San Francisco, CA

Trevor Noah has some thoughts about San Francisco’s Tenderloin

Published

1 year ago

December 4, 2023

Press Room

Trevor Noah has some thoughts about San Francisco’s Tenderloin

FILE: Trevor Noah speaks on June 20, 2023, in Cannes, France.

Dave Benett/Getty Images

Trevor Noah isn’t from the Bay Area, but it didn’t take him very long to learn that the phrase “from San Francisco” can mean a lot of different things.

The former “Daily Show” host is booked for an extended residency at SF’s Masonic auditorium, playing a whopping 12 shows, plus one in Oakland at the Paramount Theatre. At Sunday night’s show, Noah took the stage around 7:45 p.m. for a tight hour of comedy that was more akin to a recap of his recent travels than a traditional stand-up set.

There were some fun bits about regional U.K. slang (particularly a word for cigarette that is far more offensive on this side of the pond), the Irish being referred to as “the Blacks of Europe” and Germany’s stoic sense of humor, but the best moments of the show came during an extended section about San Francisco.

Noah began by addressing the national narrative about the city.

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“Everyone told me, ‘Oh Trevor, you don’t want to go to San Francisco. Have you seen it right now? It’s Armageddon. It’s chaos in the streets!’” he said.

He remarked that he didn’t think the situation was all that different from many other American cities he has visited, but did share some observations about his time here so far, much of which has been spent walking the city. He wasn’t a big fan of toothpaste being locked up at pharmacies (and the shame of pushing the button for an attendant kept him from buying some fancy chocolates). A day trip brought him out to Sausalito, where he enjoyed a meal from Sushi Ran. He did a solid bit about the hills (“the cars are holding on for dear life”), loved Chinatown, and even expressed appreciation for elements of the Tenderloin.

“The thing I liked about the Tenderloin is that you are present. In a world where we are constantly distracted by our phones, thoughts running through our heads, it was nice to be in a place where I was in the moment,” Noah said. “My mind was nowhere else … I’m noticing its feel, its smell, its taste, its touch. I’m just there — hop-skipping down the sidewalk.”

For reasons that aren’t hard to imagine, the line of jokes led to a complaint about San Francisco’s lack of public bathrooms.

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But the best moment of the night came when Noah asked the crowd how many people were from San Francisco. After a surprisingly large roar died down, he started talking with a woman in the front row who had cheered in response to the question. He asked her if she’d lived in San Francisco her whole life and she answered that she’s lived “around the Bay Area.”

“So not in San Francisco … just around it,” Noah said.

The person responded that they grew up in Fremont and Oakland, and revealed that they were born in San Francisco but moved out of the city at age 1, only to return in 2021.

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“You lived here for a year — but you were zero to 1. … You were a zero-year-old! You didn’t live s—t … your parents lived here!” he said playfully.

Although Noah was likely unaware of it, he inadvertently stumbled onto one of the biggest San Francisco tropes — saying from you’re “from San Francisco,” when you actually grew up in a far-flung suburb. It’s such a common refrain that it spawned a TikTok trend, and even an Axios article featuring a survey of readers. Of the 115 respondents, 57% expressed that it’s not OK to claim San Francisco heritage if you grew up in another part of the Bay Area.

After last night’s set, it was clear that Trevor Noah agrees.

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San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Giants Young Starter Performing Better Than Numbers Suggest

Published

2 hours ago

April 17, 2025

Press Room

San Francisco Giants Young Starter Performing Better Than Numbers Suggest

One of the reasons that the San Francisco Giants have gotten off to such a strong start in the 2025 MLB regular season is how good their pitching staff has been.

Logan Webb and Robbie Ray have been an excellent one-two punch to begin the campaign, throwing 39.1 innings with 39 strikeouts and a 2.75 ERA.

They are anchoring the rotation currently with Jordan Hicks, Justin Verlander and Landen Roupp struggling to find their footing out of the gate. Those three have 49 innings pitched but 32 earned runs allowed.

Some of that has been self-inflicted damage, as Hicks and Verlander are walking too many batters with BB/9 ratios of 3.5 and 4.3, respectively. Ray’s an even higher 5.9, but he has managed to limit damage thus far.

There are some concerns about the performance of Hicks and Verlander out of the gate, but Roupp’s slow start, based on some of his raw statistics, don’t paint the entire picture.

His advanced numbers suggest that he has been throwing the ball a lot better than his ERA shows that he has been.

His 4.80 ERA isn’t pretty, but he has a FIP of 2.62, which insinuates that the inflated number is partially due to some bad luck or things outside of his control. Walks are playing a part, as he has issued seven in 15 innings, a 4.2 BB/9 ratio.

That has led to an inflated 1.600 WHIP as well, allowing 17 hits in that span.

