Farewell to 007 Nov 9, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008. James Bond - No. 007 (licensed to kill) in the British Secret Service - is dead. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
50 years later, follow in the footsteps of Hitchcock and his Vertigo characters Oct 16, 2008
"OK so Madeleine's first drive starts there," he says, pointing to the castle-like Brocklebank apartments at Mason and Sacramento, once home to newspaper columnist Herb Caen and Mayor Joseph Alioto, not to mention the fictitious Madeleine. Her second drive starts here, too, the one that ends at Fort Point, beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, where she plunges into the bay and is saved by Scottie. (The Star Online, Malaysia)
S.F. gathering celebrates Saroyan's centennial Sep 5, 2008
He was a friend of Herb Caen, the columnist, and Barnaby Conrad, the bullfighter. He was "a charmingly noisy part" of the San Francisco of the time, Caen wrote, "laughing at the human comedy he created.". (San Francisco Chronicle)
Pioneer sportswriter Marjorie Kinder dies Jun 2, 2008
She was an avid magazine reader, her son Chris said, and a devout follower of Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. By the time she took a job of public information officer for the Fremont Union High School District, she used her deep roots in the newspaper community to place stories in the paper. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Crime)
Ray Ratto on the Magowan rumor May 9, 2008
(bon mot attributed to Herb Caen). Posted By: Snark | May 08 2008 at 07:36 PM. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Sports)
From the archive: What was it like as a fan? Apr 15, 2008
Columnist Herb Caen had just returned to The Chronicle after an eight-year hiatus at the rival Examiner, with an annual salary of $38,000. Jack Kerouac was the toast of some quarters with his just-published book, "The Dharma Bums.". (San Francisco Chronicle -- Sports)
Lodi's Pledge of Allegiance fuss Feb 17, 2008
We hardly think that would please the leaders of the People's Republic of Berkeley, as the late scribe Herb Caen described this bluest-of-the-blue burgs by the bay. Faced with a fiery backlash, and the threat of losing both state and federal dollars, the Berkeley council reversed course this week proving that even in Berkeley, common sense may eventually prevail. (Lodi News Sentinel, CA)
Romancing the not-long-gone Washbag Jan 11, 2008
Part of it was legendary Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, who gave the place the "Washbag" nickname, although Fimrite, who wrote a book on the place, says true regulars always called it "the Square.". But it was more than good publicity. (San Francisco Chronicle)
PCCUA Book Club to present poetry review of Beat Generation Nov 7, 2007
The official term "beatnik" emerged in 1958 when Herb Caen, a San Francisco columnist, was trying to describe this beat counterculture. This was also the time of space exploration and the Russians had just launched Sputnik, which is where Caen borrowed the "nik." Caen's article gave a negative portrayal of Beatniks because he thought they were un-American and rejected traditional values. (Helena Daily World, AR)
Cecilia Chiang's epic journey Oct 25, 2007
And on one auspicious day, frequent patron Vic Bergeron of Trader Vic's came in with Chronicle columnist Herb Caen. Within days, Caen was writing about the Polk Street hole-in-the-wall with the red door, and the phone began ringing. (San Francisco Chronicle)
ENRICO BANDUCCI: 1922-2007 Oct 11, 2007
It was astounding," said Ward Dunham, a long-time bartender and bouncer who was one of the characters in Banducci's San Francisco pageant. "Honest to God, it was a place for millionaires and bums," Dunham said. Opening night at Enrico's featured Julie Wilson, who sang a couple of songs; Shelley Berman, who did a couple of comedy routines; and Cary Grant, who merely smiled. "This place is going to be THE hangout for Caffeine Society," Herb Caen wrote in his Chronicle column. That was in October... (San Francisco Chronicle)
The beeping ball that launched the Space Age Oct 4, 2007
(Sputnik's instant notoriety in American popular culture inspired San Francisco Chronicle writer Herb Caen to coin the term "beatnik" in an article on the Beat Generation less than a year later. . (International Herald Tribune -- Ed/Op)
Phil Frank dies - cartoonist who captured spirit of Bay Area Sep 15, 2007
"Farley will be missed," Brown said Thursday, "He will be really missed. "He was to cartoons what Herb Caen was to words," Brown added. "I consider Phil Frank a great friend - and, believe it or not - a great promoter of Willie Brown. " The nature of Frank's work - tossing off drawings seemingly effortlessly - concealed a fine mind with broad interests. He could have been a political figure himself. "He had a charismatic personality that made everybody like him," said D.J. Puffert, president of... (San Francisco Chronicle)
It Says 'San Francisco' Sep 12, 2007
In his 1949 book "Baghdad by the Bay," Herb Caen held up Grant Avenue as that era's quintessential San Francisco street, the one that embodied "a place of many worlds, one blending into the other without losing its character.". These days, my vote goes to 24th Street as it slides down from Twin Peaks and rolls across Mission Street. (San Francisco Chronicle)
ARMEN BALIANTZ 1921-2007 Aug 5, 2007
" While Russian dancers always held a special place, friendships could come from almost anywhere. Her social spiral included labor leader Harry Bridges, sculptor Benny Bufano, Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, California Assembly Speaker and later San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, and writer William Saroyan. Baliantz introduced the dancer Natalia Makarova, another Soviet defector, to her future husband, Edward Karkar. "I will always be grateful to her for that," Makarova said in a statement. She... (San Francisco Chronicle)
