Total SF

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This chill S.F. spot is our pandemic MVP Feb 11, 2022

Show notes

What has flower pianos, yoga on the meadow and magnolia blossoms and is free to San Franciscans? Total SF hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight pay a visit to the San Francisco Botanical Garden, the most underrated 55 acres in San Francisco, to get a tour from executive director Stephanie Linder. The Botanical Garden gained popularity during the pandemic, when the open space and good vibes were more valuable than ever. Listeners will find out what happens when visitors try to steal plants (it happens!) and learn some of the secrets of the Garden.

Total SF Book Club meets at 6 p.m. Thursday Feb. 24 in the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library's main branch. Register for the live event or virtual at www.sfpl.org

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interstellar book club, with Charlie Jane Anders Feb 04, 2022

Show notes

Science fiction author Charlie Jane Anders sits down outside the Exploratorium to talk about indie bookstores, the importance of mentors and her book "Victories Greater Than Death" — the latest Total SF Book Club title. Anders published three books in 2021, including a collection of short stories ("Even Greater Mistakes") and a book about writing to get through tough times ("Never Say You Can't Survive").

Total SF Book Club meets at 6 p.m. Thursday Feb. 24 in the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library's main branch. Register for the live event or virtual at www.sfpl.org

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sing-alongs, drag queens and Keanu Reeves: All hail the Castro Theatre Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

Hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight are joined by Chronicle arts and culture columnist Tony Bravo to talk about The Castro Theatre, and the changes set to happen when Another Planet Entertainment takes over in 2023. San Francisco native Bravo and the hosts share Castro history, its importance to the LGBTQ community and some of their favorite moments at the movie theater — including the "Last Black Man in San Francisco" premiere, and the time Bravo was able to introduce "Vertigo" star Kim Novak to his grandmother. And they share their hopes for the theater's future.

Total SF has an audio tour in Golden Gate Park! Learn more and sign up at sfchronicle.com/audiotours

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco needs a pep talk (on a Ferris wheel) Jan 21, 2022

Show notes

Hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight meet up with Bishop Megan Rohrer and record a podcast episode in their most unusual location yet — on the Ferris wheel in the music concourse at Golden Gate Park. As they sit in the VIP gondola and enjoy the view, Bishop Rohrer talks about keeping positive in 2022, when resolutions can lead to unneeded guilt and shame. And they give a blessing for San Francisco, talking about the potential for the city — even during frustrating times.

Total SF has an audio tour in Golden Gate Park! Learn more and sign up at sfchronicle.com/audiotours

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cleaning San Francisco's dirty streets — with Hunter Pence? Jan 14, 2022

Show notes

Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub spend a Sunday afternoon cleaning up trash in North Beach, after Refuse Refuse SF founder Vincent Yuen put out a Twitter call to Hartlaub, Knight and Hunter Pence, and the former San Francisco Giants outfielder answered. After the event, the Total SF hosts sat down with Yuen to learn his origin story, discover a new word (garbology!), find out why the west side of the street in S.F. accumulates three times as much trash — and why empowering neighbors to clean their streets has become Yuen's mission.

Total SF has an audio tour in Golden Gate Park! Learn more and sign up at sfchronicle.com/audiotours

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 things you must do in S.F. in 2022 Jan 07, 2022

Show notes

With overcast weather and omicron raging, hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight look forward to better days, and make a list of 16 things you should do in San Francisco in 2022. Among the suggestions is the most underrated place in S.F. to watch the sunset, the most entertaining Muni line, a new must-ride ferry route, the best section to watch a Giants game and ... the dissection of a cow eyeball?

Total SF has an audio tour in Golden Gate Park! Learn more and sign up at sfchronicle.com/audiotours

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A perfect day in San Francisco (Best of 2021) Jan 01, 2022

Show notes

Total SF hosts Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub break down their perfect day in San Francisco in this flashback episode, , creating an hour-by-hour list of things to do and places to go in the city, without telling each other until the podcast started rolling. It gets competitive, as Knight picks a more historical and cultural route, while Hartlaub chooses to get inebriated in the morning and eat sandwiches. But it's collectively a celebration of the city, with tips for your next off day in good weather. Some common ground includes the historic F-line street cars, a walk through Golden Gate Park, visits to independent bookstores and big finish on the roof of a drag club in SOMA.

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good times with "curmudgeon" Quentin Kopp (Best of 2021) Dec 29, 2021

Show notes

Quentin Kopp is a former San Francisco supervisor, state senator and judge — but he's known to local journalists as the most prolific angry letter-writer in the city. In this flashback episode from July 21, 2021, Total SF co-hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight visit the self-professed "curmudgeon" to talk about his life, his letter-writing process, what he really thinks of them ... and to wish him a happy 93rd birthday! After making peace, with no apologies, Kopp lets us know his advice for living a long and active life. (It involves more letters to The Chronicle.)

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can the Tree Twins save San Francisco? Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

Married couple Michael Morris and David Sweeney started putting on festive light-up tree costumes for a TV-20 "Dance Party" episode seven years ago. They got such a great reaction, they upped the costume details, upped the glitter and heels and upped their holiday spirit — surprising different neighborhoods in San Francisco throughout the holiday season as the Tree Twins. After Heather Knight spent a fun evening in North Beach with the twins, Total SF hosts Knight and Peter Hartlaub join Morris and Sweeney in their home, to talk about costume-making, what San Francisco neighborhoods are the best and worst for a tree visit — and why the city needs spontaneous joy more than ever.

Total SF has an audio tour in Golden Gate Park! Learn more and sign up at sfchronicle.com/audiotours

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newman. Redford. Hanks ... and Ruthe Stein Dec 17, 2021

Show notes

After interviewing celebrities (mostly) for the San Francisco Chronicle for the past 50 years, Ruthe Stein has written a memoir of her experiences — "Sitting Down with the Stars: Interviews with 100 Hollywood Legends." Stein sits down with Total SF host Peter Hartlaub to talk about why she asks the uncomfortable questions, who are the nicest and most difficult stars and how she developed her own interest in Hollywood gossip. Hartlaub also asks Stein (his former editor) one tough question from the book: to defend her take that Jerry Lewis was kind of hot. "Sitting Down with the Stars" is available on Grizzly Peak Press.

Total SF has an audio tour in Golden Gate Park! Learn more and sign up at sfchronicle.com/audiotours

Produced by Peter Hartlaub. Music is "The Tide Will Rise" by the Sunset Shipwrecks off their album "Community" and cable car bell-ringing by 8-time champion Byron Cobb.

Follow Total SF adventures at www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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