Mike Kepka's Love Letter to San Francisco

With flowers and chair, seller loves motion at 100-year-old stand

By Mike Kepka

A recent Tuesday, 5:05 p.m.: With an antique cash register at her side and a bucket of $2 roses in front of her, Margaret Karssli sits on a little chair near the corner of Powell and Market streets. That ...

Childhood friends create “The Last Black Man in San

By Mike Kepka

A recent Friday, 10:49 a.m.: Standing in the spot where they first met more than a dozen years earlier, in the middle of Precita Park, Joe Talbot leans his head on Jimmie Fails’ shoulder. Both roll ...

Even admirers look down on artist’s sidewalk creations

By Mike Kepka

  A recent Friday, 2:17 p.m.: At noon the sidewalk near the corner of 25th and Shotwell streets was a dull gray walking path. But Nikolas Larson saw something else: a blank canvas. Two hours and ...

Thanks to artists and oddballs, S.F. will always feel like home

By Mike Kepka

Thanks to artists and oddballs, S.F. will always feel like home No one of us will ever own your heart, but you will always occupy a prominent place in mine. When I walk your streets I see more than cable ...

Wizard behind Smuin Ballet’s curtain puts the pieces together

By Mike Kepka

Wizard behind Smuin Ballet’s curtain puts the pieces together Wearing his signature black brimmed homburg hat, handmade embroidered velvet jacket and silver lamé vest, Vincent Avery looks like he ...

For Sister Mary Benedicte, serving is a way of life

By Mike Kepka

Benedicte is one of two sisters who run the Fraternite Notre Dame’s Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen at 54 Turk St., but Benedicte seems to be the one people think is in charge. Maybe it’s the way she ...

Pit bull ambassador lets dogs out in shades

By Mike Kepka

A recent Tuesday, 10:48 a.m.: The cameras, smartphones and smiles come out every time Jason Saola and his dogs stroll the brick sidewalks of Market Street. “I love the reaction when people come up to ...

Collector turns repairing vacuum cleaners into tidy hobby

By Mike Kepka

Collector turns repairing vacuum cleaners into tidy hobby When Leonard Low said he had the perfect vacuum cleaner for his friend, he thought retrieving it from his storage locker would take just a few ...

S.F. pedicab driver 'a hero’ in his Batman suit

By Mike Kepka

S.F. pedicab driver 'a hero’ in his Batman suit Coasting past pedestrians in a city as strange as Gotham, Batman spots a woman in distress and offers her a ride in his pedicab. “Batman rescued me and ...

Isaiah Webb keeps his chin up through beard manipulations

By Mike Kepka

With a video camera trained on his head, Isaiah Webb tries to sit still while his wife, Angela, stretches his 17-inch-long beard in unconventional directions. Isaiah’s eyes bug open as she unknowingly ...

Giant stuffed monkey brings smiles, eases healing journey

By Mike Kepka

Giant stuffed monkey brings smiles, eases healing journey Belted into a tiny red shopping cart was her best friend, Cami, a stuffed monkey. What her fellow N-Judah passengers didn’t know was that this ...

Lands End labyrinth keeper finds the way to a gratifying role

By Mike Kepka

Lands End labyrinth keeper finds the way to a gratifying role Armed with a blue bucket full of rocks, a pair of yellow gardening gloves and a broom, Yerge went to work returning the labyrinth to its ...

Host gives people in Tenderloin a voice on show that never airs

By Mike Kepka

Host gives people in Tenderloin a voice on show that never airs Surrounded by residential hotels and liquor stores, Geoffrey Grier gripped his microphone and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 'The ...

Artist goes into Presidio woods and comes out with bright works

By Mike Kepka

After declaring his painting done, Nicholas Coley walked his giant canvas across the street. Between the bright-orange brush strokes and his electric-blue shoes, it was the most colorful sight in a ...

Chinatown optometrist Alfred Lee passes vision on to his son

By Mike Kepka

Chinatown optometrist Alfred Lee passes vision on to his son After opening the doors to his optometry office, 94-year-old Dr. Alfred Lee fastens the buttons on a white lab coat. The sign above the front ...

Handyman follows bohemian dream at San Remo Hotel

By Mike Kepka

Seventeen years later, the 53-year-old Armstrong has become an integral part of the quirky hotel on the edge of North Beach, which was built in 1906 to house refugees of the great earthquake and fire. ...

Daily aikido routine provides strength, confidence after stroke

By Mike Kepka

Daily aikido routine provides strength, confidence after stroke Neighbors watched as Tim Sum showed off his steel samurai sword by slowly raising it over his head outside his apartment. Speed and focus ...

For retired firefighter, driving 'toy truck’ a holiday

By Mike Kepka

For retired firefighter, driving 'toy truck’ a holiday tradition Retired firefighter Mike Walsh navigates the streets of the financial district while his wife of 33 years, Tracey, wipes condensation from ...

Beatboxer has more than one string to his cello

By Mike Kepka

The end result was a one-man, classical hip-hop orchestra that left the crowd clapping for more. When you have such an awesome expressive instrument, why not take it into these other realms? When Chang ...

Grill maker’s bling comes from the heart

By Mike Kepka

Grill maker’s bling comes from the heart The gold teeth shop called Mr. Bling Bling doesn’t look very shiny on the outside. [...] David Moon, who has run the tiny store near the corner of Geary ...

Change just around the corner on Tenderloin’s Pill Hill

By Mike Kepka

The intersection of Golden Gate Avenue and Jones Street is usually infested with drug dealers and addicts. [...] when social worker Regina Santa Maria of St. Anthony Dining Room showed up in a turkey ...

Backers recall trip that helped turn corner on same-sex marriage

By Mike Kepka

A recent Sunday, 3:39 p.m.: A group of activists who once rode a charter bus on a cross-country crusade for same-sex marriage rights, wearing wedding gowns and tuxedos, lifted flutes of Champagne to ...

Troupes entertain with annual San Francisco Trolley Dances

By Mike Kepka

Never mind that the performance was happening on the unforgiving sidewalks on a steep hill at 30th and Sanchez streets. When two dancers from the Alayo Dance Company ended “Romance en la Havana” with ...