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Ep 15: Chef Rob Zaborny
This week we bring you our conversation with Rob Zaborny, long time San Francisco resident, and celebrated chef. Originally from New York, Rob moved to San Francisco in 1980 and never looked back. Although he has a great love of traveling all over the world, he especially loves to call the Bay Area home.
Ep 14: David Lei & Chinatown Part II
David Lei is an active participant with several nonprofit organizations including The Chinese Performing Arts Foundation, the Asian Art Museum, the Chinese American Community Fund, Chung Ngai Dance Troupe, Academy of Chinese Performing Arts, World Arts West - San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, the Bancroft Library, and the Center for Asian American Media.
Ep 13: Jay Xu, The Asian Art Museum & Civic Center
This week we are honored to bring you our conversation with Dr. Jay Xu, the CEO and Director of the Asian Art Museum! Dr. Xu spoke to us about the Museum, located directly across from San Francisco’s City Hall, as well as the surrounding neighborhood, Civic Center. Civic Center is in the center of the city, and host to many important arts buildings as well as civic ones. In addition to City Hall and the Asian Art Museum, the neighborhood is home to the famed Bill Graham Auditorium, San Francisco’s Superior Court, the Davis Symphony Hall, the Hearst Theater, the San Francisco Opera House, and the Norris Auditorium. We’re so pleased for Dr. Xu to share his neighborhood and his Museum with us, and to help us continue our celebration of AAPI Heritage Month.
Meet Jay Xu!
Ep 12: Claudine Cheng, AAPI Heritage & Japantown
This week we are pleased to bring you our conversation with Claudine Cheng, a lawyer, community leader, community rights activist, and civil rights advocate; born in Hong Kong, Claudine Cheng is a graduate of University of Southern California and the University of California Hastings College of Law. Ms. Cheng was the first person from the West Coast elected to serve as the National President of OCA, a national advocacy and education organization headquartered in Washington, DC, with over 50 chapters across the country. In that role, Ms. Cheng was involved in coalition-building efforts amongst minority communities.
Her dedication to Asian communities is tireless, in addition to her decades of community organizing and the development of programming to support these communities, she also led a successful advocacy campaign for the issuance of United States Postal Service commemorative stamps celebrated the Lunar New Year! Currently, Ms. Cheng serves as the President of the APA Heritage Foundation and coordinates San Francisco’s annual celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We are so pleased to bring you our conversation with such an important advocate for San Francisco’s asian communities!
Meet Claudine Cheng!
Ep 11: David Lei & Chinatown
Many people, tourists and San Franciscans alike, think of Chinatown as restaurants and knickknacks, and don’t recognize Chinatown for the culturally rich, deeply historical, and close knit community it is. It is a neighborhood as resilient as its people, both of which have faced turmoil and struggle in their histories.
Trailer 2: Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage in San Francisco
May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month, and Beyond the Fog Radio is celebrating by bringing you interviews from some incredible AAPI San Franciscans. With the rise of racism, xenophobia, and hate that AAPI people are facing in this country right now, and have faced for decades, we know that it is more important than ever to highlight the stories and voices of our AAPI brothers and sisters.
This diverse city is home to at least 300,000 people of Asian decent. We as a city must stand with our AAPI neighbors, against hate, and for justice and equity for all San Franciscans.
Join us as we hear from David Lei, Claudine Cheng, and Jay Xu: coming soon to Beyond the Fog Radio!
Ep 10: Chef David Lawerence
Our hosts are excited to share with you their lovely long lunch on Battery Street at Piperade with Chef David Lawrence. Chef Lawrence is the co-owner and Chef at the famed 1300 Fillmore, now located at the San Francisco International Airport, and closed temporarily due to Covid.
Prior to making his culinary mark in the Bay Area, Chef David Lawrence received formal training in his native London, where he worked under two of England's most celebrated chefs, the Roux Brothers. Working alongside them at five of their restaurants, Lawrence quickly advanced from apprentice to sous chef before his experience led him to the United States where he took the helm in a number of prestigious kitchens. Chef Lawrence is a charismatic, charming, kind man with a heart of gold; he engages with everyone from his staff to his patrons because he loves being with people, and most of all, he truly just loves cooking. And it shows in his food.
Meet Chef David Lawrence!
Ep 09: Mayor Willie Lewis Brown Jr. & San Francisco Politics
The Honorable Willie Lewis Brown Jr. is the first Black and, to date, the longest running Speaker of the California State Assembly. He also was the first Black man to be Mayor of San Francisco, and has left a lasting mark on the city. Known nationally not only as a politician but also for his many groundbreaking bills, authored while he was Speaker, and for the sweeping changes that were made in San Francisco under his watch.
