August 1st, 2019 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter by Bay Area Reporter

Milk club honors Kim

Lyft reaches deal with queers

ARTS

‘The Queen’ returns

Nightlife

The

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Vol. 49 • No. 31 • August 1-7, 2019

Rick Gerharter

Trish Tunney

Bill Longren prepares to unpack boxes after moving to 95 Laguna Street.

SF LGBT center deputy director Roberto Ordeñana

SF pilots Host Homes for youth

Residents move into SF LGBT senior housing

by Meg Elison

an Francisco will soon join Minneapolis, Baltimore, Sacramento, and other cities that are offering transitional housing in private homes for homeless youth. The LGBT community center this fall expects to pilot the local host homes program, the first such housing to be formally offered in the city. Unsheltered transitional age youth from 1824 can apply at the community center for the program, which includes wraparound services – housing, casework, mental health services, and ultimately a plan toward a more permanent housing solution. The program accepts all TAY homeless youth, but the center’s language highlights the fact that half that demographic is LGBTQ, and have specific housing needs that the program can help with. However, according to Roberto Ordeñana, the center’s deputy executive director, the city’s program is still in its infancy, and is looking for community support – and hosts. “We’re eager to get the program off the ground,” said Ordeñana, who spoke with the Bay Area Reporter by phone. “It’s the first of its kind for the city. Unsheltered transitional age youths can choose a home through the SF-based community center, and we can work to reduce the impact of homelessness on a personal level. “Hosts will be people who have homes they’re willing to open, offering private space, a kitchen, and a bathroom,” he added. “The center will have personally-assigned caseworkers to ensure these kids get the help they need.” In April 2018 center officials had told the Bay Area Reporter that they were aiming to launch a host homes program that fall, as the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development had accepted its grant application to pilot the program for two years. At the same time Mayor London Breed, then a candidate, had included it in her housing plan during the campaign and discussed it when meeting with the B.A.R.’s editorial board. A former aide of hers had learned about a Host Homes program in Minneapolis. Funding for the San Francisco host homes program comes in large part from the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, according to Ordeñana, as well as some federal HUD funds that the city received See page 10 >>

Lots to like at leather fair Rick Gerharter

urries mingled with leather-clad folks at Sunday’s annual Up Your Alley street fair in San Francisco’s South of Market

neighborhood. The summertime event is a warm-up to the larger Folsom Street Fair that takes place September 29.

by Matthew S. Bajko

t night Red Jordan Arobateau tracks the arc of the moon as it crosses the night sky through the window of his studio apartment he moved into this spring with Bijou, his 30-year-old Goffin’s cockatoo. The pair had been living in an older residential building in the city’s Nob Hill neighborhood that didn’t afford as nice of a view. “What I like is the sky and moon at night,” said

Leasing plan for new Castro apartments elicits outrage by Matthew S. Bajko

he decision by a developer of a new apartment building on upper Market Street in San Francisco’s Castro district to have a hospitality startup rent out the units as furnished extended-stay apartments has elicited outrage from community members and District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. Local contractor Brian Spiers won approval from the city to erect a 60-unit building over roughly 4,000 square feet of ground floor retail space at 2100 Market Street, with eight of the apartments set aside as below-market-rate. Located at the intersection of 14th, Church and Market streets, the project is months behind schedule, as it was initially expected to be ready for move in at the beginning of this year. It is now expected that the first tenants will move in sometime in September. But rather than offer up the units as typical apartments, Spiers partnered with San Francisco-based startup Sonder to handle leasing them as furnished apartments. According to the company’s website, it offers “the consistency and service of a great hotel that doesn’t come in a typical hotel format, combined with the warmth and comfort of staying in a space that feels more like a home, and the ability to

Rick Gerharter

Controversy has greeted the new building at 2100 Market Street, where the apartments will be leased by a hospitality startup as furnished apartments.

choose the perfect location from the best neighborhoods in cities around the world.” The news generated headlines last week that said the company was bringing “52 furnished hotel rooms,” as Hoodline put it, or a “corpo-

{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }

See page 11 >>

rate rental” property, as SFist dubbed it, to upper Market Street. Spiers has disputed such descriptions, noting the units are being offered for lease similar to other furnished apartments people can rent throughout the city. He expects most of the tenants will sign leases with Sonder of six months to up to a year with an option to renew. “There has been a miscommunication that my building is going to be a hotel. That is absolutely not accurate,” Spiers told the Bay Area Reporter. In an interview Monday, he said he did not yet know what the market-rate apartments would rent for, as he was leaving that up to Sonder. As for the below-market-rate units that will be leased through the city’s lottery system for affordable units, Spiers told the B.A.R. that the five one-bedrooms will rent around $1,290 a month and the three two-bedrooms will rent for about $1,440 a month. Because he doesn’t have an apartment leasing team, Spiers said it made sense to have Sonder handle renting out the building, though a different company will oversee the leasing of the BMR units. With just one elevator in the building, Spiers said it would be easier to move in furniture all at once for the market-rate units rather than having numerous people moving into the building at various times. See page 9 >>

<< Community News

2 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Kim rules out Senate rematch at Milk dinner by David-Elijah Nahmod

ormer District 6 supervisor Jane Kim, who received the Community Ally Award at Monday’s Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club Gayla, said she will not wage a rematch next year against gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) when he’s up for re-election. “I have no plans on running for office,” Kim told the Bay Area Reporter. “I’m the Bay Area director for the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign, so I’m working on his California operations for the 2020 primary. This takes more time than a full-time job.” During her remarks, Kim told the Milk club audience that she has always valued diversity. “As an elected public servant and a woman of color who has not always seen her face and voice represented among those who get the opportunity to lead, I understand the importance of bringing as many diverse voices to the table with you when you win a seat at the table,” Kim said. “It was important to me to both hire and bring on advisers from our communities of color and LGBTQ community.” She thanked the club for its support of her during her years in public office. A former school board member before she was elected supervisor, Kim ran for mayor last year and ran a close campaign against Wiener in 2016 for an open seat. “It’s been an incredible ride,” she said. About 200 people gathered in the Green Room of the War Memorial Build-

ing for the 43rd annual dinner and Gayla. David Campos, a gay man who’s chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party and a former supervisor, attended to support the club, as did gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. “I consider this to be my political home,” Campos said. “I am proud to support it as a member of the club and as chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party.” Milk club President Kevin Bard said he’s working hard to keep Milk’s legacy alive. Milk was the first openly gay elected official in San Francisco and California when he won a seat on the Board of Supervisors in 1977. Tragically, he was assassinated a year later, along with then-mayor George Moscone. Shaun Haines, a 41-year-old queer activist, was one of the evening’s sponsors. “I am here to celebrate the spirit and legacy of Harvey Milk through the energy of today’s queer activism,” he said. “I look forward to what we are all able to accomplish through 2020 and beyond.” Laura Thomas, a 52-year-old queer woman and a former co-president of the club, was also celebrating the evening. “I’m always happy ... to keep pushing San Francisco to take more progressive political stances,” Thomas told the B.A.R. “Especially in this political climate.”

Awards

In addition to Kim, the club recognized trans activists. As previously reported, this year’s

Rick Gerharter

Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club President Kevin Bard, left, shares a laugh with former supervisor Jane Kim as he presents her with the Community Ally Award at the club’s annual dinner Monday.

awards ceremony was shorter with only three honorees. Bard explained he made the decision to both keep the program from going too long and to shine a brighter spotlight and give more time to the awardees. Our Trans Home SF, a coalition that advocates on the homelessness crisis affecting the city’s transgender community, received the Bill Kraus Leadership Award. Kraus, who served as Milk Club president from 19791980, was a noted AIDS activist who died of the disease in 1986. The award was accepted by Akira Jackson, director of Taja’s Coalition. Our Trans Home SF secured $2 million over two years in the city’s budget for rental subsidies for trans people. “We want to thank the Harvey Milk Democratic club for recognizing the Our Trans Home SF campaign tonight,” Jackson said. “This is a huge

deal, so we are excited to have a moment to celebrate this victory. However, we still have more work to do. We still need safe emergency shelter programs for trans people, we need transitional housing programs and we need supportive housing programs. So look for us next year as we continue to work to end trans homelessness.” Aria Sa’id, executive director of the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District and founder of Kween Culture Initiative, a social and cultural empowerment project for black transgender women, received the Jazzie Collins Award. “Jazzie Collins showed us how we can engage in radical and transformative activism in San Francisco, a landscape in which being both black and transgender and a woman is difficult to thrive and exist,” Sa’id said, referring to the late trans activ-

ist who died in 2013. “Thank you for this moment.” The evening’s special guest Josh Stein, a straight ally who is North Carolina attorney general, spoke briefly about the challenges of fighting for LGBT equality in his state. After Stein spoke there was a performance from drag queen Per Sia, who wowed the crowd as she danced in a floor length red dress to the disco anthem “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” Guests said they appreciate the work the club does. “I’ve been a member of the Milk club since I got involved in San Francisco politics when I moved here around nine years ago from Ohio,” said Arthur Welton, a 34-year-old gay man. “Tonight I’m here with Rafael (Mandelman), the only gay member of the Board of Supervisors. I look forward to working with the Milk club in the next election.” Bard spoke to the B.A.R. after the program. “Everyone is having a great time,” he said. “There’s lots of smiles and that’s what I live for. I’m glad that the Milk club honored a lot of trans activists because their work is vital and underappreciated.” Bard added that the club’s priorities for the this year are to elect Dean Preston as District 5 supervisor and Chesa Boudin as district attorney. The club has already early endorsed both candidates. “They are the most progressive fighters in their respective races and the Milk club needs fighters,” Bard said. t

Oakland LGBTQ center gets $100K grant by Meg Elison

he Oakland LGBTQ Community Center received a $100,000

grant from the city of Oakland and is soon expected to ramp up offerings for youth. CEO Joe Hawkins, in a recent

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letter to the editor to the Bay Area Reporter, wrote that the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth Planning and Oversight Committee had recommended the community center receive the funding. The City Council approved the grant June 18. “Our center applied under the Positive Youth Development & Leadership Funding Strategy, with the Oakland Fund For Children and Youth (OFCY), for the FY 2019-2022 grant cycle,” Hawkins explained via email. The application was approved and the awarded grant brings in $100,000 for the two-year budget cycle, a meaningful sum for an organization with a yearly budget of around $150,000, according to its website. The grant is renewable for up to three years and allows the center to serve youth from 15-21 years of age. When asked what this grant will make possible, Hawkins had concise plans. “This grant will allow us to hire a full-time youth coordinator (our first full-time staff person), who will be responsible for conducting outreach to LGBTQ youth, offer case management and linkages to community resources, manage our youth drop-in program and implement our life-skills training modules,” Hawkins, who has volunteered his time since the center was created, wrote. He added that the training modules include learning how to get into college or vocational trainings, how to create a job resume, how to create a personal budget, how to find and interview for shared housing, conflict resolution, and other workshops specific to LGBTQ youth. “[This training will also] include ‘Know Your Rights’ workshops on how to deal with bullying, discrimination, abuse, and how to report a hate crime. The grant will also al-

Jane Philomen Cleland

Oakland LGBTQ Community Center co-founders Joe Hawkins, left, who is now CEO, and Jeff Myers, who is now board president.

low us to issue free bus passes to youth and help provide food for group meetings,” Hawkins wrote. Hawkins’ letter was responding to a recent B.A.R. editorial, as well as comments from former Our Family Coalition executive director Renata Moreira, regarding a dustup between the agencies during Oakland budget hearings. In his letter, Hawkins accused OFC staff of stating at a public meeting that the center doesn’t provide youth services. Moreira had denied that she made the comment that OFC is the only LGBTQ family organization providing services in Oakland after Hawkins originally accused her of doing so in an open letter. As the B.A.R. reported in a recent article, OFC received $200,000 in the new Oakland budget. Vanja Abena, a 33-year-old heterosexual individual in the East Bay who uses no pronouns, shared experiences of the center with the B.A.R. via direct message. “I’ve volunteered there from time to time. It’s a wonderful organization. Joe, Jeff, and Kin Folkz have put in a lot of work to have a space for Oakland LGBTQ popula-

tion to have a center where they’re able to get support and resources,” Abena said, referring to Jeff Myers, the board president and center co-founder and Folkz, an Oaklandbased genderqueer woman, artist, and advocate. Folkz and Myers did not respond to requests for comment. Outside of city funding, the center received some corporate support for its programs. “We also received a $7,500 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation to provide food and transportation assistance to participants in our youth program,” Hawkins added, noting that this funding addresses some of the most immediate needs faced by young members of the community. These developments represent a major change from where the center was in January 2018. Faced with freshman budget woes and a space rental that suddenly doubled to $9,000 a month, Hawkins and Myers had to scramble to keep the center in existence. Dedicated to the importance of an LGBTQ gathering place that was run both by and for people of color in the East Bay, Hawkins and Myers devised a way to rent out smaller offices in the building to other organizations to stay afloat. Creative solutions and careful planning have paid off, and the group is looking forward to a more secure and productive future. Asked how soon this grant money could affect the center’s offerings, Hawkins was confident that change is just around the corner. “July is our start-up month and we plan to hire our new youth coordinator by the end of this month,” he wrote in late July. “The official launch of the program will be during the month of August.” t To learn more about how the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center serves the community, visit oaklandlgbtqcenter.org.

National News>>

t Confab hears HIV treatment, prevention advances

August 1-7, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 3

he International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science that wrapped up in Mexico City featured numerous reports on advances in HIV treatment and prevention, as well as updates on progress toward ending the global epidemic. A new report released at the conference by amfAR, AVAC, and Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria highlighted six localities that have made impressive gains: San Francisco; London; Rakai, Uganda; New South Wales in Australia; Malawi; and Thailand. Common factors contributing to these successes include campaigns to encourage HIV testing, free and easy access to treatment at the time of diagnosis, scale-up of PrEP and harm reduction services, and efforts to fight stigma and discrimination – all elements of San Francisco’s Getting to Zero initiative. “San Francisco’s success in driving down HIV incidence, particularly in the last few years, is due to its deployment and scale-up of proven HIV interventions within a larger context of strong community engagement, near universal health coverage and access, and a bold HIV plan,” Jennifer Kates of the Kaiser Family Foundation, who discussed the report at an IAS press conference, told the Bay Area Reporter.

Treatment update

On the treatment front, ViiV Healthcare presented data on its novel HIV attachment inhibitor fostemsavir – an oral antiretroviral that prevents the virus from attaching to immune cells – for people with highly resistant HIV. In a study of 272 participants with extensive prior treatment who were on a failing regimen, 60% achieved viral suppression and their CD4 T cell counts rose by more than 200 after two years on fostemsavir. For those starting treatment for the first time or currently on effec-

Liz Highleyman

London researcher Dr. Laura Walters spoke during the IAS conference’s closing session.

tive therapy, simplification was the theme. Two research teams reported that a dual regimen of dolutegravir plus lamivudine (the components of the Dovato combination pill) worked as well as a traditional three-drug regimen. French scientists showed that for people who currently have undetectable viral load, scaling back to just four days of treatment per week maintained viral suppression – and lowered the cost by 43%. Results from two studies showed that a combination of two long-acting injectable antiretrovirals, cabotegravir and rilpivirine, taken just once a month, maintained HIV suppression and led to greater satisfaction compared with daily pills. Further back in the drug development pipeline, Gilead Sciences presented promising findings from the first human study of its HIV capsid inhibitor (GS-6207), which prevents the virus from assembling the shell that encases its genetic material.

PrEP progress

On the prevention front, the World Health Organization announced that it has updated its PrEP recommendation to include event-driven PrEP taken before and after sex, as well as

the daily regimen, for men who have sex with men. Once-daily Truvada (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) is currently the only regimen approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for HIV prevention. But some U.S. clinics, including the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Magnet sexual health program at Strut, are already offering the on-demand regimen, dubbed PrEP 2-1-1. This involves taking two Truvada pills at least two hours – but preferably 24 hours – before engaging in sex, then another pill 24 hours after sex, and a final pill another 24 hours after that. If sex occurs multiple days in a row, one pill should be taken each day, until 48 hours after the last occasion. When used correctly, this regimen is highly effective for gay and bisexual men. Dr. Jean-Michel Molina from the University of Paris presented updated findings showing that no participants in the French Prévenir study who consistently used either daily or event-driven PrEP have acquired HIV. Due to a lack of evidence, however, the WHO does not recommend PrEP 2-1-1 for cisgender or transgender women, transgender men

who have vaginal/frontal sex, or men having sex with women. Turning to daily PrEP, researchers presented an in-depth analysis from the DISCOVER trial, which compared Truvada versus Descovy (tenofovir alafenamide/emtricitabine) for PrEP. This updated formulation of tenofovir is less likely to cause kidney problems and bone loss. As reported at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in March, Truvada and Descovy – both by Gilead – were highly effective at preventing HIV. In this study of more than 5,300 men who have sex with men, there were seven new infections in the Descovy group and 15 in the Truvada group, most of which occurred in people with low drug levels, indicating that they were not using PrEP consistently. This difference was not statistically significant, meaning it could have been due to chance. The pharmacokinetic data presented at IAS showed that active tenofovir in HIV-susceptible immune cells reached higher levels, did so more rapidly, and persisted longer in people taking Descovy compared with those taking Truvada. Although the researchers concluded that Descovy “is a safer, potentially more efficacious option” for PrEP – especially for those using the 2-1-1 regimen – some think its advantages were overstated, given the very low rate of new HIV infections in both arms of DISCOVER and the

very high effectiveness of Truvada in clinical trials and real-world use. Jeremiah Johnson of the Treatment Action Group questioned whether the supposed advantages of Descovy are worth its cost, which is similar to that of Truvada now, but likely to be substantially more expensive once Truvada, priced at about $1,600 a month, goes off patent next year. Speaking at the conference’s closing session, Dr. Laura Waters from the Mortimer Market Centre sexual health clinic in London suggested that conclusions about the advantages of Descovy “are perhaps premature” and that “the emphasis should be on expanding access to affordable PrEP worldwide.” Finally, researchers from Merck presented data from the first human study of a long-term implant, inserted under the skin of the upper arm, that releases the experimental antiretroviral islatravir (formerly known as MK-8591). Although only tested so far for safety in HIV-negative volunteers, a drug level analysis showed that the implant may maintain protective levels of this novel nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor for a year or longer. If the implant continues to perform well in larger studies, this convenient new PrEP option “could be a potential game-changer,” International AIDS Society president Dr. Anton Pozniak told reporters. t

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Six Flags to hold Pride event compiled by Cynthia Laird

original World War II Rosies and home front workers as well as celebrate ordinary people from many backgrounds, races, and communities across the U.S. who stepped up to extraordinary challenges during the war, according to an email announcement. New this year will also be ferry service from San Francisco. For more information, visit https:// sanfranciscobayferry.com/news/ richmond-weekend-ferr y-service-2019. For more information on the Rosie festival, visit http:// www.rosietheriveter.org/events/ rosie-rally.

ix Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo will hold its second Out at the Kingdom Pride party Saturday, August 10, from 8 p.m. to midnight. Organizers said the fun night will include performances from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” competitor Soju and San Francisco’s own Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Additionally, there will be dance party music from Ray Rhodes, a bar for those 21 and over, and more. The Out at the Kingdom ticket includes a full day at the park with the general public from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and then the LGBT night in DC Plaza. Special Out at the Kingdom rides access will include: The Joker, Superman Ultimate Flight, Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth, the Penguin, and the Harley Quinn Crazy Coaster. Tickets, which include free parking, are on sale in advance for $45 at www.outatthekingdom. com or $60 at the gate. Six Flags annual pass holders receive an additional discount. Six Flags is located at 1001 Fairgrounds Drive.

Rosie rally and festival coming up

This year’s Rosie Rally Home Front Festival, celebrating the legacy of women across the world, takes place Saturday, August 10, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Craneway Pavilion, Ford Assembly

Jane Philomen Cleland

Sister Roma will entertain attendees at Six Flags in Vallejo.

