Real Estate: John M. Lee

For decades, San Francisco’s west side was treated as the City’s quieter real estate bet: foggy residential blocks, family-run businesses, immigrant commercial corridors and rows of single-family homes that felt comparatively attainable by local standards. That old assumption is losing ground. In the Richmond and Sunset districts, limited housing supply, larger remodels, changing retail corridors and pressure for new housing along transit routes are altering both neighborhood identity and property values.

Everything Nice: A Warm Welcome on Taraval

Taraval Street has always matched the energy from the people who live around it – bakeries and coffee counters open early, and this stretch of Parkside keeps a slower pace than much of the City. Among the longtime neighborhood favorites, enters the newest arrival: Welcome Coffee & Goods, which found its home at 425 Taraval St., near 14th Avenue. The shop is both a place to order a coffee and a place to dig through the racks for vintage clothing. As the sign outside states, “Come for the coffee, stay for the goods.”

Commentary: Quentin L. Kopp

September used to be the month I returned to school after being released in the middle of June. That’s gone with the wind. San Francisco public schools opened up for business on Monday, Aug. 17, two weeks before Labor Day. My Napa grandsons, Emmett and Brooks (16 and 12) reported for academic duty in their schools on Aug. 10. Naturally, football practice began even before that.

Surfers Shane Curnyn and Josh Lowe Co-Create Juniper Architecture

Shane Curnyn and Josh Lowe left the East Coast separately, chasing the same vision: a city dense enough to support an architecture practice and an ocean close enough to surf before work. Fifteen years after founding Juniper Architecture, the two principals run their firm in a former motorcycle repair shop on Balboa Street, blocks away from their favorite surf spot near the Cliff House.

Assembly: Catherine Stefani

Now that the 2026 legislative session has come to a close, I’m taking a moment to reflect on the work we’ve done together, and on the issues I hear about every day from neighbors across the City. When I go to Sacramento, I bring those conversations with me. Whether it’s concerns about public safety, the rising cost of living, access to healthcare or the well-being of our families and seniors, my goal is to turn those concerns into meaningful action.