to San Franciscan dysfunction known as SFist, Brock Keeling veers from breathless entries on local crime ("Manhunt for Sunset Pizza Shooter!") to random mash notes directed at the male half of the local demimonde... More >>
• Best Iconic Bay Area Newscaster
  Dennis Richmond, KTVU
  Dennis Richmond began his career at KTVU 40 years ago as a part-time typist, and has just retired as lead newscaster on Channel 2's Ten O'Clock News, a post he held for 32 years. The timeslot, one hour earlier than most late-night newscasts, opened up the demographic and gave the station a... More >>
• Best Local Nerds (1 Comment)
  San Francisco Amateur Astronomers
  The San Francisco Amateur Astronomers is one of those societies that truly make learning enjoyable. Its name might summon images of Trekkies at a sci-fi convention, but club members are supernice and hail from all kinds of professional backgrounds. You've likely seen them cavorting around the... More >>
• Best Tattoo-Sporting, Banjo-Playing Philanthropist (2 Comments)
  Warren Hellman
  Sporting a green frog tattoo, Hellman is an unconventional businessman and philanthropist. As the chairman and co-founder of the private-equity investment firm Hellman & Friedman, Hellman not only sits on the board of various Bay Area academic and art institutions, he also funds the San... More >>
• Best Activist (2 Comments)
  Rudy Corpuz Jr.
  Corpuz is the founder of United Playaz, the 14-year-old gang prevention and antiviolence organization with a sister chapter in the Bronx and a motto of "It takes the hood to save the hood." Corpuz has a track record for reaching both at-risk youth and adult ex-cons, because he once lived the... More >>
• Best (and Worst) Politician
  Chicken John
  Last year, artist and erstwhile anarchist punk clown John Rinaldi (aka Chicken John) thought it improper that Gavin Newsom would run unopposed on the Democratic ticket for the office of mayor. Even though the odds of the incumbent retaining his office were astronomically in Newsom's favor,... More >>
• Best Local Scandal
  The Tomato-Throwing Beau
  We've all been there. Drunk. Mad at a significant other. Wanting to do something cuh-razy. But when Lance Farber crushed tomatoes into the carpet and set fire to the mattress inside San Francisco's historic fire chief's house — which Mayor Newsom had so graciously offered to Farber's... More >>
• Best Gay Historic Spot
  Given
  Harvey Milk — the gay city supervisor assassinated at City Hall in 1978 (and the subject of an upcoming film by Gus Van Sant) — owned a camera shop near 19th and Castro streets. His storefront served as a major hub for gay political organization in 1970s San Francisco. These days,... More >>
• Best Mansion
  Spreckels Mansion
  This place isn't sometimes referred to as the Parthenon of the West for nothing. The imposing Beaux Arts manse, which faces (or, shall we say, dominates) the north side of hilly Lafayette Park, was built in 1913 for the flamboyant Alma de Bretteville Spreckels and her sugar baron husband,... More >>
• Best Mystery Spot
  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle house
  For many years native San Franciscans, transplants, and tourists have been pleased and surprised to spot a polished brass plaque on a beautiful little graystone building on Sacramento across from Lafayette Park that reads: "This house, built in 1881, was once occupied by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."... More >>
• Best New Mission Mural
  El Arroyo Laundromat
  The owners of the Laundromat came from Mexico, carrying with them stories about a small river, or arroyo, in their former town. Artist Ernesto Paul used those tales about the cultural myths and community activities that sprang from the river, which all come alive on the western wall of the... More >>
• Best Mural Honoring a Fallen Celebrity
  O.J. Simpson Mural
  Although heavily faded, this street mural on the side of a furniture warehouse was executed in the late 1980s to celebrate the rich history of Potrero Hill, where Simpson grew up. He played football at Galileo High School and City College before becoming a star at USC and in the NFL. The... More >>
• Best Place to Walk the Dog
  Bernal Heights Park
  This hilltop at the center of the Bernal Heights neighborhood offers an array of crisscrossing trails perfect for exercising both you and your pooch. Even during the weekend and postwork hours, the sprawling park never feels too crowded. Depending on how in shape you and your four-legged friend... More >>
• Best Gurgling Spring
  El Polin
  Considered a sacred site by the native Ohlone, who had inhabited a settlement near the spring for thousands of years until the Spanish founded the Presidio in 1776, El Polin is the epitome of tranquility these days. One reason: Few people bother to visit the out-of-the-way landmark, near a... More >>
• Best Staircase Walk
  Vallejo, between Jonesand Mason
  In a city replete with charming yet utilitarian streets turned staircases (the only way to scale our more clifflike hills this side of a funicular railway), the stretch of Vallejo between Jones and Mason is especially rewarding. Start at the cable car tracks on Mason and ascend vertiginous... More >>
• Best Place to Fall Asleep and Still Wake Up with Your Wallet
  Douglass Park
  Douglass Park is one of those places that gets you feeling all nostalgic about the salad days of your childhood — you can even go ahead and get all weepy about it, since there's enough thick foliage and secret entrances to keep you safely concealed from prying eyes. The park comprises an... More >>
• Best Park Named for a Poet Laureate
  Ina Coolbrith Park
  Coolbrith Park, located at the end of a cul-de-sac in tony Russian Hill, is an unexpected clearing that peeks out over urban Chinatown's neon signs. During the day, it's a lovely little oasis for a picnic. And when the sun goes down, the area is sheltered from the wind, making it a perfect spot... More >>
• Best View from the Sunset
  Grand View Park
  Twin Peaks has a fabulous view, but it can easily be tainted by tour buses and vans that are a-rockin', so you shouldn't come a-knockin'. In other words, people can just ruin it all sometimes — especially the ones who are trying to hawk Golden Gate Bridge T-shirts and snow globes. Grand... More >>
