Joe Mirante Keeps the Summer of Love Alive with Psychedelic Art and Music

Learning to swim at Sutro Baths. Working amusement park carnival booths next to Ocean Beach. Joining fellow hippies in a Haight-Ashbury commune. Smoking a joint with the Grateful Dead. Talking to Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio and Liberace while busboying in Fisherman’s Wharf. It feels like a San Francisco fever dream – but for Richmond-district resident painter and musician Joe Mirante, now 76, this was simply his reality.

City Hall: Connie Chan

At the end of June, as Chair of the Board’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, we led the unanimous passage of the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 San Francisco budget, restoring more than $28 million in cuts to vital services, restoration of jobs and safeguarding more than $1.3 billion in reserve funds to protect against anticipated further cuts from President Donald Trump’s Administration.

Proposed Budget Cuts Set to Be Restored After Protest

On June 15, more than 50 seniors – with four dressed as iconic characters Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion – protested the mayor’s proposed $8.9 million in budget cuts to senior and disability programs. While singing a parody of “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz, Hene Kelly, dressed as Dorothy, led protesters to each supervisor’s office and asked them to “have a heart,” “use your brain” and “show some courage” to say no to senior cuts.