TOP OF THE LINEA legend like Halas, Lombardi Jul 31, 2007
TOP OF THE LINE / A legend like Halas, Lombardi (San Francisco Chronicle -- Sports)
Porn trailblazers guessed right -- sex became big business Jul 19, 2007
They were on convivial terms with Hunter S. Thompson, Herb Caen, R. Crumb and many others capable of enlarging their myth. Who could say how many times their own connections and personalities bailed them out of deep legal or financial waters. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Critics of 'suburban' cities long for the old urbanity -- or chaos Jun 27, 2007
My norm is what Chronicle columnist Herb Caen in 1980 described as a street of "schlock shops and junkfood palaces" that "has gone to hell since I was a kid.". Or consider the hostility that some people feel toward Mission Bay, the redevelopment district sprouting near the Giants' ballpark. (San Francisco Chronicle)
THE BEST ON THE BLOCK? READERS WEIGH IN May 2, 2007
When I asked readers to send their own favorites my way, it was as though they were channeling Herb Caen ... " Herb Caen would understand. And heartily approve. Place appears on Tuesdays. E-mail John King at . This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle Overall Management istration Teacher K-12 PORT ENGINEER Tidewater Barge MANAGER Med Device Mfg. Co. Sierra Dispatchers, Techs Waste Worker Police Officer Appraiser I/II Cardiovascular Techs Licensed Vocational Nurses Human... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Beat poet recalls heart of the times May 1, 2007
Columnist] Herb Caen in San Francisco called everybody beatniks, and that stuck. But generally, I guess it was the popularization of the Beat style. (Fresno Bee)
Wake up -- S.F. is on the cusp of a fundamental shift Apr 19, 2007
The same impulse that sustained Herb Caen through more than half a century of celebrating, lampooning and brooding over a city that shimmered like a half-real, half-idealized miasma in his prose is apparent in a poem by Tony D'Arpino that appears in a collection of 21st century San Francisco poems, "The Other Side of the Postcard." "San Francisco is a beatitude of sewers and laughter," goes a line in D'Arpino's eponymous "San Francisco," "a warm race of spiritual hedonists./It's a beatitude of... (San Francisco Chronicle)
DOUBLE TROUBLE Apr 16, 2007
"I did wear that dress. That's the only part of the story that's true. A husband stealer? I certainly was not. I had a husband, a perfectly good husband. I don't approve of writing books that hurt people, because from my experience they are total fabrications. If you feel that strongly about it to put it on paper, write yourself a letter.'' Montandon's divorce was one of the city's most expensive -- and public -- partings of that time. She asked for $57,000 a month in alimony but was awarded... (San Francisco Chronicle)
His hungry i helped put S.F. on the map as rebel artists' haven Apr 5, 2007
He was the subject of many news stories and Herb Caen items about his alimony disputes, his fisticuffs and his troubles with the tax man. "It looks as if entrepreneur Enrico Banducci is going to have to put up with having two wives for a while, at least," The Chronicle wrote in January, 1960, when Sharoff sued him for more alimony, two months after he'd married Sue Stanley, "an attractive singer." Enrico and Luba apparently had never filed a final divorce decree. (San Francisco Chronicle)
GIANTS'50TH HOME OPENERFor openers, team's first here a San Francisco treat Apr 1, 2007
" The home opener in 1995 marked the end of an uneasy period. A players' strike had forced cancellation of the Word Series the previous year and wasn't settled until the 11th hour in spring training. Finally, baseball was back. But no Opening Day can compare with 1958, when the former New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers continued their 75-year-old rivalry in a blue-collar San Francisco neighborhood. The Giants were welcomed by 125,000 in a parade down Market Street. Willie Mays shared an open... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Sports)
50 Years Of Film Mar 3, 2007
50 / SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL / Hollywood finally relents, but no one falls for 'Beloved Infidel. " Caen himself dubs the picture "Beloved Infi-dull. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
A Real-Life Horror Story Feb 25, 2007
Chronicle columnist Herb Caen mentioned it in a funny item that brought TV news crews scrambling to our third-floor offices at 901 Mission St.. Still, we had to wonder. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
In California, the Sputnik (Maybe) Meets Beatnik Tour Feb 19, 2007
The Beats and the Sputnik are linked by nomenclature if nothing else: Herb Caen coined the word ;Beatnik; in a newspaper column about a party held for ;50 Beatniks. They;re only Beat, y;know, when it comes to work,; Mr. Caen wrote in April 1958. (Foster's Daily Democrat)
Maltese Falcon flies the coop Feb 14, 2007
" Konstin misses the bird. It's a part of his spirit and soul. He looks at the empty shelves of that old cabinet like he can't believe his eyes. "At first I thought it was a joke, or maybe the waiters were playing a prank," he said, pouring a glass of sparkling water. The kind Spade would have spat on the already-spat-on sidewalk. It was no joke. Now the coppers want to know who lifted the goods. The list of suspects is as long as the line of tourists waiting to get on the cable car at Powell... (San Francisco Chronicle)
The new rulers of the universe Jan 20, 2007
Herb Caen, Chronicle Staff Writer. Saturday, January 20, 2007. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Sports)
