Bernadine Sewell has an alter ego: Pinky Winchester. When you meet this incredibly colorful woman, you know why. She and her daughter went through the La Cocina program and opened their restaurant, Pinky and Red's, in the Berkeley Student Union building last summer. Part 1 is Pinky's story of growing up in Detroit, moving to California, going through La Cocina, and opening her own business, which, it turns out, is only the second black-owned business on UC Berkeley's campus since 1868.
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Darnay McPherson likes to stress that, when he was a kid growing up in San Francisco's Fillmore neighborhood in the 1960s, "no one locked their doors and police officers walked the beat." It was even more than that for the generation of Darnay's parents—a vibrant area full of black-owned businesses and some of the best jazz clubs in the country. In this podcast, Darnay, who has lived his entire life in the Fillmore, talks about being a kid there, the community, the book Harlem of the West, musicians Bobby Webb, Roland Mitchell, Etta James, and Johnny Mathis, and more. Sidenote: We featured Darnay's daughter, Fernay McPherson, in Episode 14. We recorded this podcast in Hayes Valley in April 2019. Stephanie Smith grew up on the East Coast, but never felt like she fit in with the general mindset out there. When it came time for her to (reluctantly) go to college, she picked the University of San Francisco in large part because of where it is. In Part 1, Stephanie talks about moving to San Francisco, getting a degree in fine arts at USF, and then both pursuing getting her body covered in tattoos and becoming a tattoo artist. When we sat down with John Law to record this week's podcasts, he entertained us first with a story about another guest we've had—Episode 15's Sarah Davis. We hope you enjoy this bonus episode! John Law hitchhiked his way to San Francisco. His dad was a college professor, and so the family moved around quite a bit in John's youth. He started hanging out with the "fun kids," which meant breaking into houses and stealing cars. He ran away back to one of his previous hometowns, in Michigan, and then set out for the Bay Area with a friend. In Part 1, John (who, really, has done far too much to mention here, but, among other things, is one of the co-founders of Burning Man) talks about growing up and developing his sense of adventure. He tells the story of learning about Communiversity, and through it, becoming a member of the now-defunct Suicide Club. There are many ways to get to San Francisco. For Caring Cowgirl owner Liz Beeson-Evans, it went something like this: She grew up between Northern California and Jalisco, Mexico, moving to the city in the late-2000s. She moved back to SF five years ago after being far away from family while living first in Brooklyn and then in Los Angeles. Her fiancé-now-husband got a good job and they came back around 2014 to a very different city. In Part 1, Liz goes into detail about how her childhood around horses and other farm animals steered her toward a career caring for animals. Born and raised in San Mateo, the young man who is Sister Anni Coque l'Doo went to the March on Washington in 1993 and came back inspired to become an activist. In Part 1, the third and final in our Sisters at 40 series (go back and listen to Sister Roma and Sister Mary Media if you missed them), Anni talks about her evolution as an activist. It culminated with her joining the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence a decade and a half ago. Dino Medardo Rosso studied 16 languages and he speaks five or six, depending on the day. He moved to San Francisco about a decade ago, and got work as a bicycle tour guide and then, a high school teacher. In Part 1, Dino tells the story of how a restaurant owner approached him seeking to solve the problem of her kitchen staff not being able to communicate effectively with the front-of-house workers. This effectively spawned Dino's business--Lingo. It's one thing to be an artist and work in a café as a barista. It's another to be part owner of that café, and for it to double as one of the last video stores in San Francisco. In Part 1, Fayes Coffee owner and artist Michael McConnell talks about moving to San Francisco in the late '90s and landing a job at Fayes within a year or so. Fast-forward to today, and the little coffee shop serves an important role in the busy neighborhood that 18th Street between Guerrero and Dolores has become. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, like any good spiritual group, have an origin story. There are some minor quibbles, but Sister Mary Media was there. In Part 1, Mary Media describes the political and social climate from which the Sisters came to life in 1979. She goes on to talk about how the work they did back then evolved over time to include educating the public on the dangers of STDs and AIDS before it was known as that. As the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence get ready to celebrate their 40th anniversary in April (on Easter at Dolores Park, no less), we kick off our Sisters at 40 series with Sister Roma (technically, Sister There's No Place Like Rome). Hear the story of growing up an All-American, class president, preppy, Catholic-school-going young man who visited San Francisco for his first time while a junior in college, and it changing his life. Roma, aka, #theMostPhotographedNunInTheWorld, takes us right up to the moment when she became a nun with the famed San Francisco group. Part 1 also celebrates Sister Stories, a book by Ep. 13 storyteller Heather Jacks due to hit the shelves next month. Sarah Davis grew up unlike most of us. After her parents split up when she was young, her dad eventually decided to live in a houseboat down on Mission Creek. He brought Sarah and her brother with him part-time. In Part 1, Sarah describes growing up on that houseboat (she still lives in a houseboat, albeit a different one, on the creek today). She talks about some of the colorful characters who were her neighbors, and ends this episode on her parents, whose lives involved the art and music scenes of San Francisco in the '70s, '80s, and on. S2E14 Fernay McPherson on Growing Up and Cooking in the Fillmore (Part of Our La Cocina Series)3/5/2019 Fernay McPherson grew up in the Fillmore of the '80s and '90s, learning to cook from and being inspired by her San Francisco family who had various Texas and Southern roots. In this podcast, Fernay, who owns and operates Millie Bell's Soul Movement in