Plant, 1414 Harbour Way South in Richmond. Organized with support of the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park in Richmond, the free, family-friendly event sponsored by the Rosie the Riveter Trust will include costume contests and other activities. There won’t be an attempt to set the Guinness record for the most Rosies this year, but attendees are encouraged to update Rosie, represent home front occupations in creative ways, or don traditional Rosie garb. This year’s festival will honor

Santa Clara County Fair to hold LGBTQ day

The Santa Clara County Fair will hold its LGBTQ day Friday, August 2, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The fair is located at 344 Tully Road in San Jose. Special events will include concerts by the allfemale Killer Queens, a Queen tribute band, at 8:30 and 10 p.m. Other activities include carnival games, rides, and exhibits. General admission tickets are $10 for adults, and $5 for seniors 65 and over and children 12 and under. Kids under 5 are admitted free. Parking is $10 per vehicle. For more information, visit https://thefair.org.t

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<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Volume 49, Number 31 August 1-7, 2019

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PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman BARTAB EDITOR & EVENTS LISTINGS EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • Meg Elison CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Roger Brigham • Brian Bromberger Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Belo Cipriani • Dan Renzi Michael Flanagan • Jim Gladstone David Guarino • Liz Highleyman Brandon Judell • John F. Karr • Lisa Keen Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger David-Elijah Nahmod • Paul Parish Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota Bob Roehr • Gregg Shapiro • Gwendolyn Smith Sari Staver • Tony Taylor • Charlie Wagner Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Max Leger PRODUCTION/DESIGN Ernesto Sopprani

LGBT homelessness at crisis level

he 2019 number of LGBT homeless people in San Francisco should be a wake-up call to the LGBT community. According to the Point-In-Time Count by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, there are 1,054 queer people living without safe, permanent housing here. Among youth age 24 and under, nearly 50% identify as LGBTQ. The percentage of unhoused trans people jumped from 9% in 2017 to 13% this year. Yes, there have been positive attempts to provide more housing programs. For one, as we’ve reported, Mayor London Breed this year allocated $2 million (over two years) for housing subsidies for trans people, a major step to keep trans people housed or move them into housing. There’s also the small LGBT homeless shelter Jazzie’s Place in the Mission that’s been helping people since it opened four years ago. This month, the last tenants are moving in to Openhouse’s 95 Laguna Street affordable senior housing complex. More, obviously, needs to be done, particularly in District 8, where the Castro has attracted the homeless for many years. Breed is serious about reducing homelessness. She has attended groundbreakings and openings for projects around the city, and with Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, has proposed a $600 million affordable housing bond for the November ballot. Key to our readers, we’ve been told that the bond prioritizes $150 million for senior housing, specifically developments that are welcoming of LGBTs. The bond also states that District 8 needs to be a central focus for where projects are funded, due to its lack of affordable housing units and having lost a significant

Rick Gerharter

A man slept on a sidewalk in the Castro district in April 2018.

number of rent-controlled units that were taken off the market because of Ellis Act evictions or owner move-ins. But even if the housing bond passes, it will be years before anyone sees results. In the meantime, for the last year, District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, the board’s lone gay member, has been trying to identify a site for a possible LGBT-focused Navigation Center, but it’s proved difficult. The Castro is located in the heart of the city and is built out, so sites that might be available are expensive. Mandelman told us this week that he’s encountered “lots of dead ends and bad options.” If a Navigation Center isn’t feasible, perhaps an alternative could be a homeless services center, a program where people could go for services during the day. It would not be operational overnight to reduce the concerns of neighbors. The North Beach Citizens Center is such a program. Mandelman, Jeff Sheehy, Mandelman predecessor, and former supervisor Bevan Dufty have all toured the facility

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and spoken highly of its program. Homeless individuals could take shelter during the day and be off the streets, grab a bite to eat, and be connected to housing programs and other services. It seems like a more realistic solution for District 8, and it once had the support of Castro merchants. Another idea, Mandelman’s office told us, would be the Hummingbird model. Hummingbird Place is a 29-bed Navigation Center located at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Opened nearly two years ago by PRC’s Baker Places program, in partnership with the Department of Public Health, it provides access to recovery and wellness programs to the homeless and mentally ill, according to PRC’s website. Most patients stay at the facility for two weeks. It is the city’s first Navigation Center that deals specifically with mental health issues and addiction and offers a short-term overnight model that might also be suited to the Castro. San Francisco spends more than $300 million on homelessness and yet the number of homeless individuals has increased. In a dense city such as San Francisco, developing smaller projects in neighborhoods would be more likely to be achieved. Though we continue to believe that every district should have a Navigation Center, it doesn’t appear that one – in the traditional sense – will come to District 8 anytime soon. If that is the case, Mandelman, the mayor, and other city officials need to create alternative solutions that may help fewer people in a single location, but nonetheless help get those people off of the streets and into housing or services.t

veryday, my staff and I at TGI Justice Project work tirelessly to find a safe place to call home for our transgender, gender variant, and intersex community. It keeps me up at night. It should keep us all up at night. That is why we joined the Our Trans Home SF coalition campaign to end trans homelessness. In April, we joined the Our Trans Home SF Advocacy Day to speak truth to power. We came because what we are going through is a crisis. TGI Justice was represented by a group of predominantly black trans women, many of whom have experienced incarceration and homelessness. In fact, one of our leaders took action at advocacy day despite the fact that she was just kicked out of her hotel the night before. She came despite not knowing where she was going to sleep that night. She took part in the day because of the urgency we all feel around the housing crisis. We were there to tell our San Francisco supervisors about our experiences and to say that we need action now. We are facing discrimination and violence today. We cannot afford to wait for tomorrow. TGI Justice is a black trans-led organization working to end the human rights abuses against transgender, gender variant, and intersex people, especially trans women of color, in jails and prisons. Our core work includes hosting a weekly mailing night to support people in prison, working with trans people as they come out of jails and prisons, offering employment opportunities, and advocating for policies and laws to better support transgender women of color. We are a black-trans led organization that centers our work in our experiences of both incarceration and returning back into the community because the combined impact of anti-black racism and transphobia has resulted in incarceration being a common experience for our community. One of the most challenging and pervasive parts of our work is to fight the barriers our people face in accessing housing. Finding housing for anyone in San Francisco is hard, but finding housing for a black trans woman who has a record or a past eviction is nearly impossible. It was found in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality that 30% of all trans respondents experienced some form of housing discrimination, like being evicted from their home or denied housing because of being transgender. When you narrowed that down to the black trans respondents, that number increased to a staggering 40%.

Rick Gerharter

Akira Jackson accepts the Bill Kraus Leadership Award on behalf of the Our Trans Home SF coalition during the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club annual dinner Monday, July 29. Other members of the coalition joined Jackson on stage.

These statistics, combined with the fact that one out of every two trans San Franciscans has experienced homelessness, are alarming. They also seem to represent an understatement for the black transgender women that we work with on a daily basis. Everyday we struggle to find landlords who will rent to our participants. We find that landlords are discriminating based on the fact that they don’t believe that black trans women are their preferred tenants. Landlords fail to offer housing even when one of our participants does meet all of the requirements for tenancy. Safe and stable housing is the foundation we need to set in order to raise the floor for our community. Stable housing sets the foundation for anyone to get back onto their feet, to be able to show up and maintain your job, and to maintain your mental health. These are all basic human needs that many of our participants don’t have access to. Just this year, the Our Trans Home SF coalition made historic leaps in successfully advocating for the first in the nation government funding of a trans-specific housing program. It is huge. The funding includes $1 million each year over two years to cover housing subsidies to keep and place trans people into housing, for housing navigators to support people in finding shelter or housing, and to create a long-term plan for trans housing. This is an important step forward, and we need to do so much more to make sure that our community is housed. That is why developing a long-term plan with a multi-pronged approach is critical. We need to make emergency housing and Navigation Centers safe for trans people. We need to create trans-specific transitional and support-

ive housing programs. We need to make sure that our community can attain and stay in their homes through subsidy programs. We need to make sure that these programs also center the needs of those who are facing the most barriers in their lives and have the least opportunities. This means creating trans specific programs that also centers the lives of black trans women, trans people of color, trans immigrants, trans people who are and have been in prisons and jails. That is why we are asking you, what are you doing to raise the floor of the living conditions of our community? What are you doing to support transled organizations, especially trans people of color-led organizations? We are calling on our elected officials, allies, and the larger queer community to continue to support the efforts of Our Trans Home SF to end trans homelessness. The Our Trans Home SF coalition includes the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives’ Transgender Advisory Committee, API Equality Northern California, Community United Against Violence, El/La Para Trans Latinas, Lyon-Martin Health Services, Openhouse, San Francisco LGBT Community Center, St. James Infirmary, Taja’s Coalition, Trans Health Consulting, Transgender Law Center, Trans Thrive at San Francisco Community Health Center, and TGI Justice. We will continue to work with Our Trans Home SF and push to raise the floor. t Janetta Johnson is the executive director of TGI Justice Project. For more information on the coalition, visit ourtranshomesf.org.

Politics >>

August 1-7, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

Assist coming to address Castro retail vacancies

by Matthew S. Bajko

ocal businesses looking to open in San Francisco’s Castro district will soon be able to receive assistance in navigating the city’s byzantine permit approval process. At the request of community leaders of the LGBT neighborhood, gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman secured $75,000 in the city’s 2019-2020 budget to pay for a “Castro Commercial Corridor Manager.” The position, expected to be part-time, is meant to help fill the numerous vacant storefronts throughout the Castro. “There is one person in the Mayor’s Office of Workforce and Economic Development who provides this service citywide to small businesses wanting to open up. It is a great service but demand is far greater than her ability to provide it,” said Mandelman. “There shouldn’t be a need to provide special assistance to get through the city’s permitting process, but it often does.” Andrea Aiello, executive director of the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, plans to seek the funding for the position when the city posts its request for proposals for it. She hopes the person can be hired by the end of the year. “It will be somebody who helps expedite permits so small businesses don’t have to pay for a permit expediter to help them get through planning,” said Aiello. A report released in March by the city’s budget and legislative analyst found it takes a year for most businesses looking to open in the Castro to secure their permits from the planning department. Mandelman has criticized the zoning as “overly restrictive” and spearheaded changing the rules for storefronts along upper Market Street between Castro Street and Octavia Boulevard. The commercial corridor has seen a wave of store closures in recent years. There are currently more than two-dozen storefronts either for lease or sitting dormant as businesses seek the permits they need to open. The zoning changes will allow for arts uses and community-serving nonprofits to lease out sidewalkfacing storefronts in the area without the need for a conditional use permit. Stores and restaurants selling only beer and wine will also benefit as the city is relaxing the permits they need to receive prior to opening along upper Market Street. At the same time for-profit health care clinics will find it harder to open on upper Market, as now they will need approval from the city’s planning commission in order to do so. The Board of Supervisors gave their second and final approval to the changes Tuesday, and Mayor London Breed is expected to sign them into law. Once she does, likely as soon as Friday, they will take effect in 30 days. “It will have an impact as soon as the next would-be restaurateur is taking a look at the feasibility of opening along

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Rick Gerharter

Zoning changes will soon be coming to upper Market Street under an ordinance approved by the Board of Supervisors.

upper Market,” said Mandelman. “We just have to find those would-be restaurants and art gallery proprietors.” Aiello said the zoning revisions are “way overdue” and should help attract new commercial uses to the area. “Zoning is really important. It is a tool in the toolbox to help bring more economic vitality to the business district,” she said. “This stretch of upper Market has had some of the most strict zoning.” Aiello and Mandelman both told the B.A.R. they have yet to hear of any nonprofits or new restaurants looking to take advantage of the looser zoning rules. Ironically, one historic restaurant location on upper Market Street that could benefit from the changes isn’t expected to return as a restaurant. For decades various eateries had operated at the corner of 14th, Church and Market streets. A new mixed-use development with two ground floor retail spaces is set to open there in September, though neither is expected to house an eatery. Developer Brian Spiers told the B.A.R. he is in talks with a nonrestaurant use interested in leasing the larger of the two spaces at 2100 Market Street. He declined, however, to disclose the name of the business since nothing has been finalized. One long vacant space on the corridor could soon see a business move in, as Mercy Housing is in talks to lease out the corner storefront in the LGBT-welcoming affordable senior housing development at 55 Laguna. “The ‘For Lease’ sign is not up because we are in negotiation with a potential tenant for the space,” Rick Sprague, a regional vice president with Mercy, told the B.A.R. this week. Karyn Skultety, Ph.D., executive director of Openhouse, which partnered with Mercy on the development, said her agency would be interested in using the commercial space if those lease negotiations fall through. The nonprofit provides services to LGBT seniors and has it offices in the Bob Ross LGBT Senior Center at 65 Laguna. While it will soon open 7,000 square feet of community space in the new building at 95 Laguna, Openhouse could utilize the empty storefront as well, said Skultety. She applauded the

city changing the zoning rules in the area to make it easier for nonprofits to rent out ground floor retail spaces. “I am strongly in support of changing zoning laws and making it more possible for nonprofits to utilize the retail space not only in our building but all along upper Market Street. We walk pass empty retail all the time, then I am in groups with other nonprofit directors afraid of losing their space or under threat of hefty rent increases,” she said. The zoning changes, added Skultety, are needed “both for the vitality of the streets and also support for our nonprofit community, which by the way holds this city together.”

Sex-Positive SF Dem club is chartered

Members of the San Francisco Sex-Positive Democratic Club had reason to celebrate at this year’s annual Up Your Alley fetish fair Sunday, as just days prior their political group secured official chartership from the local Democratic Party. The year-old club believed to be the first of its kind in the country – aims to be a voice at City Hall for the polyamorous, queer, and kink communities. By a voice vote at its meeting Wednesday, July 24, the Democratic County Central Committee approved the Sex-Positive Dems as the 35th sanctioned club for Democrats in the city. The only person to abstain from voting was the proxy for Senator Dianne Feinstein. The club expressed its thanks to the DCCC for its support, and singled out in particular local party chair David Campos, a gay man and former supervisor, and third vice-chair Dr. Pratima Gupta, an obstetrician/gynecologist who is queer and oversees club chartering for the oversight body. Those interested in joining the new club should visit its website at https:// www.sfspdc.org/. t Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http:// www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column looked at out congressional candidates running in California in 2020. Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes.

Letters >> Allegations mount against Lara

Barry Schneider Attorney at Law

ast May, the Bay Area Reporter waxed lyrical in its endorsement of the state senator from the corrupt city of Bell for state insurance commissioner. It seems Ricardo Lara can do no wrong in the B.A.R.’s pages for having broken a “pink ceiling.” Never mind that his sole, and only, qualification for office in the eyes of the B.A.R.’s editorial board seems to have been his sexual orientation. Even the paper’s parroting of Lara’s news releases regarding PrEP ring hollow as the state insurance commissioner has no authority over the Department of Managed Health Care-regulated plans where this has been

an issue. But he’s gay! Attention must be paid! Now, Lara has found himself surrounded by three different corruption scandals, and he’s not even a full year into his term. The insurance commissioner is supposed to prevent fraud, not be a fraud. Moreover, he refuses to release his calendar to watchdog organizations investigating further allegations of pay-to-play. One major newspaper has already proposed a recall. That’s quite the pink ceiling. Thomas J. Busse, Treasurer Libertarian Party of San Francisco San Francisco

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6 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Outpatient center for youth opens in San Jose by Heather Cassell

volve Treatment Center’s new outpatient facility for teens is bright, warm, and inviting when you enter the building, which is located in the quaint Rose Garden neighborhood in central San Jose. About 50 youth health professionals and media toured the new center, the first freestanding outpatient center for teens in the city, according to the company, during its recent grand opening. It’s the second Evolve center in Santa Clara County. The other is a 30-60day co-ed residential center in Gilroy. “We are very excited [about] this new and a one-of-a-kind center in San Jose,” said Ashley Thomas, LCSW, the clinical program director at Evolve San Jose. She looks forward to helping South Bay youth with their mental health and substance abuse issues, particularly LGBT young people. “We are the first outpatient facility of this kind in the area,” she told the Bay Area Reporter at the July 18 opening. “We know that there is a huge need and we are excited to be here.” Judy Sylvia, the center’s chief business development officer, estimated that 15% of Evolve’s patients identify as LGBT. Evolve San Jose already has about five youth and their families signed up to receive treatment. It has three fulltime staff and is growing, said Sylvia, who has more than two decades of experience in the mental health field. The privately-operated center, which works with insurance companies, provides a safe space for teens aged 12 to 17 years old, several days a week, depending on the program. “Success for a client is going to come in many different forms and we are aware of that too,” said Thomas, who has about 14 years of experience as a therapist. “We want to help them in whatever their personal goals are.” The center’s therapists use a combination of evidence-based treatment techniques and offer individ-

ual and family therapy, psychiatry, daily group sessions, multifamily sessions, and addiction recovery. Experiential therapies such as music, yoga, meditation, surfing, art, and drama are also available. “One of the unique things about Evolve is that we treat concurring disorders, so we may have kids that have, you know, like primarily mental health issues and primarily substance abuse issues or they have both,” said Thomas, noting that both issues, as well as suicide, occur at a higher rate among LGBT youth. “We want to be aware of the unique needs that those youth are experiencing and be able to serve them in our centers,” she said. Sylvia said Evolve treats teens from all backgrounds and does not push a religious agenda or subscribe to any belief system. “If a teen chooses to engage in observance while in treatment, we do what we can to support them. For example, special dietary needs, transportation to services or modified schedules for observance,” she wrote in an email. “Likewise, if they elect to set practices aside, while in treatment, we respect that as well. We recognize that religion (no matter which) can bring solace and healing for some and not for others. ... We meet teens where they are at and work through issues using evidence based clinical modalities, not religion.” Thomas said Evolve hopes to collaborate with community resources like the Bill Wilson Center and LGBTQ Youth Space. The Bill Wilson Center offers a variety of services for children, adolescents, and adults. LGBTQ Youth Space is a program of Family and Children Services. Both are in San Jose. Neither LGBTQ Youth Space nor the Bill Wilson Center staff were aware of Evolve. “We want to be a safe space for them, but we are also their treatment center,” Thomas said. “So, having them, like, have other safe spaces so they can be in the community and

Jo-Lynn Otto

The Evolve San Jose team includes, from left, Marian Ross, Judy Sylvia, Jennifer Samson, Mandy Rivas, Lesley Miranda, Ellen Bloch, Ashley Thomas, and Arielle Werblun.

also have, like, sober, fun, and things like that is really important.” Thomas, Sylvia, and Marian Ross, the business development manager were attracted to Evolve because of its holistic approach to therapy, they said.

Evolve

Evolve doesn’t have much of a media or online presence beyond its own generated content and news releases. It has been in business for five years. Reviews by former clients and employees are hard to find. The ones that are available are often outdated. Even information about management and staff beyond their biographies is scarce. Articles quoting the center’s leadership as experts in the field or by the center’s executive clinical director, Lauren Kerwin, Ph.D., or any of its therapeutic team don’t go beyond news releases from the company or academic papers. However, the staff at Evolve San Jose are professionals with about 60 years experience between the executive team. On the day of the center’s opening they warmly welcomed the area’s therapeutic and social work professionals, and youth advocates. The center has a friendly atmo-

sphere with bright artwork containing calming and inspiring messages. In the back of the building the hallways are lined with administrative offices. Therapists’ offices open up into a community center-type space with an education room and a kitchen. Teens will be allowed to hang out in the community room that has sofas and chairs, a TV, books, and games. The educational center has a computer and other resources. Clients can choose between the partial hospitalization program that provides teens with a full programming five days a week or the intensive outpatient program that offers three hours of programming three to four evenings a week. Both programs offer teens daily group sessions and educational support, in addition to one psychiatric session and one family therapy session per week, according to a July 10 news release from the organization. The partial hospitalization program provides teens with two individual therapy sessions per week, while the intensive outpatient program offers one therapy session per week. Evolve opened its first center in the Los Angeles area in 2014, said Aron Gittleson, CEO of Evolve Treatment

Centers, and now has 12 locations. A new residential center is expected to open soon in Danville. A Google search revealed how private and protective the center is about its patients and business. Gittleson wouldn’t disclose the company’s budget, advisory board, or the estimated cost of running a center. “We invest significantly, primarily on the staff,” he said. “We have high staff to client ratios in our inpatient facilities as well as in the therapeutic perspective. We also offer experiential experiences.” The center wouldn’t allow the B.A.R. to interview an LGBT-identified former client to protect patient privacy. The center claims to have helped hundreds of youth and their families. “I couldn’t even put a number on [the success rate],” said Ross, who has worked in the behavioral health business for 14 years. “Since I’ve been here, and I’ve been here for a couple of years, there have been hundreds.” The only indication that Evolve is LGBT-friendly is its listing included on Psychology Today’s resource page when a Google search for Evolve including “LGBT” surfaces, and a few resource articles on the company’s website. Its news release also mentioned that San Jose is in need of mental health and addiction services for adolescents, “especially LGBTQ teens.” Ross and Thomas are seeking to do more to raise awareness of Evolve’s services geared toward LGBT youth, as well as others who need the center’s services. The center will have a booth at Silicon Valley Pride this month, said Ross. Thomas said she wants to participate in next year’s LGBTQ Summit, the first of which was held by the Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs in late June. t For more information about Evolve Treatment Center’s San Jose program, visit https://evolvetreatment.com/locations/san-jose.