Cutting down on the walks will be key to his numbers turning around in every facet. But, he has been stellar out of the gate, as shared by Michael Salfino of The Athletic (subscription required).

“He has an ERA of 4.80 but an xERA of 2.57, and his K% is right at 30% (29.9% is top 20 in MLB). His walk rate is high, and that’s troubling, but it’s not radically high. I’d expect it to be marginally inflated relative to average for the rest of the year, maybe one percentage point higher than the league average,” he wrote.

Through 15 innings, Roupp has struck out 20 batters. In two out of his three starts, he has reached the eight-strikeout mark despite not pitching more than five innings in either of those outings.

His average exit velocity of 85.6 mph and hard-hit rate of 27.5% are both excellent numbers, better than the league average.

The .410 batting average on balls in play is also an unsustainable number. Once that begins regressing to the mean of .290, his overall numbers will begin to increase with fewer opponents getting on base.

It is only a matter of time until Roupp’s raw stats begin to reflect his performance based on advanced stats.

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San Francisco, CA

Two big classic rock acts combine forces for San Francisco show

Published

20 hours ago

April 16, 2025

Press Room

Two big classic rock acts combine forces for San Francisco show

Heart has announced dates for its August 2025 concert tour.

And the Heart trek stops in the Bay Area on Aug. 10 at Chase Center in San Francisco.

Other Golden State dates for Heart are in Bakersfield, San Diego and Rancho Mirage. See heart-music.com for details.

Fellow classic rock great Todd Rundgren is supporting the band on some of these dates, including at the San Francisco show.

Heart, Todd Rundgren tickets for San Francisco go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. April 24, while an artist presale begins on April 21, ticketmaster.com.

Heart August concert dates:

Gorge Amphitheatre, Quincy, Washington, Aug. 8

Chase Center, San Francisco, Aug. 10

Dignity Health Arena, Bakersfield, Aug. 12

Pechanga Arena, San Diego, Aug. 13

Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage, Rancho Mirage, Aug. 15

Findlay Toyota Center, Prescott Valley, Arizona, Aug. 16

Blue Arena, Loveland, Colorado, Aug. 18

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado, Aug. 19

T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri, Aug. 21

Des Moines Civic Center, Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 23

Vibrant Arena, Moline, Illinois, Aug. 24

The University of Akron – E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, Akron, Ohio, Aug. 26

The Great Allentown Fair, Allentown, Pennsylvania, Aug. 27

CMAC, Canadaigua, New York, Aug. 29

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, New York, Aug. 30

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San Francisco, CA

SF approves parking meter rate hike to help SFMTA's projected $320 million budget deficit

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2025

Press Room

SF approves parking meter rate hike to help SFMTA's projected 0 million budget deficit

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — An increase to parking meter rates throughout the city is looming over San Francisco

“I definitely think it’s outrageous. The parking situation isn’t getting any better,” said Garrett De La Concepcion, a San Francisco resident.

Garrett De La Concepcion lives in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood just a few blocks from Chase Center. The affordable housing building where he lives doesn’t have a garage, so he relies on finding street parking every day.

“Right now, I’m probably paying between $19 to $20 bucks a day. It just depends on if there is a game, a Warriors game or a concert then I’m paying close to $60,” said De La Concepcion.

Hearing about the city increasing meter rates to $0.25 an hour citywide is tough to process.

MORE: Here are top 5 parking ticket hot spots in San Francisco so far this year

“It adds up every single day,” said De La Concepcion.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is facing a projected $320 million budget deficit by July of 2026.

Businesses worry about the impact of the price hike so many view the $0.25 an hour increase as just the start.

“We lose a lot of customers because they can’t park. They have nowhere to park and it’s too expensive. It’s taking too much out of our pockets,” said Kenneth Escalante, Supervisor at Cenote Restaurant.

Not to mention his employees.

“It’s already very expensive down here just to find any parking at all. So, if it’s already taking a big chunk of their pocket why? It’s daily too. You have to spend $10 to $ 20 daily and it’s just going to add up eventually. So that is not very good for us,” said Escalante.

MORE: SF speed cameras now in use; warnings to be given out for 2 months before citations

At Tuesday’s meeting, the SFMTA board voted to amend a Transportation Code to increase the minimum parking meter rate.

“To increase the minimum parking meter hourly rate from $0.50 to $1 and to charge a $0.10 convenience fee when paying for parking using a mobile device.”

MORE: Expert details ways to tackle Waymo’s parking problem

Sofia Guglani, owner of Avotast, is concerned that all these changes will impact everyone differently, from residents, customers to business owners.

“I think it’s also going to impact the suppliers that come to drop ingredients for us already because they already charge us a gas fee. I think that fee might increase because they have to pay more to park and deliver for us,” said Guglani.

SFMTA’s confirmed these changes will go into effect in late May.

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