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The Chapel on Valencia Street was distinctly quiet on The City’s reopening day. (Carly Graf/The Examiner)

Relics of the pandemic scattered across the Mission District

‘We’re sort of easing into it’

Throngs of tourists return to Fisherman’s Wharf (Benjamin Schneider / The Examiner).

On reopening day, a stark contrast in two tourist meccas

‘Today is pretty lousy, frankly’

  • Jun 15, 2021
Gary Pruitt watches his son Trevor prepare the barbecue grill in a parking lot outside Oracle Park. (Nick Zeller-Singh/The Examiner)

Giants fans ramp up tailgating efforts in a reopening celebration

‘It makes me feel like the old times’

  • Jun 15, 2021
High noon in Union Square: Ten Canyon High School (Anaheim, CA) graduates, Class of 2021, on a senior trip in San Francisco. They weren’t certain of City rules so they remained masked outdoors. Even though one of their personal vehicles was broken into while touring Golden Gate Park, they appreciated the beauty of San Francisco. (Catherine Bigelow/The Examiner)

Signs of life: From Union Square style to Portola soul

‘The return of this icon is thrilling’

  • Jun 15, 2021
High noon in Union Square: Ten Canyon High School (Anaheim, CA) graduates, Class of 2021, on a senior trip in San Francisco. They weren’t certain of City rules so they remained masked outdoors. Even though one of their personal vehicles was broken into while touring Golden Gate Park, they appreciated the beauty of San Francisco. (Catherine Bigelow/The Examiner)
<em>Sunset District resident Ian Bettinger smiles as he digs into some bibimbap at Art’s Cafe at Ninth Avenue and Irving Street. </em> (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)

Museum-goers are ‘excited and terrified’

As I boarded the N Judah, I smiled under my mask, thrilled…

  • Jun 16, 2021
<em>Sunset District resident Ian Bettinger smiles as he digs into some bibimbap at Art’s Cafe at Ninth Avenue and Irving Street. </em> (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
The Hall of Justice is less busy than usual on Tuesday, June 15, 2021 (Michael Barba/S.F. Examiner)

SF Hall of Justice stuck in the pandemic past

In my years covering crime as a reporter in San Francisco, I’ve…

The Hall of Justice is less busy than usual on Tuesday, June 15, 2021 (Michael Barba/S.F. Examiner)
<em>Lina Yea, owner of Bay Home & Linens in San Mateo, was happy to invite all customers in her shop on reopening day. (Leslie Katz/The Examiner)</em>

‘No doom and gloom’ on the Peninsula

Hot spots in Burlingame, San Mateo enjoying good business on reopening day

<em>Lina Yea, owner of Bay Home & Linens in San Mateo, was happy to invite all customers in her shop on reopening day. (Leslie Katz/The Examiner)</em>
Crab fisherman Skip Ward of Marysville casts his crab net out off a pier near Fort Point. (Craig Lee/Special to The Examiner)

San Francisco came back to life, and we captured it all

Last spring, in the early days of the pandemic, the bestselling authors…

  • Jun 16, 2021
Crab fisherman Skip Ward of Marysville casts his crab net out off a pier near Fort Point. (Craig Lee/Special to The Examiner)
Chef Mauricio Sibrian, a 25-year John's Grill employees, preps steak in the kitchen at

The restaurant that survived two pandemics in one lifetime

11:15 a.m., a half hour before the lunch doors open, isn’t exactly…

  • Jun 15, 2021
Chef Mauricio Sibrian, a 25-year John's Grill employees, preps steak in the kitchen at
Scenes from an SFO-bound BART train on Tuesday, June 15, 2021, the day California fully reopened for business after the COVID pandemic. (Al Saracevic/SF Examiner)

SF reopens: BART riders dreading the end of the pandemic

‘I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be packed like sardines’

Scenes from an SFO-bound BART train on Tuesday, June 15, 2021, the day California fully reopened for business after the COVID pandemic. (Al Saracevic/SF Examiner)
Revelers at Madrone Art Bar in the early hours of June 15, 2021 (Courtesy Power Quevedo).

No social distancing at Motown-themed dance party

‘I don’t care how anyone feels, I just want to dance!’