Lyft, LGBTQs reach agreement on bias claims by Meg Elison

drag queen and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence announced a settlement agreement Tuesday with ride-hailing company Lyft to ensure that drivers using

its platform do not discriminate against queers. In 2017, Kevin Seaman reported that a Lyft rideshare driver denied him service. Seaman was dressed in his drag persona, LOL McFiercen, and called for the car to pick Sea-

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man up in front of the Stud, a wellknown gay bar on Ninth Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. The driver allegedly saw the drag performer and refused to allow Seaman to get in the car. Seaman reported the offense and was compensated with a $10 coupon and a promise to never be matched with that driver again. This response from the company was not enough, according to Seaman. He worried that the problem was not limited to a single incident, but indicative of a widespread license to discriminate. Joining forces with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the order of charitable drag nuns, Seaman has reached a collaborative agreement with Lyft to ensure individuals in drag or evidencing other forms of queerness are not discriminated against by the company or drivers using its platform. After a year of structured negotiations, all parties reached an agreement wherein Lyft reaffirms its “commitment to creating a safe environment for drivers and riders and agrees to develop new content to educate drivers about issues affecting the LGBTQ community, including in the context of gender identity and gender expression,” according to a news release. Seaman and the Sisters were represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Rosen Bien Galvan and Grunfeld LLP. The deal was finalized in late

Courtesy Kevin Seaman

Artist and drag queen Kevin Seaman

June, according to RBG&G. Lyft has also reportedly agreed to maintain a readily-available method for riders to report discrimination via its app, to re-train employees who handle complaints on LGBTQ issues, and to develop an appropriate process to ensure that complaints are handled in a sensitive and appropriate manner. Lyft will continue to work with Seaman and the Sisters to implement the agreement. The Bay Area Reporter reached out to inquire what that continued work will entail, but neither Seaman nor Sister Selma Soul responded immediately to requests for comment.

“Trans and gender-nonconforming individuals face some of the most severe discrimination and violence in our society,” Sister Selma Soul, president of the Sisters, said in the release. “The Sisters believe no one should be left stranded at the curb because someone else disapproves of their gender expression. We are happy that Lyft met us at the table and is taking a sincere interest in addressing this issue.” Seaman, who was traveling, also praised the company. “In the midst of increasing violence against transgender people and so many corporations focused on marketing to LGBTQ+ communities to uplift their own brands at Pride celebrations, it’s wonderful to see that Lyft is not just talking the talk, but willing to walk the walk,” he said in the release. “Trans people, gender-nonconforming folks, and drag performers need access to safe transportation just like everyone else. I’m excited that Lyft is willing to work with us to better serve some of our most vulnerable communities,” Soul added. Representatives from Lyft’s media relations department and legal team were not available to the B.A.R. for comment. A full text of the agreement is available on RBG&G’s website at https://bit.ly/2MqE5Sz. t

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***NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. ELIGIBILITY: Open to legal residents of California, 18 or older residing within 100 miles (determined by Google Maps driving directions) of 19800 Hawthorne Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503 Ashley HomeStore, who are not an employee, contractor, officer, or director of Stoneledge Furniture LLC or Southwestern Furniture of Wisconsin LLC, 755 Ashley Way, Colton, CA 92324, its subsidiary and affiliated entities, and agencies involved in this promotion, or immediate family or household member of such persons. PROMOTION DATES; GAME CARDS; PRIZES; ODDS: Promotion begins 8/30/19 at 9 a.m. PT and ends 9/1/19 at 9 p.m. or sooner if all Game Cards are distributed (“Promotion Period”). Visit the Store during Store hours during the Promotion Period to get an official Game Card while supplies last. To reveal whether a Game Card is a prize winning card, scratch off the circle on the Game Card. If it reveals “5,000” then to claim the prize, a $5000 Ashley HomeStore shopping spree (ARV $5,000), you must present the card to a Store Manager. Prize claim must be made in person at Store by 12/1/19. Prize must be used at store within Eligibility Zone by 12/1/19. Determination of winner subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with Official Rules including timely providing signed Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and Publicity Release. 500 total Game Cards available in the promotion, 1 is Winning Game Card. Odds: 1 in 500 at beginning of Promotion. If due to a printing, production or other error, more than one (1) Winning Game Card is submitted for a prize claim in the Promotion, then the intended prize in this Promotion will be awarded in a random drawing from among all verified and validated prize claims received by Sponsor. One Game Card request per eligible person. If prize is not claimed by 12/1/19 it will be awarded in Second Chance Drawing. For complete Official Rules by which all participants are bound and details of Second Chance Drawing see store. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. *Offer applies only to single-receipt qualifying purchases. Ashley HomeStore does not require a down payment, however, sales tax and delivery charges are due at time of purchase if the purchase is made with your Ashley Advantage™ Credit Card. No interest will be charged on promo purchase and equal monthly payments are required equal to initial promo purchase amount divided equally by the number of months in promo period until promo is paid in full. The equal monthly payment will be rounded to the next highest whole dollar and may be higher than the minimum payment that would be required if the purchase was a non-promotional purchase. Regular account terms apply to non-promotional purchases. For new accounts: Purchase APR is 29.99%; Minimum Interest Charge is $2. Existing cardholders should see their credit card agreement for their applicable terms. Promotional purchases of merchandise will be charged to account when merchandise is delivered. Subject to credit approval. §Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. See store for details. ‡‡Previous purchases excluded. Cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount. Discount offers exclude Tempur-Pedic®, Stearns & Foster® and Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid™ mattress sets, floor models, clearance items, sales tax, furniture protection plans, warranty, delivery fee, Manager’s Special pricing, Advertised Special pricing, and 14 Piece Packages and cannot be combined with financing specials. Effective 1/1/2018, all mattress and box springs are subject to a $10.50 per unit CA recycling fee. SEE STORE FOR DETAILS. Stoneledge Furniture LLC., many times has multiple offers, promotions, discounts and financing specials occurring at the same time; these are allowed to only be used either/or and not both or combined with each other. Although every precaution is taken, errors in price and/or specification may occur in print. We reserve the right to correct any such errors. Picture may not represent item exactly as shown, advertised items may not be on display at all locations. Some restrictions may apply. Available only at participating locations. ±Leather Match upholstery features top-grain leather in the seating areas and skillfully matched vinyl everywhere else. Ashley HomeStores are independently owned and operated. ©2019 Ashley HomeStores, Ltd. Promotional Start Date: July 23, 2019. Expires: August 12, 2019.

<< Community News

8 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

‘Weed the People’ starts in SF by Sari Staver

free four-day conference to help people of color, queers, and women navigate opportunities in the cannabis industry, “Weed the People,” will be held August 1-4 at the African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton Street in San Francisco. The conference begins Thursday evening with ceremonies and rituals surrounding cannabis; on Friday evening, there will be a screening of the 2019 Netflix documentary, “The Grass is Greener,” about racial injustice in the cannabis industry. The meeting’s programming begins with a keynote Saturday morning and runs through Sunday. While there is no entrance fee to attend, anyone who wants to go must pre-register at the conference’s Facebook page, where you can also find details about the event. Anyone is welcome to attend, although the sessions are focused on helping people often denied opportunities to enter the cannabis industry. In San Francisco, traditional costs of opening a cannabis dispensary begin at $1 million, according to the city’s Office of Cannabis. The city also has an equity program that gives applicants who’ve been adversely affected by the war on drugs assistance in entering the business. There are similar programs in Alameda County and many other cities. The conference is being organized by Melonie and Melorra Green, 41-year-old twin sisters who are coexecutive directors of the African American Art and Culture Complex, a community nonprofit under the umbrella of the San Francisco Arts Commission. The event is co-sponsored by the People’s Dispensary, a minority-operated chain of dispensaries in Oakland and Portland, and

Sari Staver

Twin sisters Melonie and Melorra Green are organizing a cannabis conference that starts Thursday.

several other community groups. “A cannabis conference is nothing new,” said keynote speaker Christine De La Rosa, in a telephone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. Known widely as “Miz Chris,” De La Rosa is a co-founder and executive director of the People’s Dispensary. De La Rosa, who identifies as queer and lives in Oakland, said that cannabis conferences, per se, “are certainly not groundbreaking, there are ones almost every week. But to have this conference, at this moment in time, is not only groundbreaking, it is historic.” Unlike traditional dispensaries, the People’s Dispensary donates 10% of its profits back into minority organizations within their city. De La Rosa, who has spoken at dozens of conferences in the past year, said she was “very honored” to present the keynote address at this gathering, where several hundred people are expected. Most of the mainstream cannabis industry meetings are “guys in ties,” said De La Rosa.

“And the recent National Cannabis Industry Association conference in San Jose charged $695 just to get into the front door, which immediately excluded many people,” she added. In her keynote, De La Rosa will talk about “unlocking the promise, profit, and power of social equity,” she said. “Everyone is talking about social equity but very few are actually benefiting from it,” she said. “I’m going to talk about ways to tap into our collective power to make sure our communities achieve the promise and profit of the cannabis social equity movement.” Following the keynote address, a panel of local equity applicants will describe their experiences trying to break into the cannabis industry through social equity programs. The Sunday program includes a town hall meeting, where participants and organizers will create a lobby day

to reach out to city officials to work together toward more equitable opportunities in the industry, and a letter writing campaign to offer guidance to people who want to have their marijuana offenses expunged from their criminal record. The Green sisters, organizers of the conference, are themselves in the process of breaking into the cannabis industry. Although they were unable to divulge specifics of their plans, the women are hoping to acquire an existing San Francisco dispensary, which would become a new member of the fledgling People’s Dispensary chain. Both longtime medical cannabis patients, the sisters want to educate and inform their community about the benefits of the plant as well as the business opportunities that are possible. They grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, moving to San Francisco 20 years ago, first living in the Fillmore and now in the Lower Haight. The women are both artists and have been involved in organizing and operating a wide variety of artistic and charitable projects. Two years ago, they were named coexecutive directors of the complex, which Mayor London Breed had overseen prior to winning public office. “There are so many conversations now going on about the cannabis industry,” said Melorra Green in a phone interview. “Most exclude people of color, women, and the queer community. “We grew up in a conservative city and, like many other people, had negative ideas about using cannabis,” she added. But after moving to the Bay Area, and meeting many people whose health had improved dramatically

with cannabis, “we want to share that information” with our community, she said. “Cannabis has a way to empower people and that is our goal,” she added. “We hope San Francisco will get it right” as the city continues to develop regulations for the cannabis social equity program. “If they don’t,” said Green. “It will send the message that people like us just don’t matter.” Organizers said that the conference is expected to sell out. To pre-register, visit https://www.facebook.com/ events/723337328123195/.

who ran largely on repealing HB 2 – and he did. Sort of. One year, almost to the day, after the passage of HB 2, the Legislature passed HB 142. The bill declared that “state agencies, boards, offices, departments, institutions, branches of government, including the University of North Carolina and the North Carolina community college system, and political subdivisions of the state, are preempted from regulation of access to multiple occupancy restrooms, showers, or changing facilities, except in accordance with an act of the General Assembly.” On the nature of local government control over anti-discrimination ordinances, however, it simply kicked the can to December 2020. One might think this is the end of the story, but Joaquin Carcaño, a transgender man who works for UNCChapel Hill, disagreed. He took the state to court, in Carcaño v. Cooper. In July, a settlement in that lawsuit was approved, placing another nail in HB 2’s coffin. The state may not bar transgender people from using a public restroom or similar staterun facilities congruent with their gender identity. While this battle appears to, at long last, be won, I can’t help but note that the war is far from over. So-called bathroom bills still crop up in states every legislative session, as well as similar policies to restrict transgender minors in sports, and even proposed laws designed to limit gender-affirming care. Meanwhile, the United States

Supreme Court is poised to debate transgender workplace rights in a case that could prohibit sex-based protections for decades. Transgender people remain barred from the United States military in most instances while “religious freedom” arguments threaten LGBTQ rights nationwide. When HB 2 passed, many other states – most notably Texas – began to look at it as a framework for halting the spread of trans rights. I still expect to see some places attempt to do so again, but the fight against HB 2 may make all but the most fervent lawmakers think twice. This is something from which we should take some small amount of hope. Even in these dark days, we still have a chance of victory over what was an undefeatable bill that could sweep across the country, state by state, stripping transgender people of their rights nationwide. Let this one victory be a candle in the darkness that is the fight for transgender rights in the era of President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and let it help fuel us as we continue to fight for a better, more just world for transgender and nonbinary people. Right now, we need to take our victories where we can get them.t

Cannabis Pride event a hit

Last month’s first Bay Area Cannabis Pride Celebration was a tremendous success, selling out in advance, with 5% of the ticket proceeds benefitting the Oakland-based Transgender Law Center. Held July 11 at the SevenWest venue in Oakland, the event was produced by Tali Eisenberg, a straight ally, and Brian Applegarth, who identifies as queer and is director of the documentary short “The Secret Story: How Medical Cannabis was Re-Legalized in the U.S.,” which was screened at the celebration. In a prepared statement, Eisenberg said the event “brought together an inclusive group of local Bay Area cannabis brands and social justice organizations for a community cannabis showcase to celebrate the role of the LGBT community in the legalization of cannabis in the state.” Eisenberg said she is hoping to produce a similar event next year. t Bay Area Cannasseur runs the first Thursday of the month. To send column ideas or tips, email Sari Staver at sfsari@gmail.com.

Emerging victorious by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

t long last, North Carolina’s House Bill 2 is dead. For those readers who may not know the significance, I’ll explain: The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, otherwise known as HB 2, was a bill passed in North Carolina in 2016. It was developed in part as a reaction to the city of Charlotte’s Ordinance 7056, passed earlier that year, that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity within a few specific categories, including public accommodations. A month after the passage of Ordinance 7056, a special session was called of the state’s General Assembly. A day later, HB 2 passed and then-Governor Pat McCrory signed the bill into law. What HB 2 did was simple, but far-reaching. It preempted any anti-discrimination ordinances – and not just LGBTQ-specific ones – enacted below the state level, disallowed anyone but the state to determine the minimum wage, and required anyone using the restrooms at schools and public facilities in the state to only use the one corresponding to the gender listed on their birth certificate. North Carolina requires surgery before one can alter their birth certificate. Also, few people carry their birth certificate around before using a restroom. The fight over transgender people and bathrooms has been around for a while, flaring up in the aftermath of the fight for marriage equality as a new cause célèbre. The basic argument is that rapists and pedophiles will somehow use the restroom of a gender different

Christine Smith

from theirs, and their right to do so and assault others will somehow be upheld due to transgender public accommodation rights. The notion is laughable, seemingly oblivious to the fact that rape and the sexual assault of minors are both illegal. Unless you are the president of the United States, who is an alleged sexual predator, or one of his trusted advisers, it seems – but I digress. The notion of this sort of crime didn’t start with transgender people, of course. Racists arguing against the rights of blacks and other people of color using the same facilities as whites usually included arguments that blacks would somehow use these rights to assault others. The fight for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s included arguments that the law would lead to “co-ed” restrooms and legalized assaults. Gay rights battles, too, led to assumptions that restrooms would became a hotbed of sexual assault.

One may argue that the debates over trans restroom usage are simply an extension of this same trope used against gay and lesbian people in the 1970s, even as transgender people now see evolving media stories claiming they are inappropriately “recruiting” non-transgender people, just like the era of Anita Bryant and state Senator John Briggs. However, back to HB 2. The passage of the bill caused a firestorm. Various localities across the country enacted bans on state-funded travel to North Carolina (including California and the cities of San Francisco and San Jose). Companies scaled back plans to expand into the state and performers canceled events. The NBA moved its 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte. Overall, North Carolina lost about $400 million in jobs and investments thanks to HB 2. McCrory also lost his job, as he was defeated by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ray Cooper,

Gwen Smith doesn’t carry her birth certificate around. You’ll find her at www.gwensmith.com.

Sports >>

August 1-7, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

LGBT powerlifting group to hold meetings by Roger Brigham

he LGBT Powerlifting Union, having just completed its third world championship meet in Blackpool, England, has announced that it will hold a series of stakeholder consultation meetings the rest of 2019 to discuss several issues affecting queer powerlifting; the impact of mainstream rules on next year’s LGBT championships as well as the 2020 Gay Games; and transgender inclusion in the sport. In no sport has transgender inclusion been a more controversial issue than in powerlifting. The sport, essentially a controlled competition of power versus power, has for years been riddled with the use of performance enhancing drugs, or PEDs, among recreational and elite lifters alike, leading mainstream organizations to adopt strict no-drug policies. Caught in the crosshairs of those policies are transgender men who take testosterone as part of their maintenance treatment, and transgender women, some of whom many lifters think have inborn physiological advantages and others of whom may take other medications that are on the banned-drug list. Battle lines get drawn, human rights arguments are countered with concepts of fair play versus artificially enhanced performances, and civil discussion devolves into divisive debate. The stakeholder meetings are an apparent attempt to get people to share

Castro apartments

From page 1

“It was always going to be apartments from day one,” said Spiers. “As I was going through the process deciding how I was going to manage the building and how we would do the lease up, I was approached by Sonder.”

‘Boutique residential service’

The 2100 Market Street units will be part of Sonder’s “boutique residential service” and are not yet available for rent. The company, run by co-founders Francis Davidson and Lucas Pellan, plans to launch a new website this fall dedicated to renting out furnished apartments, like the ones at Spiers’ building, it is overseeing the leasing of to make it clear they are meant to be leased for six months to a year or longer. Sonder will also incentivize longer leases for the units by offering people discounts the longer they rent them.

Courtesy Facebook

Joshua Jarvis and David Holland of Georgia both medaled in the recent LGBT Powerlifting Championships.

viewpoints, express concerns, and resolve differences. The stakeholder discussions mirror the conversations held in 2004-05 among sports organizations in the Federation of Gay Games to see how the desire for fair play and the mission to provide inclusive participation opportunities should affect Gay Games policies, with separate anti-doping policies being adopted in wrestling, powerlifting, and bodybuilding depending on their sports-specific issues. Charlotte Wareing, co-president of the LGBT Powerlifting Union, is a transgender lifter who has won seven world titles. “We believe that athletes, coaches, officials, organizations, and spectators

all have a deep interest in ensuring that sporting competition remains fair and inclusive,” Wareing said. “The LGBT Powerlifting Union has a strong tradition of bringing new lifters into the sport and we believe this is due to our commitment to openness, fairness, and inclusivity within competition – regardless of a person’s sexuality or gender. “The LGBT Powerlifting Union invites all those interested in the development of LGBT powerlifting to contribute to the stakeholder consultation,” she added. The deadline for inclusion in the consultation process is October 31, she said. Powerlifting had been part of every

Sonder spokesman Mason Harrison told the B.A.R. Tuesday that the rents for Spiers’ building have yet to be finalized and there was still no date for when they would become available for lease. He said the company considers them to be “boutique residences” aimed at professionals, for instance, just moving to town and need a place to stay as they look for more permanent housing. “This is not a short-term rental. That has a legal definition which this does not meet,” he said, adding, “This is not a hotel.” The company expects to generate $400 million in revenue this year and has set a target of adding 200 rental units a month to its portfolio. It has several options nearby in Hayes Valley all with a 30-night minimum, with prices ranging from $174 for a onebedroom, which would total $5,220 for a month’s stay, to $373 for a twobedroom, which comes to $11,190 for a month’s stay.

Local residents largely denounced the leasing arrangement between Spiers and Sonder. “It is an absolutely and excruciatingly embarrassment for my neighborhood (but somehow totally expected) that a brand new ‘residential’ building in an area with a thoughtfully executed neighborhood plan could be used as a (loophole legal) hotel, rather than providing much-needed housing in the city,” wrote Christopher R. Vasquez, a gay man who has worked on various political campaigns, in a Facebook post. After learning about the deal between Sonder and Spiers, Mandelman also expressed his outrage in a Facebook post last week. “San Francisco neighborhoods never signed up for corporate hotels masquerading as rental housing,” wrote Mandelman, a gay man and attorney who had worked on land use

the Twin Peaks and Blush wine bar, but especially by the Edge’s “platinum circle,” to whom he often remarked, “Why do I come here!?” Please join us at the Edge, 4149 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114, at noon Sunday, August 11, to raise a glass to Frank and his beloved dog, Simon. Friends are attempting to make his fictionalized memoir, “Son of a Prairie Chicken,” available to read, at least electronically. [Editor’s note: Due to incorrect information, Mr. Schumacher’s name was misspelled in last week’s edition The online version has been corrected.]

ogy from Laney College and started his illustrious hair stylist/makeup artist extraordinaire career. His largest clientele was in the San Francisco salon. His time in the city by the bay was always special to him because he lived and worked there. He also had booths in Oakland and San Leandro. He was preceded in death by his parents and three brothers. He leaves to cherish his memories two sisters in Oakland, a brother in Texas, and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. A memorial service was held July 31 at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland.

