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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971
Bill Wilson
California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill aimed at protecting providers of gender-affirming care from being extradited.
Vol. 56 • No. 39 • September 24-30, 2026
Folsom Street Fair returns with fewer entrance gates
Newsom vetoes trans-related bill by Matthew S. Bajko
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See page 14 >>
by John Ferrannini
Participants in the September 20 LeatherWalk, which kicked off Leather Week in San Francisco, prepared to raise a giant leather flag outside of the SF Eagle.
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his year’s Folsom Street Fair will have fewer entrances than in the past, in order to keep the event safer and provide those working it with more breaks. The 43rd annual fair will bring together leatherfolk, kinksters, and their admirers in the city’s South of Market neighborhood Sunday, September 27.
Angel Adeyoha, who is queer and nonbinary and is the executive director of the nonprofit Folsom Street that puts on the event, told the Bay Area Reporter that in the past there were six or eight entrances, but that this year there will be four “so it’s a little more streamlined.” See page 14 >>
LGBTQ clubs fight Instagram deactivation by John Ferrannini
M
ore LGBTQ businesses in San Francisco have been penalized by having their social media accounts deactivated. The Bay Area Reporter first shined a light last year on allegations Meta is treating Instagram accounts linked to the LGBTQ community unfairly. The most recent is the Beaux nightclub at 2344 Market Street in the Castro. Joshua J. Cook, a gay man who manages the bar and owns a stake in it, told the B.A.R. that the club’s account was deactivated without an explanation on September 14, and this for the third time. The account was restored on September 16, just as abruptly as it had been taken down and also without an explanation, Cook said. Meta didn’t return a request for comment to the B.A.R.’s initial inquiry last year after speaking with five queer content creators who’d alleged similar treatment. The Menlo Park-based tech company did return comment on September 22. Spokesperson Erin O’Malley said in a phone call when asked about Beaux, “That account was removed in error, it should be back up.” Asked why, and if LGBTQ accounts are more likely to be removed in error, O’Malley said, “I actually am not sure, but I think yeah, sometimes, that happens and people report it, appeal it, do whatever they have to do and it gets put back up.”
Steven Underhill
People enjoy themselves at Beaux, which recently had its Instagram account restored after a deactivation.
O’Malley requested an email about the other LGBTQ accounts that had been affected. The B.A.R. sent one to her and asked, again, if this is happening to LGBTQ community accounts more than to others. The paper also asked if there are safeguards being implemented to prevent this from happening again, and are there bad faith actors or artificial intelligence technology behind it. The B.A.R. has yet to hear back. Also on September 22, Precinct nightclub at 357 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles announced its Instagram account was “removed without warning or explanation.” The all-inclusive queer nightlife venue requested help reaching Meta as well.
Cook said content on Beaux’s original page, @ beauxinthecastro, started to get flagged much more aggressively for alleged community guidelines violations in 2024. After that was taken down, he started a new account, @beauxincastro, that lasted until April 2026. When that second account was taken down, Cook said he wanted to make sure a third account, @beauxnightclub, would be absolutely safe. “I did a deep dive into what the community standards are, so that I wouldn’t do anything that would come close to what would be prohibited,” Cook said. See page 15 >>
Bill Wilson
overnor Gavin Newsom used his veto pen over the weekend to ax legislation aimed at protecting providers of gender-affirming care from being extradited to face charges for doing so by another state. He cited concerns over executive authority in jettisoning the bill. Assembly Bill 2164 authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) would have prohibited California’s governor from recognizing a request for extradition of a person related to their providing a legally protected healthcare activity in the Golden State to transgender individuals, or if they provide reproductive services. It provided certain exemptions, such as an extradition required by federal law. The bill passed out of the Legislature August 25 and was backed by various medical associations and several LGBTQ groups. The Legislative LGBTQ Caucus had designated it one of its “supported” bills this year, with several of its members signing on as co-authors. In arguing for the bill, Planned Parenthood of California had noted, “By removing discretionary authority in these circumstances, the bill ensures that California healthcare providers cannot be arrested or extradited to states seeking to criminalize care that is lawful under our state’s laws.” Yet, it was that watering down of executive branch power that engendered Newsom’s opposition to the bill. He vetoed it Sunday, issuing a message to explain his reasoning for doing so. “While I share the author’s views on the importance of protecting these important healthcare services, extradition is an exclusively executive function,” wrote Newsom. “When discretionary, that discretion is appropriately placed with the Governor. I am troubled by the precedent that would be set if an outgoing administration agreed with the Legislature to erode the executive authority of an incoming Governor based on their shared policy preferences, regardless of how righteous and wellintended those actions may be.” Newsom is termed out of office this year, having served two four-year terms as governor. He is widely expected to seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2028.
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BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, BELIEVE IT. Be it., GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. © 2026 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. US-BVYC-1141 05/26
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<< Community News
4 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
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YIMBYs deride Castro historic district as ‘theme park’ by Matthew S. Bajko
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ay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman is moving forward with designating the heart of the city’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood as a historic district. The idea has been derided by pro-housing advocates as creating “a theme park” in the center of the city. Such a characterization prompted pushback from Castro community leaders at a recent meeting held to discuss the concept, with gay former planning commissioner Dennis Richards denouncing it as a “homophobic” attack. Richards lives within the Duboce Park Landmark District, which was established in 2013 and is a few blocks from the northwestern edge of the proposed Castro historic district. At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Mandelman introduced the resolution to establish the historic district designation covering 93 parcels in the neighborhood. It will first be taken up by the city’s historic preservation and planning commissions before being sent to the supervisors to vote on approving it. “It will reduce the risk that a wave of development sweeps up the most historically important buildings,” Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter as for why he felt the district should be established. Currently dubbed the Eureka Valley Commercial & Castro Village LGBTQ+ Historic District, it would cover the 400 and 500 blocks of Castro Street and several blocks on adjoining streets. Various properties within that boundary have been identified by planning officials as contributing to the historical significance of the neighborhood, as detailed on a map of it found online at https://sfculturalheritage.org/ report/46a7582d-73bb-4bc0-a229e1c618d76fbb. Fifty-two buildings have been identified as adding to the neighborhood’s development as a commercial corridor and “streetcar suburb” outside downtown San Francisco beginning in 1879 and running through 1932. It was largely due to the public transit line that runs along Market Street and now ends on 17th Street in Jane Warner Plaza at the intersection with Castro and Market streets. Forty-six buildings within the proposed historic district have been pegged as helping to transform what had been an Italian working-class neighborhood into a thriving gayborhood by the 1970s, with the first
Matthew S. Bajko
Harvey Milk’s former camera shop on the 500 block of Castro Street would be included in a historic district for the LGBTQ neighborhood.
known gay and lesbian residents moving into what was then known as Eureka Valley in 1953. While the city has 14 landmark districts, the one in the Castro would be the first established in recognition of a specific underserved community, noted senior preservation planner Alex Westhoff during the meeting held September 8 to present the plan to the public. Ahead of it the pro-housing group San Francisco YIMBY had criticized the “lame duck” Mandelman, as he is termed off the board in January, for wanting “to preserve the Castro in amber as a parting gift to his constituents” in an email to its members encouraging them to attend the public meeting held at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center. A headline advised to tell the planning officials present that “San Francisco is a City, not a Theme Park.” Its opposition stems from concerns that a historic district designation would result in no new housing being built within its boundaries. “What makes the Castro historic and significant is the people: Activists, thinkers, artists, queer party kids – not the buildings. If we block housing, we effectively lock out future generations of young, queer people who make the neighborhood significant,” argued SF YIMBY in its email. “A blanket Historic District is
not what the neighborhood needs to be inclusive and welcoming to future generations of LGBTQ+ neighbors – many of whom already can’t afford to live in the area.” One meeting attendee’s parroting the “theme park” critique, saying the historic district was “nonsense” and would be “enshrining the Castro as a Disneyland” led to Richards denouncing such language as being homophobic and disrespectful of the thousands of Castro residents lost to AIDS in the 1980s and early 1990s. “It is not Disneyland. It is outrageous to even say that,” said Richards. Castro LGBTQ Cultural District Director Tina Aguirre, a genderqueer Latine person, said those opposing the historic district were “spreading misinformation” since addressing the need for more affordable housing can be accomplished at the same time as working to preserve the culture of the neighborhood and its economic development. All three, noted Aguirre, “are vital to the existence of queer and transgender people.” In a September 10 letter sent to the members of the supervisors’ land use and transportation committee on behalf of the cultural district staff and advisory board, Aguirre noted that the establishment of a Castro historic district was included
in the Cultural History, Housing, and Economic Sustainability Strategies (CHHESS) Report generated by the cultural district and approved by the supervisors and Mayor Daniel Lurie last year. “Any legislation that protects historically significant assets to the LGBTQIA+ community is extremely important considering how queer and trans people, places and culture are under attack on global, national, and local levels,” wrote Aguirre. A Castro historic district goes hand-in-hand, noted Aguirre, with the CHHESS Report’s other priorities, such as the need to “protect existing rental housing as affordable and expand affordable rental units to ensure more stability for local renters, including LGBTQIA+ residents of the Castro.” “The cultural districts were established by legislation of this city in order to balance the increasingly accommodating legislation created for development in this city that can lead to gentrification and increased real estate speculation. Along with historic and cultural preservation, affordable housing and tenants’ protections are also key focus areas of the cultural district program,” wrote Aguirre. As he did not attend the meeting about the proposed historic district, Mandelman told the B.A.R. he couldn’t comment on if the language used by those opposing it was homophobic. He did say he thinks the argument over the designation is overblown. “I mean, I think this is honestly a lot of sound and fury about nothing,” said Mandelman, currently president of the board. “We are talking about fewer than a hundred buildings in one of the most consequential gayborhoods ever to have been.”
Greater importance
As the B.A.R. has noted, preservationists and historians have long voiced concerns about seeing properties tied to the Castro’s emergence as a center of gay culture and community in the 1970s be torn down and replaced with infill housing developments devoid of the character-defining features of the existing buildings. A number were built in various Victorian architectural styles and today house businesses, nonprofits, and residents. In 2019, city officials designated the Castro as an LGBTQ cultural district in order to help preserve its status as a haven for queer and transgender people from across the coun-
try and globe. But the designation did nothing to protect the buildings within its boundaries. Now, historic preservation matters have taken on greater importance at City Hall following the upzoning adopted by the supervisors and pushed by Lurie to allow denser residential developments to be built on parcels across the city. In response, planning officials have been working with various members of the board to designate individual properties across their districts as local landmarks. The historic preservation efforts add some protection from seeing the designated properties be demolished, such as requiring their facades be preserved and any plans to redevelop them be given greater scrutiny by city officials. It does not prevent new housing from being built on the properties, though pro-housing advocates argue it makes redeveloping a site more expensive and timeconsuming. During a discussion about the city’s landmarking efforts at the planning commission’s September 3 meeting, the oversight body’s president, Amy Campbell, voiced such concerns about not wanting to see preservation impede housing. A Castro resident, she brought up the planned historic district designation for her neighborhood and noted if approved, then redeveloping sites that contribute to it with housing developments as high as 80 feet is “going to be very, very hard to do that.” Campbell stressed that she agrees “that building housing and landmarking are not mutually exclusive things, but it does make it much harder to work with a landmarked building. So I think my concern is around just wanting to make sure that we’re being really careful and thoughtful about the buildings and the districts that we are landmarking.” Such reservations or criticism sets up a “false dichotomy,” contended Mandelman. “Part of the commitment I made when I voted for the family zoning plan, and part of the commitment I got from the mayor, was that we would make a serious effort to identify those buildings and collections of buildings that San Franciscans would regret having demolished,” he told the B.A.R. “I really don’t see how the very modest historic preservation efforts that are moving forward in tandem with the family zoning plan inhibit our ability to meet our housing goals.” t
Bill Wilson
AIDS grove marks 35th anniversary
T
he National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park marked its 35th anniversary with a special program Saturday, September 19. Among the speakers was John Montfort, at podium, a longtime supporter of the grove who dedicated a boulder to his sister, Susan Montfort. The event included the dedication of the new Upper Oaks Trail Overlook Project, community
tree and hillside planting, a Calling of Names, a Circle of Friends wreath-laying, and an afternoon community celebration. The grove was established by a small group of San Franciscans and, in 1996, legislation by Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton elevating the grove as the nation’s sole federally-designated AIDS memorial.
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<< Community News
6 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
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Trans-centering declarations submitted to SF supes by JL Odom
A
mid political and legislative attacks on transgender and gendernonconforming people, one individual is pushing back with a pair of declarations intended to affirm trans rights at the local level. In late August, Nadelyn Zoe King, a nonbinary trans woman who lives in the U.S. Virgin Islands, submitted two declarations – “Declaration of Trans Rights” and “Declaration That Trans Women Are Women” – to more than two dozen municipalities and city governments across the United States, including the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. King’s effort was inspired in part by action taken earlier this year by the European Parliament. In February, parliament members adopted a nonbinding recommendation outlining European Union priorities for the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The measure passed 340-141, with 68 abstentions, and included language calling for the “full recognition of trans women as women” and equal access for trans women to protection and support services, as previously reported by the Washington Blade. (https://www.washingtonblade. com/2026/02/16/european-parliament-resolution-backs-full-recognition-of-trans-women-as-women/) “I wrote the declarations a few months after [the measure’s passing],” King said in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “With the recent attacks on trans rights and the vitriolic rhetoric coming from the right, I thought that it was an important time to write declarations for trans rights specifically. “We are experiencing a backlash against civil rights in the United States, and human rights organizations, trans rights organizations, are still fighting for those rights through the legislature in the same way that the European Parliament had done,” she continued. King, who uses she/her and ze/zir pronouns, submitted the declarations to municipalities and city governments, news outlets, and trans organizations with the goal of generating discussion and encouraging governments to adopt or strengthen protections for transgender people. In her August 19 email to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, King wrote, “I respectfully submit two civil
rights declarations for circulation to the full governing body and consideration through the normal legislative, committee, human rights, or public comment process. Any implementation should be reviewed by municipal legal counsel and remain consistent with applicable law.” She also asked the board to consider using the principles in the declarations as guidance for “practical municipal measures involving nondiscrimination, privacy and data minimization, equal access to services, employee guidance, shelters and emergency management, public safety and victim services, complaint procedures, and implementation accountability.” “Where your jurisdiction already has equivalent sanctuary, safe-haven, shield, or civil-rights protections, please treat this as an implementation and gapreview request rather than a request to duplicate existing policy,” she wrote.
Related but distinct measures
The two declarations King wrote are related but distinct. The “Declaration That Trans Women Are Women” states that trans women are women “for purposes of human dignity, equal citizenship, nondiscrimination, public respect, and equal protection of fundamental rights.” It also states that trans men are men and that transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse people have the same inherent dignity and civil rights as other people. “A person’s transgender status must never make that person less deserving of safety, housing, employment, healthcare, public services, democratic participation, or protection from violence and discrimination,” the declaration continues. The “Declaration of Trans Rights” takes a broader approach, stating that transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse people are entitled to the same “inherent dignity, liberty, equality, privacy, security, and democratic participation” as everyone else. It calls for equal protection from discrimination based on gender identity or expression, as well as protections involving bodily autonomy, privacy, healthcare, housing, employment, education, public accommodations, government services, and civic life. It also calls for transgender people to be protected from violence, harassment,
JL Odom
A trans Pride flag was raised in San Francisco City Hall during August’s Transgender History Month.
abuse, and discriminatory treatment; for governments to investigate violence and hate crimes against transgender people while respecting due process and civil liberties; and for transgender people to have an equal voice in policymaking affecting their lives.
Responses have varied
King said responses from municipalities to her declarations have varied. “I sometimes have gotten a response from the municipal government that there are already protections in place like that, even if it’s not the same wording,” King said. Others have expressed an interest in the declarations and requested additional information. “There have been some municipalities that have had much warmer responses and have inquired about what the next steps for trans rights are in the United States, and so I think it’s made pretty good progress in that regard,” she said. “A couple of emails that I got were just politicians talking about how these issues have kind of been put on the back burner for the last two years or so,” she added. King cited responses and follow-ups involving municipalities including Falls Church, Virginia; Somerville, Massachusetts; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Long Beach, California. She said Long Beach limits public comment on the matter
to residents. She also said the Trans Europe and Central Asia organization, or TGEU, offered a supportive response. In an email, TGEU officials stated they were unable to provide further comment for this story. King said she has not received a response from San Francisco or the Board of Supervisors. San Francisco supervisors have formally designated the city as a sanctuary for transgender and other gender-nonconforming people, joining a growing number of municipalities and states that have adopted similar measures in response to continued legislative attacks on trans rights, as previously reported by the B.A.R. (https://www.ebar.com/ story/75629) In June 2024, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously, 11-0, to approve a resolution by gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, declaring “San Francisco a sanctuary city and a place of safety for TGNCI2S people and providers of gender affirming care.” The acronym encompasses transgender, gender-nonconforming, intersex, and Two-Spirit people. Mandelman, who is currently board president, along with gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey and queer District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, did not return requests for comment, nor did the board as a whole. Representatives of the Transgender District and the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives also did not return requests for comment.
East Bay trans candidates weigh in
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Two transgender women running for different city council seats in the East Bay offered comments about King’s efforts and the broader issues of the trans community. Concord City Council District 3 candidate Robyn Kuslits, a queer pansexual transgender woman, shared that she was proud to see efforts in San Francisco to advance “greater recognition of transgender people, particularly transgender women.” The B.A.R. recently endorsed Kuslits’ candidacy, also noting that she would make history if elected to Concord City Council. “I hope my election can increase transgender representation in elected office,” Kuslits, 39, wrote in an email to the B.A.R. “In my own city of Concord, we currently do not have a city contractor non-discrimination ordinance. We know transgender people face discrimination in hiring, housing, and access to services, and this harms our entire community. I will change this. I would like to consider further declarations after passing the city contractor non-discrimination ordinance.” Emeryville City Council candidate Corry Frydlewicz, a trans woman, conveyed that while she agrees with the declarations’ content and regards them as “obvious truths,” visible change and active support for the trans community are what matter. Frydlewicz, who also identifies as a
lesbian and queer, could become one of the first transgender city councilmembers elected in the Bay Area, along with Concord council candidate Kuslits, as the Political Notebook recently reported. “These declarations bring back those warm, fuzzy feelings of being pandered to in the bygone days of corporate [P] ride. Much like those slogans, this has no teeth,” Frydlewicz wrote in an email to the B.A.R. “Will this declaration stop SFPD from bashing my siblings at our own march? Will it help folks like us find shelter and keep our homes? Will it prevent employers from hiring discrimination, laying us off first, or paying us a fraction of what cis colleagues get? Sure, speak obvious truths to the world. Just don’t act like you’re changing it. Call me when you’ve actually made it safer for us,” she continued. Frydlewicz was referring to arrests made by San Francisco police toward the end of this year’s Trans March in the Tenderloin. Two people face felony vandalism charges, while two others face misdemeanor charges, in connection with the incident, while trans community members have met with Mayor Daniel Lurie to talk about public safety changes for next year’s event. https:// www.ebar.com/story/168310 If elected to an Emeryville council seat, Frydlewicz, 43, emphasized that certain measures need to be prioritized, acted upon and put in place. “First, we need to actually act on the sanctuary city designation we already have in Emeryville. We need to pull down the Flock cameras and protect the privacy of LGBTQIA+ people, immigrants, and others who are targeted by ICE, Border Patrol, and police,” she commented, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Then we need to pass tenant protections, rent control, vacancy taxes, and build affordable housing to get – disproportionately BIPOC, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ – folks off the streets and help them keep their homes. Declarations mean nothing unless we do the work,” she continued.
