48 Hills | Independent daily San Francisco news + culture

5 streaming series with serious ‘take me away’ vibes

John-Paul Shiver - May 9, 2025

Go ahead, dissociate for a minute: Sterling K. Brown, Natasha Lyonne, and Jon Hamm are here for you.

Crime

Guess what? Lurie’s War on Drugs and Minor Crime is really expensive

Tim Redmond - May 8, 2025

DA says she needs more money. So does the public defender. The criminal justice system is more than just cops

Music

Super-crew KAMM honors its Alland Byallo and his lower Haight legacy with final LP

John-Paul Shiver - May 9, 2025

Try not to shed a crate-digging tear listening to 'Let The Light In.'

Culture

This Emeryville archive pledges to level up gamer lore

Leah Isobel - May 8, 2025

Video Game History Foundation lovingly catalogues '80s and '90s magazines, industry brochures—even BTS 'Myst' VHS tapes.

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Under the Stars: Mary Sue and the Clementi Sound Appreciation Club bangs Taoist folklore, South Asian samples

John-Paul Shiver - May 8, 2025

Plus: Los Mirlos' GAMH magic, reviewed, and TOMU DJ's DIY scene sparkles.

Art Review

Isaac Julien’s gorgeous shots reclaim authorship of history

Genevieve Quick - May 8, 2025

Filmmaker's first major Bay Area exhibition beholds Harlem Renaissance queer culture, James Baldwin, blaxploitation.

Video

WATCH: NEA grants are slashed, but Chinatown orgs and artists stay resilient

Andrew Brobst - May 8, 2025

At Chinese Culture Center celebration, local leaders spoke out about protecting their communities and standing strong.

Stage Review

Drama Masks: All ABBA the myths of stage critics

Charles Lewis III - May 7, 2025

'Mamma Mia!' does its crowd-pleasing thing, while 'Ironbound' goes deep with carefully textured take on houselessness.

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Screen Grabs: Corny clowns, familial thorns abound

Movies Dennis Harvey - May 7, 2025

New releases 'Clown in a Cornfield,' 'The Gullspång Miracle,' and 'Jimmy in Saigon' offer chills of all persuasions.

Hail the 4 Queens: Stephanie Mills sounds off before epic Oakland diva fest

Music Joshua Rotter - May 7, 2025

"I prayed for this tour for years because I've always wanted to work with my sisters."

Bay Area arts organizations reel, vow to survive NEA grant cancellations

Arts + Culture Caitlin Donohue - May 7, 2025

Agency's new 'priorities' include supporting communities of color, despite defunding BIPOC-led organizations.

SFPD violated the rules on overtime, repeatedly—but they still got their money

Police Tim Redmond - May 6, 2025

Supes vote 9-2 to approve extra spending—but the police budget is going to face a lot more scrutiny this summer

Notes from the road to (health) hell

Healthcare Bruce Mirken - May 6, 2025

In Trumpworld, the unthinkable is now standard operating procedure.

Good Taste: The Post Room pours an exciting afternoon tea

Food & Drink Tamara Palmer - May 6, 2025

Beacon Grand sets a high bar for Saturday sipping in Union Square.

CCA’s ‘Reunited’ celebrates materiality of supporting women artists

Art Emily Wilson - May 6, 2025

Don't miss this multimedia show incisively written catalogue on its creatives' dimensionality and depth.

Eight years in, Oaklash is setting the inclusive drag festival standard

Performance Daniel Sanchez-Torres - May 6, 2025

Curtain rises on queered classical violin, public art installations—and even a 'Drag Race' winner.

The Cherry Blossom Festival is complicit in police violence and the crisis in Gaza

Opinion Toshio Meronek and Uta Tamate - May 5, 2025

It's time to move this cultural celebration in a new direction

One very special cell at Alcatraz for one very special person

Crime Joel Schechter - May 5, 2025

Let's reserve one unit for the most notorious of criminals: a man capable of high crimes, violations of the United States Constitution, war crimes, impeachable offenses and as many as 34 felonies

CAAMFest 2025 spotlights ‘Boat People,’ ‘Yellowface,’ ‘Chinatown Cha Cha’

Movies Dennis Harvey - May 5, 2025

Screen dives also fête the maker of the first ever feature film by and about Asian Americans, and investigate Chinatown evictions.

More money for the district attorney—but what about the public defender?

The Agenda Tim Redmond - May 4, 2025

Plus: The end of harm reduction, equity in planning ... and no, Donald Trump can't be the next Pope. That's The Agenda for May 4-11

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Movies

Screen Grabs: Corny clowns, familial thorns abound

New releases 'Clown in a Cornfield,' 'The Gullspång Miracle,' and 'Jimmy in Saigon' offer chills of all persuasions.

Movies Dennis Harvey - May 7, 2025

CAAMFest 2025 spotlights ‘Boat People,’ ‘Yellowface,’ ‘Chinatown Cha Cha’

Groundbreaking ‘Godfather of Asian American Media’ gets his due at CAAMFest

Screen Grabs: 50 years later, they still fart in your general direction

Music

Super-crew KAMM honors its Alland Byallo and his lower Haight legacy with final LP

Try not to shed a crate-digging tear listening to 'Let The Light In.'

Music John-Paul Shiver - May 9, 2025

Hail the 4 Queens: Stephanie Mills sounds off before epic Oakland diva fest

Win tickets! Peter Bjorn & John | James Bay | nothing, nowhere | Eliza & the Delusionals | Malugi

See a show for free at Lost Church this month

Art

Isaac Julien’s gorgeous shots reclaim authorship of history

Filmmaker's first major Bay Area exhibition beholds Harlem Renaissance queer culture, James Baldwin, blaxploitation.

Art Review Genevieve Quick - May 8, 2025

CCA’s ‘Reunited’ celebrates materiality of supporting women artists

Sandra Yagi’s bewitching ‘The Faerie Realm’ light-heartedly skewers human nature

A staring contest with Will Rogan’s slippery corner entities

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Housing

Mayor Ishii and Berkeley’s ‘Missing Middle’

Collaborative legislating—or a disdain for public process?

Housing Zelda Bronstein - April 30, 2025

Planning hearing on upzoning shows the two worlds of housing advocates

Conditions at a Hunters Point housing project are disgraceful—and the private operators are ducking responsibility

Workers, families face eviction as racetrack in Pleasanton closes abruptly

Politics

More money for the district attorney—but what about the public defender?

Plus: The end of harm reduction, equity in planning ... and no, Donald Trump can't be the next Pope. That's The Agenda for May 4-11

The Agenda Tim Redmond - May 4, 2025

The basic idea of telling people about development runs into the Yimby agenda

SF wants to run an untested experiment on West Side neighborhoods

Can the West Side absorb more density without displacing existing tenants and small businesses?

Opinion

The Cherry Blossom Festival is complicit in police violence and the crisis in Gaza

It's time to move this cultural celebration in a new direction

Opinion Toshio Meronek and Uta Tamate - May 5, 2025

Rümeysa Öztürk’s ‘last’ Op-Ed

The Drain: Marke B. spouts off on poverty porn peddlers and the billionaires who love them

Listen to the rank and file: Political lessons from something I missed 25 years ago

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48 hillsIndependent San Francisco News + Culture

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48 Hills is community-supported journalism

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