Gay Games until Paris elected not to include it for last year’s event. The desire to reestablish a place for the sport in the Gay Games led to the formation of the union. It held its first international championship in 2017 with just 20 lifters, and then held the second event last year just before Gay Games Paris, drawing 40 competitors. This year’s championships drew a reported 50 lifters from countries such as Great Britain, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, and Romania for the July 19-21 event. The championships included a third gender category, MX, to enable participation of gender fluid, intersex, and transgender participants. “This year’s event saw national and world record standard performances, a visit from the Lady Mayor of Blackpool, and even a marriage proposal during the medal ceremonies,” LGBT Powerlifting Union co-president Chris Morgan said. “The atmosphere was

electric, with lifters of all abilities taking part, from novices through to national and world standard lifters – all coming together and creating a magical experience together. We are absolutely delighted with the overall growth in the championships and are now focused on improving on this again in 2020. We have come a long way in a short space of time.” Winning gold from the United States were Ardel Thomas of San Francisco, Kris Coombs of Los Angeles, David Holland of Georgia, Ben Gilliam of Denver, and Peter Tressel of Minnesota. Joshua Jarvis of Georgia took a silver. Complete 2019 tournament results are available on the LGBT Powerlifting Championships Facebook page. Stakeholders interested in participating in the discussions can email Wareing at chazwrng@netscape.net or Morgan at chunky@chunkymuscle.com. t

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Obituaries >> Frank Schumacher

September 16, 1961 – July 13, 2019

Our sweet, brilliant, funny friend Frank has left the building. Frank Schumacher was born in Lincoln, Nebraska and raised in Huron, South Dakota. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of South Dakota where he was a finalist for a Rhodes scholarship. He received his master’s degree in advertising and marketing at Northwestern University. During his career in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, Frank delivered measurable business success for a variety of brands including Apple, Kodak, Ogilvy, Charles Schwab, Hitachi, Trend Micro, and Cisco, to name a few. Frank was preceded in death by his adoptive parents, Charles and Rosemary Schumacher of Huron. He is survived by countless people whose lives he touched, from his Hidatsa tribe in North Dakota to school friends and people with whom he worked. Frank took pride in being an upper baritone with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. He will be sorely missed and long remembered by his friends at

Paul Edward Shavers June 29, 1961 – July 21, 2019

Paul Edward Shavers was born in Jefferson, Texas June 29, 1961 as the seventh child of Fred and Willis Shavers in Dekalb, Texas. Elementary school was spent in Dekalb and at age 13 he moved to Oakland, California to live with his sister, Barbara, and her family. He is a graduate of Skyline High School. He attended Texas College in Texas, completed an AA degree in cosmetol-

Obituary policy

Obituaries should be e-mailed to obituaries@ebar.com. They must be no longer than 200 words. Please follow normal rules of capitalization and no poetry. We reserve the right to edit for style, clarity, grammar, and taste. Please provide the name and contact information for the funeral home, crematory, or organ donation agency that handled final disposition of the body. This is for verification. Please submit a photo of the deceased. Deadline for obituaries is Monday at 9 a.m., with the exception of special display ad obituaries, which must be submitted by Friday at 3 p.m. For information on paid obituaries, call (415) 861-5019. Obituaries can be mailed to Bay Area Reporter, 44 Gough Street, Suite 204, San Francisco, CA 94103. Write the deceased’s name on the back of the photo. If you include a SASE for the photo’s return, write the person’s name on the inside of the envelope flap. All obituaries must include a contact name and daytime phone number. They must be submitted within a year of the death. For archived obituaries, go to glbthistory.org/obituaries.

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10 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Castro apartments

From page 9

issues for the Oakland City Attorney’s office prior to his election last year. “Since learning about the developer’s plans to operate 2100 Market as an extended-stay hotel earlier this week, my office has been in contact with the planning department and the City Attorney’s office to determine whether these units are allowed under existing law. If they are, we need to change the law and close this loophole.” At last week’s planning commission meeting where the issue of corporate rentals throughout the city came up, Planning Commissioner Dennis Richards called out Sonder for finding a loophole to the city’s shortterm rental restrictions, as the San Francisco Examiner noted in a story last week. “I feel like we are being played,” said Richards, a gay man who lives in Duboce Triangle and formerly led

its neighborhood association. “This is an Extended Stay America, this is not a housing project. There’s a lot of this going on in all the projects we approve. This whole idea that we are solving the housing crisis – really we are solving a hotel crisis.” In an interview Monday, Mandelman told the B.A.R. that it doesn’t appear the arrangement is violating any city laws or zoning rules. He added that it does seem to be at a different scale than what is occurring with other buildings in the city offering similar corporate rentals. And as far as he is aware, it appears to be the first such one in his district, which in addition to the Castro includes Noe Valley, Diamond Heights, and Glen Park. “I think from his perspective he is meeting a market need,” said Mandelman, who spoke with Spiers last week, as did his aide who oversees issues in the Castro, Tom Temprano. Nonetheless, in August, Mandelman plans to meet with city staff to

Host Homes

From page 1

and awarded to the center through a competitive grant process. The figures included in the 2019-2020 city budget amount to $350,000 a year for two years, he said. This pays for three staff members, two case managers, host training, and a full-time program manager. Ordeñana mentioned similar initiatives in other cities, as well as a cultural element. “Host homes are a proven form of intervention,” he said. “Immigrants and communities of color have a long tradition of hosting people in their homes temporarily and on a permanent basis. For the first time here in San Francisco, we’re able to build a framework around the kind of hosting that has always existed to provide support for the young people, as well as to the host families to make the best experience possible to everyone involved.” Ordeñana, a gay man, told the B.A.R. he experienced this kind of transitional support growing up in an immigrant household with parents who came to the U.S. from Nicaragua in the 1960s. Creating a framework around a concept that already exists was an idea that resonated for Shahera Hyatt, director of the California Homeless Youth Project in Sacramento. Hyatt, who holds a master’s degree in social work, told the B.A.R. via email that even before the 2019 pilot program began in her city, she was hosting an LGBTQ youth in her home as a means of giving back to the queer community. “The process was unofficial because there wasn’t a specific host home program yet in Sacramento,” Hyatt, a 34-year-old bisexual woman, wrote. “But I met a young person who was sleeping outside and on the steps of City Hall, and after weeks of getting to know one another, I invited him over to stay.” Hyatt detailed how she met this person and became aware that Sacramento did not offer adequate facilities to help a young queer person with that kind of need. Through the gradual process of getting to know a homeless youth, recognizing the lack of resources available for this person (who was a college student), and getting approval from her partner, Hyatt decided to open her home. “[My partner] was supportive but skeptical, and I knew it would take a little bit of time, so we kept the conversations going,” Hyatt wrote. “He didn’t know this kid, and he didn’t know the life of being a homeless teenager and college student like I did. He didn’t know what it was like to rely on the community outside of one’s family to get your basic needs for food and shelter met by people you aren’t related to. But eventually I heard the magic words, ‘I support you.’” When asked what moved her to

Courtesy Point Source Youth

Point Source Youth co-founder and Executive Director Larry Cohen

make such a generous gesture, Hyatt focused on the broader political factors that cause homelessness among queer youth in the first place. “I’m worried about the current and future political climate,” she wrote. “One in three transgender people experience homelessness at some point in their lives, and trans, queer, and gender-nonconforming young people are routinely targeted for violence, harassment, and the bureaucratic violence of harmful policies such as the criminalization of homelessness. Many of our communities target people living outside by giving them tickets, fines, confiscating their belongings, or even jail time just because they can’t afford a place to stay. “LGBTQ people are disproportionately targeted for harassment by law enforcement, emboldened by the anti-LGBT rhetoric of our current president and his administration,” she added. “Suicide rates are already increasing for the LGBTQ community, and bisexual folks have some of the biggest health disparities in the LGB community.” Since Hyatt wasn’t part of the official Sacramento program, which began earlier this year, she didn’t go through a screening process to determine whether she was a good match for the program.

Looking for hosts

The B.A.R. asked Ordeñana what the program looks for in a host. “We want folks who want to build a strong partnership with young people,” Ordeñana said. When asked if this could be a shared pool with people certified as foster parents, Ordeñana said the aim is different. “Compared to the foster care system, we let the young people make a decision as to where they end up living,” he said. “They want to know why the host joined the program. For us, it’s important to understand that. There will be interviews, screenings, and home visits if someone wants to participate. We’ll do a variety of screenings through interviews, home visits, background checks, ultimately invit-

see how such rentals can be regulated. “It seems there is a sort of extended-stay gray zone between short-term rentals and actual residential housing,” said Mandelman, referring to the rules the city adopted to govern home-sharing sites like Airbnb. “It is a growing area. It is a very hard thing to regulate, as I am guessing without having these conversations with city staff yet.” District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin has been working to mitigate the impact of corporate rentals in his district, which includes North Beach and Chinatown, and across the city. He is expected to introduce legislation after the board’s August recess. His office told the B.A.R. this week it was focused at first on units in rent-controlled buildings but is now looking into “universal applicability” in all buildings. San Francisco Planning Department spokeswoman Gina Simi told the B.A.R. that there is nothing pre-

venting Spiers from using Sonder to lease out his building. In an emailed response, she wrote “at this time, technically they aren’t breaking any rules or laws, so there’s nothing for us to enforce.” Asked about the possibility of enacting new rules to restrict such corporate rentals, Simi wrote, “We’re happy to work with the supervisor/ board in providing information and analysis pertaining to this issue, but our hands are tied unless the (board) takes initial action.” For Spiers, who owns the Lucky 13 dive bar up the street at 2140 Market Street, controversy surrounding his development projects is nothing new. He faced criticism over the initial design for the flatiron building at 2100 Market Street by Arquitectonica and worked with residents and planning officials on changes to it. His collaboration with the firm for his Linea building a block north

also was met with design critiques. Opened in 2014 at the intersection of Market and Buchanan, the building features a cube-like design and its units were sold to buyers. He told the B.A.R. he wasn’t expecting the backlash to the leasing plans for his newest building. “I am surprised at the reaction. Part of it was the way the initial story read and being associated with much shorter-term rental product,” said Spiers, who stressed that “there is a demand for furnished apartments” in the city. Harrison declined to comment about the pending legislation since he did not know the details of it. He stressed that the company abides by the rules and regulations in the cities in which it operates. “In San Francisco, we are willing to be a partner with the city, working with them on the future of this industry,” he said.t

ing them to provide some written applications and letters and then young people can meet prospective hosts.” The center is a local partner to Point Source Youth, a national nonprofit that connects local host homes programs to the funding sources and provides structure as well as the technical assistance they need to get their own version off the ground. Point Source Youth’s website has a host homes guide. The 74-page document includes the nitty-gritty for those who are seriously considering offering space in their homes; hosts receive no compensation for their services. They must sign a contract binding them to the agreement, as well as a waiver for liability claims against Point Source Youth and the local organization through which the host homes program is run, its employees, or volunteers. There is also a detailed questionnaire, including the host’s description of a person they would like to help, and a place to list references. “All of this centers on a sense of power and agency for the young people. We want someone, or families, that are going to be humble, to be willing to learn what are the issues that young LGBTQ unsheltered people face today, what are the issues of race and class,” Ordeñana said. “We’ll teach them how to welcome someone; how to better understand harm reduction principles; power and privilege; how race, sex and gender identity all impacts homelessness; and how it all shows up in relationships.” Once a host is accepted, Ordeñana said they would embark on “extensive training, and extensive activities in order to build community.” When asked how needed a program of this kind is, Ordeñana was explicit about the urgent nature of queer youth homelessness in this city. “Of the total number of young people who are homeless in San Francisco, 50% are LGBTQ,” Ordeñana said, referring to recent counts from DHSH. The recent Point-in-Time Count indicated that there are 1,145 homeless youth in San Francisco, with 46% identifying as LGBTQ. “Kids are still kicked out of homes, fleeing unsupportive communities and environments. Some flee from across the state and country to San Francisco for a safe place to be themselves. Because of the affordability crisis and the lack of a network, if they have no job or housing lined up, they end up on the street,” he added. Most importantly, Ordeñana said that the program needs more host candidates. “We want to invite as many community members as want to open up their homes to reach out to us,” he said. “We’re looking for individuals and families who can offer space for three months to a year. In the pilot we’re looking for 10-15 people, but eventually we need to recruit 20-25 hosts in the area.”

In addition to city funding, the program is also seeking corporate sponsors. Ordeñana told the B.A.R. that Uber offered a $15,000 grant supporting the host homes effort. Representatives from Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

stand the crucial difference between being a host and mentor and acting as a parent. Elijah Wood, Point Source Youth associate director of the Bay Area and Northern California, acknowledged that there is additional pressure for the San Francisco program to serve as an example to the rest of the nation. “This is the one everyone’s going to be looking at,” Wood said. “The high cost of living and the shortage of spare bedrooms really puts this to the test. The idea of this pilot program is to put together something bulletproof that can continue and survive. The biggest advantage here is there are two case managers who will work with the youth experiencing homelessness to determine a long-term plan to figure out what happens next after transitioning.” Wood, 27, spoke from personal experience when he said he knows what a difference an intervention like host homes can make. “I was homeless when my parents kicked me out for being gay in Kentucky,” he said. “I experienced a host home myself, but an unstructured host home. That happens a lot in the gay community and the trans community. If it had been structured, it might have been easier and faster to transition out.” One of the intervention strategies Wood emphasized is family and kinship strengthening, which is a relatively new practice. It aims to keep families connected with their abandoned or disowned children, rather than jumping immediately to re-homing the person in crisis. “This is a therapist who goes out to the family and meets them in their own space and talks to them about reuniting,” he said. “This doesn’t always mean that a family magically becomes accepting, but it might broker a deal for some support. When I got kicked out, I lost my car insurance. Families might be able to continue offering health insurance or other support, to help the kid succeed in being safe and independent.” Ultimately, Cohen said that becoming a host to a homeless LGBTQ young person is an excellent way for people with privilege to give back. “Not everybody wants to rent their extra room on Airbnb. Some people want a way to give back to their community,” he said. “We believe that every community in this country has those people and can do this work.” t

Point Source Youth

Based in New York City, Point Source Youth has a budget of about $300,000. Executive Director Larry Cohen spoke with the B.A.R. about the success of host home programs across the nation, and how it evaluates and analyzes long-term outcomes for the unhoused youth who come through the host homes program. “We started this program back in 2015, with the first version running in Minneapolis,” Cohen said. “We focused on host homes, rapid-rehoming for kids who were suddenly homeless, and family-strengthening programs for people who could stay at home with the right kind of support.” Since then, host homes programs have started in Baltimore; Venice Beach, California; and Durham, North Carolina, he explained. “We started off with a goal of providing three interventions in 50 communities, and it’s grown so much from there,” Cohen said. “After a young person goes through our program, we keep up with them via a survey. We check in with them every month, asking about their physical health, mental health, housing, employment, and other factors for their well-being.” Point Source Youth has video testimonials on its website, featuring current and formerly homeless youth who have benefitted from the program. The B.A.R asked for specific numbers of how many youth have been helped through host homes, but the organization did not have that information. Instead, each of the representatives who spoke to this reporter stressed the immeasurable effect that taking even a few queer kids off the street can have. The B.A.R. was unable to speak with a youth who will be enrolled in the San Francisco program. And the paper’s attempt to contact someone who went through the program in Baltimore did not receive a response. Cohen, a 45-year-old gay man, said that this work is personal to him, as well as important for homeless queer youth all over the nation. “I grew up in an unstable family. I felt very unsafe and I knew a lot of my friends were in unstable housing situations. Most of our staff is also queer, and they do this work with that lived experience in mind,” said Cohen, a graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in public policy. He echoed Ordeñana on the importance of a youth-centered approach to training and selecting hosts, focusing on background checks and two eight-hour training classes to help volunteers for this program under-

If you are interested in hosting or supporting the host homes program in San Francisco, visit https://www.sfcenter.org/ host-homes/. To see Point Source Youth’s guide, go to https://drive. google.com/file/d/1zqX17NCUmTA5 uUGwejIWC7klQv8ANtMe/view .

t <<

From the Cover >>

August 1-7, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

LGBT senior housing

From page 1

Arobateau, 75, a bisexual transgender artist and author who has penned numerous queer fiction titles and books of poetry. “I like to see the moon travel the sky at night.” Showing off his new abode, which he got the keys to in May, Arobateau told the Bay Area Reporter in late July “it is the best building I have ever lived in.” His 450 square foot unit is on the third floor of the Marcy Adelman and Jeanette Gurevitch Community at 95 Laguna. It is the second phase of the 119-unit LGBT-welcoming affordable senior housing project that Openhouse, a nonprofit provider of LGBT senior services in San Francisco, partnered on with affordable housing developer Mercy Housing. The new $40 million building, named after Openhouse’s co-founders, includes 79 units of housing and 7,000 square feet of community space on the first two floors, which should be built out by the fall when a ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned. The first phase of the project at 55 Laguna opened in 2016 and saw a former college building remodeled into 40 housing units and Openhouse’s Bob Ross LGBT Senior Center, named after the B.A.R.’s founding publisher. The mixed-use complex at the northern edge of the city’s newly created Castro LGBT Cultural District is the first affordable housing meant for LGBT seniors to be built in San Francisco. Mercy expects all of the residents of 95 Laguna will be moved in by early August. Fifteen of the units were designated for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and another six units went to people living with HIV or AIDS. While it does not yet have final demographic figures for the residents, Openhouse expects that a significant majority will identify as LGBTQ. “We are, of course, just thrilled to see people moving into 95 Laguna,” said Openhouse Executive Director Karyn Skultety, Ph.D., who is bisexual. “I am feeling positive again of the makeup of who is going to be in there and it being an LGBTQ space.” Among the out residents is Bill Longen, a gay man who moved into his fifth floor one-bedroom apartment July 25, two days ahead of his 72nd birthday. He relocated with his two cats, Darla and Wheezer, from an apartment he had been renting on States Street closer to the heart of the Castro district. “As crowded as it is, it’s cozy,” he said last Friday as a friend helped unpack his boxes of books and a serviceman hooked up his cable. “I measured this apartment 87 times to make sure it could accommodate what I wanted it to.” Longen, who was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1988, first moved to San Francisco in 1978 with his late partner Stanton Schaffer and worked

Rick Gerharter

Donna Personna is thrilled with her new apartment at Openhouse’s 95 Laguna Street senior housing complex.

for years at KTVU, the now-local Fox affiliate based in Oakland (it was independent at the time). An awardwinning amateur bodybuilder, Longen retired to Palm Springs for four years in the early 2000s then returned to San Francisco and worked for a number of years helping oversee the Castro Theatre until 2011. As he was looking at having to pay nearly $2,000 a month for a rent-controlled apartment, Longen decided to apply for one of the units at 95 Laguna. He’s now paying $800 less each month in rent, a significant savings as his monthly income totals about $3,200. “It was a godsend, mostly financial,” Longen said of learning he had been selected for one of the units through the lottery held earlier this year to select the tenants. (More than 1,300 people had applied.) “I don’t want to die in the apartment. But I am looking forward to this being the last move I have to make.”

Lucking out

Arobateau lucked out and was the first person selected in the lottery for the building. He qualified for preferential consideration because of being displaced by redevelopment after moving to the city’s Western Addition in 1967. The Chicago native, who is part African American and Latino, came to San Francisco looking for a safe haven among the hippies and other queer people then flocking to the city. “I was homeless for a while, living in a van,” recalled Arobateau, who bounced around the Bay Area as he moved from place to place. Eventually he settled in Oakland with his then-wife. When they divorced 16 years ago, he moved back to San Francisco to “Snob Hill,” as he called it. His eyesight diminished due to cataracts and needing the use of a cane to walk, Arobateau had difficulty navigating in and out of his building there. At 95 Laguna there are no steps to climb, he noted, and a brand new elevator to whisk him up to his apartment. He was shocked to learn he had drawn the lottery’s first slot, as he didn’t think he’d be selected. “Two weeks ago I finally finished

going through my moving boxes,” said Arobateau while seated at his kitchen table. “The people here are nice ... The idea is perfect: as we get old we are going to age in place.” One of the first people to move into the building was Donna Personna, a transgender woman who turns 73 this month. The beloved drag performer, playwright, and hairdresser moved into her sixth floor studio “penthouse,” as she put it, in early May. Her roughly 560 square foot unit faces east and overlooks the courtyard below, like Arobateau’s, but because it is higher up offers views of the surrounding cityscape. “I just love the whole area here,” said Personna, who served as one of this year’s Pride parade community grand marshals. “There is a community garden and community orchard nearby. It is just glorious; it’s like our own little village.” She had being living nearby with a friend of hers in his 70s serving as his caretaker in another property managed by Mercy Housing. Because she was not listed on the lease, Personna was concerned that one day she would be forced to move out. She applied for a unit of her own at 95 Laguna in order to have a more secure housing situation. While she has dreams of one day relocating to Mexico, for now she is settling into her new home and searching for new furnishings that mirror its Nordic design aesthetic. “I want to figure out how to maximize every inch of the space in here,” said Personna, who raved about the size of her bathroom, built to accommodate a wheelchair, and the “beautiful bathtub. I have been taking bubble baths!”

