Central America

Saint Frank: Bringing the Story of Coffee to Russian Hill

49ers Super Bowl Loss Turns Into Victory for Needy Families Across the Globe

Chin up football fans, the 49ers defeat isn't a total loss. We know your heartbroken that those pre-made Niners Super Bowl championship T-shirts and sweatshirts, bought by retailers in hopes that they could capitalize on a Super Bowl win, won't be on your backs. But they are going to families in n ... More >>

Families of Victims Killed by Fleeing Driver Need Your Help With Funeral Costs

Loved ones of Silvia Patricia Tun Cun, 29, and Francisco Gutierrez, 26, both of whom were killed in a car accident on New Year's Day, are asking the public to kick in as much cash as they can to help get their remains back to their families in Central America. The San Francisco Archdiocese is coor ... More >>

Here Are Some Really Weird Ways to Celebrate the End of the World on Dec. 21

There are 11 more shopping days until Christmas, but only seven until the end of the world, assuming you believe that Dec. 21, the end of the Mayan calendar, is your last day on Earth. The Mayans, you know, those pre-Columbians who lived in Central America before the Spanish got there, measured tim ... More >>

Muslim Hunting: David Horowitz's Antagonistic Career

MS-13 Becomes First American-Born Street Gang to Be Marked A "Transnational Criminal Organization" by the Feds

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department officially labeled MS-13 a transnational criminal organization. No other American-born street gang has earned that distinction, which has previously been given to groups like the Yakuza in Japan and the Zetas in Mexico.The classification speaks to the gang's s ... More >>

Watch Out for This Crazy Latin Lotto Scam

It's not just the Asian community being scammed out of jewelry and cash. San Francisco police are now reporting a trend of Latina women being duped into cleaning out their bank accounts.According to Officer Albie Esparza, two women -- both Spanish-speaking -- have already reported being victims of w ... More >>

San Francisco Immigration Community to Protest Deportation of Alleged Rape Victim

We've all missed a deadline, but how many of those missed appointments meant the difference between a life of refuge and a life of fear? That's what it has meant to Blanca Medina, an El Salvadorian woman currently classified as a fugitive after she missed her immigration court hearing. Medina had a ... More >>

Edwin Ramos Sentenced to Life in Prison

Edwin Ramos, the 25-year-old convicted on three counts of first degree murder, will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. This morning, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Charles Haines sentenced him to three consecutive life terms, without the possibility of parole. This comes about a mont ... More >>

Live Review, 6/3/12: Van Halen Finger-Taps Its Way to Glory at Oracle Arena

Van Halen Kool and the Gang Sunday, June 3, 2012 Oracle Arena Better than: Any of the still-touring Sunset Strip hair-farmers from the 1980s that Van Halen inspired. There aren't too many '70s-era hard-rock bands that can inspire the kind of unabashed hedonism -- a "bring me the skull of Sammy Hag ... More >>

Van Halen's Reunion Tour Runs Aground on Reality

James Freeman, Blue Bottle Coffee Founder, Just Wrote the Book on Coffee

Any good San Franciscan knows how to muse over a cup of coffee. We can't help but remembering fondly the coffee drinkers at Four Barrel who continued sipping obliviously as two burglars used this hipster hotspot as an attempted escape route last November. I've sat in many a coffee shop, eavesdr ... More >>

Dubai Star Owners Must Pay $2 Million for S.F. Bay Oil Spill

The owners of the Dubai Star oil tanker has to shell out $1.96 million for a 2009 oil spill in the San Francisco Bay that impacted more than 200 acres and killed some 100 seabirds, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said today.About 75 percent of that cash -- which will be divvied up amo ... More >>

Edwin Ramos Convicted of First Degree Murder in Bologna Family Killing

Edwin Ramos was convicted today of killing a San Francisco man and his two sons. The Superior Court jury, after a week of deliberation, found him guilty on three counts of first degree murder. The three month-long trial stemmed from the June 2008 shootings of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, ... More >>

Biden: Drug Legalization "Worth Discussing" Btut There's "No Possibility" Of US Support

​Joe Biden's a reasonable guy. When presidents of Latin American nations suggest drug legalization as a solution to the drug-fueled violence wreaking havoc on their land, the Vice President will listen... long enough to dismiss the idea out of hand.The leaders of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador ... More >>

Ernesto Gonzalez, Accused Hells Angels Killer, Considered a Flight Risk

Ernesto Gonzalez​A judge has set a $2 million bail for Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez, the Vagos motorcycle gang member accused of killing the Hells Angels boss at a casino in Nevada this fall. The judge gave good reason for the high bail -- he considers Gonzalez a flight risk. KTVU reports that Gonzalez ... More >>

With Stefano Restaurant, Guatemalan Pizza Becomes a New Anti-Fusion Meme in San Francisco

