THE ARCHIVE · 63 SATURDAYS · EVERY KEEPER
EVERY KEEPER
WE HAVE EVER HELD.
Weekly profiles, back to issue one. One saturday letter at a time, and yes, every single byline is a real human.
EVERY KEEPER
ISSUE №58 · BY ERIC
Zareen's Opens a Fourth Kitchen
Twelve years after the first sold-out cooking class in Saratoga, Zareen Khan is opening her fourth Pakistani-Indian restaurant. This one is
ISSUE №57 · BY DAISY
Olive Branch Roasters and the Two-Lot Theory of Coffee
On a back street in Bernal Heights, Marisa Padilla roasts twelve pounds a day from two farms. She names the growers. She refuses every whole
ISSUE №56 · BY NICHOLAS
Hand & Foot Tailoring and the Cantonese Hem Rule
Auntie Lai has been hemming pants on Irving Street since 1994. She speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, and a working English. She has alterations in
ISSUE №55 · BY DAISY
The Tutor Room at 826 Valencia That Has Been Open Since 2002
Twenty-four years, fourteen thousand kids, the same five rules on the wall. The current program director has held the room together by refus
ISSUE №54 · BY NICHOLAS
Marcus the Locksmith Who Will Not Open Your Apartment Without ID
On Geary Boulevard since 2008. The cheapest locksmith in the city and the slowest. Both of those things are choices.
ISSUE №53 · BY DAISY
Rose Akiyama Throws Forty Bowls a Week. She Will Not Throw Forty-One.
Six years in a Dogpatch studio. The waitlist is fifteen months long. She has turned down every wholesale offer that would change the math.
ISSUE №18 · BY ERIC
The last Korean tofu house on Geary Street
For 34 years, Mrs. Kim has been ladling soondubu before sunrise. As her block changes around her, she's not going anywhere, and she has thin
ISSUE №17 · BY ERIC
The 6 a.m. tai chi circle by Lake Merritt
Twelve regulars meet at the southwest corner of the lake at six in the morning. They have done this every day for sixteen years. Through fir
ISSUE №16 · BY NICHOLAS
The Mission's Last Mariachi Tailor
Don Ramiro has been hand-stitching trajes for 41 years. His children are arguing about the shop.
ISSUE №15 · BY ERIC
The Oakland Roller-Skating Pastor
Sermons at 11. Lake Merritt at 6. Usually in vestments and skates.
ISSUE №14 · BY ERIC
The 96-Year-Old Skateboarder of Pacifica
He doesn't push hard. He just doesn't stop.
ISSUE №13 · BY ERIC
The Hayward Driveway Skate Park
Twenty years ago they paved over their lawn. The kids still come.
ISSUE №12 · BY NICHOLAS
The Sunset surf school for kids who can't swim
Lulu Garcia teaches kids from inland neighborhoods to swim and surf. There is no fee. There is a waitlist.
ISSUE №11 · BY ERIC
The Outer Richmond Russian bakery passing the recipe to its third owner
Cinderella Bakery has been on Balboa Street since 1953. The recipe for the napoleon has not changed. The owner has, twice.
ISSUE №10 · BY ERIC
The Tenderloin barbershop that became a youth program
Big Mike's Cuts opened on Eddy Street in 2008. By 2014 it was also a place for kids to do homework, eat lunch, and not be on the street.
ISSUE №9 · BY NICHOLAS
The Daly City pho shop run by a 19-year-old after her father died
Pho Anh has been on Mission Street for 22 years. Last September, the owner died. His daughter took over the kitchen the same week.
ISSUE №8 · BY ERIC
The Outer Sunset photographer who documented every shop owner since 2012
Andre Diaz has photographed 412 small business owners on Judah and Noriega. He gives them the prints. He keeps the negatives.
ISSUE №7 · BY NICHOLAS
The Mission community kitchen where everyone eats Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Comedor Comunitario opens its doors every Wednesday afternoon. There is no menu, no charge, and no questions.
ISSUE №6 · BY ERIC
The BART conductor who has seen the same passenger every weekday for nine years
Tomas Reyes runs the 6:14 a.m. out of Daly City. A woman in a yellow scarf has been on the same train, same car, same seat, since 2017.
ISSUE №5 · BY DAISY
The Pacific Heights block where every house has a piano
On a single block of Vallejo Street, eighteen of nineteen homes have a working piano. Six of them are tuned by the same man.
ISSUE №4 · BY ERIC
What happens to your trash after you bin it
Recology's Sunset transfer station processes 280 tons of San Francisco residential garbage every day. Twelve people sort it. Some of them ha
ISSUE №3 · BY ERIC
The Castro record shop that hosts a 30-year poker game on Friday nights
After hours at Vinyl Vault, six men have played the same five-dollar buy-in since 1995. The shop has changed owners twice. They have not.
ISSUE №20 · BY NICHOLAS
The Bayview seed library where every seed is free
Behind a converted laundromat on Third Street, the Bayview Seed Library has held about 1,800 varieties of seed since 2014. There is no fee.