Subsidies help some

The qualification process for the building was taxing, Personna acknowledged, and she nearly lost her unit as she was told her income fell short of the $2,000 that was required. “I didn’t have that. They ended the interview with me, and I went away feeling devastated,” she recalled.

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More housing needed

Noting that more than 4,000 seniors, both LGBT and straight, had applied to live in one of the two buildings at the development, District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said much more is needed. “The need is just immense. Each of these units are precious and important and we need way more,” said Mandelman, a gay man elected to the board last summer. For now, neither Openhouse nor Mercy is working on building another senior housing project geared toward LGBT seniors. No such project, in fact, is in the pipeline, according to LGBT advocates. “We are looking for potential sites and funding sources,” said Mandelman. Rick Sprague, a regional vice president with Mercy, told the B.A.R. this week that “currently there are not any other LGBT-specific senior housing projects in our pipeline, but we are always looking to partner with cities, and other agencies, such as Openhouse, to collaborate on projects similar to 55 Laguna and 95 Laguna.” Skultety said that Openhouse is “very open and involved in conversations to help move forward new and more LGBTQ senior housing.” One revenue source could be the $600 million affordable housing bond city officials are putting on the November ballot. LGBT advocates worked with Mandelman’s office to ensure the money, if approved, would benefit the LGBT community. It includes language that $150 million go toward senior housing, with LGBTQ-welcoming projects a priority use for the funds. There is also language that prioritizes affordable housing projects in District 8 since few such developments have been built there while the district has lost a high number of rent-controlled housing units due to Ellis Act and ownermove-in evictions. Voters in District 8 are key to seeing the bond pass, as the district always has one of the highest voter turnout rates in the city; Basinger argued it is only fair that a portion of the money pay for projects built there. “So we need a project for D8 and we need something bold and big,” he said. “And if we are going to deliver the most number of votes for the affordable housing bond, we need a housing project that is equitable to our contribution in winning that affordable housing bond.” t

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Basinger, who used to live across the street from the Openhouse development, teamed with queer housing activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca to advocate that it be a fully affordable project. He has yet to take a tour of the new building and looks forward to seeing it soon. “We have saved $750 million in rent that is staying in the pockets of tenants over the life of the project,” said Basinger.

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Two days later she called the Openhouse offices to thank them for their help and learned she could apply for a subsidy from the Q Foundation. Personna contacted the nonprofit and is now receiving $450 a month to help her pay nearly half her rent. “My fixed income is very low and my Social Security is low, so that was nice,” she said. Overall, Personna said the Mercy staff had “been lovely” in helping her navigate the process, noting that at one point “four women were working all day to get me in here. It is a tedious thing, the qualification process.” Anytime they contacted her about needing to submit additional paperwork, Personna said she responded immediately. “I was over there in 20 minutes when they called. That was how badly I wanted to live here,” she said.“I was not going to wait until next week. I took this on like it was my main job to qualify.” Arobateau also is receiving a subsidy from the Q Foundation to help him pay his rent of $1,200. As a writer, “I don’t make much,” he noted. Brian Basinger, the founder and director of the housing nonprofit, told the B.A.R. that 15 residents of the Openhouse development are currently receiving a subsidy and the average payout is $500 per person. He expects that 15% of the residents at 95 Laguna will be receiving subsidies to help cover their rent. Most of the residents needed a minimum income of $24,000 a year to qualify, he noted, and the average Social Security check is $1,100 a month. “Most seniors, including LGBT seniors, don’t make enough money to apply for affordable housing. That is the reason why we started our senior disabled subsidy program,” said Basinger. “So, basically, our philosophy and our model is no affordable housing provider in San Francisco should turn down a senior or disabled person that wins a lottery slot. They should refer them to us.” The subsidies are “ongoing,” said Basinger, and are dependent on Q Foundation securing funding to pay for them. The nonprofit worked with the supervisors and Mayor London Breed to include $3 million in the city’s 2019-2020 budget to pay for rental subsidies. There is a million each for seniors, transgender individuals, and those living with HIV or AIDS, he said. Once the city issues a request for proposals for the funding, the Q Foundation plans to apply. It already maxed out its ability to provide housing subsidies this year and won’t accept new people into its program until additional funding is secured. “We are going to apply for those funds and hopefully we will be awarded that money and it will come online this year,” said Basinger. “Then we will be able to start accommodating new people.”

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Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038711300

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038704900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KNIGHT LIGHTS; KNIGHT LIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT; PHOTOBOX, 2295 17TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CORBETT T. LEE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/08/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/08/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: REFINED K9 DOG TRAINING, 833 CENTRAL AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed THEOPHAINIA BRASSARD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/01/19.

JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038711200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SOUL, 2948 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BINTA AYOFEMI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/08/19.

JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038709900

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JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MIND, BODY AND BOWLS, 325 9TH AVE #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RUBAN TAMRAKAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/05/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NM REALTY, 1849 LARKIN ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed NATALIE MEYERS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/12/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/13/19.

<< Legals

12 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038704500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CHAKRAMEGOLD, 60 29TH ST UNIT 656, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MEKOLE BUCKNER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/30/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/19.

JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038707100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BEE AUTOMOTIVE, 33 HARRIET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual and is signed IMMENSON LIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/11/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/02/19.

JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-554990 In the matter of the application of: LENORIS ANDRE LARKIN AKA LENORIS ANDRE LARKIN LOUIS C/O LAW OFFICE OF JAMES A. MCELROY, JAMES A. MCELROY #154050, 605 MARKET ST #605, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner LENORIS ANDRE LARKIN AKA LENORIS ANDRE LARKIN LOUIS, is requesting that the name LENORIS ANDRE LARKIN AKA LENORIS ANDRE LARKIN LOUIS, be changed to LENORIS ANDRE LARKIN LOUIS. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 15th of August 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038707300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALEX HE GENERAL CONSTRUCTION, 1300 SACRAMENTO ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed FEI YANG HE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/02/19.

JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038706300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SALTO SF, 1205 OAK ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed GYM BLUEPRINT LLC, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/02/19.

JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038705400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CANNA BISTRO, 464 BROADWAY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CITY PIZZA AND BURGER INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/01/19.

JULY 11, 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019 SECOND AMENDED NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF DAVID LORENZ IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-19-302783

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of DAVID LORENZ. A Petition for Probate has been filed by LENKA LORENZ in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that LENKA LORENZ be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: August 06, 2019, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: Milla L. Lvovich, 50 Osgood Place, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94133, (415) 392-2560

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555008 In the matter of the application of: CARMEN LOO AKA CARMEN HIP LEONG, 2438 36TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CARMEN LOO AKA CARMEN HIP LEONG, is requesting that the name CARMEN LOO, be changed to CARMEN HIP LOO. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 22nd of August 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038719300

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555010 In the matter of the application of: EMEK JUMAH AKA EMEK KEIDAR, 245 NORTHPOINT ST #3311, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner EMEK JUMAH AKA EMEK KEIDAR, is requesting that the name EMEK JUMAH AKA EMEK KEIDAR, be changed to EMEK KEIDAR. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 22nd of August 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 2ND NOTICE OF PETITION FOR LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION FOR THE ESTATE OF OTAKAR FRANK ZICH, DECEDENT, IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MCALLISTER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102: CASE # PES-19-302894

Petitioner Frank Joseph Fischl requests that he be appointed administrator and Letters issue upon qualification. Full authority be granted to administer under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. Decedent died on May 14, 2018 at Kaiser in Santa Clara, but lived in San Francisco and was a resident of the county named above. Street address, city and county of decedent’s residence at time of death: 33 Harriet St, San Francisco, CA 94103. Decedent died intestate. No executor is named in the will. Petitioner is a person entitled to Letters. Proposed personal representative is a resident of California. No spouse as follows: divorced or never married. No registered domestic partner. No child. Decedent was not survived by a stepchild or foster child or children who would have been adopted by decedent but for a legal barrier. Decedent was survived by a parent or parents who are listed in item 8 – Vlasta Zichova of the Czech Republic. Decedent had no predeceased spouse. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: August 07, 2019, 9:00 am, Rm 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St, San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. Petitioner without attorney: FRANK JOSEPH FISCHL, 3224 BOSTON AVE, OAKLAND, CA 94602; Ph. (510) 534-8427.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555015

In the matter of the application of: PATRICIA GUAN LIU AKA HUI MING GUAN LIU, 1870 41ST AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner PATRICIA GUAN LIU AKA HUI MING GUAN LIU, is requesting that the name PATRICIA GUAN LIU AKA HUI MING GUAN LIU, be changed to HUI MING GUAN LIU. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, on the 27th of August 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038720200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SHIGE KIMONO, 1730 GEARY BLVD # 203, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ASAKICHI SAKAKIHARA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/14/14. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/15/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038715600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DCC LEGAL, 77 VAN NESS AVE #101, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAINA CAROLINE CHIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/10/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/10/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038713000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ISLAND SHRIMP SHACK, 1142 GRANT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DANIEL LIU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/09/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/09/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038712700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PICNIX BISTRO AND CARRY OUT, 3872 SACRAMENTO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed TUOI HONG NGUYEN & HONG TUYET PHAM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/09/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/09/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038694800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DEAR INGA, 3560 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed EPICER (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/20/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/20/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038712800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BOAVIDA, 3560 TARAVAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 3560 TARAVAL, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/09/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038716600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CALL ME FOODIE, 1130 OCEAN AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TANCHAN LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/11/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/11/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038715500

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038719800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SALON NUNA, 2906 OCTAVIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SALON NUNA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/15/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038705800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PIPELINERX, 600 CALIFORNIA ST, #520, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed PIPELINE HEALTH HOLDINGS LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/01/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01 08, 2019 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037153100

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: SAN FRANCISCO STUDENT HOUSING, 875 POST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business was conducted by a limited partnership and signed by PACIFIC EQUITIES WEST LLC, GP OF POST 875 LP (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/27/16.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF BARBARA QUIGLEY IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-19-303008

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of BARBARA QUIGLEY. A Petition for Probate has been filed by JENNIFER CAVECCHE QUIGLEY in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that JENNIFER CAVECCHE QUIGLEY be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: August 05, 2019, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: Mr. Peter J. Porter, Esq. (SBN#132269), 19700 Fairchild Rd. #200, Irvine, CA 92612; Ph. (714) 835-2700.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 2019 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-19-555009

In the matter of the application of: HANNAH PATRICIA LUTZ, 2622 1/2 SUTTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner HANNAH PATRICIA LUTZ, is requesting that the name HANNAH PATRICIA LUTZ, be changed to HANNAH ELOISE LUTZ. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, on the 22nd of August 2019 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038720500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LEDA COHORT 5 FUND, 773 TEHAMA ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VINCENT CASTANEDA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/15/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038719000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INTERNATIONAL VISA SERVICE, 20 JOICE ST #2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KAYLA L. PAPAYIANNIS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/05/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/12/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038723700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LOLO’S UNICORN JUICE BAR, 957 CONNECTICUT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JOY SWANTA WILLIAMS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/12/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/18/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038721400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KALIBRATION; CALIBRATION; GUIPAIR, 166 SWEENY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed IVANEI CUNHA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/16/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/16/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038719900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BLINDN-VISION, 1390 MISSION ST #1003, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JUAN MANUEL VELASQUEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/12/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ERN MILLS, 242 SAGAMORE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed AME HOME SOLUTIONS LLC. (NV) The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/10/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CORTLAND NAIL SALON, 626 CORTLAND AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CUONG VIEN LA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/15/01. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/15/19.

JULY 18, 25, AUG 01, 08, 2019

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038717800

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038728900

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038722400

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF MERAH PAYNE CARVELO IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF ALAMEDA: FILE RP19026771

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SWEETLEAF COLLECTIVE, 77 VAN NESS AVE #1901, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed MODERN HEALTH SOLUTIONS (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/11/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/11/19.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE DALE + ALLA TEAM, 1400 VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed THE DALE + ALLA TEAM (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/17/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038717900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALTRSM LLC, 77 VAN NESS AVE #1901, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed ALTRSM LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/11/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/11/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038722900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TACO CHIDO, 685 MARKET ST #120, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TACO CHIDO LLC. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/17/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038725000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: USED RIDESHARES LLC, 350 RHODE ISLAND #240, SAN FRAN CISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed USED RIDESHARES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/09/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/18/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038707400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GAME AFFILIATED, 149 GARFIELD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed GAME AFFILIATED LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/02/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/02/19.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-037830900

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: LETISHA MOODY DESIGN, 1800 WASHINGTON ST #912, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by LETISHA JANE MOODY. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/06/17.

JULY 25, AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF JOHN SELBY MAUCIERI IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-19-303041

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of JOHN SELBY MAUCIERI. A Petition for Probate has been filed by SELBY SCALBERG in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that SELBY SCALBERG be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: September 11, 2019, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: Steven E. Davidson, Esq. (SBN#65588), 1300 Clay St #1300, Oakland, CA 94612; Ph. (510) 527-6774.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038729400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SUMMERBERRY COACHING, 154 MIDDLEFIELD DR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KIRIN KAUR PARMAR. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/23/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/23/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038730700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STANALAND & COMPANY, 500 WASHINGTON #475, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RUSSELL STANALAND. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/23/19.

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of Merah Payne Carvelo; Merah P. Carvelo; Merah Carvelo; Merah Payne. A Petition for Probate has been filed by Suzanne P. Mathieson in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda. The Petition for Probate requests that Suzanne P. Mathieson be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: August 26, 2019, 9:31 am, Rm. 201, Superior Court of California, County Of Alameda, 2120 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, Berkeley Courthouse. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: Bryan R. Walters (SBN#309780), Gregory F. Dyer (SBN#114486) Jones & Dyer, APC, 3031 F St #101, Sacramento, CA 95816; Ph. (916) 552-5959

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038729000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STANALAND & ASSOCIATES, 500 WASHINGTON #475, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed RUSSELL STANALAND. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/23/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038716900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TAQUIRA DEMOLITION & HAULING SERVICES, 149 GOETHE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JONATAN TAQUIRA COYOTE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/11/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/11/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038713900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HIGHER SELF ADVENTURES, 2423 45TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DAVID COGAN HOLT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/10/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/10/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038735500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TRUSTED DENTAL, 1868 VAN NESS AVE, COMMERCIAL UNIT 2, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed NONNA VOFSON DDS, PROFESSIONAL CORP (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/29/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038735200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HOME, 455 GRANT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed HOME COFFEE COMPANY, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/29/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038733800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: UNION DOOR, 167 TOLAND ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed UNION ROLLING DOOR COMPANY (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/18/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/26/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-038731300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE DENTAL PRACTICE/SF, 187 PINE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed RATHOD DENTAL, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/23/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/24/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-038673200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LITTLE HANDS DAYCARE, 1523 LA SALLE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ASHLEY BERKLEY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/24/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/24/19.

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: LITTLE HANDS DAYCARE, 330 HOWTH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by ASHLEY BERKLEY. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/30/19.

AUG 01, 08, 15, 22, 2019

Wild side

Lavender Tube

Castro August

Soundtrack love

Vol. 49 • No. 31 • August 1-7, 2019

www.ebar.com/arts Scene from “Mike Wallace is Here.”

Scene from director Frank Simon’s “The Queen.”

by David Lamble

by David-Elijah Nahmod

he provocative new bio-doc “Mike Wallace is Here” (opening Friday) is an instructive guide to a chaotic universe. At 38, Israeli-born filmmaker Avi Belkin was too young to have caught the Brookline, MA-born Wallace (1918-2012) as he switched careers from melodramatic movie actor to tabloid TV chat-host (1950s “Night Beat”) to pitchman for dubious kitchen products (“Fluffo”), ultimately to an early version of “the loudest voice in the room.” Wallace and CBS producer Don Hewitt invented a flashier, short-attention-span version of CBS’ style of covering the world of the bomb, the pill and the youth movement, the now-half-century-old “60 Minutes.” See page 18

irst released in 1968, Frank Simon’s “The Queen” is an historic documentary about a drag pageant/beauty contest that took place in New York City in 1967. The film has rarely been screened since, but has now been fully restored by Kino Lorber and will open on Aug. 2 at the Clay in San Francisco and the Shattuck in Berkeley. The film will screen with “Queens at Heart,” a restored short. See page 17 >>

Picture

Late summer musical evenings

Magnolia Pictures

Aggressive reporting

Before ‘Drag Race’

by Philip Campbell

an Franciscans tired of foggy summer nights know a trip to the East Bay (or South) can be just the ticket to a balmy evening or an SPF 30 afternoon. For music-lovers and especially opera fans, crossing the county line in August looks extra-inviting this year. Musical performances run the gamut from radical visions to cheeringly traditional. It’s something for everyone – but if you can’t stand the heat, there is still plenty of action back in town. See page 14 >>

Nikola Printz of West Edge Opera’s “Orfeo & Euridice,” featuring an all-female cast. Cory Weaver

Kino Lorber

ebar.com

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Out There

14 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Our week beats your year by Roberto Friedman

in his dealings with the fourth estate.” In fact, Health writes, “In a style at times very much informed by his mentor Andy Warhol, Reed could play the media like a Marshall-amped Stradivarius.” The interviews are published both in their original layout and typography and, thank the gods of legibility, in a re-typeset format. Mostly Q&A, they’re generally written not by brilliant prose stylists (with the possible exceptions of Lester Bangs and Glenn O’Brien) or famous names (except Lance Loud), but by workaday music scribes. Reed’s answers depend largely on his mood. He does not suffer fools. Still, there

are gems scattered throughout. When one hapless journo pleads, “I got to come up with an angle, Lou, give me an angle!” Reed replies, “You want an angle? Isosceles.” In fact, wit is at the very core of his work. “I like the way language works and playing with words. I was an English major in college,” he said. “I love the way guys like Raymond Chandler and Delmore Schwartz wrote dialogue. I always thought my best stuff sounded like someone speaking directly to you in conversation.” Not all interviewers lived up to his standards, to put it mildly. “I don’t mind questions about my work, but interviews are always so personality-oriented,” Reed said. “I’ve been asked questions that I’d describe as grotesque and horrible, questions

that a friend wouldn’t even ask a friend. For years I just took Andy Warhol’s advice and lied.” Though music is the primary subject, there is an interview from Kung Fu magazine, “A Walk on the Wild Side of Tai Chi,” about Reed’s lifelong study of that martial arts practice. The book’s title is taken from the artist’s own liner notes to his notoriously difficult 1975 album “Metal Machine Music.” And by sampling the Q&As, a reader gets a good sense of the man and his decades-long oeuvre.