Larger aims
King said she wants the declarations to expand beyond individual municipalities – an interest rooted in the international scope of the European Parliament’s action. “I would very much like to see what the European Parliament has done with their declaration be emulated here and then move into a global movement – a truly transcontinental coalition – not just within the European Parliament,” she said. For King, both the effort she put into writing and sending the declarations and their content are personal. She said she has experienced housing and employment discrimination, harassment, and periods of homelessness. King, who is 36, moved from Virginia to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she is currently staying in a hotel while seeking more stable housing. She said she is unemployed, has a severe ankle sprain and plantar fasciitis that limit her mobility, and is a disabled combat veteran. She hopes to use GI Bill benefits to pursue further education in the sciences once she has stable housing, with an aim to attend classes at the University of the Virgin Islands. Her academic interests include astronomy and cosmology. Within the next 10 years, King hopes to complete a research paper she is working on and pursue a doctorate. For now, she is seeking stable housing and steady employment and wants her ankle injury to improve so that walking to job interviews is easier. She’s also continuing to focus on getting the declarations in front of governments and keeping the issue of transgender rights in public discussion. “It’s an important time,” King reiterated. t
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8 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
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B.A.R. endorses SF, regional measures
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an Francisco voters will decide on 10 local ballot propositions, plus a regional sales tax measure to fund public transit. The Bay Area Reporter’s recommendations are below.
CHARTER AMENDMENTS
Charter amendments need a 50% plus 1 affirmative vote for passage. PROPOSITION A: CHARTER CHANGES AFFECTING VARIOUS CITY DEPARTMENTS AND COMMISSIONS. YES. The city’s charter - i.e. governing document - is in need of a redo, and Prop A is a start. It’s a follow-up to the commission streamlining task force that was the result of Prop E’s passage in 2024. Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors did approve changes to city boards and commissions. But only voters can approve changes to the city charter, hence, Prop A. Prop A renames some commissions and deletes obsolete language, among other things. It would require that the commission streamlining task force convene every 10 years, without the existing requirements that the budget and legislative analyst prepare a report and the city attorney draft a charter amendment implementing the task force’s recommendations. It would also provide for the Board of Supervisors to approve settlements or dismissals of legal proceedings recommended by the city attorney by resolution, which only requires one board vote, rather than an ordinance, which requires two. These are just a few of the proposed changes, but the result would be a city charter that is more efficient and less bloated. Vote YES on Prop A. PROPOSITION B: ESTABLISHING A MUNICIPAL FINANCE CORPORATION AND A PUBLIC BANK. NO. It’s important to recognize that Prop B will not establish a public bank. It creates a municipal finance corporation, the first step to a possible city bank, after several years. Prop B provides no funding. And while proponents claim a public bank would unlock funds for affordable housing and small business lending, San Francisco already has tools to support those through existing programs. Prasad Krishnamurthy, a professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, pointed this out in a recent op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle. As Krishnamurthy noted, San Francisco already has the Housing Trust Fund, which was formed to create, acquire, and rehabilitate housing units for low- and moderate-income families. The city can also issue municipal bonds, which it regularly does, where affordable housing developers can get access to financing at below-market interest rates, as Krishnamurthy pointed out. In short, we don’t see a need for a public bank with its encompassing bureaucratic infrastructure in San Francisco right now. The city has set up enough programs that offer similar services. Vote NO on Prop B. PROPOSITION C: CONTRIBUTIONS TO HOUSING FUND. YES. Speaking of the Housing Trust Fund, voters can renew this important program through 2058 and increase the annual funding for affordable housing to $125 million. Proponents noted that Prop C does not raise taxes. It reallocates money the city already collects and is fiscally responsible by design. The proponents’ ballot statement noted that the amount of money allocated to the trust only grows when the city’s own property tax or general fund revenue increases. Prop C has the support of Mayor Daniel Lurie, a majority of the Board of Supervisors, and labor organizations. It is the city’s most significant fund for affordable housing. Vote YES on Prop C. PROPOSITION D: CHANGES TO BALLOT MEASURE PROCESS. YES. Prop D is one of three reform measures that Lurie is taking to the voters. This one raises the signature threshold for registered voters to qualify local ballot initiatives. It also eliminates the ability of the mayor or four or more supervisors to place a measure on the ballot without a vote of the Board of Supervisors. Currently, the mayor can submit a ballot measure without a board vote. The supervisors could still place measures on the ballot with a six-member majority vote. For citizen voter initiatives, San Francisco would raise the percentage of required valid signatures to 8% of registered voters in the city, or approximately 42,500 voters, up from a low 2% now. While opponents claim this increase is out of reach, we think it would result in a decrease of frivolous measures on the ballot. The additional signature requirement could also make the Board of Supervisors actually address myriad issues, as they should, rather than risk responsibility by taking a stand and instead moving the issue on the ballot via a citizen initiative, leaving the decision to voters.
Prop D would allow proponents of a signature initiative to withdraw it from the ballot up to 102 days before an election. This is important because, in 2022, a poorly-worded initiative that would have purportedly taxed Amazon but would have also taxed small businesses could have been on the ballot had a judge not ordered it removed. This is a common-sense reform measure. Vote YES on Prop D.
PROPOSITION E: CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S AUTHORITY AND CHANGES TO CITY CONTRACTING. YES. According to the voter guide, the measure would give the city administrator exclusive authority to propose ordinances to the Board of Supervisors governing most aspects of procurement. Procurement ordinances proposed by the city administrator would pass unless the board or the mayor rejects them within 60 days. The board could not amend these ordinances. The measure would raise the threshold for board approval of contracts and amendments to those contracts, the voter guide stated. For revenue-generating contracts and leases, the threshold would increase from $1 million to $4.5 million. For expenditure contracts, the threshold would increase from $10 million to $25 million. Lurie has stated Prop E is needed to stop corrupt dealmaking whereby department heads run their own contracting schemes. Prop E would also slash waste in city spending, the mayor noted, and provide stronger checks and balances. On the whole, Prop E is a good start. We share concerns that the measure puts a lot of power into the hands of the unelected city administrator, whose term would increase to 10 years from the current five. And we’re uneasy because the controller’s office recently issued a report noting that the city eliminated two of the ethics commission’s three senior compliance officers as part of the fiscal year 2025-26 and fiscal year 2026-27 budgets. This likely will impact the level of Form 700 compliance that elected officials, department heads, and others must complete. However, on balance, the city’s contracting system is in need of fixing. Vote YES on Prop E. PROPOSITION F: CHANGES TO EXECUTIVE BRANCH MANAGEMENT. NO. This ballot measure is also championed by Lurie. However, we can’t support it, and believe it is a mayoral power grab. Chiefly, Prop F would allow the mayor to reorganize executive branch departments that exist under the Charter, with certain exceptions, according to the voter guide. The mayor could transfer powers and duties set forth in the charter, consolidate one or more departments together under a single department head, and assign the oversight of transferred functions to a different commission. The proposed measure would expand the mayor’s authority to hire certain department heads without board or commission involvement, and would authorize the mayor to fire most department heads without board or commission involvement, the voter guide stated. Prop F would also authorize appointing authorities to remove their appointees to most boards and commissions without cause, according to the ballot language. Prop F would also allow the mayor to hire deputy mayors, pegged by the controller’s office at an estimated annual cost of $250,000 each, when voters in 1991 decided the city did not need deputy mayors. The mayor already has power over city departments. Since Lurie became mayor, he has been able to appoint the heads of the Department of Public Health, the Fire Department, the Police Department, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, the Recreation and Park Department, the Arts and Culture department, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. These department heads presumably meet with the mayor and/ or his chief of staff regularly. We see no need to add another bureaucratic level with the deployment of deputy mayors. If the mayor wants to reorganize departments, there should be a public process for that. Unfortunately, that mechanism is missing from Prop F. We think oversight by the Board of Supervisors and the various city commissions provide critical checks and balances in city government. Vote NO on Prop F.
ORDINANCES
Ordinances need a 50% plus 1 affirmative vote for passage. PROPOSITION G: ALLOWING PRIVATE VEHICLES ON THE GREAT HIGHWAY IN SUNSET DUNES PARK. NO. We urged a no vote on 2024’s Prop K, which closed a
portion of the Great Highway from Sloat Boulevard to Lincoln Way to vehicle traffic and created the oceanside Sunset Dunes Park. Voters passed the initiative, however, and the park was created, to the delight of the thousands of people who now use it. While many residents in the Sunset have been critical of the road closure – and overwhelmingly voted against Prop K two years ago – we don’t see the need to relitigate this issue. The park is there; the city controller’s office estimates it would cost millions of dollars to remove it and reconstruct the roadway, along with an annual cost of about $1.4 million. Then, there’s the issue of the effects of climate change. Sea level rise and erosion are already a threat that will eventually overwhelm the roadway, as well as the cost to constantly remove sand from it. Environmental groups that pushed for Prop K’s passage are opposed to Prop G. Sunset Dunes is the city’s third most popular park, drawing two million visits in its first year, according to Friends of Sunset Dunes, which opposes Prop G. Residents and visitors alike enjoy walking, jogging, bicycling, and other recreation. Sunset Dunes has proved us wrong, and we’re fine with that. Keep the park. Vote NO on Prop G. PROPOSITION H: PARCEL TAX TO FUND PUBLIC MUNI OPERATIONS. YES. Reliable public transportation is critical as San Francisco continues its economic recovery post COVID. Prop H would impose an annual tax on parcels of real property in San Francisco beginning on July 1, 2027, and continuing until June 30, 2042. The tax would be adjusted annually for inflation. There are various tax amounts depending on parcel sizes, whether they’re residential or non-residential, mixed-use, or parcels with no buildings. Owners of rent-controlled residential units could pass through up to 50% of the tax to their tenants, capped at $65 per unit, if the initial base rent was set before June 1, 2027. Most properties owned by a person who is at least 65 years old would either be exempt from the tax or entitled to a tax reduction, the voter guide stated. Prop H only funds Muni service, and San Franciscans are aware that the agency is facing severe fiscal challenges. (See the Regional Transit Measure below.) This measure has the support of Lurie, all 11 supervisors, organized labor, and the San Francisco Tenants Union. A reliable Muni will help San Francisco workers and residents, as well as visitors who bring in tourist dollars. Vote YES on Prop H. PROPOSITION I: CHANGES TO REAL PROPERTY TRANSFER TAX. YES. This measure, dubbed the Affordable Housing Guarantee Act, is not a new tax. In 2020, voters passed a different Prop I, which was a tax on the sale of properties worth more than $10 million, specifically so that the money could fund affordable housing and rent relief, proponents noted in the voter guide. That worked for about two years, until city leaders decided to designate the revenue for the general fund, and the money did not go toward affordable housing. This Prop I changes that, and specifies that the tax revenue be earmarked for affordable housing, including social housing. Prop I also cuts the transfer tax for new construction. Lurie is opposed to Prop I, calling it an “unaccountable slush fund.” But it’s more likely the mayor would rather have the money in the general fund in this time of budget deficits. The reality, however, is that San Francisco needs more affordable housing, and Prop I is one way to help fund that. Prop I probably wouldn’t even be on the ballot if city officials had followed the intent of the original Prop I. Vote YES on Prop I. PROPOSITION J: REMOVAL OF FORECLOSURE EXEMPTION FOR REAL PROPERTY TRANSFER TAX. YES. Lurie and a majority of the Board of Supervisors support Prop J, which proponents argue would end an unfair tax break for corporate lenders. Written by Lurie and District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Prop J would raise between $100 million and $150 million for the city’s general fund. It keeps the tax break for homeowners and small residential buildings, but makes sure that corporate lenders can’t take advantage of this tax relief that has always been meant for struggling San Francisco families, the proponents stated in the voter guide. Vote YES on Prop J.
REGIONAL MEASURE
This regional measure needs a 50% plus 1 affirmative vote for passage. RTM: REGIONAL TRANSIT MEASURE. YES. This measure was authorized through state legislation by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Senator Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley) and then See page 9 >>
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Politics >>
September 24-30, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 9
SF supes panel OKs Parivar funding by Matthew S. Bajko
Mandelman while addressing the budget committee last week. “These are retroactive grants to pay these organizations for work they have already completed. And I think you know, particularly as nonprofit budgets get tighter as the need grows, it is important we do what we can to support organizations like this.”
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he San Francisco Board of Supervisors is set to approve emergency funding for Parivar Bay Area when it meets September 29. The vote will take place two days before the nonprofit moves into new offices in the city’s Cathedral Hill neighborhood. At its meeting Wednesday, September 23, the supervisors’ budget and finance committee voted 3-0 in support of awarding $150,000 to Parivar, the nation’s first and only Hijra, Kinnar and Global South transgender immigrant-led organization. The resolution authorizing the funds will now be taken up by the full board next Tuesday for a final vote on it. The fiscal panel had first taken up the matter at its September 16 meeting but, due to needed amendments to the resolution, had to wait a week before voting to send it to the full board with a positive recommendation. At last week’s hearing Parivar CoFounder and President Anjali Rimi had noted how vital the infusion of city funds is for keeping the agency open. “This is the only lifeline for Parivar Bay Area,” said Rimi, a transgender Kinnar woman who works part-time at the nonprofit when not at her job as an equity officer for the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, currently president of the board, and District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan, who stepped down as budget chair last month amid her bid for a congressional seat in the November election, co-sponsored the resolution. Gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who now chairs the budget committee, signed on as a cosponsor. Despite the “budgetary shortfalls” the city has had to grapple with of late, Dorsey had argued at the September 16 hearing that it should spend its money on issues it supports and have become “particularly vulnerable” due to being targeted by the Trump administration. At the same time that the federal government is moving to defund programs for the transgender and immigrant communities, in addition to reproductive services, Dorsey noted there may not be philanthropic support for filling the funding gaps for groups providing such support. “There is really not another option if San Francisco isn’t going to be there. And one of the things, the values that I share with my colleagues ... we have to recognize that sometimes when there’s difficult budget choices to make, there may be another source, some philanthropic support or something out there,” said Dorsey. “For these kinds of more politically charged ones, there really isn’t. And the only calvary that is going to come for these communities is the city and county of San Francisco.” As the Bay Area Reporter first reported in July, Parivar’s future is significantly tied to whether the organization will be
<<
Editorial
From page 8
saw citizens submit the required number of valid signatures to place it on the ballot. Residents in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties will vote November 3 on whether to raise sales taxes for 14 years to fund public transportation. Without this funding, the future of Bay Area public transit would be catastrophic, with significant service cuts in store for BART, AC Transit, Muni, and Caltrain. (Muni also needs the revenue from Prop H, above.) The financial problems transit agencies find themselves in is related to the COVID pandemic that started in 2020. Initially, federal subsidies helped the agencies, but that emergency funding runs out in fiscal year 2027. At the same time, riders have not returned to public transit in the numbers seen prior to the pandemic. While ridership has ticked upward recently – perhaps due in part to higher gas prices because of President
Screengrab via SFGovTV
Parivar Bay Area Co-Founder and President Anjali Rimi
paid for work it did under a city grant it had been awarded by the Human Rights Commission, since rebranded as the Agency for Human Rights. According to city officials, the grant was to expire on December 31, 2024, but Parivar and the city “continued their contractual relationship consistent with the Grant Agreement despite the passing of the expiration date, with the expectation that the Grant Agreement would be formally amended.” Thus, Parivar continued to provide services under the grant but its expiration wasn’t amended to cover that additional work. Now, under the proposed resolution, the HRC would retroactively amend Parivar’s grant agreement so it doesn’t exceed $450,000 and extends to June 30, 2025, “thereby ensuring that additional expenditures incurred to continue capacity building, advocacy, and culturally grounded community programs between January 1, 2025, and June 30, 2025 are reimbursed.” A similar situation occurred with Community United Against Violence, known as CUAV, which works with victims of crimes in the LGBTQI+ and various communities. It had also received a grant from the HRC and continued to provide services upon its expiration with the expectation it would be amended, so the funding would be an extension of that initial grant to cover CUAV’s cost it incurred through June 30, 2025. “Through this funding, CUAV implemented victim assistance for underserved survivors of violence, including specialized expertise addressing the needs of LGBTQI+ survivors, safety-net resources for survivors, and leadership development programming for former service recipients,” according to the resolution also cosponsored by Mandelman and Chan. The budget committee had voted 3-0 on September 16 in support of retroactively awarding CUAV $100,000, and the full board signed off on the resolution at its September 22 meeting with an 11-0 vote. Because they are resolutions, and not ordinances, they only require one vote for passage by the supervisors. “These are two organizations, CUAV and Parivar, that provide very important support to vulnerable communities who are seeing an increase in need in this federal context as queer people, especially queer people of color, are under attack from the federal government,” noted Donald Trump’s war in Iran – they are not at the levels seen in 2019 and previous years. This week, a new study from public policy organization SPUR and engineering and infrastructure consulting firm Jacobs found that the potential transit service cuts facing the Bay Area could have dramatic consequences for drivers and transit riders. Major highway bottlenecks, including peak hour delays of more than double on the Bay Bridge and Highway 101, and triple in the Caldecott Tunnel, are among other gridlock predictions. But the outcomes extend beyond traffic. The study estimates $3,280 in additional transportation costs for displaced riders, $476 million annually in lost productivity across the region, 184,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, and 430,000 people would lose direct station access. In terms of service cuts, the study found BART service cuts of up to 70%, ending service at 9 p.m., up to 15 station closures, and elimination of two lines.
