By Kathy Nguyen

Located amidst the hustle and bustle of downtown San Francisco, Alexander Book Company stands a world apart. The independent bookseller offers a welcome retreat from the stream of human traffic and Muni buses rumbling along Market Street. The large, three-level bookstore has a surprisingly cozy atmosphere characteristic of smaller neighborhood bookstores....

By Andrea Perkins

Just another sunny Saturday afternoon at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Small hands sticky with cotton candy grip tickets for the vintage carousel. A young man throws a dart through the center of a balloon (pop!) and wins a stuffed blue poodle. And no one is worrying about the 100-foot-high wave that could come barreling out of nowhere at 400 miles per hour at any minute....

By Kathy Nguyen

Some call it the democratic connection to Mexico. Others know it as a mecca for Spanish and Latin American literature. Providing both an outlet for political discourse and a valuable literary source for San Francisco's Latino community, La Casa del Libro bookstore has carved its niche in the City's Mission District....

By Joe Smith

I'm on my way into the post office to mail off a love letter, when a name on a black-bordered funeral announcement tacked to the bulletin board sponsored by a local mortuary catches my eye. There's still time to make it to Ben's memorial service, but I choose instead to stroll to the edge of town, to the peeling farmhouse where the founder and lone follower of Ben Buddhism used to soak up his share of sun....

By Liz Garone

Around a decade ago, San Francisco artist Chris Sullivan started collecting mattresses. Not just any mattresses, but used, discarded ones. "They're just right there, out on the street," explains Sullivan, who says he couldn't resist them. He would drive around the city, spot the mattresses, stop, pick them up and throw them in the back of his pick-up truck. From there, he would take them to a photo studio and shoot them with his 35mm camera.... But, Says Sullivan, "Discarded mattresses are really played out: the disconsolate postures, the stains ...