The huge, completely renovated industrial building was used in the 1930s as a repair facility for rail cars. Known for unusual venues, West West Edge Opera, the brilEdge still manages to find easily acliant and excitingly unpredictable cessible sites. Drivers take the Grand Berkeley-based organization led by Ave. exit from the Bay Bridge, and General Director Mark Streshinsky there is ample parking. A chartered and Musical Director Jonathan BART Shuttle runs regularly from Khuner, presents three productions the West Oakland Station. The for Summer Festival 2019, Aug. convivial festival pavilion is back for 3-18. A cynical take on 20th-century outside dining. morality, a bold and timely look at From the time of Germany’s soan early music masterpiece, and the called Weimar Renaissance, Kurt West Coast Premiere of an opera Weill and Bertholt Brecht’s “Threebased on a celebrated film each penny Opera” opens the season receive three performances in reperSaturday, Aug. 3. Elkhanah Pulitzer tory at The Bridge Yard in Oakland, near the East Bay landing of the1 Bay Help24-BARAd.qxp_Layout 7/26/19directs 12:36 her PM seventh Page 1 show for West Edge Opera. Her stunning producBridge.

tions of Thomas Ades’ “Powder Her Face” and Luca Francesconi’s deeply disturbing “Quartett” are permanently etched in memory. Brecht and Weill’s “opera for beggars” satirizes conventional opera and operetta, but contains many famous tunes of its own. Performing in English with surtitles, hunky tenor Derek Chester, as anti-hero MacHeath (yes, Mack the Knife), makes his WEO debut. Soprano Maya Kherani returns to play sweet Polly Peachum. We noted her appearance in the World Premiere of composer Laura Kaminsky’s “Today It Rains” at Opera Parallele in March. Everybody’s favorite character

actor-singer at San Francisco Opera, mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook is dream-cast as Mrs. Peachum. Portraying Lucy Brown, soprano Erin O’Meally delighted Bay Area audiences as a feminist Mabel in Lamplighters Music Theatre’s 2018 production of “The Pirates of Penzance.” Jonathan Spencer was the Pirate King in that same production. In “Threepenny Opera” he is Tiger Brown. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit tackles the role of Jenny Diver, made famous by Kurt Weill’s legendary wife Lotte Lenya. Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Orfeo & Euridice” opens next, on Aug. 4. Director and choreographer KJ Dahlaw proposes a “Queer Orfeo” that promises gender equality, featuring an all-female cast and a creative team consisting entirely of women and non-binary artists. When Gluck first approached the enduring myth, 18th-century opera needed fresh invention, and the composer provided a beautifully simple combination of text, music, and dance. Many historians think he reinvented opera. Director Dahlaw and conductor Christine Brandes are “reframing the Orfeo myth through a queer lens” to create “a new story, emerging out of the bones of an ancient one.” Final opera in the lineup, Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s treatment of a film by Lars von Trier, “Breaking the Waves” opens Aug. 10. Soprano Sara LeMesh as the central character Bess is establishing a fine reputation as a specialist in new and modern music. Hearing her sing spectacularly difficult music in a festival concert for Bard Music West, I was impressed at her sure ability to sustain a lustrous tone. WEO Music Director Jonathan Khuner conducts. www.westedgeopera.org Internationally recognized and locally beloved Lamplighters Music Theatre presents Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic “HMS Pinafore” Aug. 3-25 in Walnut Creek, Mountain View, San Francisco, and Livermore. Arguably the most famous operetta by the fabled partnership, “Pinafore” sails the ocean blue, awash with hilarious characters, including “dear little Buttercup,” the requisite star-crossed lovers, some pompous naval officers, and a crew of

he headline is not meant to be insulting. It’s an homage to a new book titled, “My Week Beats Your Year – Encounters with Lou Reed, 1972-2013” (Hat & Beard Press), compiled by Michael Heath and edited by Pat Thomas. The book’s a collection of interviews that the rock star, best known for leading the Velvet Underground but better represented by years of his own work, gave to music journals, magazines like Circus, Interview and Rolling Stone. That this is even a book boggles the mind, as Reed was a notoriously difficult interview subject. But as Heath notes in an introduction, “For all his publicly expressed loathing of the press in general and music journalists in particular, during his long career as a rock artist, Lou Reed never failed to be less than entertaining

Summer operas

From page 13

THE RICHMOND/ERMET AID FOUNDATION PRESENTS

HELP IS ON THE WAY XXV Silver Anniversary Concert & Gala CELEBRATING

BROADWAY STARS IN CONCERT

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 7:00 PM HERBST THEATER & GREEN ROOM

FEATURING CAST MEMBERS FROM HAMILTON

Tony & Emmy Award-winning actress TYNE DALY Emmy Award-winning actress SHARON GLESS Tony-nominee, American Idol star CONSTANTINE MAROULIS Phantom of the Opera stars LISA VROMAN and FRANC D’AMBROSIO Broadway/TV star CAROLE COOK Tony nominee/Star Search Champion SAM HARRIS American Idol star KIMBERLEY LOCKE H Jazz star PAULA WEST Comedian BRUCE VILANCH H Cabaret star LEANNE BORGHESI Playwright, actor DEL SHORES H Concert violinist EILEEN BLUM

A Benefit For Meals on Wheels San Francisco and Raphael House

Tickets & Information: www.reaf.org PRESENTING SPONSOR

Depress here

Listen, we know depression and mental illness are no laughing matters. And a novel about a clinically depressed, self-destructive basket case does not sound appealing in the slightest. But because we enjoyed reading “Rabbits for Food”

(Soho Press) very much, we know that author Binnie Kirshenbaum is the real thing, a comic writer with chops, a stylist with something to say. The book’s protagonist Bunny has disappeared way down the black hole of depression. When she progresses beyond sapped motivation and paralysis to actively hurting herself, she is institutionalized. Much of the book relates her experiences in a locked psych ward, so in that sense the book is like Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” only without being the least bit sentimental or hopeful. In fact, the author’s dry, clipped tone is her saving grace: there’s not the faintest trace of artiness, but the sad tale here related still manages to be greatly comic. We’re still not sure quite how Kirshenbaum did it, but we’re glad she did.t

Cory Weaver

Sarah LeMesh of West Edge Opera’s “Breaking the Waves.”

endearing salty dogs, singing some of Sullivan’s most famous tunes and Gilbert’s wittiest lyrics. Every Lamplighters show features colorful period sets and gorgeously detailed costumes. New men’s costumes complete a historically accurate vision for the new production. Ellen Brooks directs, and Resident Music Director Baker Peeples conducts the full orchestra. It’s the musical equivalent of a carefree summer beach read. www.lamplighters. org/pinafore Merola Opera Program 2019 presents the world premiere of a first-ever commission by San Francisco composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. “If I Were You” was workshopped in January, and has been double-cast from this year’s crop of talented Merolini. Performances at Herbst Theatre in the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center feature the Pearl Cast Aug. 1 & 4 and the Emerald Cast Aug. 3 & 6 (the colors in the Merola logo). The 62nd season closes with the Merola Grand Finale and Reception at the War Memorial Opera House Saturday, Aug. 17. Conducted by George Manahan and directed by 2019 Merola Apprentice Stage Director Greg Eldridge, the evening is a can’t-miss celebration of some of the opera world’s most promising young singers. www.merola.orgt

On the web

This week, find film writer David Lamble’s “A very Castro Theatre August” online at www.ebar.com.

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6/18/19 4:47 PM

<< TV

16 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

The Lavender Tube heads into August by Victoria A. Brownworth

began streaming on July 26. There are 13 episodes. At the end of seaow is it already August? As we son six, showrunner Jenji Cohan head into summer’s last lansaid, “After seven seasons, it’s guorous lap, the dictate to Netflix, time to be released from prison. Hulu and Amazon, and chill beI will miss all the badass ladies of comes ever more resonant. The TV Litchfield and the incredible crew summer press tour is imminent, and we’ve worked with. My heart is with it will come the fall schedule orange, but fade to black.” announcements. Let’s hope there’s According to Netflix, the sevsome LGBTQ programming in our enth season will follow Piper as fall future. she tries to adjust to life back in Now that Robert Mueller has New York City following her recome and gone and Congress is lease from prison, while her wife on summer recess, we all need to Alex (Laura Prepon) remains decompress from politics for a bit. behind bars. The series will also The primary moves on apace, but tackle the themes of institutional the first vote won’t be cast until next racism and corruption in the year, so really does it matter what prison system, as well as immithe polls say now? The leaderboard gration, with the focus on Bianca Courtesy the subject has five names on it according to the (Laura Gomez)’s fate following “Queer Eye” nonbinary, genderqueer latest polls on July 26 that blazed the last episode of season six. beauty expert Jonathan Van Ness. across the morning news shows: Netflix says other characters Joe Biden, Bernie Sandwho will be featured are Taystee in which we deal with our outsider ers, Elizabeth Warren, (Danielle Brooks), who was facstatus and those voids in our lives Kamala Harris and Pete ing life imprisonment at the end that need filling. We didn’t think Buttigieg, in that order. of season six; Lorna Morello (Yael we’d like it. Instead, we loved it. No one else polls closer Stone), who went into early labor; Elodie (Brianna Hildebrand), than 3%. and Red (Kate Mulgrew) and Gloria Moe (Kiana Madiera) and Tabitha The two rounds (Selenis Leyva), who were facing life (Quintessa Swindell) meet at a of debates have not in solitary confinement. Martiza Shoplifter’s Anonymous 12-step opened the door to Ramos (Danielle Guerrero), who program and form a bond that any breakthrough canwas sent to a different prison last is part healthy, part toxic, all real. didates. As CNN and season, also returns this season, These young women are navigating MSNBC remind us sparking speculation that the Litchthat minefield of late adolescence nightly, the rules for inclusion in the field inmates could be about to be and miming the “it gets better” September debates are more strinreunited. mantra. gent, and thus far only five other Here’s the thing about “OITNB”: Elodie is also dealing with her candidates outside the Top 5 have this series was and remains groundqueerness as she embarks on a relaqualified: Amy Klobuchar, Andrew breaking to the end. “OITNB” feationship with Sabine (Katrina CunYang, Cory Booker, Beto O’Rourke tured out lesbian actresses Samira ningham, a performer also known and John Hickenlooper. Wiley and Lea DeLaria and out by her stage name Kat Cunning). Yet Chris Cuomo featured biltrans actress Laverne Cox, who is Tabitha is dealing with an abusive lionaire Tom Steyer on his July 25 nominated for another Emmy. It’s boyfriend. And Moe is dealing with show, because why not highlight featured queer storylines that felt being a nerdy black girl in a white, another older white guy? Steyer just real, not forced or sensationalized white world. entered the race with $140 million Women in Prison tropes. And now, Hildebrand and Cunningham of his own money to throw away on in its final two seasons, “OITNB” has are both out actresses. Hildebrand his vanity run. He is best-known for addressed the cataclysm wrought by said of her sexual orientation, “I am spending a couple hundred million Trump on brown women with ICE lucky to say now that it is not frighton ads promoting impeachment. deportations and asylum-seekers in ening for me living in LA to be gay. Seems like a nice guy, but that’s not cages at our border. I am glad that I am public about it, criteria for being president, no matThroughout the show’s seven and I think I should be.” Cunningter how low we keep setting that bar seasons, issues related to women ham identifies as queer and has perin prison and the larger picture of formed in many queer productions Feisty females incarceration have been addressed. in New York. Ten episodes make this On July 26, Hulu announced As the Democratic primary plods series utterly weekend bingeworthy. they had acquired one of our fave on, these issues are becoming more If you want something heavier, queer series, “Designing Women.” central to the political Zeitgeist. This “When They See Us” (Netflix), Ava If you’ve missed the Sugarbakmakes the storylines about solitary DuVernay’s searing four-part limSince 1977 ers as much as you have shoulder confinement, privatizing of prisons ited series, chronicles the harrowing pads (we’ll eschew the big hair), the and unreasonable sentencing for story of the Central Park Five. These iconic, trailblazing comedy that ran nonviolent offenses all the more five young men were arrested, tried on CBS from 1986-93 will begin powerful and forward-thinking. and convicted for a gruesome crime streaming on Women’s Equality It will be hard to let “OITNB” that they did not commit. “When Day, Aug. 26. There are 163 episodes go. For those early seasons, there They See Us,” created, directed in the seven-season series. was nothing else like it. In many and co-written by DuVernay, has As Hulu describes the series, “‘Derespects, there still isn’t. So if you garnered 11 Emmy nominations, signing Women’ follows outspoken never watched, you have the entire including for best limited series. owner Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie series (91 episodes) to binge. Among the critically acclaimed Carter) as she runs a design firm out As part of its farewell, “OITNB” cast is Isis King, who plays Marci of her Atlanta home along with her has also launched The Poussey Wise, the trans sister of Korey Wise, self-absorbed, ex-beauty-queen sisWashington Fund. Named for the the eldest of the Central Park Five. ter, Suzanne (Delta Burke), divorced character played by out lesbian This is not easy viewing. It’s not sassy mother Mary Jo (Annie Potts), actress Samira Wiley, the initiative binging material, so don’t try. Watch and naive country girl Charlene will support eight pre-existing noneach episode, digest, go back. This (Jean Smart). The feminist, feisty profit advocacy groups focusing on series is deeply emotional and painfemales discuss everything going criminal justice reform, protecting ful to watch. It is a testimony to racon in their lives, from sex and love immigrants’ rights, ending mass inism and the unequal justice system. to politics and religion, all in the carceration and supporting women That system also failed the vicSt confines of their Victorian Georgian who have been affected by it. Brava. 3991-A 17th tim. Because the police and media office. Ex-con handyman and token Market & Castro, (and Donald Trump, who called Klepto mania male of the series Anthony Bouvier for the boys’ execution with fullSan Francisco There are some new summer (Meshach Taylor) offers his help not page ads in all four New York City series that we were surprised by. only at the firm, but also offers his newspapers) railroaded these kids, “Trinkets” on Netflix isn’t like anyopinions on all of the ladies’ perthe victim never got justice. The thing else. The story of three young sonal matters.” Central Park Jogger, Trisha Meili, a kleptomaniac women is surprisingly The seventh and final season of 28-year-old investment banker with compelling as it addresses the ways Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” two master’s degrees, was running with headphones when she was struck on the back of the head with a tree branch and savagely attacked. Growing up and going through life as a gay man is not easy. She sustained several skull fractures, Most of us find our way by trial and error because, until now, Queer Answers facial fractures, and one eye was being born gay has not come with a manual. Queer Answers A Book of Gay Education crushed. She had lost three-quarters is just that. It answers many of the questions gay men have. of her blood volume when she was Those answers are based upon objective scientific studies and found convulsing in a pool of her the experiences of the author. Trial and error offers more own blood. She had been raped and adventure than Queer Answers does but can cost a lot more sodomized. in the end. Get the book and arm yourself with knowledge. Meili was in a coma for 12 days Knowledge is Power while the Central Park Five were Arm Yourself Buy it at: Amazon . Bookstores . Kindle being railroaded and her attacker

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for men (it will never be lower for women). This is where the rubber meets the road on donors and MSM coverage. Buttigieg, Biden and Sanders have the most cash. With the MSM constantly pushing Biden for reasons we will never understand in a bazillion years, it’s been difficult for other candidates to get donor traction. Having 130,000 individual donors as well as polling at 2% or above are the qualifiers for the September debates. Steyer, apparently, can buy his way into prime time, if not the debates. There are many more things we could say here about what we’ve witnessed on the tube in recent weeks from some of the candidates. But we will just say this: Biden fumbled the first debate when he has literally been running for president for 31 years, and the MSM scooped him up, dried his tears and pointed its collective finger at the bad black lady from San Francisco. Chris Cuomo devoted one of his prime time CNN shows to Biden, who presented himself as Harris’ victim. A week later, Cuomo gave Biden yet another hour (no equal rebuttal time for Harris). This was a set-piece with Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill. She drove the narrative of the not-to-be-trusted black female candidate. “America’s not buying it,” she informed us, hotly. A few days later, Biden’s campaign manager referred to Harris as “slick and slippery.” That place in America where racism and sexism converge has always been ugly, and watching it nightly on cable TV news has been as shocking as it has been unsurprising. With Trump’s polling up since he made four women of color his new targets, it’s déja vu all over again. No wonder we need a palate cleanser.

went free. She required complete facial reconstruction and was left with traumatic brain injury, cognitive impairment and no sense of smell. She spent seven weeks in ICU. “When They See Us” is mustsee viewing. It’s almost a necessity, really, because at its core it’s a story of what’s been happening in post-Jim Crow America, and how easily society demonizes black teens and men. The verisimilitude of the Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale” to our current political situation is difficult to ignore. Season three is now available for streaming. If you haven’t watched this dramatic adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel, why not? Somehow, end of summer seems to demand reality TV. Top on our list for binging is “Queer Eye.” Honestly, we can’t get enough of these guys. What’s so good about “Queer Eye” is the emotional essence of the series. These are men who really have experienced much of the opprobrium and homophobic micro/macro aggressions that come with being gay and/or gender-nonconforming in America. There’s a depth of feeling that we really need right now, because it’s a counternarrative to everything that we get assailed with under the Trump regime. “Queer Eye” really believes in and follows through on its own tagline, “More than a makeover.” As each of the Fab Five have gone back to their roots to explore where they came from and how they remained whole despite some tough origin stories, we’ve felt an entree into the lives of these men that we weren’t really allowed in the original series, which was played very differently for what was also a less queer-centric/queeraccepting audience. The new, fourth season, which just debuted on Netflix, opens with the series’ nonbinary, genderqueer beauty expert Jonathan Van Ness’ emotional return to his Quincy, Illinois high school where he was the first male cheerleader and was also bullied horribly. Van Ness’ experience resonates deeply, and is a truly provocative and poignant episode. Karamo Brown is the only black cast member of “Queer Eye” and one of the only out black LGBTQ men on TV. Brown headed back to his HBCU to do a makeover on Gibbs Hall, a student space in his alma mater, Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. Brown said, “When I was a student, I was super-involved, serving on student government as freshman class president, and participating in other on-campus student groups, so I love that I was able to give back to the school by creating a fun and inspiring space for students to find their passions like I did.” Finally, one of the best TV moments of possibly every day since the day before the 2016 election, when we still had hope, was with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week. In an interview with Supreme Court expert and NPR journalist Nina Totenberg, RBG said, “There was a senator, I think it was after the pancreatic cancer, who announced with great glee that I was going to be dead within six months.” The justice leaned forward in her chair and added, “That senator, whose name I’ve forgotten, is now himself dead, and I am very much alive.” And: scene! If you haven’t seen it, please watch. The glee with which RBG delivers her final line makes clear that she intends to be around til Trump is not. So for the lazy dog days of August, the comedy and the tragedy and a break from all that’s hellish, you know you really must stay tuned.t

Music>>

August 1-7, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 17

Summer stage & screen scores by Gregg Shapiro

tion Picture” (Virgin/Interscope). The soundtrack also contains the new song “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again”, a duet performed by Elton John and Taron Egerton. Like it or not, the jukebox musical is here to stay. Far from a new or inventive concept (see 1977’s “Beatlemania”), the proliferation of jukebox musicals in the 21st century is probably cause for concern for anyone who loves musical theater. Imitations of music legend

Cher are also nothing new. Drag queens have been impersonating Cher for eons, some lip-synching, some singing in their own voices. With a book by gay playwright Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys”), and costumes by gay fashion designer Bob Mackie (who received a Tony for his work), “The Cher Show: Original Broadway Cast Recording” (Warner Brothers) features three actresses, each taking turns recreating Cher’s distinctive voice. The actresses portray various stages of Cher’s lengthy career: Micaela Diamond represents the “Babe” portion, Teal Wicks plays her in the “Lady” segment, and Stephanie J. Block is the “Star.” An additional camp element comes from Tony-nominated stage actress Emily Skinner in the dual roles of Cher’s mother Georgia Holt and TV legend Lucille Ball.t

every reader has felt at one point or another from a partner. Infatuation cracks and falters in the final section as the base elements

of attraction and carnal consummation crumble beneath the weight of unrequited expectations. “Stay with me inside this cocoon,” the boy pleads as the lover, marinating in his own salty secrets, readies to leave. “Because on the other side of that door, one needs wings, stingers, and calloused extremities to defend oneself.” Also on the other side of the door are the lover’s other life and its devastating consequences for the boy’s innocence. Seamlessly translated Spanish into English by bilingual poet Lawrence Schimel, this homoerotic story told through prose poetry is beautifully realized and packed with emotion, longing, and the kind of truth that hurts and burns from within once the love has gone and “only the ruins remain.”t

she wished to serve so that she could help to protect the country. “They couldn’t help me in the army as of yet, but maybe one day they’ll see things right and I could get in,” she says. Sabrina works with the contestants, rehearsing with them the routines they’ll be performing in the pageant. Tension crops up when a young contestant who’s introduced as Richard, but who performs under the name Harlow, throws a diva fit when her platinum-blonde wig goes missing. Always in control, Sabrina and her assistants tend to the matter. Harlow is a younger contestant. She has sparked some resentment among other contestants because she hasn’t paid her dues. Harlow had won the first contestant she had ever competed in. The other contestants had to work their way up the ladder. Harlow particularly incurs the ire of Crystal, a black queen who feels she’s more beautiful and talented than Harlow. Though the film doesn’t explicitly address the racial disparities in the

queer community, there is an implication that as a black performer in a white-run pageant, Crystal felt she didn’t stand a chance of winning. When Harlow is announced as the winner, Crystal storms off the stage in front of the audience. A few years after the events seen in “The Queen,” Crystal would form the House of La Beija, a drag house created in response to the racial prejudice in the New York ballroom scene. The House of La Beija was featured in “Paris Is Burning,” Jennie Livingston’s classic 1990 documentary about the African American ballroom scene in New York. Today “The Queen” is a fascinating look back at another era. The performers seen in the film were willing to take risks. The police could very well have raided the event and carted them all off to jail, and they knew it. Yet they stood their ground. They were courageous people who laid the groundwork for the popular and respected drag culture that exists today. These queens should not be forgotten.t

ou have to admit that it’s more than a little strange to watch the third season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” while the strangest thing of all is living in the White House. Plus, the evil-Russians subplot frankly hits a bit close to home, if you know what I mean. Nevertheless, the 1980s-set series always has good period tunes, and the various artists “Stranger Things 3: Music from the Netflix Original Series” (Netflix/Legacy) is proof. While it doesn’t have any of Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s marvelous Tangerine Dream-esque score, you will find 1980s chestnuts by “Weird Al” Yankovic (“My Bologna”), Teena Marie (“Lovergirl”), Howard Jones (“Things Can Only Get Better”) and Wham! (“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”). Wham!’s George Michael isn’t the only queer Brit represented here. The song “Never