  • Jun 15, 2021
Revelers at Madrone Art Bar in the early hours of June 15, 2021 (Courtesy Power Quevedo).
Visitors walk through the western span of the Ferry Building the morning of Tuesday, June 15. (Ida Mojadad/SF Examiner)

Masks still a common occurrence at the Ferry Building

‘It’s more a mental thing than a science thing’

Visitors walk through the western span of the Ferry Building the morning of Tuesday, June 15. (Ida Mojadad/SF Examiner)
Azikiwee Anderson of Rize Up Bakery pulls and twists sourdough into shape on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)

San Francisco’s Rize Up Bakery serving up sourdough with a call to action

Azikiwee Anderson wakes up most mornings just before dawn to start cooking…

Azikiwee Anderson of Rize Up Bakery pulls and twists sourdough into shape on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
A surveillance camera outside Macy’s at Union Square on Tuesday, July 28, 2020. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

Is the tide turning against surveillance cameras in SF?

Crime-fighting camera networks are springing up in commercial areas all around San…

A surveillance camera outside Macy’s at Union Square on Tuesday, July 28, 2020. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)
Although The City has been shut down and largely empty, people have enjoyed gathering in places such as Dolores Park. <ins>(Al Saracevic/The Examiner)</ins>

Come back to San Francisco: The City needs you now

Time to get out of the house, people. The City’s been lonely…

  • Jun 11, 2021
Although The City has been shut down and largely empty, people have enjoyed gathering in places such as Dolores Park. <ins>(Al Saracevic/The Examiner)</ins>
Youth activists with the Sunrise Movement march along a rural road during their two-week trek from Paradise to San Francisco to call attention to an increase in deadly wildfires as a result of climate change on June 2, 2021. (Photo by Brooke Anderson)

Weeks-long climate march culminates on the Golden Gate Bridge

Lola’s alarm goes off most mornings before dawn. The 17-year-old high school…

Youth activists with the Sunrise Movement march along a rural road during their two-week trek from Paradise to San Francisco to call attention to an increase in deadly wildfires as a result of climate change on June 2, 2021. (Photo by Brooke Anderson)
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott speaks alongside Mayor London Breed at a news conference about 2019 crime statistics at SFPD headquarters on Jan. 21, 2020. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)

What the media gets wrong about crime in San Francisco

By Lincoln Mitchell Special to The Examiner Seemingly every day now, you…

  • Jun 11, 2021
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott speaks alongside Mayor London Breed at a news conference about 2019 crime statistics at SFPD headquarters on Jan. 21, 2020. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)
Vice President Kamala Harris is under fire for her comments in Guatemala earlier this week. (Examiner file photo.)

SF immigration advocates slam Kamala Harris’ ‘betrayal’ to her past

Kamala Harris’ comments earlier this week discouraging Central Americans from traveling to…

Vice President Kamala Harris is under fire for her comments in Guatemala earlier this week. (Examiner file photo.)
Melanie Herrera, Dearbhla O’Neill and Jerome Bishop enjoy a drink inside Maggie McGarry’s Bar in North Beach after San Francisco entered the Yellow Tier, allowing to reopen at 25-percent capacity on Thursday May 6, 2021. (Jordi Molina/ Special to the S.F. Examiner)

California reopens June 15: Here’s what you need to know

By Ben Christopher CalMatters California’s grand reopening day is almost here, but…

  • Jun 10, 2021
Melanie Herrera, Dearbhla O’Neill and Jerome Bishop enjoy a drink inside Maggie McGarry’s Bar in North Beach after San Francisco entered the Yellow Tier, allowing to reopen at 25-percent capacity on Thursday May 6, 2021. (Jordi Molina/ Special to the S.F. Examiner)
State Senator Scott Weiner listens at a joint press conference with District Attorney George Gascon to advocate for support of Senate Bill 785, which would protect immigrants from irrelevant disclosures of their immigration status, alongside immigrant rights supporters and domestic violence support advocates at Betel Apartments in the Mission District on Friday, May 11, 2018. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

Will psychedelics become legal in California?

By Marissa Garcia CalMatters Amid growing scientific research into therapeutic uses for…

  • Jun 10, 2021
State Senator Scott Weiner listens at a joint press conference with District Attorney George Gascon to advocate for support of Senate Bill 785, which would protect immigrants from irrelevant disclosures of their immigration status, alongside immigrant rights supporters and domestic violence support advocates at Betel Apartments in the Mission District on Friday, May 11, 2018. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)