Industries

New Bill Would Allow Distillers to Charge For On-Site Tastings

St. George Spirits used to sell glassware -- and offer a complimentary taste of their spirits with a glass purchase. The reason? It's against the law for distillers to charge for tastings and sell bottles at their distilleries, like brewers and vintners can. Although the Alcohol and Control Board r ... More >>

PG&E "Green Option," a Competitor for CleanPowerSF, Discloses its Terms

PG&E "Green Option" expected to cost far less than tentative CleanPowerSF ratesIn the current edition of SF Weekly, we explore the long-term goal of CleanPowerSF to provide San Francisco with "a local build-out which would supply the city with vast quantities of renewable power, energy independe ... More >>

Color Schemes: The Underground Taxi Market

Monk's Kettle Turns Five and Throws a Party (Today!)

We remember when Monk's Kettle was knee-high to a grasshopper. Five years into their run as one of SF's first beer-centric restaurants, and they've never been more on top of their game. In half a decade, the menu at Monk's has taken on a refined yet rustic personality, and the vintage beer list cont ... More >>

Boom or Doom: This Environmental Disaster Is No Gold Rush

Nationstar Cancels Eviction Orders for Second Time in Three Weeks

Two Bayview homeowners faced eviction orders scheduled for Wednesday. So, as has been the case for several months now, housing advocates from groups such as Occupy Bernal and ACCE took on their cause. On Sunday, a contingent of protesters trekked over to Atherton, to picket before the house of Pet ... More >>

Bank Fees Are Costing Consumers Way Too Much Money, Study Says

Sometimes it's hard to decide which is worse  -- insurance companies, banks, or just the 1 percent. Today, banks win.We just learned that banking giants charge Americans anywhere from $84 to $144 every year just to maintain a bank account, according to a report from the California Reinvestment ... More >>

PG&E Tries to Explain Vague "Lost Its Way" Comment

PG&E, the company that evokes nightmarish images of Satan's lair for many San Franciscans after sparking the fire that killed eight and burned 38 homes, recently launched a $10 million multimedia advertising campaign to subtly quell the storm of Bay Area citizens. In the company's most recent tel ... More >>

Martuni's: The Last S.F. Piano Bar in a Karaoke World

If you've ever been inside Martuni's, that dark-walled bar on the corner of Valencia and Market, you know it's a special place: As SF Weekly staff writer Joe Eskenazi describes in this week's cover story, Martuni's is a piano bar thriving in a karaoke world. It's the last remaining example of what u ... More >>

Google Goes to Washington

During the SOPA debate, many opponents of the anti-piracy bill often tried to portray Google and the rest of the tech industry as a champion for all that is good and true as opposed to what it really is: an increasingly powerful, self-interested industry like any other. This happened particularly in ... More >>

America's Petro-Terrorists: How Speculators Drove Up Oil Prices

Supervisor David Chiu Is Thirsty for Water-Saving Law

Supervisor David Chiu is really trying to make it easier for developers to install new on-site water treatment systems on properties with new legislation he plans on introducing today. The legislation would help developers, builders, and contractors cut right through the dreaded red tape, paperwork, ... More >>

The Tower Records Project Wants Your Help Remembering the Former Record Retail Giant

If you're one of those music fans who actually buys recordings -- instead of, you know, downloading your entire library out of ignorance, stupidity, and/or laziness -- chances are you remember Tower Records, the iconic, Sacramento-based chain whose abandoned locations still haunt certain San Francis ... More >>

I Love That City: An S.F. Mega-Rave Moves to Shoreline

I Love That City

A huge new rave moves from S.F. to the Peninsula -- before the first beat even drops.

Cops, Bank of America Mum on Bomb Scare

In mid-April, police shut down Market and Montgomery in the middle of the day after a suspicious electronic device was discovered in the Bank of America at 33 New Montgomery.San Francisco Police Lt. Simon Silverman told SF Weekly at the time that bank employees found a curious item the size of ... More >>

American Parasite: Romney's Bain Represents Capitalism's Worst

Copyright Owners Continue to Tilt at Windmills

​Given the intensity of the debates over digital piracy, you'd almost think that if one side or the other were to "win," the question would be decided: If critics of copyright holders were victorious, piracy would run rampant and the media industry would be brought to its knees; if the copyright o ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Shake Ridge Red

​In Champagne, most big-name "houses" buy their grapes from multiple growers and blend them to achieve consistency -- Veuve is Veuve whenever you drink it. But if you talk to Somms in the city, you'll most likely find that they favor grower-producers, those wine makers who grow their grapes. Latel ... More >>

Meet Linda Chorney, the Unknown Singer-Songwriter Who Got a Grammy Nomination

By J. POET The Grammy Awards usually generate an tidal wave of press releases aimed at congratulating the usual superstars for their achievements. This year, there was a refreshing bit of controversy when singer-songwriter Linda Chorney was nominated for Best Americana Album for her Emotional Jukeb ... More >>

Hacker Group Anonymous Takes Up Arms in SOPA Battle

​The "hacktivist" network known as Anonymous has stepped into the fray in the battle among legacy media companies, Internet firms, and politicians over the federal Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).The controversial proposed legislation would make it more difficult for websites to display pirated cont ... More >>

Media Companies Outspend Tech Giants in Fight Over SOPA

Can content pirates be stopped?​The tech industry has been paying quite a bit of attention to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill wending its way through the U.S. Congress that would allow media companies to pursue legal remedies against online search engines and social networks that link to ... More >>