Ending Story” (written by Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey), covered by cast members Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) and Gabriella Pizzolo (Suzie), was originally performed by out singer Limahl. The Elton John biopic “Rocketman” opened in theaters less than a year after the Oscar-winning Queen movie “Bohemian Rhapsody.” While both movies have things in common – the queerness of the lead characters, the UK and period

settings, director Dexter Fletcher – there are also considerable differences. First, actor Taron Egerton, who plays Elton John in “Rocketman,” does his own singing. Also, “Rocketman” takes unexpected liberties in its storytelling approach. While it includes straightforward concert-style musical performances, it also features musical numbers out of the Hollywood movie-musical handbook. You’ll find all of it on “Rocketman: Music from the Mo-

Heart of glass by Jim Piechota

Destruction of the Lover by Luis Panini & Lawrence Schimel; Pleiades Press, $17.95

ovelist, architect and poet Luis Panini grabs love and lust by the collar and insists we pay careful attention to his unflinching assessment of how they intertwine, overwhelm, and ultimately burn each other out. It’s precious territory in “Destruction of the Lover,” where carnal pleasures somehow bleed deeper into the realms of the emotional landscape of the heart. This is evidenced in poems that follow an adolescent gay man who finds himself more than enamored by the attentions of an older lover. It’s a secret affair that spans the length of Panini’s

The Queen

From page 13

Filmed two years before the Stonewall riots, when homosexuality and dressing in drag were still illegal in New York State, “The Queen” recalls a courageous group of gay men who weren’t afraid to be themselves. Shot mainly with hand-held cameras and featuring minimal narration, the film packs a lot of information into its 66-min-

slim but potent volume of 41 poems. In the opening section spotlighting the construction of love, the lover is created. Twenty-five poems intimately, intricately, and incrementally assemble the body where the heart strums, the fluids flow, and the passion simmers. Within the confines of this illicit beachfront hotel room tryst, the boy in all of his dewy, unfettered queerness welcomes the pleasures of “one body atop another body.” The lovers’ intercourse is raw and naturally flavored, a playhouse where “shoulder blades can become handles” and one welcomes “this erosion of my body by your tongue.” The best part about reading this lush, associative poetry is the language in which it’s delivered. The lover’s body in its muscular “vas-

cularity” becomes a sacred temple of desire for the naïve young man. Eager to engage this rite of passage, he traces the lines and grooves of the man’s glossy foreskin folds and bites his clavicle. His lover, in turn, brandishes a mouth that “draws a straight line with saliva down my vertebrae.” Spit and whispers are shared with the kind of urgency and thirst that are both undeniable and insuppressible in Panini’s poetic world of passion. The boy is parched for carnal experience and the lover is more than accommodating, but there are loss, disenchantment and feared abandonment crouching in their afterglow. They’re the kind of emotions that squeeze in on the hopeful heart like an overzealous handshake, the kind of premature nonchalance

ute running time. As it opens, viewers are introduced to a young man who introduces himself as Jack. He produces drag pageants all over the country, not only serving as producer, but as choreographer and host. Jack appears onstage as Sabrina, a character he describes as a “Bar Mitzvah mother.” Almost from the beginning Sabrina is forced to deal with the anti-gay prejudices that were the social norm of the era. He has to find a

hotel that will take all of his drag contestants. Once inside their hotel rooms, the contestants talk about some of the issues they face in their dayto-day lives, such as whether or not their families accept them, the possibility of gender reassignment surgery, and the draft – the Vietnam War was underway. Two contestants recall being rejected by the draft for being gay: one admits that she wrote to the president, saying that

Kino Lorber

Scene from director Frank Simon’s “The Queen.”

<< DVD

18 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Manipulating the heiress by Brian Bromberger

loseted gay novelist Henry James has had a checkered history in terms of his books being successfully adapted for film. They’re notoriously fraught due to character ambiguity complicated by action more psychologically interiorized than plot-driven. Merchant Ivory translated three of James’ works – “The Europeans” (1979); “The Bostonians” (1984), with Vanessa Redgrave’s radiant suffragette Olive Chancellor; and “The Golden Bowl” (2000) – into one very good and two excellent films. Three other adept interpretations were “The Innocents” (1961), a spooky rendition of “The Turn of the Screw” starring Deborah Kerr as Miss Giddens; “Wings of the Dove” (1997), with Helena Bonham Carter’s Oscar-nominated Kate Croy; and “What Maisie Knew” (2012), a six-year-old caught in the middle of a nasty custody battle between her neglectful parents. But most critics laud “The Heiress” (1949) as the finest cinematic interpretation of James ever created. In conjunction

with its 70th anniversary, Criterion has finally reissued this nuanced masterpiece on Blu-ray with a newly restored pristine 4K digital transfer, its gorgeous, shadowy, black-andwhite cinematography reestablishing the 1840s Greenwich Village Victorian house as the prison James intended it to be. “The Heiress” is “suggested” by James’ 1880 story “Washington Square,” but its real roots are the 1947 Broadway stage drama written by Ruth and Au-

gustus Goetz, who translated James’ novella into a play. The history behind the film is worth mentioning. Actress Olivia de Havilland (who just celebrated her 103rd birthday) saw the Broadway play, immediately recognizing a plum role for herself, and suggested director William Wyler attend a performance. He not only bought the film rights, but also hired the Goetzes to write the screenplay. Fortunately, at Wyler’s insistence, they kept the downbeat ending, a rarity for Hollywood at the time. Despite being a period drama, the film retains its psychological realism, and avoids appearing dated or stagy. Critically praised but a failure at the box office, the movie was nominated for eight Oscars and won four, including a richly deserved Best Actress for de Havilland, gay composer Aaron Copeland for his score, and possibly bisexual Edith Head’s costumes. Catherine Sloper (de Havilland) lives devotedly with her wealthy surgeon father Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson), who mourns his idolized late wife, unfavorably comparing his daughter to her. Catherine is homely, shy, clumsy, and socially awkward. Austin asks his sister, gregarious widow Lavinia Penniman (Miriam Hopkins), to help Catherine become less gauche. At an engagement party for her cousin, Catherine meets Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), who flatters her

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StevenUnderhill 415 370 7152 • StevenUnderhill.com

Mike Wallace

From page 13

A cautionary note: While “Mike Wallace is Here” is a useful guide to the media-saturated world, the film doesn’t quite cover the waterfront. CBS News, “60 Minutes” and Wallace have a mixed record in covering issues reflecting the LGBTQ community. In 1980, “CBS Reports: Gay Power, Gay Politics” devoted a full hour to what the doc team (narrated by Harry Reasoner) felt was a growing threat posed to mainstream community values by the growing visibility of a male homosexual presence in major American cities, especially San Francisco. The focus of the program was how a charismatic street leader (24-year-old Cleve Jones) and a savvy would-be successor to the late Harvey Milk, real estate broker David Scott, emerged as gay power-brokers convincing mayoral candidate Dianne Feinstein to disavow moral criticism she had made of gay men in The Ladies Home Journal. In 1967, a short CBS News segment narrated by Wallace focused on the “threats” gay men represent-

and asks her to dance. He begins to visit her, eventually proposing to her. But Austin believes the unemployed, uneducated Morris is a mercenary, only interested in Catherine’s money, most of which she will inherit after he dies, refusing to believe that a handsome man would be interested in someone so dull and talentless except for her embroidery work. Eyeing Catherine’s determination, he tells them to wait six months, convincing her to accompany him to Europe, and if she still feels the same way, they can then wed. Austin and Catherine return. Despite disinheritance threats, seeing for the first time her father’s disdain for her, she agrees to elope with Morris, revealing to him her father’s ultimatum. Morris never appears. The following week Austin becomes ill with heart disease, and Catherine refuses to visit him on his deathbed. She also discovers that Morris has borrowed money and left for California. Heartbroken and humiliated despite inheriting her father’s fortune, she becomes cold and bitter. “Yes, I can be cruel. I have been taught by masters.” Years pass. Morris, with Aunt Lavinia’s help, reemerges, defending his past actions, and again asks Catherine to marry him. How she responds in the justly famous last scene concludes the movie. Viewed at the time as a woman’s picture, it isn’t a stretch to view Catherine as a feminist, coming into her own by rejecting her emotionally abusive father and her scoundrel

fiancé. Still, she pays a high price for her independence, and both the film and James ask the audience whether she has made the right decision. Alternatively, the more traditional, man-focused Aunt Lavinia vicariously lives through Catherine’s relationship, even encouraging her to overlook Morris’ fortune-hunting for a small chance at happiness. The acting is sublime, with de Havilland capturing all the emotional and physical shadings of Catherine’s metaphoric transformation from ugly duckling to emotionally despairing swan. Ralph Richardson, in his first Hollywood role, was nominated for an Oscar. He should have won for his dexterous but subtle mental manipulations, trying to bend Catherine’s will at every turn. Clift himself was deprecatory of his own smooth-talking performance, as were some critics, yet he skillfully projects the character’s necessary ambiguity. The audience is never sure of Morris’ motivation, adding an element of suspense. Hopkins balances de Havilland beautifully, with her meddlesome romanticism but also her perceptive pragmatism. “The Heiress” is ensemble acting at its very finest. Typical of Criterion, the supplements are outstanding, especially the conversation between screenwriter Jay Cocks and film historian Farran Smith Nehme debating possible interpretations. With Criterion’s magic touch, this cinematic treasure will now be introduced to a new generation of filmgoers. t

ed to young children. The broadcast did present a strong rebuttal to those views from openly gay novelist Gore Vidal, who pointed out that the traditional concept of a closed marriage was becoming obsolete even among heterosexuals. While the film fails to address its subject’s reporting on LGBTQ issues, the piece does cover a huge swath of the life and work of a man who lived to be 93, and didn’t retire until age 88. One of the most entertaining reveals finds Wallace chatting with a young Donald Trump, in his late 30s and sans the cartoon hair, who explicitly denies political ambitions. The film shows how Wallace and the turmoil of 1968 (assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy) inspired the creation of “60 Minutes,” which would go on to perform investigative surgery on President Richard M. Nixon and the men of the Watergate scandal. It also humanizes its subject with a sequence where he discovers the body of his youngest son, Peter. The young man had fallen off a cliff while on a rugged wilderness adventure. Wallace confesses to fellow “60 Minutes” reporter Morley Safer that

he had been a neglectful father. There’s irony in the saga of the man born Myron Leon Wallace. Myron developed a severe case of acne, and for many years the ambitious young man felt his was a face fit only for radio. We see snapshots of his relationships with women, from former movie star Bette Davis in her 80s, who has her share of surly regrets, to a combative Barbara Streisand (“Mike, you’re a son-of-abitch”). Wallace eventually mellows into a genial colleague of “60 Minutes”’ longest-running female correspondent, Lesley Stahl. This “life of Myron” reveals him to have been an emotionally complicated man who at times suffered from crippling depression that led him to the brink of suicide. Wallace later made a widely-seen PSA urging viewers to seek professional help for mental health issues. Another reliable guide to this era is “Cronkite,” a biography of the veteran CBS anchorman by Douglas Brinkley (paper, Harper Perennial). Brinkley documents Cronkite’s adoption of gay rights as his own personal crusade after his newscast was “zapped” by Mark Segal of the Gay Raiders.”t

Magnolia Pictures

Scene from director Avi Belkin’s “Mike Wallace is Here.”

Arts Events

A Star Is Born

www.ebar.com

Shining Stars Vol. 49 • No. 31 • August 1-7, 2019

Drag king Wang Pointer guest-stars at this year’s Drag King Contest.

Kings in the North

Carole Cook

Medieval drag kings prepare for battle at Oasis

Legendary actress returns for REAF benefit concert

by David-Elijah Nahmod

by Jim Provenzano

an Francisco’s annual drag king contest returns to Oasis on August 4 for its 24th year with a grand celebration of fantasy, thrones and bones. Hosted by drag king extraordinaire Fudgie Frottage and the iconic Sister Roma, Game Of Bones promises to offer plenty of regal, high medieval and bone attire; those who attend in thematic drag will get a discount at the door. See page 22

Erika Nix

arole Cook, the veteran actress who toured Australia as Dolly Levi, who played “everything from Medea to Mame,” returns for her twenty-fifth performance at the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation’s Help is on the Way benefit concert, August 18 at the Herbst Theatre. See page 21

Nightlife Events August 1-8, 2019 Pull up to the bumper for auto-motivated amusements; meaning, get yourself out to have fun.

Sat 3

Steven Underhill

Playa in the Grove @ National AIDS Memorial Grove

Listings on page 20 > { THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS }

<< Nightlife Events

20 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Dance Party @ White Horse Bar, Oakland DJed grooves at the historic East Bay gay bar. 9pm-2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Drip @ El Rio Queer & trans-friendly afternoon with DJs Shell Miller, Shellheart and Eli Chi. 2pm-8pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

GAMeBoiSF @ Rickshaw Stop The monthly gay Asian K-pop and house dance party. $8-$15. 9:30pm3am. 155 Fell St. rickshawstop.com

Go Bang! @ The Stud Celebrate ‘70s and ‘80s disco with master DJs Steve Fabus, Sergio Fedasz & Joe Prince Wolf. $5-$10. 10pm-3am. 399 9th St. studsf.com

Thu 8

Fade to Connie @ Oasis

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s popular weekly drag show, with special guests and great music themes. Aug. 3 is a Katy Perry vs. Dua Lipa night. $10-$15. 10pm-3am (11:30pm show). 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

For full listings, visit www.ebar.com/events

Thu 1 After Dark @ Exploratorium Enjoy cocktails and science demos at the hands-on museum; tactile dome evening hours Fri & Sat, weekly 6:15 and 7:30pm. $20. Pier 15, Embarcadero at Green St. www.exploratorium.edu/

Awooga! @ The Stud Anarchist art and variety show (10:30pm). $5. 9pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Dining Out for Abort the Ban @ Participating Restaurants Raise funds for Planned Parenthood with a portion of your bill supporting women’s reproductive rights. www.aborttheban.com/about

The Ohio Players @ Yoshi’s Oakland The epic soul/funk band performs at the stylish restaurant-nightclub. $34$75. 8pm. Also Aug 2, 8pm & 10pm. 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. www.yoshis.com

Patty From HR @ Oasis Mo Patty Mo Problems, Michael Phillis’ second comic solo show as a petulant Human Resources gal. $25$45. 7pm. Thu-Sat thru Aug 3. 289 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall Enjoy hard rock and punk music from DJ Don Baird at the wonderfully divey SoMa bar, in its 25th year. Also Fridays. 7pm-2am. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 The popular two-stepping linedancing, not-just-country music night, with free lessons. $5. 6:30pm-10:30pm. Also Sundays 5pm10:30pm. 550 Barneveld Ave. www.sundancesaloon.org

Fri 2 Bear Happy Hour @ Midnight Sun Hairy men and their pals enjoy 2-for-1 drinks and no cover. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

La Bomba Latina @ Club OMG Drag show with DJ Jaffeth. $5. 9pm2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Drag Alive @ The Stud Drag and variety show, with locals and visitors. 6pm-8pm. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Events @ Steamworks, Berkeley The stylish bathhouse’s DJed events; Aug 2, Noche de Fuego with DJ Gera and Onyx hip hop (both 11pm-4am). Aug 3: Salacious DFP with DJs Robbie Martin, Little Rock, Mystic Ray (11pm4am). Aug 4: Sunday Service with DJ Little Rock (1pm-8pm). Aug 5: Lights Out Mondays (4pm-12am). Aug 6: Boyz Night (under 25 free). Aug 7: Daddy Issues 4pm-12am. $5-$25. Open 24/7, every day. 2107 4th St., Berkeley. (510) 845-8992. www.steamworksbaths.com

Latin Explosion @ Club 21 The popular Latin club with gogo guys galore and Latin music. $10-$20. 9pm-3am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. www.club21oakland.com

Piano Bar @ Martuni’s Musician extraordinaire Joe Wicht leads tasteful sing-along selections. 5:30-8:30pm. 4 Valencia St.

Ror:Shok @ SF Eagle DJed music with Superinto.it, and a murder mystery drag show with hosts Johnny Rockitt and Rita Dambook. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Stank @ Powerhouse Odorama, funky armpits and mansweat night with Steamworks and Spunk Lube goodies. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Tvod @ The Stud Guest-DJs Mor Elian and Erica Mar, plus residents The Creatrix, Jason Polastri and Nihar. 4pm-10pm. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Uhaul @ Jolene’s The popular women’s dance party returns at the new nightclub, now weekly. 10pm-2am. 2700 16th St. at Harrison. www.jolenessf.com

Playa in the Grove @ Nat’l AIDS Memorial Grove Comfort and Joy returns to the Grove for a daytime party of dancing (DJs Jason Godfrey, Bus Station John and Hill Huerta, drag and hoop performances, face-painting, art installations and general frivolity. BYO picnic stuff, share food and drinks. 12pm-6pm. Nancy Pelosi Drive at Bowling Green, Golden Gate Park. www.playajoy.org

The Playground @ Club BNB, Oakland Dance night at the popular hip hop and Latin club. $5-$15. 9pm to 3am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Powerblouse @ Powerhouse Juanita MORE!, VooDonna Black and Glamamore’s monthly drag virgin makeover night. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Rennaissance Faire & Fantasy Fest @ Discovery Meadow Park, San Jose 9th annual faire for Renaissance and fantasy cosplay galore (wear or rent costumes); with food, drinks, games, real-action jousting, craft booths, music and more. $8-$150. 10am-6pm. Also Aug. 4. 180 Woz Way, San Jose. www.facebook.com/valhallafaire

Shake It Up @ Port Bar, Oakland DJ Lady Char spins dance grooves; gogo studs, and drink specials. ‘Thank U, Marsha’ (4th Sat.) and Tinsel Teese’s ‘Kiki at the Port Bar’ (8pm). 2023 Broadway. (510) 823-2099. www.portbaroakland.com

Woof, Frolic @ SF Eagle Pup play happy hour (3pm-6pm), followed by the full-out Furry dance party (8pm-2am). 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Sun 4 Beer Bust @ SF Eagle The popular daytime party, where $10-$15 gets you all the beer you can drink, supporting worthy causes. 3pm-6pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Beer Bust @ Lone Star Saloon Enjoy beer, bears, food and DJed beats at the weekly fundraiser for various local charities. $15. 4pm-8pm. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Blessed @ Port Bar, Oakland Amoura Teese and Ava Lashay cohost a weekly drag show. 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Drag King Contest @ Oasis The 24th annual showcase of fabulous butch drag kings, with a ‘Game of Bones’ theme, cohosts Fudgie Frottage and Sister Roma, special guests Wang Newton! Starring: Leigh Crow, Madd Dogg 2020, Rebel Kings, Mason Dixon Jars, Arty Fishal, Jay Mercury, Will X. Uly. $20-$40. 7pm. 298 11th St. www.sfdragkingcontest.com

Domingo De Escandal @ Club OMG Weekly Latin night with drag shows hosted by Vicky Jimenez and DJ Carlitos. (Comedy Open Mic 5:30pm). 7pm-2am. 43 6th St. clubomgsf.com

MoonAlice @ The Chapel The band performs a Jerry Garcia birthday tribute, with the Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show. No cover, 7pm. 777 Valencia St. thechapelsf.com

PoleSexual @ Powerhouse Burlesque variety show with hosts Dakota Pendant and Ma Shugganuttz. $5. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Sofia Viola, Dat Garcia @ Ashkenaz, Berkeley Enjoy uplifting original music performed by the Argentinian singersongwriters. $15-$20. 8pm. 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. ashkenaz.com

Swagger Like Us @ El Rio Booty-droppin’ hip-hoppin’ queer dance party. 2pm-8pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Mon 5 Mancrush Mondays @ Port Bar, Oakland Drink & draw night with sexy male models; BYO art materials. 2st & 3rd Mondays. No cover, but 1-drink min. 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Pillows @ Powerhouse Glamamore’s crafts and drag night. 9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Underwear Night @ 440 Strip down to your skivvies at the popular men’s night. 9pm-2am. 440 Castro St. 621-8732. www.the440.com

Sat 3

Vamp @ Beaux Women’s night with a sultry vampire theme; goth, red & black, lingerie attire welcome but not required; bondage and BDSM demos, too. DJs Olga T and Jayne Grey. $5-$15. 8pm2am. 2344 Market St. beauxsf.com