Farm: Table Signs Lease on New Cafe, Begins Roasting Coffee Beans

​When Farm: Table opened two and a half years ago, it was one of the first cafes to bring high-quality coffee to the Tenderloin. It was also the first San Francisco business to serve coffee from Verve, the Santa Cruz-based roastery. Even though the space is the size of a shoebox, with little ... More >>

Danielle Bologna Enters Witness Protection as Edwin Ramos Trial Nears

Edwin Ramos​Immigrant rights activists remember 2008 as the year that San Francisco turned its back on its sanctuary city status. Then-Mayor Gavin Newsom reversed the city's long-standing policy of shielding juvenile undocumented immigrants from deportation as the city became the target of anti-im ... More >>

Arthouse Movie Listings September 21-27

Arthouse Movie Listings September 14-20

MS-13 Members Indicted for Racketeering and Murder Charges

Three more members face conspiracy charges. ​A federal grand jury indicted three alleged MS-13 gang members on Wednesday for conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering. The indictment comes in addition to the 24 alleged MS-13 members already facing conspiracy charges after the three-year investi ... More >>

Few Deportable Inmates Are from San Francisco

Mexicans top the list, but the Soviets aren't so far behind. ​Yesterday, we told you about California being a national leader when it comes to the number of criminal aliens incarcerated in our state prisons. It turns out that very few of those criminal aliens hail from San Francisco. Criminal alie ... More >>

Mission Importers Not Playing Chicken With Pollo Campero

Good enough to import​This week, the city's Planning Commission will be considering the application of Pollo Campero, the beloved Guatemalan fried chicken chain to take over the space of the old Payless ShoeSource on Mission Street.Our sister blog, SFoodie, has written before about the underground ... More >>

Friday Night: Roger Waters Turns The Wall Into A Rallying Cry at Oracle Arena

Christopher VictorioRoger Waters performed The Wall at Oracle Arena Friday night.​Roger Waters' 'The Wall' December 3, 2010@ Oracle Arena Better than: A hippie-dippy stoner protest. We don't need no education We don't need no thought control We sang the anthem as school kids. In bong-fuele ... More >>

Rap Against the Machine

DA To Dismiss Charges Against Accused General Hospital Rapist; 'Victim' Still May Sue City

Goings on at General Hospital have, sadly, resembled goings on at General Hospital​Prosecutors are set to dismiss charges tomorrow against Irving Jovel, the 49-year-old man accused of sodomizing a quadriplegic stroke patient at General Hospital. This move came about after DNA tests on the alleged ... More >>

Stung

Men don’t have to agree to sex in order to get busted in a prostitution sting. They just have to seem interested.

Is There an S.F. Underground Network for Pollo Campero Chicken?

Lolia S./YelpPollo Campero box in the fridge at Rico Pan.​We jumped for joy at rumors that Guatemalan chicken chain Pollo Campero was coming to San Francisco. Hugely popular in El Salvador and Central America, Pollo Campero has more than 300 restaurants worldwide, including L.A. and New York C ... More >>

Doggy Bag: Did Our Coverage of the Amuse Bouche Vendor Insult Other Immigrants?

​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Not Amuse'd: Mission Mission's Kevin Montgomery goes all righteous over coverage of the detention and likely deportation of Amuse Bouche vendor Murat Celebi-Ariner. We'll quote Montgomery in full: Look, our immigration laws are complete bullshit, but the r ... More >>

Hey DJ! Friday Q&A: Beto

DJ Beto is the perfect subject for a DJ Q&A. He's a Latin Musicologist who digs through bug-filled crates in Central and South America in order to find the choice cuts from Costa Rica, Columbia, Cuba, and beyond. When Beto gets retro, he's feeling mambo jazz and classic salsa, and he's busy on a ... More >>

Exporting the Dead

Every year, the corpses of hundreds of immigrants are flown from San Francisco to their home countries.

On Comics: Not So Fast, Memin

He's No Angel

They once called him a savior who helped people in need. Today, Edwin Parada is accused of taking money from Latinos unfamiliar with real estate laws.

Kiva's Microloans Underwriting Cockfighting in Peru

Owen Maigret's Conquering Label

S.F. export digging for reggaeton gold in Panama

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town

Noir You See It, Noir You Don't

Naming one of the masterminds of the SFO Enterprises scandal as a "watchdog" over billions in public investment: city government or pulp fiction?

Can Light Stay Afloat?

POINT REYES -- Can Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Mitchell keep his small, renowned, and cash-starved newspaper going? It's a question...

The Hey! Quit Your Whining Guide to World Travel

BY Adrienne Gagnon

This year, you absolutely, positively, will take the trip of a lifetime

Now, the Emphatic Colonic News

Chevron to Turks: Bay is pristine! GOP to pot doctor: Good job! Tenants to landlords: You're illegal! Potheads to supervisors: Like, wow -- a sanctuary!

¡Sabor!

Mingling with the hoochie mamas, heavy dudes, and drag señoritas

Night & Day

Night + Day

Night +Day

Thai Me Up!

Night+Day

Give Me Your Healthy

The immigration crackdown has Latinos fleeing mainstream medicine