Jesus didn’t discriminate so neither do we. Come and see Dignity/SF, which affirms and supports LGBTQ+ folks. Catholic liturgy Sundays at 5pm, 1329 7th Avenue (Immediately off the N Judah line)
Financial challenges
In fiscal year 2025-26, Parivar covered its programming costs and rent largely via grants from the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community DevelopCome for the service and stay for the fellowship. ment, and California Department of Sodignitysf@gmail.com for more details cial Services. But after not being included Instagram @dignitysanfrancisco † Facebook @DignitySF in the city’s 2026-2027 fiscal year budget, and faced with other financial challenges, Parivar cut its planned $1.1 million budget to $493,000, the B.A.R. previously reported. About 70% of Parivar’s historical Attorney at Law funding has been public, rising to more than 90% since COVID. The nonprofit also announced it was ending its lease at 837 Turk Street this • Divorce w/emphasis on month in order to reduce its costs and Real Estate & Business Divisions was searching for a new location in the • Domestic Partnerships, Support & Custody city for its community programs. Found• Probate and Wills ed in 2018, Parivar offers various “culturally responsive” services, programs and www.SchneiderLawSF.com support to transgender, gender-diverse and intersex (TGNCI) immigrants and asylees, according to its website. *Certified by the California State Bar Parivar has had no full-time staff since last year, while Rimi has never taken a 315 Montgomery St., Ste. 1025, San Francisco, CA 94104 full-time salary for her work at the agency. Since earlier this summer Parivar leaders have been working with the offices of Lurie and Mandelman to seek the emergency funds from the city. It has also raised nearly $40,000 from Serving the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ+ Community Since 1999. individuals and other donors since announcing the fiscal constraints it has • Probate • Wills/Trusts been facing. Those funds will go toward • Trust Admin • Estate Planning its immigration relief work, said Rimi, FLAT FEE! particularly to people who have had their asylum applications denied by the Flood Building, 870 Market St, Suite 420 federal government. By Appointment only! 415-421-1893 “The number one thing we want to focus on is immigration relief. It would be www.ShelleySFeinberg.com • trust@shelleysfeinberg.com pro bono and no bono legal consultation and case retention,” Rimi noted. “Unfortunately, we do not have the funds to do 3/13/25 7:45 PM stipends like we did before. We don’t haveShelley_S_Feinberg_2x2_032025.indd 1 that kind of funding.” As the B.A.R.’s online Political Notes column first reported earlier this month, on October 1 Parivar will be DISPLAY OBITUARIES & IN MEMORIAMS moving into new office space at the Urban Life Center at St. Mark’s Square. Operated by St. Mark’s Lutheran Church at 1031 Franklin Street, the office complex hosts a variety of service providers. Parivar expects to begin meeting with clients there sometime in midOctober and is planning an opening reception on November 8. That Sunday coincides with Diwali, the Festival of Lights, and was when the nonprofit officially opened its Turk Street offices last fall. “We are trans people, we don’t give up,” said Rimi about the ongoing efforts to keep the doors open at Parivar. t
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DISPLAY OBITUARIES & IN MEMORIAM
For Muni, the study found at least 20 bus routes would be eliminated and service reductions of 30% or more, with regular service ending at 9 p.m. Caltrain would see hourly train service, no weekend service, and weekday shutdowns at 9 p.m., according to the study. AC Transit would see service cuts of at least 16%, the study stated. It is imperative that voters across the five Bay Area counties pass RTM. The regional economy depends on people being able to use public transit to get to work, school, and other activities. And even if one doesn’t use public transit, they will be adversely affected if RTM doesn’t pass. “Whether you ride transit or not, no one will be spared the dire impacts from the dramatic service cuts that will occur if we fail to pass the Regional Transit Measure,” stated Libby Schaaf, the former Oakland mayor who is now president and CEO of the Bay Area Council. Vote YES on the Regional Transit Measure. t
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<< Community News
t D8 safety liaison Burke moving to citywide position 10 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
by John Ferrannini
D
istrict 8 public safety liaison Dave Burke has been reflecting on how “things change, things end, and things begin” as he wraps up five years in his role as a civilian employee of the San Francisco Police Department in the district that includes San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood. Burke, a straight ally, will still be working for SFPD, but is transitioning to its community engagement team, incorporating some of the tasks he has picked up in his current role. Burke said all the members of the team are new, though the roles themselves aren’t. He will be starting his new position in November. “I don’t have a lot of super specifics about what I’m going to be doing other than that it’s a citywide role, as opposed to what I do in District 8 with the neighbors, merchants, policy advisory boards, and affinity groups,” he said. “I have a lot of things I’d like to do but … what they need me to do, I’m eager to start.” Among those groups Burke has worked with have been the Castro Merchants Association and the Castro Community Benefit District. Castro Merchants President Nate Bourg, a gay man, stated, “Dave will be missed! His service to our community and constant calming presence in the face of real challenges are a testament to his character and professionalism. I’m glad we’ll continue to see him in the neighborhood.” CBD Executive Director Andrea Aiello, a lesbian, stated, “The Castro CBD and the community, even the unhoused, we are all going to miss Dave. He befriended many of the unhoused and tried to help them as much as possible. The CBD would lean on Dave a lot as we tried to connect people in need with city services. We do wish Dave well in his next endeavor, he’ll certainly be an asset in his
Courtesy the Supervisor’s Office
Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, left, presented a commendation to Dave Burke, the longtime District 8 public safety liaison who is leaving in November for another position with the San Francisco Police Department.
new role, and I hope we will still work together to improve San Francisco and the Castro.” Burke added that he’s an “allhands-on-deck guy” who is “ready to do whatever it is they need me to do, and based on the work I’ve done in District 8.” Burke was hired in late November 2020, as the B.A.R. reported at the time. A Duboce Triangle resident, he has focused on crime prevention and safety, and facilitated communication between District 8 residents and businesses, the police, and gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s office. Burke was recommended for the position by Mandelman, who has been the District 8 supervisor since 2018. Currently the board president, Mandelman is termed out and will be leaving office in early January.
Burke had great things to say about the supervisor and his staff. “I can’t say how grateful I am to Rafael letting me know about this position and I’m really grateful to work for him and his great legislative aides through the years,” he said. “I’ve made some good friends here, and some great colleagues that I would be remiss if I wrapped this up without thanking him.” Burke had replaced Jessica Closson – another straight ally who had started in the role in 2019. But she left after she and her family moved to Seattle in 2020. Burke will be the last dedicated SFPD safety liaison to District 8, at least for now. District 8 got the funding for the community liaison through $75,000 that was secured by gay former Supervisor Jeff Sheehy in 2018, before he left the board.
Burke said that he has spoken to the four candidates seeking the District 8 supervisor seat in the November 3 election. “They’re not going to replace me in District 8 going forward, but I have spoken to each of the four candidates running for supervisor, and I’ve approached them, saying, ‘If you’d like to know what I do in this role, some of the things I do can be duplicated by your legislative staffs,’ if they want to go that way,” Burke said. “I don’t want to be presumptuous, but whoever prevails, I’m happy to talk to.” Mandelman told the B.A.R. that Burke was one of a kind. “He’s been incredibly helpful through the years, and we’re going to miss him a lot,” Mandelman said. Mandelman honored Burke at the September 22 Board of Supervisors meeting with a commendation. The position was the victim of budget cuts, Mandelman said, as the SFPD had to consolidate in its community engagement division. “He was ideally suited to the job,” Mandelman said. “I’m glad he is going to stay working with the department citywide.” The four candidates running to replace Mandelman are Gary McCoy, a gay longtime political aide to Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who’s on leave from her healthcare campaign; Darshini Patel, a bi and queer woman who’s a veteran of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign; Michael Trung Nguyen, a gay patent attorney and drag performer known as Juicy Liu; and Emanuel “Manny” Yekutiel, a gay cafe owner and former nonprofit head. Yekutiel also served on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board. Nguyen told the B.A.R. that Burke “has been an outstanding servant leader to District 8. I am grateful for his service and his offer of support.”
McCoy told the B.A.R. that Burke “has been an incredible asset to the Castro neighborhood and I’ve enjoyed seeing him out daily. I intend to not only replicate his work, but expand on it with block by block support throughout the district, a model pioneered by Los Angeles Councilmember Nithya Raman, to pair sustained outreach with offers of shelter and housing when beds become available.” (Raman is in a tight race for Los Angeles mayor November 3 against the incumbent, Karen Bass.) Yekutiel stated he is “sad to see Dave leave District 8, but this is a well-deserved opportunity for him to bring his leadership citywide. He’s done a phenomenal job as our public safety liaison, earning the trust of residents, neighborhood leaders, and small businesses by being responsive, present and focused on results. He understands that good government starts with showing up, listening to people, and actually solving the problems in front of them, and San Francisco needs more of that.” Patel didn’t return a request for comment. Burke said he was approached for the new position by Nicole H. Jones, an assistant chief and the chief of staff of the SFPD. Jones forwarded a request for comment to SFPD spokesperson Evan Sernoffsky, who did not respond. There are about five people currently on the community engagement team. In the meantime, Burke said he isn’t going anywhere and will try to continue to be of service to his community in District 8. “My mission is not going to change, I will continue to serve and help people here,” he said. Burke made $170,789 in total compensation and had a $122,108 salary at his current position, according to a database of city employee salaries recently published by the San Francisco Chronicle. t
t
Community News>>
September 24-30, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 11
Castro Street Fair goes abroad for artwork compiled by Cynthia Laird
C
Ece Kalabak and Özgür Baltutan
This year’s promotional art for the Castro Street Fair was designed by Turkish artists.
simultaneous raids on the offices of LGBTQ rights organizations and HIVadvocacy groups in the cities of Istanbul, the capital, Ankara, and the coastal city of İzmir, as well as the cities of Aydın and Mersin.
“This is the widest crackdown on LGBTQ+ people in recent years,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, of Human Rights Watch, the Guardian reported. While homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey, prosecutors in Ankara have
TwentyFour in Berlin. Baltutan is a multidisciplinary graphic and digital designer with more than 20 years of experience. He has specialized in product design over the last five years, the release noted. For more information about the Castro Street Fair, visit castrostreetfair. org.
D8 supe forum on HIV/AIDS issues
The San Francisco HIV/AIDS Provider Network will host a forum for the four candidates seeking the District 8 seat on the Board of Supervisors. The event takes place Thursday, September 24, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Strut, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s health center in the Castro, located at 470 Castro Street. According to an announcement, the nonpartisan forum will focus on issues specific to HIV and LGBTQ communities. All qualified candidates have agreed to participate: gay men Gary McCoy, Michael Nguyen, and Emanuel “Manny” Yekutiel, and queer bisexual woman Darshini Patel. San Francisco’s District 8 includes the Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park, Diamond Heights, and Cole Valley. By neighborhood, the Castro has the highest HIV prevalence in San Francisco, the announcement noted. This event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, visit https://tinyurl. com/4fchcf8h. The HAPN is a coalition of community-based, nonprofit agencies that serve people living with and at risk of HIV/AIDS in San Francisco. See page 14 >>
VOTE THIS FALL
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November 3, 2026, Consolidated General Election
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olorful art depicting, among other things, the historic Castro Theatre sign is promoting this year’s Castro Street Fair, bringing the theme, “Where We Belong” to life, fair officials stated. The original art selected by the fair’s board was done by an artist and graphic designer who are based in Istanbul, Turkey. Ece Kalabak designed the piece, with adaptations by graphic designer Özgür Baltutan, according to a news release from the street fair. The artwork serves as the foundation of the fair’s 2026 visual identity and marketing campaign, appearing across advertising, social media, digital communications, print materials, merchandise, signage, and other creative elements, the release noted. This year’s street fair takes place Sunday, October 4, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in San Francisco’s LGBTQ neighborhood. There’s a suggested donation of $10-$20. “‘Where We Belong’ is both a celebration and a promise,” stated Redge Roberts, a gay man who is president of the fair board. “The Castro has long been a place where people come together, find community, and live more openly and joyfully. This year’s theme reflects our belief that every member of our community deserves to belong.” The release described Kalabak’s art as showcasing the Castro’s Victorian homes and rolling hills, the iconic theater sign, lush California foliage, rainbow forms, performers, and a joyful crowd of characters. Riley Manlapaz, who serves as secretary of the fair board, was asked why a local LGBTQ artist wasn’t selected. It is not known how Kalabak identifies, as she did not respond to an online message seeking comment. Turkey has been the site of raids and arrests of LGBTQ community members, according to recent media reports. The Guardian reported that on September 13, Turkish police carried out
accused LGBTQ+ rights groups of violating laws prohibiting “obscenity,” and those governing non-governmental organizations, although formal charges remain opaque, according to the Guardian. Manlapaz stated in an email reply that the board didn’t know Kalabak and Baltutan’s place of residence until after notifying them of the board’s decision. “Each year, the board’s artist search is an open call that we share broadly, with the intention of making the process as inclusive and accessible as possible,” Manlapaz wrote. “We review the submitted materials and take into account the aesthetics, how well elements can be modified for various uses, and how well it reflects the year’s theme.” Manlapaz noted Kalabak’s selection stood out “for how strongly the artist’s work connected with this year’s theme, ‘Where We Belong.’” Manlapaz acknowledged there are many local queer artists in San Francisco and the Bay Area. “We recognize the importance of supporting our local creative community, and we’ve discussed moving forward with the artist search focusing more specifically on Bay Area-based artists while maintaining an open and inclusive selection process,” Manlapaz stated. The selected artist is compensated for the commissioned work, Manlapaz explained, though the amount of compensation for Kalabak and Baltutan was not disclosed. According to the release, Kalabak is a graduate of the painting department at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul and has more than two decades of creative experience. Her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including Gallery
Bal le Ret t Enveurn Sa lope Elen Francis cti co
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<< Community News
t London authorities reveal Heklina’s cause of death 12 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
by Cynthia Laird
scene in the 1990s and 2000s. The 2023 statement added that Heklina’s “work as a producer and performer included collaborations on stage and on film, with one of her best friends Peaches Christ. Heklina’s accomplishments as a performer, producer, and transgressive LGBTQ+ rights advocate have left an indelible mark on drag, the entertainment industry, San Francisco, and the queer communities worldwide.” Heklina’s sudden death prompted an outpouring of support in the Bay Area and around the world. In her own statement she emailed to supporters of Oasis at the time of Heklina’s death, Drollinger called Heklina’s passing “a devastating blow to the community” that was personally heartbreaking. Heklina had been a part owner of Oasis. In 2015, along with Drollinger and other investors, Heklina opened Oasis in South of Market; the same building that once housed the original Oasis. The nightclub has become popular for not only drag shows and DJed dance nights, but comic plays and musicals, cabaret concerts, and community fundraisers. Heklina later sold her share of Oasis ownership and moved to Palm Springs, while still keeping a foothold in the Bay Area’s nightlife scene. In a text message, Drollinger stated that she hoped the police findings “bring some measure of closure after years of unanswered questions” to the many people who loved Heklina. “I also hope it serves as a wake-up call to the London police and law enforcement everywhere that the deaths of LGBTQ+ people deserve to be taken seriously, investigated thoroughly, and treated with the same urgency and humanity as anyone else,” wrote Drollinger. Drollinger added that she’ll always miss Heklina.
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uthorities in London last week released the cause of death for drag artist Heklina, whose body was found in a flat in that city over three years ago. As the Bay Area Reporter and other outlets noted in 2025, police said then that Heklina had had drugs in her system. That was confirmed September 15 during an inquest, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which ruled that Heklina, the drag persona of Stefan Grygelko, died of acute mixed drug toxicity. Cocaine, MDMA (aka ecstasy or molly), methamphetamines, GHB, and ketamine were among the illegal substances found in her system, which police determined were consumed consensually over 48 hours, the Chronicle reported. https://www.sfchronicle. com/entertainment/article/heklinalondon-inquest-cause-22431801.php Heklina, 55, died April 3, 2023. At the time, Heklina was in London with her friend and tour partner, Peaches Christ (Joshua Grannell), to perform their “Mommie Queerist” show. In a March 2025 article, the B.A.R. reported that London Metropolitan Police officials were in California as part of their investigation. Peaches said at the time that British authorities told her that a “lethal amount of drugs” was found in Heklina’s system. https://www.ebar. com/story/153760 The Metropolitan Police did not return a request for comment, though it did confirm the inquest. At this week’s inquest, authorities also acknowledged the case was mishandled. Peaches and other friends have maintained for years that homophobia played a part in the stalled investigation, as the B.A.R. noted. “The initial investigation into Steven’s death was not good enough,” Detective Chief Superintendent Christina Jessah, who leads policing in Soho, said
Gooch
London authorities have released the cause of death for drag artist Heklina.
in the statement, the Chronicle reported. “While the shortcomings identified ultimately had no bearing on the outcome of this tragedy, the investigation did not meet the high standards we expect of ourselves.” Peaches did not immediately return a request for comment, but wrote in a Facebook post about her frustrations with the investigation. “I’m experiencing very mixed emotions following the inquest into Heklina’s death and the news that the Metropolitan Police has reprimanded detectives over failings in the handling of her case,” Peaches stated. “The failings that let down Heklina and all of us who loved her.”
Pioneering drag figure
Heklina was a pioneering figure in the San Francisco drag scene and an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ lives, according to a joint statement released shortly after her death by Peaches, drag artist D’Arcy Drollinger, and Grygelko’s estate. She was the co-founder of the iconic and transgressive drag night Trannyshack, which became an important mainstay of the San Francisco nightlife
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“She wasn’t just my friend; she was my creative partner, and together we built two things that have become enormous parts of my life: Oasis and ‘Golden Girls Live.’ I feel her presence in both of them all the time,’ Drollinger stated. “Every time a curtain goes up, every time a room at Oasis fills with laughter, joy, and beautiful weirdos, a little piece of Heklina is still there. “I’m incredibly grateful for what we created together, and I’ll carry her, and that legacy, with me for the rest of my life,” stated Drollinger. At the start of 2026, Oasis had been shuttered for renovations, and almost was going to be closed for good, until Sky Stevens, a frequent patron and fan of the club, told his parents, philanthro-
Obituaries >> William “Bill” Beasley October 29, 1938 – August 17, 2026
William “Bill” Beasley was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 29, 1938, the third of four children born to the late Amos and Susie Beasley. He was raised in a loving, supportive, and God-centered family that instilled in him the values of faith, compassion, courage, and standing up for what is right. Bill graduated from Henry McNeal Turner High School in 1956. At just 19 years old, he became involved in the civil rights movement, participating in pickets and sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Atlanta. He was arrested during one of these demonstrations, but rather than discourage him, the experience strengthened his commitment to equality and justice. In the late 1950s, Bill courageously embraced his identity as a gay man and moved from Atlanta to St. Louis and later Los Angeles. He continued his activism through the anti-war movement, protesting the use of napalm and other toxic agents during the Vietnam War. He was also a pioneering figure in the early gay rights movement and a founding member of Christopher Street West, which helped lay the foundation for what would become Los Angeles Pride. Eventually settling in Berkeley, California, Bill continued serving his community through organizations including Berkeley’s Pacific Center for Human Growth and the old East Bay Gay Day. Throughout his life, he remained committed to standing up for people who were marginalized, mistreated, or without a voice. Bill was a past member of the San Francisco Pride board of directors and was a lifetime achievement grand marshal in 2009. Bill’s faith remained central to his life. He was a longtime and devoted member of St. Columba Catholic Church, where his love for God was reflected in the kindness, compassion, acceptance, and dignity he showed others. Bill lived a life of courage, conviction, faith, and service. He believed every person deserved to be treated with respect and that one person willing to stand up could inspire others to do the same. His memory will be cherished by sister-in-law, Naomi Beasley; nephews and niece, James Beasley (Cynthia), Chris Beasley (Lateassia), and Deidra Beasley; dear friends, Joshua Smith and Lisa Williams and Dewitt Hoard; and the many family members, friends, and people whose lives he touched. A celebration of Bill’s life will be held Thursday, September 24, at 11 a.m. at Saint Columba Catholic Church, 6401 San Pablo Avenue in Oakland.