The Recording Industry Makes Itself Look Stupid Yet Again While Battling Piracy

​Over at Dan Mitchell's Digital Tremors column on our news blog, the Snitch, there's an interesting debate brewing over the recording industry's response to some piracy advocates' claims that its employees downloaded music and other files illegally. Mitchell's take is that while disputing thes ... More >>

Guardian pick Leland Yee Also Wins Approval from PG&E

Occupy Oakland Shuts Down Port

Erin Sherbert​Update (8:20 p.m.): Thousands of protesters marched from downtown to the Port of Oakland where they blocked terminals, stopping traffic and shutting down the port. With almost no police officers in sight, the march seemed more like a festival, with people dancing in the streets, chan ... More >>

Meet and Eat With Your Favorite Cheesemakers

​What: Meet the Cheesemaker, a California Artisan Cheese Guild Fundraiser Where:The Cheese School of San Francisco When: Fri., November 11, 7-9 p.m. Cost: $35 The rundown: Every year, the Cheese School in North Beach hosts a bunch of California's cheesemakers to raise funds for the Califor ... More >>

Sysco, America's Biggest Restaurant Supplier, Goes Locavore

For the full infographic, visit

Joanna Karlinsky and Popups Take Over Food at the Winemakers' Speakeasy

Joanna Karlinsky/FacebookJoanna Karlinsky, in her Meetinghouse days.​Joanna Karlinsky, former chef-owner of Pacific Heights' much-loved Meetinghouse, has been looking for a permanent venue since closing up Sweet Jo's, her cafe in the Presidio JCC, last year. For the past two months, she's been ser ... More >>

Cheese Affinage? New York Times: Pro. Rainbow's Head Cheesemonger: Meh.

​Yesterday, the New York Times published a feature on affinage, the practice of properly aging cheeses until they hit that perfect moment for eating. The article profiled several East Coast cheesemongers who practice affinage, most notably Murray's Cheese Shop in Manhattan, which has a master ... More >>

List: Why We Should Believe that PG&E Won't Kill Us All

Tolosa Shows What Chardonnay Smells Like Without Oak

​Earlier this year I attended a fascinating seminar, led by a perfumer, at Tolosa Winery in San Luis Obispo County. Over the course of several mentally exhausting hours, we learned by blind-whiffing essential oils exactly what many of the descriptors we use all the time smell like. For examp ... More >>

SF State's Hazardous Waste Cleanup Cost Millions More Than It Should Have

SF's Drinking Water May Be Unsafe for Those with HIV/AIDS

Pandora Goes Public for $3 Billion. Happy Face?

Ninety million users, zero profits.​First, a word of congratulations to Pandora, the Oakland-based Internet radio service whose initial public stock offering today resulted in a nearly $235 million windfall to its investors. The company is now valued at $3 billion. You can buy its stock on the New ... More >>

Drink 2011: In Craft Brewing, the Meek Inherit the Earth

The New Cheese Lady

The Mad Quest of Mr. Wu

How a wannabe banking magnate from S.F. built an empire on deception.

Top San Francisco Headlines of 2010

Castro merchants say PG&E mishandled gas leak

Jacob Peter Schlildgen, 'Scarf Bandit' Busted: Suspected of Three Bank of America Heists

Not our man...​San Francisco Police and the FBI are claiming that 43-year-old Jacob Peter Schildgren, arrested yesterday shortly after allegedly knocking over a Bank of America armed only with a "gray plastic bag,"  is the "Scarf Bandit" responsible for three BofA heists. A teller says Schild ... More >>

To Where, Exactly, Will PG&E Move Deadly Gas Main?

Not in my backyard​Pacific Gas & Electric Company's announcement Friday that it will  not rebuild the gas main in San Bruno's Crestmoor neighborhood -- where 37 homes were leveled and eight people killed when the 30-inch transmission pipe exploded on Sept. 9 -- was welcome news to the are ... More >>

Grinding Justice: Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesnít Work

Deflating the Social Media Hot Air Balloon

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: Not a revolutionary​Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and their ilk -- standard bearers for the ill-defined phenomenon known as "social media" that is now supposed to be the future of the Web -- are having a tough time these days in the thinking person's press.Over the past f ... More >>

PG&E's '100 Riskiest Pipelines' List Could Be Released Today

WiggsWill your neighborhood make the list? ​What's worse than not knowing if you're living atop a high-risk PG&E pipeline? Knowing you are. After Friday's entreaty by the California Public Utilities Commission that PG&E provide a list of the specific locations of its 100 riskiest subterran ... More >>

Airlines Accused of Price-Fixing in Class-Action Lawsuit

​A hangar-ful of airlines is facing a class-action lawsuit filed in San Francisco that alleges an "international conspiracy" to fix prices and bilk travelers.The suit was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court by San Francisco resident Caroline Joy, who is represented by the law firm Moscone Embli ... More >>

PG&E Ripped for Slow Response in Fatal 2008 Natural Gas Explosion

WiggsLet the blame game commence for the fatal explosion and fire in San Bruno​In the wake of the terrifying explosion and fire that incinerated a large swath of San Bruno, the key questions may yet be: "What did PG&E know and when did they know it?" In the weeks preceding the detonation of a ... More >>

San Francisco's Clean Power Program Collapses, Starts Over

Electricity never strikes out twice in one place... we hope.​After spending months attempting and failing to negotiate the terms of a new program to provide clean, relatively cheap power to the local citizenry, San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission earlier this month began the process anew w ... More >>

Eating Unnaturally, Naturally

Fortunate Sun

Bike Rodeo Clowns