One of my favorite parts of this job is going out to public events and listening to feedback from our readers. About once a month, when a new issue comes out, I set up the Sunset Beacon table at the Outer Sunset Farmers Market.

I wish our writers could hear the compliments I get. Thank you to everyone who shares a word of gratitude for our neighborhood newspaper. You inspire us. 

We have such an interesting group of creative people who submit their work. 

Special thanks goes to Thomas K. Pendergast who holds the record for front-page news stories. His contributions to the quality of the papers (we also produce the Richmond Review) does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.

I am so delighted to have some young writers who produce some great work, too. Recently, a new writer has contributed some very well-written stories. He has some experience writing for his school paper, and decided to take a chance with the larger neighborhood paper. He is quite impressive for being in the eighth grade!

Another writer just became a senior at Abraham Lincoln High School. She has been writing for about a year and has submitted some excellent stories. It gives me hope for the future.

Another new writer for us graduated from USF a few months ago. She was the editor of the student newspaper and I am thrilled with her interest in our neighborhood newspapers.

An intern who started working for us as a 15-year-old home-schooled student recently left for Southern California for his first year of college. His main contribution has been uploading our stories and photos to our website. He enjoys it enough to continue the task from a distance. As with all students, I emphasize that school always comes first. Thankfully, he’s bright enough to handle both. 

Friends of Woody

If you don’t subscribe to Woody LaBounty’s newsletter, I highly recommend you signing up for “San Francisco Story.” Woody shares very interesting tales of our beautiful city’s history. He’s a great writer with a delightful sense of humor and an encyclopedic mind full of fascinating stories from our City’s past.

Woody has been exceptionally generous to our papers, allowing us to share some of his fascinating work. To say thanks to the man who was one of the founders of the Western Neighborhoods Project (where we get our terrific “Then” photos for our “Then and Now” column), I bought Woody a Guinness at the fabled Plough and the Stars bar on Clement Street in the Inner Richmond. Our conversation was easy and informative. He’s a delightful man, and I highly encourage you to contribute to “Woody’s Beer and Coffee Fund” to keep this westside treasure happy. Thank you, Woody!

Sunset Night Market

The Sunset Beacon had a table at last year’s Sunset Night Market. It was phenomenal! The turnout was almost overwhelming. I loved every minute of it.

We had a table again on Friday, Aug. 30. It was equally impressive. The planners deserve great credit for producing a spectacular evening. They responded to the crowds from 2023 and stretched the three-block party to seven blocks. It was almost as crowded! Last year’s event drew a crowd of approximately 10,000 people. This year’s estimate was about 20,000 people. I believe it. Everyone was in great spirits. I love seeing the diversity in our community. Beautiful. I can’t wait for next month’s night market. Stop by the Sunset Beacon table and say “hi” on Sept. 27.

Thank you to our readers who came by and donated to help the Sunset Beacon. We say thanks to them by giving away our very cool Sunset Beacon hats.

Phil Ting

We are approaching the end of Phil Ting’s tenure as a state assemblymember and a longtime columnist for the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers. He will be termed-out soon.

Ting’s column was always the first one I edited because it was always so clean and required very few alterations.

I was always impressed by the volume of work he completed and the millions of dollars he funeled back into our community. It seems to me he always had his constituents in mind when he exerted his legislative power. 

A quick note to thank his very talented staff, including Nannette and Naomi, who have been delightful to work with. I wish Phil and his co-workers all the best in their new endeavors.

Great Wall Hardware

One of this issue’s page-one stories details the sickening attack on a beloved part of our community, Great Wall Hardware on Taraval, between 28th and 29th avenues.

Owner Albert Chow has spent countless hours representing local merchants and residents as the president of the People of Parkside/Sunset community group. He advocates for local businesses, helps organize events (like Movies at McCoppin) and works hard at his business – both running his store and working on construction projects.

Albert said he has clear video of a person deliberately setting fire to his store. We hope the evidence leads to justice. 

To make matters worse, burglars broke into his burned-out store – three times – to steal whatever they could and ransack the store and upstairs apartments. These are heartless crimes against one of our community’s most altruistic leaders. 

We encourage our readers to chip in to help Albert and his family during this incredibly challenging and stressful time. Here is the GoFundMe URL: gofundme.com/f/help-albert-chow-rebuild-legacy-family-business.

I’ll end here by thanking Paul Kozakiewicz who created the papers and still helps edit every issue. Thank you!

Michael Durand is the editor and publisher of the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers and the RichmondSunsetNews.com website. He can be reached at Editor@RichmondSunsetNews.com.