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pists Mark and Mary Stevens, about the imminent closure. A well-known venture capitalist and a partner at Menlo Park-based S-Cubed Capital, Mark Stevens’ lastminute $3.5 million donation led to preventing the club from permanently closing, allowing the staff and designers to make renovations and improve the venue itself, as the B.A.R. reported. Oasis Arts, the nonprofit that runs the nightclub at 298 11th Street, now owns it outright. The organization has also hired Madeline Howard as its first director of development and expanded its board to 11 members. Oasis reopened amid much fanfare in July. t
June 24, 1944 – September 7, 2026
Glenn Robert Lym, a man of wideranging and insatiable curiosity, died suddenly September 7 at his home in San Francisco. He came
out of the closet in midlife and soon made an impact in the San Francisco leather community as an impact player. He was a regular at Deadhead gatherings, Billy Strings concerts, the San Francisco Symphony’s SoundBox series, Sightglass Coffee, and Eagle beer busts – where he was a gregarious and affable presence. Glenn received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard. He worked for the distinguished Bay Area architecture firm Esherick Homsey Dodge & Davis and later as a solo residential architect. He authored a book, “The Psychology of Building: How We Shape and Experience Our Structured Spaces.” His video series on San Francisco neighborhood history is online at https://www. youtube.com/@lymarchvideo. Another documentary traces the history of his great-grandfather, Lim Lip Hong, who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad. Glenn is dearly missed by his wife Ruth; daughter Mindy and daughterin-law Laine; and fondly remembered by friends in the Burning Man Camp Comfort & Joy, his Buddhist sangha, Wednesday Zoom group, and Sunday Kaffeeklatsch. Plans for a memorial have not been set.
Peter Kearns August 6, 1963 – September 19, 2026
[Editor’s note: The deceased wanted his obituary written in the form of a love letter to San Francisco.] Dear San Francisco, You were Peter’s home and his heart for 40 years. You welcomed a young man with open arms, and it was here that he found people who became his lifelong family, went to law school, and built a legal career that allowed him to give back to you. Though his circle of love stretched far beyond your hills to family and friends across the country and even the globe, more than anywhere else, you held his heart. Alongside his sister, Ellyn; his brothers, Paul and Robert; his stepchildren; nieces, and nephews; Peter leaves behind the newest generation: his beautiful granddaughter, Leena, who always brought the biggest smile to Peter’s face. Above all, you gave him 17 years with his loving husband, Dan Egerter. When Peter was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just two months ago, he faced it with incredible bravery, choosing to say goodbye on his own terms. He wanted everyone to know how lucky and deeply grateful he felt. He left nothing undone, and there was nothing left he wished he had done. He loved you fiercely, San Francisco. Thank you for giving him such a wonderful life! A celebration of life gathering is being planned. In lieu of flowers, Peter would surely love supporting a local artist.
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Community News >>
September 24-30, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 13
Defendant in vandalism case back in custody by John Ferrannini
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defendant accused of homophobic and antisemitic vandalism at a San Francisco church is back in custody after a judge declared doubt as to his competence to stand trial. The man, Sadat Mousa, had been released on bail earlier this year. Mousa, 51, who is accused of vandalizing the San Francisco Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, at 2889 California Street back in February, had a September 9 court date set, at which time it was to be determined if the case could proceed to trial. That date was subsequently moved to September 17. Mousa has been charged with felony vandalism with a hate crime enhancement, two felony counts of felony vandalism at a place of worship, felony placement of a swastika, and two misdemeanor counts of vandalism. Mousa pleaded not guilty both before and after a preliminary hearing in May. On Thursday, in the courtroom of San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry M. Dorfman, Assistant District Attorney Yuri Chornobil said the prosecution was ready to proceed. But
John Ferrannini
A defendant in a vandalism and hate crime case was remanded into custody following a hearing at the San Francisco Hall of Justice.
Mousa’s attorney Lawrence S. Strauss, said the court should ask Mousa if he wanted to represent himself. Mousa “thinks we’re co-counsels. He wants to run the show,” Strauss said. Strauss told the judge, “I want the
court to ask Mr. Mousa if he wants to be his own attorney or not.” Mousa affirmed he did want to represent himself, and characterized Strauss as his “assistant.” Dorfman said that Mousa filing what’s called a Faretta motion would entail a whole process for him to represent himself. However, as Dorfman attempted to proceed, Mousa continued to interject and go on unprompted tangents. Because of such behavior, Dorfman said, “It won’t be an easy showing for Mr. Mousa to prove to me he should represent himself ” once the Faretta motion is filed. As Mousa continued to interject, Dorfman ordered Mousa ejected from the court. Later in the morning, he took up the case again, telling the defendant, “Mr. Mousa, every time you appear – except one time … you rant, you go on tangents, you interrupt.” While Mousa was found competent several months ago, Dorfman questioned whether that was still the case. Psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey L. Gould and psychologist Yan Chan, Pys.D., determined Mousa was competent before his preliminary hearing in the spring.
Nancy Tung, who handles hate crime prosecutions for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, said the people would object to Mousa being found incompetent. Strauss, too, said he believed Mousa to be competent, in response to which Dorfman pointed out Strauss had yelled at Mousa in court that very morning. “I am declaring a doubt as to competence,” Dorfman ruled, setting a hearing in Department 15 at 9 a.m. September 24, and ordering Mousa remanded into custody. Mousa characterized the ruling as “treason” and compared his arrest to that of Jesus Christ’s. “That’s just further proof,” Dorfman remarked. After the hearing, Strauss told the B.A.R. he thought Dorfman made the wrong decision to hold Mousa in custody. “While he can declare a doubt, I don’t think the judge made the right decision to remand him when he’s attended every court appearance,” Strauss said, adding he will be appealing it at the hearing next week. The DA’s office didn’t return a request to comment for this report. According to prosecutors, the graf-
fiti attributed to Mousa included proHitler, pro-Hamas, and homophobic statements – causing an estimated $20,000 in damages, and leading to the hate crime charge. According to the DA’s office, in June 2025 Mousa threatened to commit a mass shooting. The charging document states that Mousa announced at a convenience store that, “I am going to get an AK-47, and I am going to go to a synagogue and shoot all the Jews and then shoot all the gays in San Francisco.” The Seventh-day Adventist Church has not responded to the B.A.R.’s repeated requests for comment. Enos Johnson, the head deacon at the church, testified during Mousa’s preliminary hearing May 20, saying he found out about the graffiti when he arrived at 8:30 a.m. February 28, a Saturday morning, and found a police unit at the church. This was the same morning that the American-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic of Iran began. The church in July had experienced a major fire that its pastor told KGO-TV was caused by construction work. t
SF gay murder house put up for auction by Ed Walsh
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here may be a light at the end of the tunnel for neighbors of a San Francisco house connected with the gruesome murder of a gay man in 2018. The decrepit house at 228 Clara Street in the city’s South of Market neighborhood is being sold in an auction that will close October 8, according to online real estate listings. Brian Egg, 65, had lived in the house since the 1970s. His rotting torso was found secreted in a fish tank in the home in August 2018. Two suspects were initially arrested in connection with his murder but were never charged. The case remains unsolved. As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, the house has been plagued with squatters, trash, and graffiti for years. Next door neighbor Wilma Parker told the B.A.R. last month that the house has been a “nightmare” for her. Another neighbor circulated an online petition to urge the city to expedite a demolition permit for the property. The house has been subject to at least 14 formal complaints since 2020, according to city records.
Ed Walsh
The San Francisco house at 228 Clara Street previously owned by gay homicide victim Brian Egg is up for auction, according to real estate records.
In August, a notice from the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection was posted on the house and directed to the house’s owner, Shahram Bijan. It instructed him or his representative to appear at a hearing on September 3. He was a
no-show at the hearing, prompting an abatement being issued against the property. The abatement would include a fine that would likely be added to the owner’s tax bill. The standard fine issued for abatement is $1,850.
Neither Bijan, nor the property listing agent, nor the auction company responded to the B.A.R.’s requests for comment. According to city records, Bijan owes $92,994.20 in back taxes and the property has been in default since July 2, 2023. Bijan purchased the house in 2019 for $1.5 million. According to the current real estate listing he put more than $1 million in the home for plans and permits. The listing includes an architectural rendering of a nine-unit condo development and states that was approved and is shovel ready. Egg had purchased the house in the mid-1970s for $19,000. While authorities discovered Egg’s torso, his head and hands were never found. Neighbors were critical of police for not taking their concerns seriously when they reported suspicious activity at the house following Egg’s disappearance. He was last seen alive in late May or early June 2018. Police found his torso in a fish tank in the house on August 17, 2018. They had been searching the home for four days after they were
alerted by neighbors that a crime scene cleanup company showed up at the home. Police said at the time that the company was hired by one of the transients living in the home. According to Zillow, Bijan listed the property for sale for $3 million in 2023. The asking price has been reduced a number of times since then. The current real estate listing states that the property would likely be sold at auction for $1 million to $1.5 million. The sale at the conclusion of the auction could be good news for neighbors if the new owner has success pushing forward with demolition of the house and construction of the condo development. The real estate listing states that the house is permitted for demolition. But in August, Planning Department and Department of Building Inspection spokesperson Patrick Hannan told the B.A.R., “The permit application was approved in 2023 but the property owner still needs to provide additional documentation and pay their fees to get the demolition or building permits issued.” t
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<< Community News
14 • Bay Area Reporter • September 24-30, 2026
<<
Newsom
From page 1
Bauer-Kahan has yet to issue a statement about the governor’s veto, while her office noted to the Bay Area Reporter she is off Monday due to the Yom Kippur holiday. A spokesperson for the LGBTQ caucus said it would “defer to the lead author for any comment.” Reproductive Freedom for All California had urged Newsom to enact AB 2164. Its Director of State Campaigns Pavitra Abraham told the B.A.R. the organization is “deeply disappointed by Governor Newsom’s veto of AB 2164, which leaves California’s protections for abortion providers in the hands of whoever occupies the governor’s office.” Referring to gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton running to succeed Newsom, Abraham noted, “We have an extreme Republican candidate at the top of the ticket this November who has been clear about his intention to extradite providers, and this is a missed opportunity to ensure California abortion providers can continue providing the best care possible to their patients without risk of being prosecuted for simply doing their jobs.” Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, a lead sponsor of the bill, noted 18 gov-
<<
News Briefs
From page 11
LGBTQ focus groups on stroke care
A group of LGBTQ stroke survivors, caregivers, researchers, and health advocates are holding a series of focus groups geared toward subsets of the queer community. The project is part of an awareness campaign around stroke that the Bay Area Reporter covered in June. Dr. Nicole Rosendale, who is cisgender and identifies as pansexual, queer, and femme, is a neurologist at UCSF. She has been working with the Brain Health Advocacy for Visibility and Equity, or BRAVE, advisory group that is based at
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ernors have “signed identical provisions into law without fanfare” as they are “a common sense solution to a problem that keeps providers up at night.” ACT Legal Director Lizzy Hinkley pledged to work with the state’s next governor, widely expected to be Democratic former state attorney general Xavier Becerra, to enact them. “Governor Newsom explained his veto decision as one of principled respect for executive power. But an outgoing Governor’s principled stance is cold comfort to Californians living and working in the real world post-Dobbs,” stated Hinkley, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court decision ending the federal right to abortion. “A high-brow, academic justification for refusing to codify legal protections only reveals an ignorance for the lived reality of patients and providers – and does nothing to help them.” During his gubernatorial tenure, amid legislative and legal attacks against abortion providers and doctors who treat trans individuals, particularly minors, Newsom has enacted various bills to protect such services and service providers in the Golden State. Three years ago he signed into law legislation authored by gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) establishing California as a transgender refuge state.
As such, it is state policy to reject any out-of-state court judgments removing trans kids from their parents’ custody because they allowed them to receive gender-affirming healthcare. State health officials are also forbidden from complying with subpoenas seeking health records and any information related to such criminal cases, and public safety officers must make out-of-state criminal arrest warrants for such parents their lowest priority. Last year, Newsom signed into law Wiener’s Senate Bill 497, which expanded California’s transgender shield laws to prohibit healthcare providers from complying with subpoenas requiring the disclosure of medical information related to gender-affirming healthcare. It also made accessing and knowingly sharing health data from a state database without a warrant to unauthorized parties a misdemeanor, as the B.A.R. reported. Newsom cited the “numerous, important policies” he and state lawmakers had enacted over the past eight years aimed at “protecting the right of access to healthcare in this state” in his veto message on AB 2164. “Together, we have passed into law the nation’s strongest protections for people seeking and providing those services, including expanding privacy protections for pro-
viders, enacting safeguards against the enforcement of other states’ laws that penalize individuals for obtaining care, and authorizing a party aggrieved by a violation of the Reproductive Privacy Act to bring a civil action against an offending state actor.” Various bills relating to LGBTQ issues await Newsom’s signature or veto, as the B.A.R. reported last month. He has until September 30 to either reject them or sign them into law.
Openhouse, the LGBTQ senior housing services agency. The advisory group conducted an online survey earlier this year and has passed out informational materials at queer events. For the focus groups, no medical experience is needed and participants will receive a $15 Visa gift card, according to a flyer. Sessions will last between 60-90 minutes and take place at Openhouse, 75 Laguna Street (check-in at the reception desk). Participants will be asked to share their thoughts on stroke care, the flyer noted. The focus group for transgender and gender-diverse adults will be held Wednesday, September 30, at 3 p.m. A focus group for Black/African
American LGBTQ adults will take place Thursday, October 1, at 2 p.m. Rosendale noted in an email that the Spanish-language focus group is full. A focus group for LGBTQ Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders has already taken place. Interested people can contact Rosendale at nicole.rosendale@ucsf.edu with their name and the date of the focus group to register.
According to an announcement, the panel will discuss LGBTQ-affirming housing and land use. It is for longtime residents and property owners thinking about what comes next, and how land use and housing decisions made today can keep the Castro a home for queer communities for years to come. Panelists are longtime Castro resident Ellen Leonard, who will discuss her hopes for the future of her three-unit property; Jesse Sanford, who will talk about land use tools and was involved in forming the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District; and representatives of the land trust, who will discuss owning and stewarding land as affordable, quality housing for future generations. Opening
LGBTQ-affirming housing panel
The San Francisco Community Land Trust will have a panel discussion, “Our Homes, Our Castro,” Monday, October 5, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Strut, 470 Castro Street.
CA to mark Dolly Parton Day
One bill he signed over the weekend establishes September 25, or 9-2-5, as Dolly Parton Day in California beginning with this Friday. Succeeding governors will now be required to do so in honor of the country music star, actor, humanitarian, and lifelong straight ally to the LGBTQ community, who died August 25 at the age of 80 after a battle with cancer. “We could all afford to live a little more like Dolly. Be kind, be humble, and have some fun. ... Be a diamond in a rhinestone world. With this bill, we are not just establishing a day to celebrate Dolly Parton, we are creating an annual reminder to us, every year, to live the way she did — joyfully, graciously, and with a whole lot of heart,” stated Newsom, who released a video message about the new
Folsom Street Fair
From page 1
Those entrances will be located at Seventh and Folsom streets, 13th and Folsom streets, Dore Alley at Howard Street, and at the Eagle Plaza on Bernice Street. “We saw less attendees enter through the back entrances, so our staff was spread super thin, and we think it’s more supportive to attendees and our staff to have a lot of folks help folks get into the fair, but fewer spots, so people can have more breaks,” Adeyoha said in a phone interview. “That was a simple decision. We were seeing 6% or less [attendees enter] through some of those smaller gates. We want to give more for where people are actually coming in, and in particular, at Seventh Street.” Adeyoha said the physical spaces allotted to the entrances this year will be larger because the city has asked them to “so as to not let the crowds spill onto the surrounding streets while they’re waiting to get in.” The Folsom Street Fair began in 1984 as Megahood, founded dually as a bulwark against gentrification and to shore up a leather community based in SOMA that was particularly hit hard during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. In the years just before, Folsom Street had been christened the “Miracle Mile” for the long strip of leather bars, BDSM clubs, and bathhouses that had lined it. Today, only a few vestiges of that explosion of sexual freedom remain, though the fair was successful at buttressing the neighborhood as a peak destination for leatherfolk and kinksters. Gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents SOMA, paid tribute to the event in a statement to the B.A.R. He also highlighted that this will be the first time the Folsom Street Fair is being held since the Folsom Street entertainment zone was approved. Activation of the zone for special events allows alcohol to be sold by businesses within it for consumption outdoors. It was activated for the first time
Bill Wilson
LeatherWalk participants took to the South of Market neighborhood September 20.
in SOMA over the summer for the Up Your Alley fair, though outdoor sale and consumption of alcohol has occurred at the events for years. “The Folsom Street Fair is one of San Francisco’s most iconic celebrations, bringing more than 200,000 people together to celebrate the leather and kink communities that have deep roots in our city,” stated Dorsey, who joined Sunday’s LeatherWalk kicking off the annual Leather Week observance ahead of the fair. “I’ve been proud to champion legislation that has expanded entertainment opportunities throughout the Folsom and 11th Street corridors. Most recently, I’m especially proud to have established the new Folsom Street Entertainment Zone, which will allow fairgoers to purchase to-go drinks from participating neighborhood leather bars and enjoy them outdoors while experiencing everything the fair and Folsom Street have to offer.” According to Adeyoha, Folsom Street is “waiting for final word from the entertainment commission, the entertainment zone businesses will be allowed to sell alcohol [for outdoor consumption].
Otherwise, several brick-and-mortar locations are open during the fair for both food and drink.” The commission didn’t return a request to comment. There is a $10-$20 suggested donation at the fair entrances. Major credit cards in addition to cash are accepted. A donation sticker gives one $2 off drinks at any of the 10 outdoor bars. A map of the footprint is available on the fair’s website. The fair is expected to see 225,000 attendees, Adeyoha said, adding that a recent expansion of the footprint was positively received by city leaders and attendees for making it safer and easier to navigate. “It solves the problem we were bumping up against because it’s dangerous to have too many people packed into too small of a space,” Adeyoha said. The fair’s footprint is bounded by Howard Street on the north, Harrison Street on the south, 13th Street on the west, and Seventh Street on the east.