• Best View Over a Pile of Hash Browns
  Louis' Diner
  Since 1937, there has been no damn goat cheese at Louis' Diner. This is a regular bottomless-coffee, hash-browns-and-omelette kind of place. The menu features a diet plate with a hamburger patty, cottage cheese, and sliced tomato. So settle down, get a tuna melt, and forget about flavored foam... More >>
• Best First Date
  Fridays at the de Young
  Treat your newest flame(s) to Friday nights at the de Young. You'll get free music, a cash bar, and plenty of opportunities to show what a serious and thoughtful person you are before trying to get into his/her/their pants. Observe! Let's say you begin in the Haight and stroll over to the museum... More >>
• Best Educational Experience
  Laurel Hill Nursery School
  San Francisco's oldest, largest co-operative preschool is best known for its policy obliging students' occasional urge to take off their clothes and run around outdoors. This self-consciously libertine reputation emanates from a rigorous educational philosophy designed to make sure children... More >>
• Best Monument to the Wedding-Industrial Complex
  Treasure Island Chapel
  A relic of the long-closed Treasure Island Naval Air Station, the picturesque chapel, built in 1943, is one of the few buildings on the forlorn and waiting-to-be-redeveloped former military outpost that is still used for one of its intended purposes. Absent any regular services since the Navy... More >>
• Best Parking Garage
  North Beach Garage
  Parking garages get no respect. You pay a premium to drive up tight corkscrew ramps, searching for an open spot as rare as an endangered bird, only to squeeze your rustbucket right between two SUVs. But the North Beach Garage makes parking fun by painting clever sayings on the floor of each... More >>
• Best Public Bathrooms
  San Francisco City Hall
  We've all had that little moment outside a strange public bathroom where we say a little prayer before venturing into the unknown. And once inside we've also attempted to hold our breath, balance on one foot while flushing with the other, or tried to think of our happy place with so much... More >>
• Best Shop Window Display
  Ixia
  This window display in San Francisco, it seems, can bring even the non-stoned to a standstill, forcing them to experience a moment of sublime, uncomprehending fascination. "What is this place, and what does it sell?" they wonder, staring and sputtering at the implausible noncommercialism of the... More >>
• Best Enduring Science Experiment
  Wave Organ
  Constructed with a mishmash of PVC pipes and granite and marble reclaimed from an abandoned cemetery, the Wave Organ may be the most unusual musical instrument this side of Mars. Built by the folks responsible for the Exploratorium, it consists of a number of underwater pipes that echo and hum... More >>
• Best Neglected Statue
  Gandhi Monument
  Just why such a beautifully executed statue to the late, great Mohandas Gandhi should be hidden in such an obscure (and, let's face it, ignominious) location has long been a mystery to us. London's Gandhi statue stands proudly outside University College, where he studied law; another in South... More >>
• Best Unsung Hero
  David Alyea
  Every year, San Francisco media outlets report the rate at which motorists kill local pedestrians and bicyclists. During the first half of 2007, deaths averaged three to four a month. Those who speak on behalf of pedestrians argue that San Francisco's streets are designed and maintained to... More >>
• Best Couturier of the Underworld
  Mr. David
  Mr. David designs, sews, and constructs custom garments for many of the city's most ubiquitous denizens of the performance underworld, fueled by an endless supply of Nat Sherman cigarettes, coffee, and Jim Beam and gingers. His creations can be seen hanging flawlessly on the frames of local drag... More >>
• Best Pretentious Book Club (1 Comment)
  Finnegans Wake Popcorn
  It started with Brett Lockspeiser's earnest desire to conquer the 600-plus pages of Finnegans Wake, James Joyce's final, impenetrable novel. He knew he couldn't do it alone. The words, often spliced and diced and otherwise manipulated, hail from more than fifty languages. Characters fade in and... More >>
• Best Pasta Chef
  Sergio Giusti
  Genuine Tuscan cuisine is hard to find despite all the restaurants in town that promote the authenticity of their menus. But award-winning chef Sergio Giusti, the owner of Firenze by Night, produces the real thing. He is best known for his gnocchi, which have been called "the delectable... More >>
• Best Non-Beat Poet
  George Tsongas
  George Tsongas has been writing poems, plays, and novels since he arrived in San Francisco in 1945. The 81-year-old poet is a regular at Caffe Trieste. In fact, the bard doesn't own a phone, so leaving a message with the baristas is the best way to reach him. At the cafe, he gives away poems... More >>
• Best Forgotten San Francisco Inventor
  Charles August Fey
  Maybe you've noticed the stone marker that proclaims "Original Slot Machine" near where Market, Battery, and Bush streets intersect. Welcome to the city's lone nod to the man who has been called the Thomas Edison of slot machines. It marks the spot near where, in 1894, German immigrant Fey began... More >>
• Best Nudist (1 Comment)
  George Davis
  George Davis was born naked, and constantly fights for his god-given right to remain that way. We last saw the former mayoral candidate in April for the Olympic torch protests, strolling the streets starkers and carrying a handmade human-rights torch of his own, leaving giggles and screams of... More >>
• Best People Who Get Us Drunk
  It costs a lot to catch a buzz in this town. Some places charge $7 for a pint of beer. Given the high cost of getting lit, it's important to have bartenders who know what they're doing. These are a few of our favorite drink-slingers around town. Joel Baker, Bourbon & Branch 501 Jones (at... More >>
• Best Office Building Lobbies
  Tucked among the Sturm und Drang of the Financial District are oases of splendor and beauty where questing culture vultures can take in some of the city's most breathtaking public works of art. These vintage lobbies were designed to dazzle visitor and company drone alike, and still succeed at... More >>