ISSUE №19 · BY ERIC
The Chinatown locksmith who keeps a key for every grandmother on his block
Mr. Wong has run a locksmith shop on Stockton Street for 32 years. He has a small wooden cabinet of spare keys for his elderly neighbors. He
ISSUE №23 · BY ERIC
The Geary fishmonger who has cleaned 1.4 million fish
Mr. Tanaka has worked the same counter at New Sun Market for 38 years. He keeps a small notebook of every fish he has gutted. He is on book
ISSUE №22 · BY NICHOLAS
The Excelsior woman who writes letters for the elderly who can't write English
Auntie Lourdes Aquino has written about 4,200 letters in 27 years. Most of them to landlords, to Social Security, to grandchildren. She does
ISSUE №21 · BY ERIC
The Bernal Heights piano teacher whose first students now bring their own kids
Frances Eldridge has taught piano in the same bedroom on Cortland Avenue for 51 years. Her current student book has 22 names. Eight of them
ISSUE №33 · BY ERIC
The MUNI driver who knows her regulars by their breathing
Bessie Hu has driven the 38-Geary for 27 years. She has had three husbands and one route. She knows the regulars by the way they get on the
ISSUE №32 · BY NICHOLAS
The Chinatown grandmother who has been at every San Francisco protest since 1973
Mrs. Lin Chen is 89. She carries the same wooden sign with rotating cardboard inserts. She has been arrested twice and lost no friends to it
ISSUE №31 · BY ERIC
The Tenderloin dentist who works Wednesday nights for free
Dr. James Reeves opens his clinic at 8 p.m. every Wednesday. He treats the unhoused, the uninsured, and people on third-shift jobs. He close
ISSUE №30 · BY NICHOLAS
The Outer Richmond memorial card printer almost every Chinese funeral goes through
Mei Lin runs a one-person letterpress shop on Clement Street. She has printed memorial cards for about 11,000 Chinese funerals in 19 years.
ISSUE №29 · BY ERIC
The Hunters Point welder, third generation, who keeps her grandfather's torch
Ramona Acosta is 38. She is the third welder in her family. The shipyard her grandfather worked is rubble and condos now. She works on the b
ISSUE №28 · BY DAISY
The Sunnyside man who has lined the bocce court at 6 a.m. for 27 years
Aldo Pacelli sweeps and chalks the bocce court behind St. Finn Barr every morning. He has lived three blocks away since 1971. He is 78. The
ISSUE №27 · BY ERIC
The North Beach widow who feeds every cat on Greenwich Street
Mrs. Gianelli has fed and named every stray on her block since her husband died of AIDS in 1991. There are eleven cats now. There used to be
ISSUE №26 · BY DAISY
The Marina dog walker who can tell when each dog is sick before the owner can
Tariq Sims has walked the same twelve dogs at 6:30 a.m. for fourteen years. He has called four owners over the years to say, take your dog t
ISSUE №25 · BY NICHOLAS
The Excelsior tamale woman who feeds the school cafeteria staff
Doña Luz Estrada has cooked tamales for the women who serve school lunches in the Excelsior every weekday since 2003. They feed children. Sh
ISSUE №24 · BY ERIC
The 16th & Mission BART cellist, blind, 31 years
Marcus Owen has played cello on the eastbound platform at 16th & Mission since 1994. He is blind. He knows every transit cop by voice. The p
ISSUE №34 · BY ERIC
The Coit Tower elevator operator who knows every tourist by accent
Manny Salgado has run the Coit Tower elevator for 32 years. He greets every passenger in their first language. He has not been wrong in 19 y
ISSUE №35 · BY DAISY
The Outer Sunset bookstore that opens at midnight
The Last Word opens from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m., three nights a week. The owner is 39. He sells about $11 in books a night. He has no plans to clo
ISSUE №36 · BY NICHOLAS
The Mission piñata maker, 78 years old, who has made one for every birthday on his block since 1979
Don Julio Mendoza's garage on Folsom is half-piñata, all the time. He charges what he charged in 1989. He has never run out of newspaper.