Emeryville, talks about her childhood and the community she misses (she still lives in the Fillmore). Fernay is a graduate of La Cocina, "a nonprofit working to solve problems of equity in business ownership for women, immigrants and people of color." Please support Fernay by eating at her restaurant. She celebrates her one-year anniversary on March 19, and trust us—it's really good! Over the next few months, you'll hear from other women who've been through La Cocina's program. Stay tuned! We recorded this podcast at Public Market Emeryville in February 2019. This April, Heather Jacks's art book about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who turn 40 this year, will hit the shelves. In Part 1, we get to know Heather before she got involved with the Sisters. You'll hear how she grew up on Indian land in Oregon, graduated high school at 16, moved to Australia, joined a fundamentalist Christian church, and eventually ended up in San Francisco about a decade ago. Pete Spanier's parents met in San Francisco. He was born in Upper Haight, but his family moved to SoCal soon after that. Around 21, Pete migrated north to the Bay Area and started to drink here before eventually moving back to the city. In Part 1, Pete, who bartends these days at Zeitgeist and Emperor Norton's Boozeland, talks about SF now vs. how things were in the 1990s—people are softer now, more passive-aggressive. He talks about opening Hemlock Tavern in the early 2000s and just how great of a place it was until it closed in 2018. Green Apple Books is a San Francisco institution. Richard Savoy opened the store on Clement Street in 1967. In the early 1990s, Kevin Hunsanger moved to The City and got a job selling rare books there. A few years later, he found himself part of the shop's ownership group, a gig that would last more than 20 years. In Part 1, Kevin talks about his move to San Francisco and his history of working at and owning Green Apple Books. Angela Tabora grew up in LA and moved to San Francisco to go to SF State not knowing a whole lot about the city. After moving around her first couple of years in college, including a stint at a party house in the Sunset, she needed a new place where she could focus on graduating. That's how she ended up finding the San Francisco Morehouse. In Part 1, Ange talks about some of the people she lived with there and ends the episode explaining the documentary movie she pitched about the place. Ariel Vitale was born at Mt. Zion hospital in the 1980s. He was raised in Tenderloin and started going to SF ballet school at age 9. In Part 1, Ariel talks about growing up in San Francisco. His family was evicted when he was young, and he shares what it was like moving from home to home in one of the city's toughest neighborhoods. Sloane Kanter loves the drag queen scene in San Francisco. In a city in the midst of rapid and drastic changes, she sees that community as holding out strongly. In this podcast, Sloane talks about her passion for photographing drag queens. She mentions some of favorite venues and queens, and ends the episode on a high note. We recorded this podcast in the Tenderloin in October 2018. Prolific AF poster artist Lil Tuffy moved to San Francisco in the late-1990s, as the city was about to experience its first tech bust. He came mostly for the music, although the company he was working for in Pittsburgh decided to relocate around the same time. In Part 1, Tuffy shares his story of moving to the city and immediately immersing himself in the music scene here. He goes on to talk about a couple of bartending gigs he's had in San Francisco (at Thee Parkside and Pop's)—his main gig until he gave that up to do what he does best—create show posters. Back in November, at Two Storied Nights, a funny thing happened. In Part 1, David Brooks and Bhautik Joshi talk about that night, which brought them together in a really unusual way. Here's a look at some of David's art:
You can see more of David's art at his website.
K.R. Morrison moved to San Francisco in 1997. In Part 1, she talks about the differences between people like her who came here in the late-'90s and those who've come over the past several years. She also describes what it was that drew her here and what's kept her calling San Francisco home for more than 20 years. Painter Madeleine Tonzi moved to the Bay Area from Santa Barbara in 2007 to go to art school. She quickly fell in love with the drum 'n' bass scene in San Francisco and the parties that featured underground musicians. In Part 1, Maddy shares her story of moving here. For her, the underground party scene gave way to the visual arts. She talks about coming to love street art and the murals in the Mission. She ends Part 1 by reflecting on what's happening to the arts, both in the Bay Area and nationwide. Welcome to Season 2 of Storied: San Francisco podcast. This season won't be too different from what you heard in Season 1. The changes are mostly cosmetic—new theme music, a new look for the website, that sort of thing. Michelle and I learned a lot the first year, and we hope to bring some fresh perspectives to this project. Our theme this season is: What is it about this place? What draws people here, whether they visit, settle here, stay in the city for a time then pick up and move on, or are born and raised and stay ... there's something about this place, and through posing that question to another 49 storytellers, we hope to get to the heart of why we're all drawn to San Francisco. Like many of us, Melinda Uno moved to San Francisco. She moved to the Tenderloin. And she loves it. For Melinda, a big part of the draw of San Francisco is that you can be your true self here. In Part 1, she talks about moving to San Francisco and eventually being part of the effort behind opening the Tenderloin Museum and the ways in which they help educate the public and celebrate the neighborhood, especially its part in women's history. It's been a minute. Michelle and Jeff take a break from their break to reflect on Season 1 and how Michelle got involved to begin with. We talk about getting ready for Season 2 and everything we're doing to set up our two-day event, Two Storied Nights, on Nov. 9 and 10. We're so happy to have brought you 49 different storytellers in Season 1, and now, we want to meet you! Two Storied Nights is your chance to make good on the theme of Season 1: Get to know your neighbors. Plus, there'll be art, music, dance, and booze. Who could say no to that? Get your tickets today (Friday is donation-based). And look out for S2E1 on Nov. 13! |