New visitors expected
One new attendee this year will be former WWE star Patrick Clark, who
is straight. He will be “doing promotion, autographs, and a meet-andgreet,” he told the B.A.R. in a phone interview, alongside the Black Wrestling Network. “I really haven’t thought about in terms of meeting fans … there may be many fans that come out, but I don’t know how it’s going to be,” he added. “It’s a street fair. I’ve never done a signing at a street fair, but it should be interesting. I’ve done some research on the fair, so I’m excited to see what the atmosphere is … and grateful for the opportunity.” Clark will be available at the Black Wrestling Network booth. There’ll be a six-tent public health village near the main entrance by The Stud at Seventh and Folsom streets hosted by the San Francisco Community Health Center and its partners. In one place, attendees can get doxyPEP (up to six tablets after a consultation with a physician); PrEP for HIV and counseling on the different PrEP options that are available; mpox vaccinations for anyone needing a first or second dose; and free point-of-care testing
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state commemorative day with his wife, first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. As the B.A.R.’s News Briefs column noted, state Senators Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) and John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), a longtime gay elected official, cowrote SB 931 and got it passed before the end of the legislative session on August 31. Since Parton’s passing, a number of state and municipal jurisdictions across the country have developed plans to honor the star on September 25, which plays on her first movie, the 1980 comedy hit “9 to 5” that also stars Jane Fonda and lesbian comedian Lily Tomlin. “I’m grateful to Governor Newsom for signing our bill and to Senator Grove for her partnership in making September 25 Dolly Parton Day in California,” stated Laird. “Dolly brought joy to a lot of people, but her legacy goes well beyond her music. Through the Imagination Library, she put books into the hands of millions of children, and throughout her life she led with kindness, acceptance, and a belief that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. She was also no stranger to the Central Coast, where she performed for packed crowds and spent time over the years. Now, every 9-2-5, California gets to celebrate Dolly and the remarkable legacy she shared with all of us.” t
remarks will be delivered by Jen Reck, an associate professor of sociology and sexuality studies at San Francisco State University who will highlight neighborhood changes in the LGBTQ Castro district. The panel, including a Q&A portion, starts at 6:30 p.m. A reception with light refreshments follows at 8. Leonard was featured in an article in The Frisc about land trust issues earlier this year. The meeting is supported by the LGBTQ cultural district; LGBTQ senior agency Openhouse; the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District; and the Council of Community Housing Organizations. The event is free to attend. To register, visit https://tinyurl.com/mr4yta35. t for HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis C. Among the partners are the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Mission Wellness, and Walgreens. Robert Goldfarb, a gay man who’s the executive director of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, told the B.A.R. in a phone interview that the district will be having its well-received gear swap at the fair. The cultural district’s booth will be on Folsom Street between Dore Alley and Ninth Street. “People can make donations of used goods” at the swap meet, he said. “We also have gently-loved items for sale that have been lightly used.” Proceeds from the swap benefit the leather district. Goldfarb said that Folsom is the district’s time to shine. “Folsom is huge, and we love the influx of people and all the visitors, and the activation of the businesses,” he said. “It’s great to see everyone having a great time. … We want everyone to come out, have a good time, and enjoy themselves and all that San Francisco has to offer.” Whether or not the sun will shine upon the fair itself is another question, however. Asked about the forecast, Adeyoha said, “I check every morning like a maniac.” Recent fairs have seen weather copacetic to the theme; as Adeyoha noted, Up Your Alley was sunny at 69 degrees. “If we needed further proof God loves the gays, we were all very lucky with the weather, and hope that’ll be the case again,” Adeyoha said. As of press time Tuesday, San Francisco is slated for partly cloudy skies with a high of 65 degrees. “Of course, we’ll have local sports teams rub sunscreen on you if you forget yours,” Adeyoha said. “It’ll be one of our best fairs ever.” For more information about the Folsom Street Fair, visit folsomstreet. org. t
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From the Cover >>
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“No crotches, buttocks, go-go dancers below the belt. No kissing.” Cook said people came to him and said the account was being too conservative. “They said, ‘We think you’re being too strict, perhaps,’ and I said, ‘I don’t care. After two huge accounts were gone, we can’t afford to hope Meta is going to be reasonable.” Instagram has taken on a larger and larger share of nightlife promotion in recent years, as it’s the most popular social media platform among young adults in the United States, after YouTube, which is owned by Google. “I come from an era pre-Instagram in terms of promoting events,” Cook said. “When we opened an Instagram 14 years ago, people thought, ‘Why does a bar need an Instagram?’ But over the years we’ve become quite dependent on it. Instagram itself is probably the biggest platform online to be able to connect with the community and promote our bar, our events, shows, and performances. It’s so vital to what we do, and I’m able to see the difference in attendance and sales in years we had the Instagram accounts versus when we were deactivated and had to rebuild.” After the second account was taken down, Cook reached out to the offices of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, a straight ally, and gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). “Daniel Lurie’s team took it on and said the mayor is quite interested in this,” he said.
September 24-30, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 15
However, someone at Meta didn’t get back to Lurie’s staff for about a month after that, Cook told the B.A.R. By that time, he was building the newest (third) account for Beaux. Lurie, who also has a large following on Instagram and uses his account to promote businesses in the city, affirmed to the B.A.R. that the topic is of interest to him. “LGBTQ+ small businesses in our city rely on social media to reach people and bring in customers,” he stated. “So when they get kicked off those platforms, it undermines our entire LGBTQ+ community and our city’s recovery – and we’re going to help however we can.” Though the B.A.R. reached out to Beaux last year, Cook said he thought staying out of the wider controversy of LGBTQ accounts being taken down by Instagram’s parent company Meta would help him preserve the newest account. He went public last week when that turned out not to be the case, reaching out to the news media and on social media. “This time we had to go public and share our stories and not be afraid of retaliation,” Cook said. Across the three accounts that’d been taken down, Cook said the bar lost 25,000 followers. Cook said he followed the advice of Piranha LGBTQ nightclub in Las Vegas in going public on social media and reaching out to various community leaders, as well as tagging Meta “and essentially shame them into being accountable.” Piranha’s attorney, David E. Chavez, a
gay man, said in a phone interview that he was the one who recommended to Piranha that it run essentially a “public relations” campaign to get its account back. The account was restored shortly after the club actually filed a civil complaint against Meta, which has since been dropped. “Instagram in Nevada is considered a place of public accommodation … and you cannot discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and so we were able to hang our hat on that,” he said. (In California, the courts have interpreted the Unruh Civil Rights Act to require a physical space.) Cook talked with Honey Mahogany, a Black queer trans person who is the executive director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives and part owner of The Stud, whose accounts were similarly taken down briefly around Up Your Alley weekend in July. He also spoke with the owners of Powerhouse, whose accounts were also taken down and reinstated in August. Mahogany told the B.A.R., “At this point it’s getting ridiculous,” mentioning the Precinct shutdown from just hours earlier. “I don’t know if this is a coordinated campaign, the result of a new policy, or simply the fact that there are no longer actual human beings reviewing these cases, but clearly LGBTQ people are being disproportionately affected by this. Meta needs to take responsibility here and fix what has been broken.” Powerhouse didn’t return a request to comment for this report, but Mahogany said at the time, “The Stud is a labor of
love. We are a collectively owned venue where none of the owners have seen a profit. We keep the place open on a razor-thin margin so having our only source of marketing shut down this weekend is going to be devastating to our club and puts us at risk.” The Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District had its Meta accounts deactivated in July as well. Robert Goldfarb, a gay man who’s the executive director of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, stated to the B.A.R. on September 22 that Meta doesn’t “tell us what the offending item is, or why we have violated their standards. They cited a particular post that had a number of images, none of which had sensitive body parts exposed or anything that I think my mother would have considered provocative. It is completely unfair for them to shut down our account with such a vague explanation. We are a nonprofit and depend on social media to reach our constituents, promote our work, and our events. Having our social media shut down impairs our ability to raise funds and do the work we do to support our community.” The B.A.R. also did a story last month about Meta suspending the United States Gay Pride Facebook page based in Virginia after it shared a PrEP ad. According to Cook, after he spoke with Mahogany and the others and sounded the alarm, a sympathetic employee at Meta created an internal ticket “to get human eyes on the account” and figure out what was going wrong. After intervention from Lurie’s and Wiener’s offices, the account was restored Sep-
tember 16, without explanation and before the internal ticket had been reviewed. “They still have not given a response from the ticket they created,” Cook said. Though he doesn’t have proof, Cook suspects it may be the case that “bad actors inside of Meta are shutting down LGBTQ accounts when flagged” or that perhaps AI bots are discriminating against LGBTQ organizations. Wiener stated, “Beaux is an incredible gathering space for the community, and I’m proud we were able to help restore its Instagram account,” while noting that “this appears to be a growing problem – other queer bars in San Francisco and elsewhere have experienced the issue, caused by bad faith reporting of the accounts by anonymous bigots – and we need to make sure it stops happening.” Another organization involved in getting the word out was national LGBTQ media nonprofit GLAAD, which put the situation in the wider context. “Meta’s systems are errantly suspending LGBTQ accounts at an extremely high rate and with enormous negative impacts on business owners and on the community,” a spokesperson stated. “It is abundantly clear that the company must prioritize implementing genuine solutions to this systemic failure across its platforms.” Cook is grateful for the help and support received. “I was blown away by the immediate community response from so many different members of the community, because it’s clearly important to a lot of us,” he said. t
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410232 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): LOBA STUDIO, 803 VALENCIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): JENNIFER LOURDES GARZA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/29/2022. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/26/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410183 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): STARBOARD CRE, 49 POWELL ST 4TH FL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/ Owner(s): STARBOARD COMMERCIAL BROKERAGE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/1991. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/21/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410006 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MILKTOPIA, 1139 TARAVAL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): JAM TEA INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2025. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 07/31/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026
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: PAUL MELBOSTAD (SBN 99951), G3MH LLP, 1388 SUTTER ST #1000, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109; Ph. (415) 673-5600.
Legals>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560885 Petitioner ANA GLADIS SACAYON filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name ANDREW SANTIAGO SACAYON GALICIA to proposed name ANDREW SANTIAGO GALICIA-SACAYON. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: SEPTEMBER 29, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560906 Petitioner MATTHEW JOSEPH MARTIN filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name MATTHEW JOSEPH MARTIN to proposed name MATTHEW JOSEPH O’DRISCOLL. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 08, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560888 Petitioner NIKOLAS FREDRIK KAMIYAMA CHANTHAKOUMMANO filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name NIKOLAS FREDRIK KAMIYAMA CHANTHAKOUMMANO to proposed name NIKOLAS FREDRIK KREJCIKOVA KALINFKAYA. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: SEPTEMBER 29, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410215 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MIGHTY CONSTRUCTION, 961 GOETTINGEN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): CHIEWCHOY SAETERN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/25/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410212 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BRITTANY MCLAREN COUNSELING SERVICES, 3042B CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): BRITTANY MCLAREN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/06/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/25/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410234 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): NEXTWAVE REAL ESTATE, 891 BEACH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): JULIA VILLANEUVE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/26/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410245 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): OSTRA DESIGN STUDIO, 2766 GOLDEN GATE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): CHARLOTTE ANDERSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/24/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/27/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410241 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): SF GIFT HORSE, 160 MIRALOMA DR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): JENNY MALCHOW. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/26/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/27/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410258 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ARIELLE FUNG LMFT, 582 MARKET ST #602, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): ARIELLE DUALAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/28/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410197 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): SAN FRANCISCO SYNTHWORKS, 1156 BOWDOIN ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): AHMAD ABDO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/13/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/21/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410180 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MADDY RENE, 2169A GREENWICH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): MADISON J FAUCI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/20/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410273 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): KC FIT SAN FRANCISCO, 2275 MARKET ST SUITE D, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): BRIAN KEITH COLLINS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/31/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410264 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): START AND SAVE MARKET, 405 EDDY ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): NASRADDIN YAHYA AHMED ABDO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/24/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/28/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410274 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): EMPIRE REAL ESTATE, 461 BROADWAY ST #200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): FRANK C. YI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2010. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/31/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410272 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): SUTRO HOUSE PRESS; LILA BLAKE; CAMILLE ROTH; ROSIE DONLIN; MARIANNE BLACKWOOD, 5432 GEARY BLVD UNIT #499, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): STEPHANIE LONG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/28/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410154 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): AU PLAISIR BAKERY, 276 FOWLER AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94127. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): JULIANA ERIN FROGGATT. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/08/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/18/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410168 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MISSION FAST FILL MARKET #2, 4199 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/ Owner(s): GAWFCO ENTERPRISES, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/22/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/20/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410185 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BROOKWOOD STARBOARD CRE, 49 POWELL ST 4TH FL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): STARBOARD COMMERCIAL BROKERAGE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/14/1991. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/21/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410204 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): DOODLE, 599 3RD ST #304, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): WILD WEST LABS, INC. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/24/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410166 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): LARKINS BROTHERS TIRE, 370 S. VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): KEWL AUTOMOTIVE INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/20/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410201 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): RC EVOLUTION ROOFING INC, 336 COUNTRY CLUB DR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94132. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): RC EVOLUTION ROOFING INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/24/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/24/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410240 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): VERO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, 2370 CHESTNUT ST #100, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): SEVERO PROPERTIES, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/26/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410269 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): AAHANA MEDICAL AESTHETICS, 2175 3RD ST UNIT C1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): SHANKAR NARAYANA MUNDLURU, MBA, PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/28/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/28/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410222 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): JOE FISHER ARCHITECT, 27 MAIDEN LANE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): JOE FISHER ARCHITECT, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/10/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/26/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410252 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): KOVA MANAGEMENT GROUP, 1232 MARKET ST #104, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): N & S JANITORIAL SERVICES, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/27/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410218 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MOTOCAR BRAZIL, 3150 18TH ST #106, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/ Owner(s): REAL FACTS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/25/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/25/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410275 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): QUESTION MARK TAVERN, 312 HARRIET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): SINOMBRESF LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/13/2023. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/31/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410227 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MAMAS ON WASHINGTON SQUARE, 1701 STOCKTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): DBMK ENTERPRISES INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2005. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/26/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410279 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): HOMEWATCH CAREGIVERS OF SAN MATEO PENINSULA, 2935 VAN NESS AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): BENRED GROUP LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/20/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/31/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410266 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): NAGO FOODS, 3145 GEARY BLVD #354, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): NAGO LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/2009. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/28/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE 2022-0398955 The following has abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as SALON BELLE LINDA, 4448 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by THUY LE. The fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 12/07/2022. The abandonment of fictitious business name statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/24/2026. SEP 03, 10, 17, 24, 2026 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF MONIO PILPEL IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: CASE NUMBER PES-25-308164 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of MONIO PILPEL. A Petition for Probate has been filed by HEDDY PILPEL in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that HEDDY PILPEL 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. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: SEPTEMBER 29, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 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 later 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
SEP 10, 17, 24, 2026
NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF ELBERT M. YEE IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: CASE NUMBER PES-26-309759 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of ELBERT M. YEE. A Petition for Probate has been filed by ELAINE YEE in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that ELAINE YEE 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: OCTOBER 05, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 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 later 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: BERNARDO M. SILVA (SBN 115297), LAW OFFICE OF BERNARDO M. SILVA, ONE EMBARCADERO CENTER #1200, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111; Ph. (415) 989-0310. SEP 10, 17, 24, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560922 Petitioner ANGELINA MASCHELLE MYERS filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name ANTHONY MICHAEL MYERS AKA ANGELINA MASCHELL MYERS to proposed name ANGELINA MASCHELLE MYERS. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 15, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560919 Petitioner FIONA STEVENS filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name FIONA STEVENS AKA FIONA DOROTHY MARY STEVENS to proposed name FIONA DOROTHY MARY STEVENS. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 15, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560917 Petitioner YING YING CHEUNG filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name YING YING CHEUNG AKA LESLIE CHEUNG AKA LESLIE Y CHEUNG AKA LESLIE YING CHEUNG AKA LESLIE YINGYING CHEUNG to proposed name LESLIE YING YING CHEUNG. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 15, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026
<< Classifieds
16 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410265 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE CONSTRUCTION, 1379 THOMAS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): GUOLIAN YE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/28/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410327 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): PAST CORPORATION; PAST CORP., 211 GOUGH ST #201, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): REVO, INC. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410281 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ROBOTICS CENTER OF SILICON VALLEY; ROBOTICS CENTER, 90 WELSH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): DEEPAWARE, INC. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/31/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410300 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): US RAILWAYS; AMERICAN RAILWAYS; AUTRAI; AMIDAC INTERNATIONAL, 50 CALIFORNIA ST, FL 15, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/ Owner(s): US HIGH SPEED RAIL (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/2007. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/02/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410331 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): GEORGE ROSENFIELD CAPITAL GROUP, 2460 WASHINGTON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): GEORGE ROSENFIELD CAPITAL GROUP INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/2027. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410288 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MAJESTIA EDUCATION CONSULTANCY, 280 10TH AVE #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): SAGARMATHA NEXUS VENTURES LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/01/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410295 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): LUCANIA, 1 FERRY BUILDING, SUITE 36, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): LUCANIA HOSPITALITY LLC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/02/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410296 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): A16, 2355 CHESTNUT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): D.O.C. RESTAURANT GROUP, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/02/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410233 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BEST CHOICE CLEANERS, 2459 POLK ST #A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): DHOBI LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/26/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410328 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CALIFORNIA WATER AND FIRE, 454 A ST, DALY CITY, CA 94014. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/ Owner(s): CALIFORNIA WATER & FIRE RESTORATION, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/04/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410228 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CAFE JAROCHA, 2948 FOLSOM ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/ Owner(s): CAFE JAROCHA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/26/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410336 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): PENNY ROYAL, 1160 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/ Owner(s): 1160 POLK LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 10, 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF MARGUERITE VAN ZWOL IN SUPERIOR COURT OF NOTICE TO PROPOSERS : SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT (“BART” or “DISTRICT”), REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (“RFP”) FOR STANDBY BASIC LIFE SUPPORT (BLS) LEVEL PRE-HOSPITAL MEDICAL SERVICES AT BART STATIONS IN SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY AND/OR ALAMEDA COUNTY, RFP NO. 6M3788A, ISSUED SEPTEMBER 11, 2026. BART is now accepting proposals from BLS Service providers. The awarded Contractor(s) will provide Standby Basic Life Support (BLS) Level Pre-Hospital Medical Services at BART Stations in San Francisco County and/or Alameda County to assist BART’s Transportation Department. Interested firms must register on BART’s Procurement Portal at; https://suppliers.bart.gov. All solicitation documents, including the RFP, must be downloaded directly from the Portal. A Pre-Proposal Meeting will be held on September 16, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. local time via Zoom – instructions on registering are included within the RFP. The District’s Equity Program(s) will be explained, and participants can share contact details to network with other firms. The due date for submission of proposal(s) for this RFP is 2:00 PM local time Tuesday, October 13, 2026. 9/24/26 CNS-4078761# BAY AREA REPORTER
CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: CASE NUMBER PES-26-309778 To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of MARGUERITE VAN ZWOL. A Petition for Probate has been filed by TOM VAN ZWOL in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that TOM VAN ZWOL 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: OCTOBER 13, 2026, 9:00 am, Dept. 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 later 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: JEFF KLINK (SBN 200801), KLINK LAW OFFICE, 3200 L ST, SACRAMENTO, CA 95816; Ph. (916) 455-5575. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560934 Petitioner KATHERINE JANE ASHBOLT & DAVID JAMES BELL filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name EZRA RAPHAEL BELL to proposed name EZRA ROBERT BELL. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 27, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560931 Petitioner RANDY MICHAEL FILKINS filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name RANDY MICHAEL FILKINS to proposed name RANDY MICHAEL CARDOZA. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 27, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560936 Petitioner ROTHTHIDA JANNECA SOK filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name ROTHTHIDA JANNECA SOK to proposed name ROTHTHIDA JANNECA SOK NOLASCO. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 27, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560937 Petitioner DANIEL JAMES WALINSKY filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name DANIEL JAMES WALINSKY to proposed name DANIEL JAMES MUNSON. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 27, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410057 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): HAYES ST MANAGEMENT, 320 HAYES ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): RICHARD SANDER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/05/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/05/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410343 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): SKY TOWN CONSTRUCTION, 513 VIENNA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): ZHIMIN LIANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/02/2010. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/08/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410148 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ZEBRAWOOD PSYCHOTHERAPY, 2607 38TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): DAMIAN KEITH BARTON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/18/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410344 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): LUTSY STUDIO, 471 29TH ST UNIT A, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): ALESSIA DOMENICA NOBILE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/08/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410276 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MY SWEET ANGEL JEWELRY, 333 12TH ST #G16, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): MILAGRITOS M. LOPEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/31/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/31/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410305 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): JANFLAN PRINTS, 2110 JACKSON ST #202, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): JANELLE FLANAGAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/02/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410316 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CLEARPATH CIVIC, 608 44TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): MARK RUSSELL GELADE. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/03/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410333 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ONCALL LOCKSMITH CA, 2415 ALEMANY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): AYMEN ZITOUNI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410358 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): SKETCHXERIC, 1777 PACIFIC AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): ERIC BLUMENTHAL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/09/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410355 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): PIXI ROSE, 1912 MARKET ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): NOELLE JEAN AVERY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/03/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/09/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410313 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): KAORU MICHELLE STUDIO, 364 PAGE ST #4, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): KAORU HUDACHEK. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/17/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/03/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410248 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): DU LA LA LA, 277 THRIFT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): JULIA ANNETTE CODY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/27/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410385 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): NU LOOK REFINISHING, 272 FOLSOM ST #220, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/ Owner(s): STEVEN AMERICA STANLEY. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/14/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410320 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): FILIPINO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTER, 122 9TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): FILIPINO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/03/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410357 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): EDUCATIONAL MEDIA ARTS, INC.; MAREA MEDIA INSTITUTE; ART OF TECH, 2261 MARKET ST #317, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/ Owner(s): EDUCATIONAL MEDIA ARTS, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/11/2016. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/09/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410351 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): AEROBICOS YO PUEDO, 4519 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/ Owner(s): EL GIGANTE CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/09/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410359 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ROCKO’S CAFE, 3141 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): ROCKO Y JENNY CORPORATION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/08/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/09/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410309 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ALLIANCE OF SOUTH ASIANS TAKING ACTION POWER; CHINESE FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POWER; HMONG INNOVATING POLITICS ACTION FUND; STOP AAPI HATE ACTION; AAPI HOUSE CALLS, 17 WALTER U. LUM PL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): ASIAN AMERICANS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND EQUALITY ACTION FUND (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/03/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410374 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): LIPS CLUB BAR, 4461 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): CORPORACION DE ISABELLA INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/10/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/11/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410330 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): FINANCIAL DISTRICT HARDWARE INC., 140 PINE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): FUNK KAY HARDWARE INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/18/2003. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410345 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): BABY PRIME NUTRITION, 2040 MISSION ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): BABY PRIME LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/08/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/08/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410338 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): REEDIE P TRUCKING AND CARGO, 1190 MISSION ST #1119, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): LADEESHA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/03/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410349 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ZELLI PHOTOBOOTH, 5432 GEARY BLVD #663, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): REMORA CREATIVE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/09/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026
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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410319 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): GIGI’S HUT, FORT MASON CULTURAL CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): CHES BOBO LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/03/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/03/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410401 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): PRESIDIO FRIGHTS; FRISCO FRIGHTS, 2405 FOLSOM ST #3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): JONATHAN SHAFRAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/16/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410384 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): OMNI PRECISION CONSULTING, 1309 COFFEEN AVE #1200, SHERIDAN, WY 82801. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): AVANTI VENTURES EXCHANGE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/14/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410448 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): EMI JANITORIAL SERVICE, 2070 TOMALES BAY DR, PITTSBURG, CA 94565. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): EMNETADAMO KIDANEMARIAM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/21/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/21/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410369 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): STARBELLY RESTAURANT, 3583 16TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): VAL 22 RI, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/15/2009. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/10/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410202 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): SOMOS FRIENDS DAYCARE, 88 HOWARD ST #1512, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): NATHALIA BEDOYA. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/18/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/24/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410377 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CLOUD SOURCED, 455 MARKET ST #1940, PMB 922291, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105-2448. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): DARKSHORE SOLUTIONS LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/21/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/11/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410420 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): RISO; FANFAN; NOON F&B SERVICES; RISO F&B SERVICES, 90 CHARTER OAK AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124-1907. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): JLSF INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/19/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026
Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CALIFORNIA WATER AND FIRE, 454 A ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94014. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): CALIFORNIA WATER AND FIRE RESTORATION LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of Santa Clara, CA on 09/04/2026.
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE FBN730134
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410426 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): XIN YI TIAN PIN, 909 GRANT AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): SWEETHEART CAFE (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/15/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/17/202. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 161772 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): CALIFORNIA WATER AND FIRE, 454 A ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94014. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): CALIFORNIA WATER AND FIRE RESTORATION LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of Marin, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410431 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): REPUBLIC BUILDING MAINTENANCE, 2261 MARKET ST #5173, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): REPUBLIC ENTERPRISES, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/2021. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/18/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026
SEP 17, 24, OCT 01, 08, 2026
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560925 Petitioner NIKKI BOLDEN filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name NIKKI BOLDEN to proposed name ATTRENITY VANDORFIN. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 20, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560926 Petitioner MARVIN FINKLEY JR. filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name MARVIN FINKLEY JR. to proposed name UMOYA VANDORFIN. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 22, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560938 Petitioner SYDNEY ANNE SUNDELL filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name SYDNEY ANNE SUNDELL to proposed name SYDNEY SUNDELL CORBISIERO. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: OCTOBER 27, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560940 Petitioner ERIKA ANNE SCHRADER filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name ERIKA ANNE SCHRADER to proposed name ERIKA SHINING CEDAR ROSE. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: NOVEMBER 03, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560943 Petitioner CLIFFORD DEVILLENA filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name CLIFFORD DEVILLENA to proposed name CLIFFORD DEVILLENA VIRAY. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: NOVEMBER 03, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO CASE NUMBER CNC-26-560939 Petitioner GEORGINA MICHELLE SANTILLAN filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: present name GEORGINA MICHELLE SANTILLAN to proposed name GEORGINA MICHELLE HERNANDEZ GOMEZ. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Notice of Hearing: NOVEMBER 03, 2026, 9:00am, Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410422 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): MOON RABBIT COLLECTIVE, 1285 GUERRERO ST #1, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual. Registrant/Owner(s): HENRY PERYER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/17/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410322 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): TSURU FOR SOLIDARITY; VINCENT CHIN INSTITUTE, 17 WALTER U. LUM PL, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94018. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/Owner(s): CHINESE FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/06/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/04/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410450 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): ARABICANO, 170A S VAN NESS AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation. Registrant/ Owner(s): F & A COFFEE CO (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/21/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410394 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): JC’S, 3917 NORIEGA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): JC’S SF LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/09/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/15/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410400 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): THE KITCHEN SINK, 1650 CHESTNUT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): THE KITCHEN SINK GF LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/16/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE 20260410435 Fictitious Business Name(s)/Trade Name (DBA): LAUNDRE, 3487 20TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company. Registrant/Owner(s): PRAKA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/16/2026. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/18/2026. SEP 24, OCT 01, 08, 15, 2026
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also plays violin on a reworked version of “KFC Santeria” and environmental activist and rapper Xiuhtezcatl Martinez who appears with Culto in ¡Basta Ya!, the video of which takes on the current U.S. administration and ICE with Culto wearing a shirt emblazoned with demand for indigenous land rights that says “land back.” Not surprisingly, the political topics Culto tackles in his lyrics veer into sexuality as well. In “2 Wolves,” from his album “Culto” which is being released this month, he makes a connection between the stigmatizing work of missionaries among the indigenous and the anathematization of homosexuality when he sings: “Every undealt trauma and every lie All the sin born in a gay child All the bloodshed of the empire Conquistador and the colonized The indigenous forced to baptize So baptize me in every tear.”
by Michael Flanagan
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ain Culto, the stage persona of Andrew Estevan Padilla, has done much to escape from his Evangelical past. The musician, perhaps best known for his song “KFC Santeria” plays with queer and indigenous imagery in his videos wearing Mexican botas picudas (pointy boots), evoking the Orishas (divine spirits) from Santeria and African religion, all while wearing eye makeup and fingernail extensions called claw nails. His stage persona is named for the biblical Cain and Culto or worship in Spanish. Both his image and his identity have evolved considerably from when he was a musician in the Christian music group Ecclesia. But imagery and identity would mean nothing if he were not a first-rate musician. Culto plays violin, mandolin and banjo. Having lived in Kentucky for the formative years of his young life gives his music a bluegrass flavor, unusual as in an accomplished rapper and singer. Add to this amazing musical mix the mindboggling fact that Padilla was sent to conversion therapy when he came out after leaving Ecclesia and you get music which is at times apocalyptical and at other times angry (and sometimes both). For example, in “A Plague, A Pestilence” from his new EP Occulto 2 he sings: “Armageddon Fire skies A’ falling to the ground Coming down from Zion With an army in the clouds Seven weeks of hunger There’ll be seven weeks of drought Oh let it pass over me lord Let it pass over my house.”
Likewise, in his video cover of Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” he appears bathing in a room which is papered with pages from the bible, as if he is being exorcized. Contrast that with the celebration of gay male sexuality in the video for “Brujeria” (witchcraft) with the lyrics: “Something witchy went down To bring you my way Super sexy in bed Like all night and day You so freaky, so fine, and all I can say Is I, want you to voodoo Do me real good.”
Cain Culto
Musician puts his spell on religion and desire
The musical parallels to his sound are so varied as to be overwhelming. The evocation of bluegrass reminds one of musicians like Jim White from his “Wrong Eyed Jesus” days as well as the country gothic sound of the Handsome Family. Culto’s references to the devil and fire and brimstone evoke a whole history of modern music being called “the devil’s music” which goes back through musicians like Diamanda Galas
and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins all the way to Robert Johnson and his “Me and the Devil Blues.” His connections to Santeria remind one of Mongo Santamaria and his songs about the Orishas like “O Mi Shango.” But Cain Culto is not performing to provide some sort of musical history lesson. His music is enmeshed in current politics and has attracted outstanding musicians like Sudan Archives, who
It’s clear that Cain Culto has struck a chord with LGBT audiences. He has appeared at Pride events internationally including Buddies Queer Pride in Toronto, St. Pete Pride, Pittsburgh Pride Festival and our own San Francisco Pride. If you want to catch him at another Pride event, he is scheduled to perform at Atlanta Pride on October 10. He is also scheduled to be honored at Queerceañera at the Los Angeles LGBT Center on September 26, the day after he appears at the sold-out event at the Rickshaw Stop September 25. If you missed him at San Francisco Pride, or if you’re missing him at the Rickshaw Stop, have no doubt that with a powerful voice like his, he’ll be back soon.t www.cainculto.com
Ashman’s playful transgressive edge more than song, “Somewhere That’s Green.” They infuse this fundamentally silly show with an unexpected any of their later collaborations. Ashman died of grace note of tenderness and a fresh new dimencomplications from AIDS in 1991. sion. Both Audreys are at ease with androgyny. From villainous Jafar and Ursula to literally NCTC’s continued creative growth spurt Remarkably, each member of the sterling cast flamboyant Lumiére, the creative pair’s Disney transplants a classic musical spoof brings another something special to the producflicks have queer-coded elements, but without the tion. As dorky botanist Seymour, Roeen Nooran unvarnished down-and-dirty delight of “Little refuses flat parody; he’s got heart that makes you Shop of Horrors.” root for him as well as laugh at him. The show features a gritty Skid Row setting; John Mannion delivers a warm kugel of a campy, vamping by a girl group chorus; the S&M performance as curmudgeonly shopkeeper Mr. proclivities of Dr. Orin Scrivello (rivaled in diaMushnik. Recently seen as Georges in “La Cage bolic dentistry only by Sir Laurence Olivier in Aux Folles” at Theatre Rhinoceros, he evokes an“Marathon Man”); and a leading romantic couple The Los Angeles Blade covers Angeles and California news, other classic musical here with gestures and intoso squarely squeaky clean Los they could only have politics, opinion,been arts and entertainment and features national nations right out ofand “Fiddler on the Roof.” dreamed up by a gay man with tongue international coverage the Blade’s award-winning Vanessareporting Mendy, Kamilah Cole, and Jas Cook planted firmlyfrom in cheek. team. Be part of this publication serving Los Angeles not only harmonize terrifically as a doo-wopping Andexciting of course, there’ s Audrey II, the carnivo- LGBT Greek trio, theyLGBT individualize their parts with rous plant with a girlish name and a basso profrom the team behind the Washington Blade, the nation’s first showcase of precise, individual characfundofreeway range, who boldly embraces the appetites newspaper. From the to the Beltway we’ve got youmoments covered. ter business. nature gave her. Ryan Patrick Welsh outdoes his usual outlandishness as the Elvis-pompadoured evil dentist All-star casting and in a quick-change succession of one-scene Still, in the early 1980s, even before stepping roles, including a dotty old woman. into the mousetrap, Ashman and Menken were Audrey II (vocalist William Schmidt, puppeteers aiming for broad commercial success. And alAnd vocalist William Schmidt joins forces Mudd the Two Spirit and Zion Wheaton) is confronted though “Little Shop of Horrors” is a subtextual with puppeteers Mudd the Two Spirit and Zion by Seymour (Roeen Nooran) in New Conservatory hothouse of pansies and lavender, they didn’t inWheaton to bring Dave Haaz-Baroque’s everTheatre Center’s ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ clude a specifically queer character in the show. enlarging Audrey IIs to life. In many productions, That’s been delightfully remedied by Ben Vilthe puppet’s vocal solos and punchlines, while legas Randle, director of this production and humorous, feel rote, but this team gives us a manmost un-Disneyesque auteurs, B-movie maeNCTC’s new artistic director, who has reimageating transplant who’s fully engaged with the by Jim Gladstone stro Roger Corman. ined Audrey, the show’s female-presenting lead, production’s human actors. Their 1982 musical adaptation of Corman’s as a trans woman, and accordingly cast trans Haaz-Baroque’s character design has extra efore winning Academy Awards for “The black comic horror flick, “Little Shop of Horrors” actor Bría Gaia Padilla Irizarry in the role. The vegetarian vavoom: Audrey II’s teeth resemble Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” (in which Jack Nicholson made one of his first choice is a thoughtful one, but neither Randle or crooked rows of albino carrots, fierce and funny and “Aladdin,” composer Alan Menken and gay Irizarry call unnecessary attention to it. screen appearances, playing a bit part), now being all at once. lyricist/book writer Howard Ashman’s greatest Irizarry is lovely in the role, bringing an exstaged in an insightfully refreshing production at See page 19 >> claim to fame was their spin on one of cinema’s tra bittersweet complexity to Audrey’s signature New Conservatory Theatre Center, showcases
‘Little Shop of Horrors’
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<< Theater & Film
18 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
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Transmasc swagger in ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ by Claire Wu
I
n “Peter Pan Goes Wrong,” disaster is the point. It’s a backstage drama where actors miss cues, scenery misbehaves and flights through Neverland threaten to end in considerably less magical landings. But for the performers actually making those disasters happen, very little can be left to chance. San Francisco Playhouse will present the Bay Area premiere of the mischief comedy beginning previews Sept. 26, with opening night Oct. 1. Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the play follows the fictional Cornley Drama Society as its members attempt to stage J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” while battling an escalating series of backstage blunders and technical mishaps. The production runs through Nov. 28. At the center of the chaos is Bay Area actor and comedian Ezra Reaves, who plays Jonathan, the Cornley leading man playing Peter Pan. Reaves, who is transmasculine and uses they/ them pronouns, has appeared locally with companies including American Conservatory Theater, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Shotgun Players, New Conservatory Theatre Center and Magic Theatre. Additionally, Reaves is a drag king and trained dove with the UNC diving team as a high school student; both perfect skillsets for playing a youthful, cavalier drama king who dangles in the air. For Reaves, stepping into Peter’s tights also means stepping into a theatrical tradition they have long viewed through a queer lens. “I’ve always seen Peter Pan as a trans icon,” Reaves said. They pointed to the character’s long history of being played by women and described that casting tradition as part of “such a rich lineage of this being a queer character.”
Jessica Palopoli
Maggie Mason as Wendy, Patrick Russell as Peter Pan’s Shadow, and Ezra Reaves as Peter Pan in San Francisco Playhouse’s ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’
“Especially putting this on in San Francisco,” they added, “I think it’s just like a little tip of the hat to the very… transmasc-ness of this character.”