ISSUE №37 · BY ERIC
The 49-Van Ness rider who leaves a typed haiku on the driver's seat
A woman named only as M. leaves a haiku, on cream cardstock, at the driver's seat of the 49 every weekday morning. The drivers keep them. Th
ISSUE №38 · BY DAISY
The Glen Park pizza dough mixer who has used the same recipe since 1971
Antonio Russo bought the recipe from his uncle in Naples for $200 and three bottles of grappa. The dough has not changed. The neighborhood a
ISSUE №39 · BY NICHOLAS
The Oakland Chinatown lion dance teacher whose students' grandparents he taught
Sifu Wu is 76. He has taught lion dance in the same basement on Eighth Street for 43 years. His current students include three grandchildren
ISSUE №40 · BY ERIC
The Pacifica board shaper with an 18-month waitlist
Beto Ortiz shapes 200 surfboards a year by hand in a garage in Pacifica. His waitlist is 18 months. He does not advertise. He does not have
ISSUE №41 · BY ERIC
The Castro AIDS memorial garden keeper, 28 years alone
Patrick Halloran has tended the small AIDS memorial garden behind a duplex on Hartford Street since 1997. There are 412 names planted under
ISSUE №42 · BY NICHOLAS
The Visitacion Valley mechanic who fixes congregants' cars in the church parking lot, for free
Reggie Smalls has fixed the cars of his Pentecostal congregation in the church parking lot every Saturday for nineteen years. He charges not
ISSUE №43 · BY DAISY
The Mission mariachi trumpet player on Friday nights, three venues, since 1988
Don Beto Vargas plays a 30-minute trumpet set at three Mission restaurants every Friday night. The walk between them is part of the act. He
ISSUE №44 · BY ERIC
The Berkeley bookstore clerk who knows where every used book is by memory
Phyllis Karam has worked the floor of Moe's Books on Telegraph for 19 years. She has not consulted the catalog computer in six. She has been
ISSUE №45 · BY NICHOLAS
The last Russian banya in San Francisco, 81-year-old keeper, still open six nights a week
Yuri Kraevski has run Banya Sokol on Geary since 1965. The wood-fired sauna has not gone cold in 19 years. Same regulars. Same towels.
ISSUE №46 · BY ERIC
The Bayview boxing coach who runs a free Saturday gym, 22 years, three pros
Coach Marvin Wilson has run a free Saturday boxing gym out of a Bayview community center since 2003. Three of his kids have gone pro. He has
ISSUE №47 · BY NICHOLAS
The Marina rope splicer who has 8 fingers and 41 years of work on the Wharf
Captain Frank Costa has spliced rope for every fishing boat on Fisherman's Wharf since 1984. He lost two fingers in 1991. The splicing did n
ISSUE №48 · BY ERIC
The Castro drag mother who has raised 40+ daughters since 1989
Miss Vivienne LaRue is 71. She has been the house mother of the Haus of LaRue since 1989. She has raised forty-four drag daughters. Three of
ISSUE №49 · BY NICHOLAS
The Excelsior seamstress who sews every barong tagalog in the Filipino community
Tita Aurora Reyes has hand-sewn barongs for Filipino weddings, baptisms, and graduations in the Excelsior since 1984. She has finished about
ISSUE №50 · BY DAISY
The Mission donut shop the same Greek family has run for four generations
Athena's Donuts on 16th Street has been open 24 hours a day since 1962. The same family. The same recipe. Three deaths and three weddings la
ISSUE №51 · BY ERIC
The North Beach jazz pianist who has played the same Tuesday night for 41 years
Lonnie Pierce plays solo piano at a small bar on Broadway every Tuesday night, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. He is 78. He has not canceled a Tuesday sin
ISSUE №52 · BY NICHOLAS
The Sunset boba shop owner who teaches free ESL on Sundays
Wendy Lin runs a boba shop on Irving Street. She closes it Sunday afternoons to teach English to her customers' grandparents. Forty-one Sund
ISSUE №53 · BY DAISY
The retired meteorologist who blogs the fog every morning
David Hsu, 71, climbs Twin Peaks at sunrise every weekday and sends a hand-typed fog report to a private email list. He has 1,400 subscriber
ISSUE №54 · BY ERIC
The Tenderloin night dog rescuer, 412 dogs rehomed in 9 years
Maxine Otter patrols the Tenderloin between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. four nights a week, looking for abandoned dogs. She is a former addict. She i
ISSUE №55 · BY ERIC
The 67-year-old man who has stood at the SF General intersection in a yellow vest for 11 years
No one pays him. No one assigned him. Every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m., Brother Charles stands at Potrero and 23rd in a yellow vest pointing p
ISSUE №56 · BY ERIC
The Hayes Valley violin teacher whose student of 23 years still comes weekly
Geraldine Sokol is 84. She has taught violin in her Hayes Valley apartment since 1973. One student has come every Tuesday at 6 p.m. since 20
ISSUE №57 · BY ERIC
The Mission pipe organ tuner who climbs inside a 1924 organ once a year, and is the only person who will
Father Ignacio is 79 years old, a retired priest, and the last man in Northern California who can tune the 1,200-pipe Aeolian organ at Missi
ISSUE №58 · BY NICHOLAS
The SFFD mechanic who has kept Engine 3 running since 1989 and slept in the bay twice
Sergio Banales is 62. He has been the lead mechanic for one San Francisco fire engine, Engine 3, out of the Tenderloin, for 36 years. He has
ISSUE №59 · BY ERIC
The Ocean Beach lifeguard who has pulled 41 people out of the rip current and lost two
Marlena Ortiz has been a National Park Service lifeguard at Ocean Beach for 19 years. The current at Ocean Beach is one of the deadliest in