Tue 6 Bands Night @ El Rio Garage and surf rock live with Tanglers, the Mutilations and Laura Paragano. $8. 7pm-11pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Gaymer Night @ Midnight Sun Weekly fun night of games (video, board and other) and cocktails. 8pm-12am. 4067 18th St. www.midnightsunsf.com

Karaoke @ Ginger’s The new basement tribute to the old Ginger’s Trois hosts weekly singing fun. 8pm-12am. 86 Hardie Place. www.gingers.bar

Vice Tuesdays @ Q Bar Queer femmes and friends dance party with hip hop, Top 40 and throwbacks at the stylish intimate bar, with DJs Val G and Iris Triska. 9pm2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Wed 7 Cabaret Karaoke @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko Dick Bright MCs the new karaoke night at the elegant nightclub. $12$15. ($20 food/drink min.). Thru Sept. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. www.feinsteinssf.com

GAYmes @ Port Bar, Oakland Board games night; Baila Conmigo, queer Latinx fundraiser (2nd Wed.), Wet & Wild drag shows (1st & 4th Wed.). 2023 Broadway. www.portbaroakland.com

Musical Wednesdays @ The Edge Sing along to shows tunes on video, lip-synched, and live, at the Castro bar, with host Brian Kent; trivia contest, and prizes. 7pm-12am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. edgesf.com

NSA @ Club OMG Weekly underwear party at the intimate mid-Market nightclub. $1 well drinks for anyone in underwear from 9pm-10pm. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Pan Dulce @ Beaux Drag divas, gogo studs, DJed Latin grooves and drinks at the Hump Day fiesta 9pm-2am (free before 10:30pm). 2344 Market St. www.clubpapi.com

Thu 8 Comedy @ Ashkenaz, Berkeley Johnny Steele, Karen Ripley, Ian Williams and Lisa Gedudig share their wit and wisdom at the East Bay performing arts space. $15-$20. 8pm. 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. www.ashkenaz.com

Fade to Connie @ Oasis

Block Party @ SF Eagle

LA performer John Cantwell returns as Love Connie in a Roxy Music tribute of dance, drag and strangely beguiling multimedia. $27.50-$50. 7pm. Also Aug. 9. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Tenderloin Tessie’s fundraiser; volunteers needed, too. 2pm-7pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Body Taboo Defiance @ Shelton Theater

Some Are Camp @ R3, Guerneville Lodge

The monthly late-night cabaret this time features Petit Cheri, Kippy Marks, Tracii Chambers, Patches Sullivan and Dottie Lux. $15-$50. 11pm doors/bar, 12am show. 533 Sutter St. www.redhotsburlesque.com

Juanita MORE!’s annual poolside parties at the Russian River, with one-day parties, weekend campaing options. Thru Aug. 11. $10-$100. 16390 4th st., Guenreville. www.juanitamore.com

Brunch @ Jolene’s Enjoy DJed grooves, chicken & waffles, veggie scrambles and more, with brunch cocktails, at the new queer bar. 11am-3pm. Also Sundays. 2700 16th St. www.jolenessf.com

Sun 4

Sofia Viola @ Ashkenaz, Berkeley

Thump @ White Horse, Oakland Weekly electro music night with DJ Matthew Baker and guests. 9pm-2am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com t

Carole Cook>>

August 1-7, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 21

so I blurted out, ‘Thank you, Mizz… Ar-Ball.’ Years later, she signed a book for me as ‘Lucille Arball.’” Ball also convinced Mildred to change her stage name to Carole Cook, after Carole Lombard. “I came to Hollywood after I Love Lucy,” said Cook. “She was in the middle of a divorce from Desi Arnaz, so it was a tense time. But she was always professional. She could compartmentalize things brilliantly. ‘I just try to do that one thing at a time,’ she’d say. She loved to rehearse, and rehearse.”

Before the parade passes by

Above: Carole Cook as Dolly Levi in the 1965 Australian tour of Hello, Dolly! Below: Carole Cook with Lucille Ball in the 1960s.

Carole Cook

From page 19

While still witty as a whip, the 95-year-old actress, known for her comic zingers and decades of charity work, says this is her last show, for now. A longtime supporter of the LGBT community, Cook and Tom Troupe, her husband of 55 years, helped raise funds for AIDS/HIV causes before the illness even had a name. “This is my twenty-fifth year,” said Cook of her participation in the Help is on the Way concerts. “I’ve performed in all but two of the shows. I only missed one, when I had back surgery.” As an example of her devotion, mid-run of her national tour of Steel Magnolias, Cook flew overnight to perform in an REAF concert. Executive Director Ken Henderson offered praise for the veteran performer. “Carole Cook’s first performance for REAF was in our third year (1997) and she was an instant hit, so we just kept bringing her back and proclaimed her our Grand Diva,” he said. “She is a true comic genius.”

We’ve got elegance

Born Mildred Frances Cook in 1924 in Abilene, Texas, the actress’ career highlights include creating the role of Maggie Jones in 42nd Street. Her touring shows include starring roles in Mame and Hello, Dolly.

Her film credits range from the Don Knotts cult classic The Incredible Mr. Limpet, the 1963 vacation romance Palm Springs Weekend, to the ‘80s classic American Gigolo, and the John Hughes teen favorite, Sixteen Candles. Name a classic ‘70s or ‘80s TV series, and Cook’s guest-starred, including a recurring role in Cagney & Lacey (lead costars Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly will also perform at the REAF benefit). A natural-born storyteller, Cook was also a mainstay of 1970s and ‘80s talk shows. Asked about her numerous appearances on The Merv Griffin Show, Cook said, “He was easy to talk with, because he never upstaged his guests. He was there to make you look good. He was never vying for attention himself.” Asked if she knew back then that Griffin was gay, she replied, “…as a field of poppies!” Cook’s career-changing moment happened around the same time, thanks to another famous redhead. While working on a production of Kismet for the Ohio-based John Kenley Players, Cook got a call from Lucille Ball. “I knew Lucy was doing a revue for TV, and got a call before a show,” recalled Cook. “Lucy called me in Warren, Ohio! At first I thought it was a joke. She wanted me to fly out to Los Angeles and audition for her. I was so tongue-tied, I didn’t know whether to call her Mrs. Arnaz or Miss Ball,

Along with creating the role of Maggie Jones in 42nd Street, one of Cook’s proudest achievements was starring in Hello, Dolly! as the first actress to play Dolly Levi, after Carol Channing, on tour in Australia. “My first love is the stage,” said Cook. “I’d played the character of Dolly Levi in the original drama, The Matchmaker, so I knew that story, in a way.” Cook auditioned in New York, where, at the time, only Channing had performed the role. Although her audition went well, “One never knows in this business.” Back in L.A, in rehearsal on a DesiLu sound stage, Cook got a call. “The only nearby phone was under the audience grandstand, behind a pile of lumber,” said Cook. “I got on the phone and heard two voices singing, ‘Well, Hello, Dolly!’” Those voices were none other than director Gower Champion and the show’s book writer, Michael Stewart. According to a Hello, Dolly fan website, Cook’s performances wowed fans down under. “Wiggling her way down the stairs onto a ramp, this Dolly poured her heart and soul into the number, from which Hello, Dolly! boisterously took its name. “This Dolly was tremendous! And the waiters… Well, they could have danced all night. Carole Cook led the Australian company of Hello, Dolly! playing Dolly to her fingertips, burstin’ with life, and a fulfilling warm, natural instinct.”

It only takes a moment

Cook’s advocacy and support of People With AIDS goes back to the early 1980s, and, understandably, the musical theatre world. In the early 1980s, then starring in Gower Champion’s Broadway production of 42nd Street, Cook knew chorus performers who became ill. “One of the dancers, Ray, was getting sick. When he was in the hospital, his father disowned him. I decided then that this was my charity for life.” Another stunning moment for Cook was a few years later, when she saw actor Rock Hudson at a Hollywood car wash. Cook had worked with Hudson years before on his TV series McMillan and Wife, and wanted to encourage Hudson to

Arts Events August 1-8, 2019

Flex your love of the arts, in theatre, exhibits, musicals and outdoor concerts. For full events listings, visit www.ebar.com.

Thu 1

Cassandro @ Roxie Theatre

Tango Diva

Tom Troupe and Carol Cook at a 2011 Help is on the Way gala.

consider playing Julian Marsh in a touring production of 42nd Street. “The role requires more charisma than singing, so I thought he’d be good for it.” But upon seeing Hudson only months before his death, she knew he had AIDS, although he merely dismissed his ailment as ‘heart trouble.’ “They called it the gay plague then,” Cook recalls. “We would go to hospitals to visit, and have to wear masks. I never thought that we’d get it, but their immune systems would suffer. I just knew it was a blight for gay men. Tom and I had to do something. There were no organizations then. We pooled our resources, a little or a lot, to make sure they had food, that their pets were taken care of.” Cook and Troupe gave directly to people in need, since there were so few nonprofits at the time. “What we did was kind of a homegrown charity to help our friends.” Cook co-created S.T.A.G.E., a now-annual benefit concert at the Variety Arts Theatre in Hollywood. A $10 donation paid for food for homebound people. As more performers volunteered, the concerts raised more money.

Open a new window

As her career continued, Cook and her husband have been given

some due recognition. In the national tour of Steel Magnolias, Cook, as the irascible ‘Ouiser,’ received the Helen Hayes Theatre Award, just one of many other awards. And last year, Cook performed Back Where She Belongs, her autobiographical cabaret concert, in Los Angeles, at San Francisco’s Feinstein’s at the Nikko, and at Feinstein’s/54 Below in Manhattan. “I have a little crew of super-fans who see all my shows,” said Cook. “I call them my Stalkers. They wear little pieces of jewelry or socks with my face on them. They’re the ones who got me a star on the Walk of Fame in Palms Springs. They’re adorable.” Sign us up as Cook super-fans.t

Read more with Carole Cook on www.ebar.com Carole Cook performs with Tyne Daly, Sharon Gless, cast members from ‘Hamilton,’ Sam Harris, Kimberley Locke, Paula West and other stars at ‘Help is on the Way XXV,’ the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation’s 25th anniversary gala, Sunday August 18, at the Herbst Theater, $50, $75 and $150 and up (VIP). 5pm (VIP reception, silent auction), concert at 7pm. 401 Van Ness Ave. www.reaf-sf.org

<< Drag Kings

22 • Bay Area Reporter • August 1-7, 2019

Drag Kings

From page 19

Frottage, who is known out of drag as Lu Read, spoke of the differ-

ence between drag king shows and the shows put on by queens. “Kings like to poke fun at toxic masculinity, so our shows are different from drag queen shows,” he said.

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“I have had many gay and straight guys come up to me after a show raving about how much fun they had, even fans who claim to loathe queen shows. Personally, I think it’s just so refreshing for an audience to not hear Top-40 female gay icon song choices, but it could be our animal magnetism. I know that’s true for the ladies in the audience. Once RuPaul sees the light and lets a king on Drag Race, the scene will go from underground to mainstream.” Frottage is happy to be celebrating 24 years and notes his “staying power.” He’s glad, he said, to be part of a supportive community who recognize the fact that he’s kept the scene going for all these years. He’s also delighted to be working with Sister Roma again, who has co-hosted the drag king contest in years past. “Sister Roma is a talented, funny, hard-working dear friend who I have known forever,” said Frottage. “She is a pleasure to work with, a real professional. I adore her.” Frottage promises a fun and exciting evening, noting that many audience members dress up for the show’s theme. DJ Junkyard will be spinning some awesome tunes, and since the contest takes place during the dinner hour, Sean Lackey will be serving up delicious grub. The show begins with Frottage’s opening number, on which he’ll be accompanied by Hot Fudge Explosion, his backup dancers. This will be followed by special guest and title-holder performances from kings like Madd Dogg 20/20 and Mason Dixon Jars. Will X. Uly, the winner of last year’s contest, will also perform a number. The panel of judges is loaded with star power. Leigh Crow, the artist formerly known as Elvis Herselvis, and cohost of Dandy Drag King Cabaret, will be joined by 2017 Drag King Contest winner El Sevan, and by Arty Fishal, who won the contest way back in 1998. There will also be a special guest judge who will be flying in from New York City: Wang Newton of WangTV fame. “Wang is an enigma within a mystery with wrapped breasts in a riddle, as one fan puts it,” Newton said in an email with the Bay Area Reporter. “But if that takes too much brain power to decode, then Wang is a theatrically masculine comedic entertainer who travels the world injecting joy and wonderment, all while wearing dapper suits with a large dildo underneath.” Newton pointed out that the heart for drag is pure self-expression and is not confined by the limits of gender, sexuality, dogma or culture. “If I must be honest, my recent inspirations comes from the sacred moments that only happen backstage, onstage and in real life,” he said. “The talents I’ve met are some of the most intriguing beings alive, and the privilege of connecting with beautiful humans in the audience is priceless. These experiences inspire me to continue exchanging the med-

Ruby Rieke

Sister Roma and Fudgie Frottage cohost last year’s Drag King Contest at Oasis.

icine of laughter with all cultures.” Newton added that he considers the 24th Annual Drag King Contest to be a major gig. “My Wangsexuals already know to expect the usual shenanigans of cheeky innuendo, lace panties waving high, and bad puns,” he said. “Yet every major gig I am challenged to do something different and surprising.” “I love how Wang travels around with his own red carpet and microphone interviewing people at major events in New York and around the world,” said Frottage. “That’s why he was invited back to the San Francisco Drag King Contest. He’s a hilarious character, dedicated to being number one, especially in the Pacific Rim. Don’t take that rimming literally, Wang.” Proceeds from the contest will benefit two organizations: PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support), which supplies food and medical care to the pets of seniors and people living with disabilities or chronic illness. Rocket Dog Rescue saves dogs from death at overcrowded shelters and finds loving homes for them.

“Animals give us unconditional love and everyone needs that,” said Frottage. “PAWS has a long history helping people with AIDS and other debilitating illnesses keep and maintain their companion animals. Rocket Dog Rescue saves dogs from the streets and overcrowded kill shelters and finds loving homes for them. Both organizations have a long history in San Francisco and are run with the support of wonderful employees, most of whom are volunteers.” Frottage said that he was already planning for next year’s 25th anniversary contest, and hoped to feature as many kings as possible. But for right now he was focusing his attention on this year’s festivities. “Dress up in some crazy drag and join us at SFDK24,” said Frottage, “and submerge yourself in an evening of talented kings and queens who want to love you to the bone!”t 24th annual San Francisco Drag King Contest, Sunday, August 4, 7pm at Oasis, 298 11th St. $20-35 (add $10 for dinner). www.sfoasis.com www.sfdragkingcontest.com

Larry Utley

It’s all about the PAWS with Drag King Contest producer Fudgie Frottage.

Outside Lands August 9-11, 2019

The annual huge outdoor, multi-stage music festival includes headliners Paul Simon and Janet Jackson, plus food, drinks, comedy, all in lovely Golden Gate Park. For a round-up, visit www.ebar.com.

Cabaret>>

August 1-7, 2019 • Bay Area Reporter • 23

musical films get cabaret tribute at Feinstein’s Celebrating A Star is Born aPopular by David-Elijah Nahmod

Star Is Born is one of the most iconic and venerable tales ever to come out of Hollywood. First produced in 1937 as a drama with Janet Gaynor and Frederic March, the story has been remade three times as musicals. The premise of A Star Is Born is simple: a young woman, a fledgling performer, meets and falls in love with a superstar who’s battling substance abuse and dealing with burnout. As her career rises, his career falls. Often seen as a statement on the cruel realities of show business, the story is also shamelessly romantic. Judy Garland starred in the first musical remake in 1954. Garland played Esther Blodgett, who becomes known to the world as musical comedy star Vicki Lester. James Mason co-starred as Norman Maine, her husband, the superstar on his way out. Garland, who scored an Oscar nomination for her work in the film, introduced one of her signature songs, “The Man That Got Away.” Barbra Streisand produced and starred in a 1976 version of the story, playing Esther Hoffman, with Kris Kristfferson playing her ill-fated love John Norman Howard. That film placed the story in the rock and roll world. Streisand would win the Oscar for co-writing the now classic song “Evergreen.” The tragic lovers were most recently portrayed by Oscar nominee Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in 2018. Their film was one of the year’s biggest hits and introduced the award winning song “Shallow,” which Gaga co-wrote. On August 9 and 10, a tribute to the films makes its cabaret debut

Left to Right: Scott Coulter, Carole J. Buford, John Boswell and Kelli Rabke perform in the new A Star is Born cabaret concert at Feinstein’s at the Nikko.

when Feinstein’s at The Nikko presents A Star Is Born: The Concert, a show which will offer live performances of songs from all three musical versions of the story. The show was created by Scott Coulter, a wellknown performer in New York, and a favorite of legendary Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz, who said, “One of the greatest things that can happen to a composer is to have his music interpreted by Scott Coulter.” “Isn’t that the most amazing quote?” Coulter said. “It’s hard to put into words how that particular quote makes me feel. Stephen Schwartz was my musical hero long before I ever met him, so his words are doubly meaningful to me. Growing up, his music was a touchstone of sorts for me, so to have him appreciate my interpretations of what he created still stuns me.” Coulter spoke of how he came to create the show. “I have a concert company called Spot-On Entertainment which creates concerts for symphony orchestras and performing arts centers,” he said. “I always look for themes or ideas that speak to multiple age

groups or demographics and A Star Is Born does just that. Since 1937 every generation has had their version of this story. Well, every generation but mine, I should say. Every twenty years a new Star Is Born; 1937, 1954, 1976, and 2018. They just skipped over the ‘90s. My generation got The Bodyguard instead.” Coulter feels that the story resonates with audiences because it’s so dramatic, referring to it as a “tortured love story.” He pointed to 1954’s “The Man That Got Away” as an extraordinary song, and the best of all the songs from the three musical versions. “Each of the films contains an Oscar-nominated song,” he said. “‘The Man That Got Away,’ ‘Evergreen’ and ‘Shallow,’” he said. “All three are represented in the concert along with some expected songs and a few surprises.” Coulter pointed to the moments in each film where the Esther character is first discovered by the Norman character. Each of these moments is accompanied by a song: such as when Lady Gaga sings “La Vie En Rose” in 2018, or when Strei-

sand performs “Queen Bee” in 1976. The concert will be looking at those moments. In addition to Coulter, audiences at the concert will also hear the talents of Carole J. Buford, John Boswell and Kelli Rabke. “I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve not seen all three versions, only the most recent one,” Rabke said. “I definitely need to watch the others ASAP. I will say that not seeing the Judy or Barbra versions I was able to watch the new movie and evaluate it on its own terms as a film, without having anything to compare it to. The majority of the people I know have seen one or both of the other versions, and so much of the critique stemmed from the comparisons. I went in cold and kind of enjoyed that. And I liked the movie very much!” Rabke feels that the story resonates with people because of the love story, which everyone can relate to. “The concert takes you on a musical journey from the 1930s until today,” she said. “There are so many musical styles represented by featuring songs from all three films,”

she said. “I think it makes for an interesting, varied, fantastic mix of songs. And by experiencing it in a cabaret setting –which is so much more intimate than a proscenium stage– hopefully we will take you on the journey along with us and be able to share all the emotion inherent in the songs and this story.” Rabke feels that we haven’t seen the last of A Star Is Born. “This story obviously resonates with people since it continues to be told,” she said. “Because the lead role has been played by three iconic women, it will continue to be intriguing to filmmakers and actors for generations to come.” “I’m sure there will be a new version just about twenty years from now,” added Coulter. “However, I’m hoping that the next version really includes a star being born in the sense that the audience gets to discover a brand new talent. In every version to date, the star being born just happened to be the biggest star/vocalist of the day, with the possible exception of Garland, for whom the film served as a comeback, even though she was a bonafide star and a legend.” Coulter said that he was excited to be bringing this show to the Nikko. “John Boswell is the greatest pianist in the world,” he said. “Carole J. Bufford and Kelli Rabke are two of the finest female vocalists to ever set foot on a stage. I hope this is the first of many visits to the Nikko for all of us.”t ‘A Star Is Born: the Concert,’ Friday August 9, Saturday August 10, 8pm at Feinstein’s At The Nikko, 222 Mason St. $45-$75. www.feinsteinssf.com

Shining Stars Steven Underhill Photos by

Grand Opening @ Detour T

he new Detour, the formerly named Brewcade (2200 Market St.), held re-opening parties in mid-July as their expanded arcade and video games bar took over the former Hecho restaurant space. Patrons enjoyed food from the kitchen, a variety of craft beers, cocktails, and the pling-pling of even more pinball machines and other games. www.brewcadesf.com See plenty more photos on BARtab’s Facebook page, facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife. See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at StevenUnderhill.com.

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