Between 1853 and 1861, Fort Point was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prevent entrance of a hostile fleet into San Francisco Bay. The fort was occupied throughout the Civil War, but the invention of faster, more powerful rifled cannons made brick forts obsolete. In 1886, the... More >>

For a portion of the population, “church and organ” are synonymous with “church and God.” The Lord didn’t compose His entrance on the kazoo, did He? Now consider, for a moment, what powerhouse emotions might be summoned if the instrument and the space were devoted... More >>

Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts --... More >>

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest in North America and the largest Chinese community outside of Asia. It’s also one of the densest neighborhoods in the country, with over 75,000 people per square mile. Chinatown attracts more tourists than the Golden Gate Bridge, yet most... More >>

Mel Ramos makes the kind of paintings you're embarrassed to encounter while strolling through SFMOMA with your family. Currently one of the elder statesmen of California art, his technical chops and his ability to represent the human figure cannot be contested. It's just that penchant of his... More >>

African-American Shakespeare Company’s production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof excises neither “redneck” nor the n-word from the original script. Director L. Peter Callender “hasn’t changed a word,” aside from creating his own hybrid of playwright Tennessee... More >>

In ancient Rome, the god of fertility was honored in February, with ceremonial love lotteries and mock-floggings with a bloody goatskin. Even those are a pale reflection of truly bizarre courtships that unfold in the natural world. For example, the common garden snail is a hermaphrodite that... More >>

Eric Kipp may be brilliant. Without a doubt, the spirit of San Francisco itself pulses quickly in his veins, because he is the creator of Hiking Yoga. It's exactly what it sounds like; you follow the charge up one of our butt-bustin' hills, and once you're up there, the organizer/sherpas hand... More >>

Hedwig, of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, doesn’t typically place others’ whims above her own, even if those others are her audience. But last summer’s sold-out Boxcar Theatre production of the glam rock musical forced the petulant but witheringly witty diva to hear the cries of... More >>

During the last Summer Olympics, nearly 70 million Americans watched Shanghai’s opening ceremony -- it was an impressive if somewhat eerie phantasm (a gymnast ran on air, the weather was controlled by scientists, and a little girl was given a “suitable” face to match her... More >>

As a self-described "logical extension of a free public library," our local free walking-tour company is, like most libraries, a fascinating mash of nerdy and white-hot rad. The San Francisco City Guides walking tours happen every day (except major holidays), are free, and follow in the... More >>

Politicians and news outlets have started using the term "WPA" again — have you noticed? The Works Progress Administration, of course, put people to work during and after the Great Depression. Even artists were paid to work; the WPA encompassed projects that employed actors, painters, and... More >>

The Audium was started in 1965 by composer Stan Shaff and equipment designer Doug McEachern. Shows are Fridays and Saturdays, and you have to be there on time — they lock the door. The room fits 50 people or so. There are chairs arranged in a semicircle. There are something like 180... More >>

Alcatraz -- "The Rock" -- is one of those tours that you have to take at least once, whether you're local or just visiting. The abandoned prison sitting on an island about a mile and a half off the city's north shore was home to some of the most infamous names in crime, including Al Capone, it... More >>

Every San Franciscan has a list of local activities they haven't done that the average visitor to this city probably has. For us, that was Beach Blanket Babylon, the North Beach musical revue famous for its huge hats and culture-skewering whimsy. The show comes recommended by seemingly every... More >>

This might shock you, but San Francisco has a debaucherous past. Once home to less than 500 people, as soon as James Marshall found gold in them thar hills, the population began to double every 10 days, creating a Boomtown full of saloons, sailors, slummers, and sinners. This was an era where... More >>

Would you call modern day California rural? Lisa M. Hamilton does, and she’s spent years visiting “places where the culture and the economy are defined by the direct use of natural resources.” For San Franciscans, the farmers markets, CSAs, and the Artichoke Festival in... More >>

You know what ensures that children’s books stay in good condition? Keeping them away from children. That’s why Mr. George M. Fox’s collection, which contains more than 2,000 early British and American children’s books, looks so pristine. Donated to the S.F. Public... More >>

Comic strips have been around since the early 1800s, and some strips have been in circulation almost that long as well. (“The Katzenjammer Kids” has been running since 1897!). The Bay Area has been at the center of groundbreaking comic art since the 1960s when the underground comix... More >>

While the rest of us were sleeping, a generation of entrepreneurial women revolutionized the art of the fingernail. Forget old clichés like a diamond is forever — these ladies are serious about nail art. You could even say they get out of hand with it. But don’t take our word... More >>

We want to warn you, because otherwise it might bum you out: You’re sitting comfortably on the Magic Bus, grooving out on a loving multimedia gloss of what happened in San Francisco in the 1960s, and the windows suddenly disappear. Because you’re sitting facing the windows, this... More >>

If anyone is up to the task of presenting critical movements in American history in the form of dance — from the violent actions employed by the abolitionist John Brown to the participatory democracy of the Occupy movement — Robert Moses is. Dance company Robert Moses’ Kin,... More >>

Did you know that when the Golden Gate Bridge gets hot, it sits low in the saddle? Course you didn’t: You don’t have a Bridge Thermometer, which looks like one of those scenic coin-op binoculars crossed with a first-person shooter. Peer into it (no coin needed!) and it shows the... More >>

We do what we have to do to live in our glorious Bay Area, but it’s hard not to wish for a smidge more economic security from time to time. Local artist John-Mark Ikeda takes those anxieties and runs with them, seeing America’s growing awareness of (and protest against) the... More >>