Pan-oramic
That history also intersects with Reaves’ own work in the Bay Area. They previously appeared in SF Playhouse’s “The Daughters,” about the Daughters of Bilitis, and worked on “Compton’s Cafeteria Riot,” about the 1966 uprising at a Tenderloin cafeteria frequented by transgender people. Reaves said they often bring that local queer history into their work. But they are equally interested in allowing a trans performer to inhabit a major comic role without making transness the entirety of the performance. “I want people to forget about the gender because … trans people can do anything,” Reaves expressed, “and don’t have to be relegated to capital-T
trans roles.” “Having a trans person play Peter Pan is…so much more dynamic, in my opinion.” Reaves has nevertheless found plenty of specifically transmasculine humor in Peter’s swagger. “I’ve been joking around that Peter reminds me of a post-top-surgery trans guy that’s really feeling himself,” they said. “There’s just this, like, swagger to him. There’s this fuckboy quality.” Reaves connected that confidence to Peter’s more troubling characteristics as well: his charm, self-absorption and refusal to take responsibility for how his actions affect others. He teases at the revelation of a scandalous love triangle, divulging, “I’m excited for [the audience] to see the reveal of the love triangle because I think that you know Peter Pan is so likable and so charismatic…But then we kind of see the reversal of that. You know how his charm is getting him into trouble.”
‘Hope in the Streets’
by Brian Bromberger
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he Reverend Glenda Hope has been called the Saint of the Tenderloin and the Presbyterian Mother Teresa. Having just turned 90, she’s the subject of Josh Chuck’s documentary, “Hope in the Streets.” As one of the interviewees characterizes Hope, “She’s
never satisfied just to look at something. She has to do something about it.” And she has spent more than 50 years working with people on the margins, especially in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, to better their plight. Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1936 and growing up in a racist, sexist, and homophobic culture, Hope felt a call
The role has also offered Reaves physical opportunities they said they rarely encountered when being cast in female roles earlier in their career. During rehearsals for the production’s combat sequences, they found themselves surrounded by men with more sword-fighting experience. Yet, they also reconsidered this imbalance. “Because I was an actor growing up in female roles, [I] never had the opportunity to have fucking sword fights,” they said. “Now, because of this casting, I get to have the opportunity to learn this and put it on my resume.” Having done it once, Reaves added, “I want to play Romeo or Mercutio.”
Theatrical flight
The production’s physical comedy requires far more control than its onstage catastrophes suggest. Director Susi Damilano, SF Playhouse’s cofounder and producing director, previously directed the company’s 2024 production of “The Play That Goes Wrong.” Several actors from that production return for its Peter Pan sequel. “The more crazy the shenanigans are, the more technically accurate they need to be,” Damilano explained. In rehearsal, she continually asks the cast to return mentally to what she calls the “goes-right version”: If nothing malfunctioned, what would this production of “Peter Pan” look like? “If everything went right, what would we be doing right now?” she said. “How would ‘Peter Pan’ go?” That precision becomes especially crucial once actors leave the ground. Flight consultant Bridgette Loriaux believes that theatrical flight has to function as part of an actor’s performance rather than simply as spectacle. “Whether the actors are on the
ground or in the air, they treat flying as if it was a spoken line,” Loriaux said, “expressed through the body.” The production uses manually operated cables and counterweights rather than motors, with two operators working a flight system at once. For a play whose jokes depend on exposing theatrical failure, however, hiding all that machinery would defeat part of the purpose. “We want the audience to experience the fun of the play that is going wrong, and to see all of the mechanics and how things work,” Loriaux remarked, laughing. She described the effect as “almost kind of like a voyeuristic experience of what theater can look like from behind the scenes.” The intimacy of SF Playhouse may make that illusion even more immediate. Loriaux acknowledged that the stage is tight, but said its proximity places the audience unusually close to the action. “It feels to me that the audience gets a real wonderful sense of being up there with us,” she said, “because we’re so close to them.” For Damilano, underneath the collapsing production is something surprisingly earnest: a group of actors who simply refuse to stop. “What’s beautiful about the ‘Goes Wrong’ series is that you have a troupe of actors who are doing everything they can, despite treacherous odds, to persevere,” she said. “It may go completely wrong in one scene, and in the next, they just dust themselves off and keep going. It’s the ultimate version of the-show-must-go-on.”t ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’ at San Francisco Playhouse, $52-$145, Sept. 26-Nov. 28, 450 Post St. www.sfplayhouse.org
Documentary on a pioneering Tenderloin minister
to ministry early in her life. Having an interest in using the arts in worship, she moved to the Bay Area so she could attend San Francisco Theological Seminary, which had a program in that field. She obtained a Master of Divinity degree in 1969 and became the first Presbyterian clergywoman ordained and installed in California, at San Francisco’s Old First Presbyterian Church. She married the Rev. Scott Hope who had been one of her instructors. In 1972 they formed San Francisco Network Ministries, a charitable advocacy and activist ministry serving the Tenderloin with its pushers, pimps, prostitutes, and unhoused people. She comments, “If I had gone back to a little white steeple church back east, I might have had a lovely life, but I would have missed a bigger world.”
Early support
Part of that bigger world has been being a staunch ally for LGBTQ people. She did so at the very beginning of her ministry at a time when mainline Protestant denominations were homophobic and support was discouraged. It is estimated that 30% of all unhoused people in San Francisco are queer. She saw early on the ravaging effects of HIV that was killing the unhoused on the streets and established the Tenderloin AIDS Network, creating some of the first support groups for PWAs. As part of that ministry, she remarked that “atonement means you’re at one with God, which means people don’t have to be or die alone.” In 1982 she created the Network Center for the Study of Christian Ministry at Berkeley’s Pacific School of Religion. All classroom work was fully integrated with active ministry, so students were placed in churches and agencies in the hope they would become reflective pastors, advocates, and activists. Hope and her small team have led
Bruce Reyes-Chow/Flickr
The Reverend Glenda Hope
more than 1000 memorial services for people who died unhoused or living in residential hotels in the Tenderloin, “honoring the life and mourning the death of those who lived there as a friend, neighbor, or as a child of God.” She also started the Annual Homeless Memorial, reading aloud the names of all those who died that year. That tradition became the Interfaith Annual Homeless Persons Memorial Vigil, which is held every year right before Christmas in the Civic Center. For Hope, her passion has been ministry to oppose the degradation and exploitation of women. In 1995, she founded the San Francisco Safe House to provide safe housing and supportive services for women surviving sexual exploitation, trafficking, and homelessness.
A sense of community
She attributes the success of her ministry to cultivating a sense of community. She seemed to know every street person by name. She observed, “If you stay there a long time, people begin to think you’re for real and they
trust you. The thing about us is we’re still here. We stayed because we really loved the people. The thing we wanted to teach was that this is our community. We’re not serving the community and we’re not empowering them. We are part of them.” Hope always advises students working with her, “Don’t think you are coming to bring God into the Tenderloin. She’s already been here and she’s wondering what’s taken you so long to get here.” She continued all her ministries following her husband’s death in 1997. After retiring from Network Ministries and SF Safe House, Hope started a neighborhood organization called Cayuga Community Connectors to combat loneliness and isolation among seniors determined to remain in their communities. The film is a profile of a remarkable women reflecting on her five decades of social justice work, using her own recollections, archival photographs and footage, as well as in-depth conversations with people who worked closely alongside her. We witness how she remains steadfast in her faith, living out God’s all-inclusive love in her daily life and on the streets of the Tenderloin, still engaged in the ongoing struggle for dignity, housing, and support for people who are poor, unhoused, exploited, or otherwise overlooked. Her pioneering work inspired the students she mentored to launch their own social justice ministries and agencies. Hope’s life is a call to respond to the brokenness around us with compassion, courage, and faith, asking what we can do, here and now.t ‘Hope in the Streets’ premieres Sept. 26, 1pm, at the Marina Theater, 2149 Chestnut St. $5-$50. Q&A with Glenda Hope and the filmmakers follows. www.eventbrite.com
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Drag>>
September 24-30, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 19
Varla Jean Merman is ‘Unlike a Virgin’ by David-Elijah Nahmod
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ctor and singer Jeffery Roberson will be the first to tell you that Varla Jean Merman is a character he created. Unlike other drag artists who prefer to keep their real names private, Roberson identifies himself as male in the bio of the Varla Jean website, which includes a photo of himself out of drag. He’s a handsome man, and a prolific actor. He’s appeared in many roles on television, in film and on the stage. His credits include the primetime series “Ugly Betty” and the daytime drama “All My Children,” where he played a lady of the evening named Rosemary Chicken. He’s even made it to Broadway, appearing as Mary Sunshine in “Chicago.” But Varla Jean Merman remains his signature role. On September 30, Roberson, as Varla Jean, returns to Oasis for a fournight stand in a new show titled “Unlike a Virgin.” In the description for the show on his website, Varla Jean is referred to as “everyone’s favorite daffy drag diva.” And indeed, the show sounds daffy, with Varla Jean claiming that she has put her career first for three decades and is now turning 29. Her biological clock is ticking as she invites you to explore the mysteries of motherhood. For those not in the know, Varla Jean Merman is the “love child” of Broadway legend Ethel Merman and movie star Ernest Borgnine. In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Roberson talks about where he got this idea. David-Elijah Nahmod: The whole Ethel/Merman/Ernest
Borgnine thing is really quite hilarious and clever. Where did this idea come from? Jeffery Roberson: I actually talk about that in the “Unlike a Virgin” show this year. It’s really a maternal show, all about maternal influences. When I was a kid, I had read Ethel Merman’s autobiography, and if you read it –it’s in the first edition, not later editions, that’s how gay I was – I was reading Ethel Merman’s autobiography. It says, “My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine” and you turn the page and it’s completely blank. I thought this was wild, and I thought, oh my God, if she had a baby she would have given it up for adoption. That’s how I got the whole story of Varla. She felt like Ethel had given her up for adoption because she was a painful reminder of a failed marriage.
When did you create this character? I believe around 1988 Varla started to exist. Ethel was no longer living. I created it to do a talent show. I went to school at Louisiana State University, and I had already started doing videos; that’s how I started doing drag. Drag at the time was lip-synching Melissa Manchester, so I was kind of crazy, John Waters-inspired obviously, and we entered a talent show, me and my friend Timo, and he would film everything and play them in gay bars. We would create silly stuff, like 30-minute videos of me being chased by a plastic rat around New Orleans. Just silly stuff, and people would watch it! How did it feel to be on Broadway? That must have been exciting.
‘Hag-stravaganza’
And that’s what the whole show is about. My own mother and I talk, but she has never once asked me what I do for a living. But she must know. I’m sure she knows, but there’s that Southern denial. We never talked about it, which is just sort of strange. But there is a picture of my mother in the show, it’s towards the end, and it’s insane, you’re not going to believe it. There’s quite a similarity between Varla and my mother. I dress up as my mother for a living I guess the answer to that question is. Maybe that’s why she hasn’t asked.
Varla Jean Merman
It was wild. It was something you always dream about. But it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. And you worked with Leslie Jordan. Oh God, I used to open for Leslie for years and then we were in an offBroadway show called “Lucky Guy.” He was amazing. He was so protective of everyone. We called him Mama Cougar. If anyone in the cast needed anything, he would stand up for everyone, like Norma Rae. He was lovely, fun, a most generous person. Please tell me a bit about your background. I’m from Louisiana, and I migrat-
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<<
Little Shop
From page 17
The superbly detailed Skid Row set by Matt Owens, dynamic lighting by Christian V. Mejia, character-sharpening costumes by Chris Steele, and comic choreography by Leslie Waggoner stack the show with layer upon layer of delight. One minor detail pulled me out of pure pleasure. With its monster movie
Read the full interview on www.ebar.com. ‘Varla Jean Merman: Unlike a Virgin,’ $39 and up, Sept. 30Oct. 3, 7pm, Oasis, 298 11th St. www.varlajean.com www.sfoasis.com
Drag tribute night screens Joan Crawford’s ‘Strait-Jacket’ at the Great Star Theater
by David-Elijah Nahmod
he campy Joan Crawford shocker “Strait-Jacket” will be celebrated at the venerable Great Star Theater on October 2. According to producer and co-host Dan Karkoska, aka DJ Dank, the evening will include a screening of the 1964 film and much more. Drag artists Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, Thee Pristine Condition and Lucy Borden will perform, and a Crawford costume contest, trivia, and a “Joan to the Boan” video tribute by David Lawrence Hawkins will be part of the festivities. Also appearing will be Ashley Hoff, author of the book “With Love, Mommie Dearest,” who will be on hand to discuss Crawford’s “hag cycle.” Karkoska has dubbed the evening a “hag-stravaganza.” In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Karkoska explained the use of the word “hag.” “Joan Crawford and Bette Davis starred in ‘Whatever Happened to Bay Jane’ in 1962,” Karkoska said. “It was a big hit and Davis got an Oscar nomination. Suddenly, studios were casting older actresses from Hollywood’s Golden Age in these usually gothic horror films. They became known as ‘hag movies’ and the cycle is roughly 1962 through the early 1970s.” Karkoska named a few of the other hag movies, including “What’s the Matter With Helen” (1971) starring Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters, “Who Slew Auntie Roo,” also starring
ed to New Orleans. I have a house in New Orleans to this day. And that’s in my show this year because I don’t have the best relationship with my mother. I was obviously gay and she’s Southern Baptist and very religious, so we never really quite got along. And I know a lot of people have parents like that now, especially if you’re from the South. My mother and I still talk but we don’t have the best relationship. My mother’s not a big part of my life, but I have so many amazing, nurturing people in my life. There’s Miss Coco (Peru) who was my drag mother when I met her in New York City. Even Ethel Merman, who I talk about in the show, gave me an escape, gave me a fake life.
You’ve worked at Oasis quite a bit. What do you like about the venue? We’ll do a show in Provincetown and a couple of other places and even my assistant will say, “Oh God, just wait until they see it in San Francisco.” Because no matter how good something is on the road, the audiences in San Francisco are ten times better than anywhere else. No matter what it is every year, the audiences are always so supportive, you feel like a rock star. They know how to have a good time. Oasis has trained people to love the absurdities and have a good time. The audiences are so great.t
Heidi Alletzhauser
Left: Joan Crawford in ‘Strait-Jacket’ Right: Hosts Dan Karkoska and Valentine
Winters, “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte” (1965), starring Davis, Olivia De Havilland and Agnes Moorehead, among others. “Strait-Jacket” was chosen as the evening’s film because, according to Karkoska, it’s just so much fun. The film was directed by William Castle, a legendary showman of a filmmaker who was known for promoting his films with clever gimmicks. In “House on Haunted Hill” (1958) he employed a skeleton that would float over the audience during the film, while with “The Tingler,” made the following year, theater seats were wired with buzzers whenever the titular creature appeared on screen.
Chopped
motifs, girl group harmonies, and lyrical references to Donna Reed and Howdy Doody, “Little Shop of Horrors” seems clearly set in the 1950s or early 1960s. So why are ACT UP posters with Ronald Reagan’s face wheatpasted onto the set’s alleyway walls? Randle’s light-handed innovation and avoidance of the doctrinaire is one of his production’s real strengths. Blunt signs of resistance sometimes
ought to be resisted. But that’s a quibble. On the heels of last season’s closing production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” this second consecutive knockout musical will leave theatergoers happy and hungry. Feed me, NCTC. More!t
“They handed out small cardboard axes to the audience seeing ‘Strait-Jacket’,” said Karkoska. But I think Castle’s big gimmick was casting Crawford in the starring role. It’s campy and a little gory, and it plays really well with an audience.” In the film, Crawford plays Lucy Harbin, a woman who spends twenty years in an asylum after she commits a horrible double murder with an axe. Upon her release, she is sent to an isolated farm to live with her brother, his wife, and her daughter. It doesn’t take long for heads to start rolling. Some have said that the low budget “Strait-Jacket” was a comedown for
‘Little Shop of Horrors’ through October 25 at New Conservatory Theatre Center, $35-$90. 25 Van Ness Ave. www.nctcsf.org
Crawford. Karkoska offered his own take on this question. “Crawford preferred to star rather than support,” he said. “These were the films offered to her as an aging actress coming off a big hit like ‘Baby Jane.’ She wanted to keep working and liked the premise of the movie, which was written by Robert Bloch, who wrote ‘Psycho.’ She insisted on script approval and told Castle that it needed to be rewritten as a Joan Crawford movie. Crawford realized that these horror movies were a viable next act for aging female stars, and since she had some leverage after ‘Baby Jane,’ she did it her way. She certainly gave it her all in the typical Joan fashion.” Crawford, of course, continues to have a strong following in the gay community. Karkoska offered his thoughts on why that is.
Camp icon
“Joan was larger than life,” he said. “She represented glamour and strength. She played women who refused to be victims and fought their way upward dealing with men, rejection, aging, humiliation, betrayal and being pushed aside. For generations, gay men have been outsiders as well. Gay culture loves a good melodramatic diva who is emotionally maximalist like Crawford, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Mae West, etc. We can live and love through their emotional performances. Then there
is camp. Many of her films come off as unintentionally funny at times which makes them even more fun to watch. Oh, the drama!” Co-hosting the evening will be Valentine, whom Karkoska describes as a “chameleon.” The two have worked together on a number of occasions. “He is a walking pop culture encyclopedia and constantly morphs into famous characters and actors depending on what the gig that day calls for,” Karkoska said. “He has a full history working in theater and has been entertaining people for thirty years. He is witty and quick on his feet, so he makes an ideal co-host for the evening and will blow us away with his big Joan number.” The Crawford “hag-stravaganza” is only the beginning, Karkoska promises. “I worked in the film industry and film festivals for years before I moved to San Francisco,” he said. “Once here, I became a fan of drag and the underground community, so I concentrated on that world. I have missed repertory cinema. I feel that now is a good time to start bringing some of my favorite stars and movies to the big screen with added drag shows and fun. So this is just the start.”t Joan Crawford in ‘Strait-Jacket’ at ‘Hag-stravaganza,’ $25, October 2, 7pm, Great Star Theater, 630 Jackson St. www.greatstartheater.org
<< Transition
t First Imperial Leather title holders to step down; new titles to be awarded at Folsom Street Fair 20 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
by Stephen LeBlanc
S
an Francisco’s first Imperial Leather title holders step down Sunday, Sept. 27, on the Stud Drag Stage at the Folsom Street Fair. Ms. Imperial Leather Bernadette “Bubbles” Bohan, Mr. Imperial Leather Matthew “Matty” Zamora, and Mx. Imperial Leather Fabian “Pup Menudo” Alvarez took the titles at the first Imperial Leather contest, held on the Stud stage during the 2025 Folsom Street Fair. Three new candidates will compete on the same stage at this year’s Folsom Street Fair, on Sunday, Sept. 27.
