The New Century Chamber Orchestra is a conductorless string ensemble formed by Stuart Canin in 1992. Last year they appointed the star violin soloist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg as their concertmaster and music director, and from most accounts it's been a...

A fashionista friend, Anthony Herrera, once despaired after seeing a group of young Japanese tourist women who were decked out in the latest of fashions. "It's no fair. Their hair is perfect, their bodies are perfect, and their cutesy fashion is...

Kimo (above) invited me to an art opening on Friday at a new four-story complex on Post Street across from Japantown called New People. The complex had joined up with a group called Bazaar Bizarre SF, which specializes in odd crafts, for a weekend...

On a whirlwind tour of the permanent collection of the Asian Art Museum this week, the most interesting "newly on view" section seemed to be in the Japanese wing on the second floor. From the Avery Brundage collection, there is an amazing pair...

The first public park in San Francisco dates from 1867, when the area between the modern neighborhoods of the Castro and the Haight-Ashbury was called Hill Park. In 1894, the hill was "forested" under the supervision of John McLaren, and renamed Buena...