Ep 08: Judge John Dearman & The Haight-Ashbury
The Haight-Ashbury district is a neighborhood in San Francisco that was aptly-named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. Running from Masonic Avenue to Stanyan Street, the beloved neighborhood is residential as well as commercial; famous for its connection to hippies and counterculture in the 1960s, it has long been one of the most dynamic, lively, and interesting neighborhoods in San Francisco.
In 1965 Judge John Dearman moved into the Upper Haight, into the very house where he and his family still live today. Judge John, as he is affectionately known to some, is a retired Superior Court Judge for the City and County of San Francisco. When he retired in 2009, Judge Dearman had been the longest serving judge in the history of San Francisco. Judge Dearman has long been an activist for change and the betterment of others, and recently celebrated his 90th birthday on March 28th, 2021!
Meet the Hon. Judge John Dearman.
Ep 07: Sunny Schwartz & Treasure Island
Sunny Schwartz, author, advocate, and changemaker speaks to us about this extraordinary program she founded over 30 years ago, and the island where it is possible.
Meet Sunny Schwartz!
Ep 06: Reverend Amos C. Brown & The Fillmore
The Western Addition, better known as The Fillmore, is one of the most vibrant and unique neighborhoods in San Francisco. Historically, it has been one of the three predominantly African American San Francisco neighborhoods, and from the 1950s to the 1970s it was known nationally as The Harlem of the West. The Fillmore lived up to this moniker, as was reflected in the music, food, and culture, unique to the vibrant neighborhood and her inhabitants. Third Baptist Church has been, and still remains, the hub of The Fillmore, and Reverend Amos C. Brown is its esteemed and beloved reverend. He is also a lifelong Civil Right leader, and President of the San Francisco Chapter of the NAACP. Reverend Brown sat down with us in September 2020 to tell us all about The Fillmore, and his life there.
Meet Rev. Brown!
Trailer: San Francisco and Social Justice
Social Justice has always been an integral part of San Francisco’s culture, the Bay Area’s very fabric is built on a long history of fighting for the rights of its people.
San Francisco’s diversity means many different groups come together to fight for their rights here, from Civil Rights, Indigionous Rights, LBGTQ Rights, to Labor Union Rights, Teachers Rights, and United Farm Workers Rights, San Francisco is a city with the will to fight for the disenfranchised. In this new series we focus on social justice with interviews from
Rev Amos C. Brown, Sunny Schwartz, Judge John Dearman and Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr.
Join us as we explore San Francisco’s social justice!
Ep 05: John Konstin & Union Square
John’s Grill has been an essential San Francisco restaurant since it opened in 1908. John Konstin spoke to us about his neighborhood, Union Square, and his restaurant, John’s Grill, which has been in his family since the 1960s.
Ep 04: Ellen Schumer & City Hall
Our third interview is with Ellen Schumer. She is the City Hall Historian and Head Docent. Ellen spoke to us about the History of San Francisco City Hall. We cannot wait to share this unique look inside San Francisco’s city hall.
Meet Ellen Schumer!
Ep 03: Shelley Bradford Bell & Downtown San Francisco
Shelley Bradford Bell is a writer, The former President of the San Francisco Planning Commission, the former Vice President of the Environmental Commission and the Former Executive Director of the Bay View Opera House.
She is a dedicated community activist and lives in downtown San Francisco which is French Inspired
Meet Shelley Bradford Bell
Ep 02: Rodney Fong & Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach, & Chinatown
Rodney Fong is the CEO and President of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. Fong is a fourth generation San Franciscan whose grandfather started the Fisherman’s Wharf Wax Museum in 1962; Rodney discusses what it was like to grow up in the Wax Museum, as well as in the neighborhoods of North Beach and Chinatown.
Ep 01: How Did We Get Here?
Beyond The Fog Radio is a podcast that explores the history, art, and culture of the San Francisco Bay Area through conversations with some of the Bay’s most interesting residents.
Stories by the Bay:
Who better to tell the history of the City by the Bay than the people who live and work here? We will explore San Francisco neighborhood by neighborhood, and we can’t wait to bring you along!
Meet our co-hosts:
Susan E. Brown a native San Franciscan, documentary filmmaker and the producer for BTFR. Jae Yee is another native San Franciscan, and owns companies Swerv Studios and J Bodyworks, in addition to being our wonderful sound engineer. Michaela Joy O’ Shea is a photographer and our final lovely host of BTFR. We will explore everything San Francisco has to offer: from food, dance, politics, music, history, and literature, to civil rights, and social justice.
Join us every Wednesday for Beyond The Fog Radio!