Historic moments
The creation and awarding of the new Imperial Leather titles is the most recent step in a long involvement between the Imperial Council of San Francisco and the city’s leather community. The council initially only crowned Empresses, many of whom were drag performers. The first Council emperor was crowned in 1972 and the title was given to Mister Marcus Hernandez, a very active member of the San Francisco leather community and a leather columnist for the Bay Area Reporter for decades. The Imperial Council was founded in 1965 by Jose Sarria, four years after he ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as the first openly gay candidate for public office in the United States. He took the title Empress I, the Widow Norton, and reigned alongside newly crowned Empresses until he resigned in 2007. He died in 2013 at 90. Sixty-one years later, the Imperial Council describes itself as the oldest operating LGBTQ nonprofit in the world. It is still doing what Sarria built it to do: foster pride, power, and community within the LGBTQ popula-
Ms. Imperial Leather Bernadette Bubbles’ Bohan, Empress Queen Cougar, Mx. Imperial Leather Fabian ‘Pup Menudo’ Alvarez and Mr. Imperial Leather Matthew ‘Matty’ Zamora at the SF Eagle in mid-September.
tion of San Francisco, and move money toward people who need it. The Council crowned current Emperor John M. Brett and Regent Empress Queen Cougar in February 2026 at its 61st annual coronation. Empress Cougar, who has roots in the leather community, dedicated part of her reign to Hernandez. The Imperial Leather titles are the newest additions to an Imperial Council roster that has been growing for six decades.
New crew
During the past year, the three Imperial Leather title holders held events and raised money from the community, with each title holder picking a different beneficiary. Alvarez hosted an event at the Powerhouse for LYRIC. Bohan held hers at the Stud for the Queer Chorus of San Francisco. Zamora’s event was at the Lone Star Saloon, benefiting Queer LifeSpace, which provides affordable mental health services.
“The ‘new’ Stud is awesome and they are catering to the full LGBTQ+ community and especially to younger folks,” Bohan said in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “I picked the Stud for that reason, and its history, and also because I used to perform there.” Bohan came into the leather community primarily as an artist, and her service inside the city’s two court systems predates her leather title. She was Ms. Golden Gate for the Imperial
Council in 2020-2021. In the Grand Ducal Council of San Francisco, she holds the rank of Dame Commander, and this year the Ducal Council gave her its Diversity Award for distinguished service. As Ms. Imperial Leather she has advocated for women, people with disabilities, and transgender, nonbinary, gender-fluid, and BIPOC people, and she describes the title as a platform rather than an ornament. Bohan, who identifies as queer, has facilitated queer spaces in San Francisco for two decades. “Leadership is not just about being seen,” Bohan said. “It’s about doing the work, making space, and helping other people see that they belong.” As the 2025 Imperial Leather title holders prepare to step down, the contest for the 2026 titles is underway. David Bogachik and Cal Lerchi are nominated for the Mx. Imperial Leather title, and Kelly Rivera Hart is nominated for the Mr. Imperial Leather title. The final judging and elevation of the new title holders runs from 4:30pm to 6pm. “I’m very excited and gratified to have the legacy of these Imperial titles continue on and to support the next generation,” Bohan said. “The title holders for this past year are planning to do legacy events going forward and with our new title holders.” Imperial Leather 2025 step-down and awarding of 2026 titles, The Stud Stage, 8th Street and Howard entrance, Folsom Street Fair, Sunday, Sept. 27, at 4:30pm. Fair hours are 11am to 6pm., Folsom Street between 8th and 13th streets. $10-$20 donation requested, which includes a sticker for drink discounts.t www.folsomstreet.org www.sfimperialcouncil.org
GOING OUT
TOP 20+ ARTS & NIGHTLIFE EVENTS
Steven Underhill
SEPT. 24-OCT. 2
Order your swag today!
As we shift from September to October, not only are leather and kinky things on the menu (like the Folsom Street Fair; see photo), but pumpkin spicy stuff is just around the corner. Check out our selected arts and nightlife events in this week’s Going Out, only on www.ebar.com.
<< Books
22 • Bay Area Repor ter • September 24-30, 2026
‘Racial Portraits’ by Cornelius Washington
H
aving photographed gay/queer men of color, who have always been a part of my life, it has often been difficult to find queer men of color willing to be photographed because of family, religion, and social community separation. Being that public would threaten their safe space as complicated as that already is, because they are queer, or also into non-standard sex. This has been accomplished by local veteran photographer Mark I Chester in his new book. The evolution of the leather and fetish community in the 21st century will be people of color in elegant ethnicity. Chester’s new book is the perfect example of how it should be documented. He gives the co-cultures a loving, elegant setting for his subjects to express, explore and celebrate themselves to a community that is unable and/or unwilling to see them for who and what they are: vibrant, passionate and essential to the kink community. The imagery is colorful yet muted, incandescent and sturdy, revealing yet still mysterious. Chester’s powerful self-published book reminds one of the photos of the non-celebrity subjects of Irving Penn and Richard Avedon in their fine art work which both artists display in fine art galleries and museum exhibitions. The models bring their own per-
Mark I Chester’s provocative political portraits of kinky queer men of color
sonal totems and props to create authenticity, passion, and a longing to fully express their sensuality and sexuality, with leather gear, masks, swords dolls, crowns, rope and traditional native dress. It all adds up to bold and dynamic expression. In our meeting, Chester provided a guided examination not only of the technical excellence of the book –he is one of the few photographers who actually knows how to light models of color – but also the enlarged photos of the book lovingly hanging in his studio. Books and some of his prints will be on display at his studio on Folsom Street Fair weekend September 25 and 27.
of color. We need to be having conversations but people are afraid of saying something wrong. I want people to see this as an opening conversation and I want to hold up a mirror and see how to get past this national epidemic of hate.
Cornelius Washington: What are the defining elements of a Mark I Chester image? Mark I Chester: The backdrop, the light; I want the person to be able to find out something about themselves with very few technical elements. I want it stripped down and I want a connecting element between myself and the subject. I want to give people the permission to be who they are.
Daddy Diesel is the coproducer and host of the very sexy Bluf event in Portland, Oregon. He wants to know how important style is to your imagery, and do you have an online archive? Style is important to my subjects and I just document it, but I do want to show a side of themselves they’ve never seen before. As far as an online archive; no, I don’t have one yet.
What moved you to create such a powerful book in today’s keyboard accessible image age? It’s an art project. These are all collaborations with my subjects. I want to change the image of queer people
What should queer creatives do during these trying political times? The challenge is society controlling who and what we see. Queer creatives have to get past the fetish objects in gay culture, the white muscle subjects. How do we change that dynamic? With lots of oppositions and contrasts in the looks of the subjects, pushing the boundaries of the stereotypes.
Michail Athanasios is an extremely popular dom and has quite a presence on social media. He wants to know how leather
A few images in Mark I Chester’s new book
shoot more queer chosen families. I haven’t found enough like that who trust me. I do want to shoot more interracial relationships. I also wish that I had more joy in the book, but some of that has to do with my dark energy. Who are your ideal subjects in those categories? Anyone who is willing to be authentic. fetish imagery has evolved in the many years that you have been shooting. Is there an image calling out to you that you haven’t done yet? From what I’ve seen, it’s evolved from what we know as classic S/M to radical sex and has fractured off into things like the pup community. As far as images calling me, as I said, the book is a work in progress. But I do want to
‘We’re Having Much More Fun’ by Mihael Flanagan
County lines
The Jayne County interview follows County from rural Georgia to New York City. County discusses laws in Atlanta that made it illegal for men
Nun openers
Authors Judith A. Peraino and Tom McEnaney
to wear their hair touching their ears (they could be arrested for female impersonation) and how the Beatles changed that. She discusses the Stonewall Riots and the Warhol crowd. She reveals that Jackie Curtis (a Warhol star) wore safety pins in her clothes (out of necessity, not fashion) in the early ’70s. County offers opinions on straight performers taking on drag and androgyny in the ’70s and conversely homophobia in the punk scene. County recounts a notorious incident from 1976 when Dick Manitoba of the Dictators leapt on stage while she was performing with a beer mug in hand. County thought Manitoba was attacking her and hit him with a microphone stand. It’s a fascinating interview and the punk pioneer recounts that when singing songs like “(If You Don’t Want to Fuck Me, Baby) Fuck Off!” her anger helps with her performance, saying, “If I’m mad about something I’m really great onstage.”
toward the manic look and performative aggression of the Sex Pistols and the Damned.” In Hauser’s interview, she traces the history of du Plenty from 1970, when he was in the Cockettes in San Francisco, to later the same year when he returned to Seattle and formed the performance group Ze Whiz Kidz (which Screamers keyboardist Tommy Gear was also a member of). Gear notes that Ze Whiz Kidz was the opening act for both Alice Cooper and the
When can our readers line up to be shot by you in your studio at the Folsom Street Fair? I’m going to start a little later than usual this year, around 1pm.t Mark I Chester’s ‘Racial Portraits’ book release party, Sept. 25, 7pm-10pm, 1229 Folsom St. Open studio Sept. 27, 11am-6pm. www.instagram.com/sfphotou/
Encyclopedic book on Punk music documents contributions by LGBTs, women and People of Color
New York Dolls in the early ’70s. Hauser and du Plenty left for New York in 1972 and by 1973 were in a review called “The Palm Casino Revue,” of which Hauser says, “There were Cockettes, Warhol family people, and other performers. It was a fucking great hit, and it ran all summer.”
W
ith a barrage of essays and images in an explosion of energy akin to a wild dancer in a mosh pit, “We’re Having Much More Fun: Punk Archives for the Present from CBGB to Gilman and Beyond” by Judith A. Peraino and Tom McEnaney bowls you over. The lavishly illustrated book by Peraino, a professor of Music and Sound Studies at Cornell University, and McEnaney, a professor of Comparative Literature, Spanish and Portuguese at UC Berkeley, includes more than 400 illustrations (including flyers, set lists, zines, posters and live shots) from Cornell University’s collections (also called “Cornell University’s Punk Archive” in the book). The book is divided into four sections, and the title may be familiar to listeners. As the introduction reveals, “‘We’re Having Much More Fun’ borrows its title from an X lyric to remember that the people behind the materials here built their communities in joyful resistance to the mainstream.” Though the illustrations are wonderful and make the era come alive, it’s the essays and interviews that are the heart of the book. Peraino conducted interviews with transgender Icon Jayne County in Part 1 and in Part 2 with founding member of the Cockettes Fayette Hauser about her longtime friend Tomatâ du Plenty, who was lead singer of the groundbreaking punk band the Screamers. Tommy Gear, cofounder of the Screamers, and Anna Joy Springer of the women’s Queercore band Cypher in the Snow, all contribute essays. In the “Be a Crossroads” section, Peraino interviews Martin Sorrondeguy of Los Crudos and Queercore band Limp Wrist.
t
In 1974 in New York Hauser and du Plenty created Savage Voodoo Nuns, a performance troupe that performed at both CBGB and Club 82 (a drag club that had existed since 1953 and which Hauser notes was run by two lesbians). At CBGB they performed on the same bill with Angel and the Snake, which was the original name of Blondie and already had Debbie Harry and Chris Stein as members. In their last show in New York, Savage Voodoo Nuns had a band playing for the first time opening for them, the Ramones. From New York de Plenty returned to Seattle, where by 1976 he had formed The Tupperwares with Tommy Gear. The Screamers first performance was on May 28, 1977, a party sponsored by the punk zine Slash. They hit the ground running,
performing at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go a month later (at the time an unheard of thing for an unsigned band). By July 28, 1977 they were performing at Mabuhay Gardens, so they were in San Francisco from early in their careers and had bands like the Germs and the Avengers opening for them. “We’re Having Much More Fun” documents how diverse the punk scene was and is. It gives voice to an era where people were proudly queer before that word was reclaimed. It celebrates the victory over the mainstream of artists like Jayne County and the Screamers and does it with informative essays and interviews as well as amazing graphics. For those unaware of Tomatâ du Plenty, it introduces a former Cockette who was as iconic in punk as Sylvester was in disco. It is long overdue and a welcome accomplishment.t “We’re Having Much More Fun: Punk Archives for the Present from CBGB to Gilman and Beyond” by Judith A. Peraino and Tom McEnaney, $29.95 paperback, Cornell University Press www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
Trajectory, obscurity
The section of the book on the Screamers fills in a void in music history for a band which, as the text says “took queer performance in a different trajectory—away from the campy ironic twist on the early 1960s pop and garage rock of Jayne County, Blondie, the Ramones, and the Mumps, and
All images: Cornell University Archives
Design: Gary Panter
Left: Wayne County poster, 1976 Middle: Screamers poster July 1978. Right: Front of lyric sheet for Limp Wrist, 1999
Design: Martin Sorrondeguy
t
Books>>
September 24-30, 2026 • Bay Area Repor ter • 23
Fall into books 2026 roundup, part 3
Memoir, autobiography, art illustrated, and a touch of kink
by Jim Piechota
O
nce again, it’s Folsom Street Fair season, and in the third of our Fall books roundup series, we offer up a variety of edgy, gritty, kink-flavored works of memoir and autobiography, and an inspired book from a unique distinguished artist that will stimulate the senses and ignite the curiosities of every reader.
“A Slut’s Life in Three Acts” by Janet W. Hardy $30 (Unbound Editions) In her forceful, provocative memoir, Janey Hardy, co-author of “The Ethical Slut,” pulls no punches and delivers her eventful and colorful lifethus-far on the page with candid, unrestrained joy. Previously seen writings combined with all-new material result in a book chronicling three eventful decades (“acts”) in Hardy’s life as only she can dictate with outspoken charm and intimate detail. Never shy with the intimate specifics of her sexual exploits, Hardy’s autobiography describes her youth as a teenager in California in the 1960s, and her years at college in the ’70s where she discovered the joys of sex and spanking, and writing a master’s thesis called “GirlFag,” which she hoped to frame as a musical of sorts. During that time, she attempted to seduce boys and girls with a combination of successes and failures, which moved her into a particularly fruitful era as a very sexually-active woman, then maturing into both a “semi-retired deviant” and a gratefully “aging pervert.” “If my life were a musical,” Hardy writes, “it wouldn’t be one of the big, crowd-pleasing ones. My life would be a cult favorite, off-off Broadway at best.” Throughout the memoir, Hardy is never shy about divulging personal habits or preferences, sexual or otherwise, and even coins the uniquely colorful sexual term, “cunniclaustrophobia.” Nope, it’s not in the MerriamWebster dictionary, but Hardy is certain everyone’s been in that situation and will get the gist of what she means. Written with poetic grace and gritty brazen honesty, Hardy’s effortless embrace of everything sensual and erotic will move readers in emotional, romantic, and carnal ways. This is a memoir to savor and reflect upon, as it touches on feelings and reactions commonly felt by, well, everyone, especially when it comes to relationships, pain, pleasure, rejection, belonging, the need for community, and the rush of realizing a newfound identity. www.unboundedition.com
“Homo Artis: A Manifesto for Creation in the Age of AI” by Marco Palou $34.99 (Palou Press) Queer Latinx multidisciplinary artist Marco Palou, also known under the moniker Baby Yors, presents his life story in prose and the life of an accomplished artist and writer. After moving to New York City at 18, Palou, who originally hails from Argentina, began hearing from a host of theatrical agents who demanded he select one of his many artistic talents to solely focus on. Of course, he balked at the insinuation and in the coming decade, he’d fully embraced his life as a highly expressive polymath. The author also discusses rejecting the use of artificial intelligence in his work. A good example of the issues it causes for artists is when Palou, who’d written a song for a recently deceased friend, found out that AI had generated an independent version of the song using a ’80s vibe “that took it to a place I never expected.” Along the way, Palou imparts lots of lessons in creativity as well as sage advice about Argentina’s cultural heritage, family, the immigrant artist experience, the battle between art, integrity, and AI, and the joys and transformational possibilities of living an artful life. It’s a big, beautifully produced book covering many different aspects of Palou’s life and the many forms his creative artistry takes. This independently produced volume is as outspoken and dazzling as the artist himself www.homoartis.com “Bondage Life(r): A Memoir About the Commercial Bondage Industry” by Michael Botz, $19.99 (End of the Road Publishing) As a producer of bondage-themed adult films, Michael Botz’s frank, revealing memoir draws from a long career in
the pleasure industry and the positive and negative effects it’s had on his life. As a youth in the 1960s in a Catholic home in Ohio, Botz became fascinated with the idea of bondage after watching Batgirl bound to a chair and gagged; his “emotions went haywire.” It became an obsession that needed constant suppression, but ultimately became his stock in trade and a lucrative kinky vocation. Once relocated to Los Angeles as an adult, Botz first began producing pictorials for the magazine “The Bound Beauties of Harmony,” then onward and upward to digital website material, including the site meninbondage. com, a soft-core page featuring male models in bondage scenarios, minus sexual interactions. The memoir unapologetically advocates for the right to sexual freedom and offers an in-depth, highly personal, and nonjudgmental glimpse into the world of pornographic adult content from its conception, its production, and its worldwide enjoyment. www.michaelbotz.com “Kink Healing: The Spiritual and Therapeutic Dimensions of BDSM” by Alessandro Giacon, $33 (self) As a professional Dominant, Alessandro Giacon’s new book puts a newfound spin on how the act of consensual BDSM can act as a method of healing emotional trauma and an effectual method of creating a stronger mind and body. Giacon masterfully integrates modern neuroscience, body-centered Somatic healing methods, and Tantric practices and ideologies to inspire readers to abandon repetitive patterns of trauma and painful memory recall. This practice, he believes, is one way to provoke and move the body and mind toward intentional and long-lasting psychological repair and healing. While primarily written as a kink-
aware clinical tool for therapists and sexologists, it is also for general BDSM practitioners and anyone wishing to explore more fully the nervous system connection between vulnerability and danger and how to unlearn it and break that connection. Contemplative and inspiring, while also provocative and highly controversial, Giacon’s methodology
and mindset on the melding of therapeutic sex play, controlled stress environments, and biological, psychological, and sexual healing and reparation makes for a unique addition to bondage guidebooks. It also is certain to spark opinionated conversation (pro and con) among likeminded members of the bondage community. www.kinkhealing.comt
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Proudly Celebrating our 49th Year! 1977 – 2025
Drawn to Harry Bush by Jim Provnzano
W
hat started out as a modest Kickstarter publishing project has reached almost $100,000 in donations. Harry Bush, the historic gay erotic illustrator, is getting a new life in a book to be published by the Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives. Project donations start at $80 and move up with special edition lithographs, mugs, T-shirts and other items for larger donations. So far, the campaign has surpassed $75,000 with more than 500 backers. “Having begun his artistic career at age 40, after 20 years in the military, Harry began his career in the mid1960s in Bob Mizer’s landmark publication, ‘Physique Pictorial,’” states the campaign description. “Harry’s work is full of humor and irony, and definitely sexy. Through the discovery of hundreds of letters, his writing reveals a man who was shy, withdrawn, and unsure of his place in the artistic and cultural landscape of his time
Bob Mizer Museum and Photographic Archives’ Harry Bush project
as well as within the gay community around him. Co-editors Hunter O’Hanian and Mischa Gawronski have amassed hundreds of letters written by, and to, Harry. Primary original research has been conducted on over 2,000 pages of material which have been processed and analyzed.
The book’s text will also include a lengthy biography of the artist. The book has expanded in page count as the donations have continued to rise, almost to reach their $100,000 goal. The campaign ends on October 2.t www.bobmizer.org
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