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San Francisco Chronicle
18 hours ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Virtual event: What families need to know about paying for college
Getting into college in California has grown hyper-competitive, with the top schools accepting only a tiny fraction of applicants. Equally stressful for many families of high school students? Figuring out how to pay for a college education. At 5 p.m. on Aug. 21, join S.F. Chronicle Personal Finance Columnist Jessica Roy and college admissions community College Confidential for Paying for college: Everything families need to know, a free Zoom webinar designed to help families plan for the costs of higher education and navigate the process. You'll learn: Roy writes the No-Nonsense Money column for the Chronicle and has covered how to build wealth for your child with a 529 and other tools, what student loan borrowers need to know as interest accruals resume and how to plan for retirement in the Bay Area. During this webinar she'll help you understand the true cost of college in California and the resources available to help you cover it. You'll also have a chance to ask Roy your questions around financial planning for college. Click here to register for free today. Visit the Chronicle's Definitive Guide to California College Admissions for more information and advice on the highly competitive admissions landscape, seeing where you fit in and navigating the process to an acceptance.
San Francisco Chronicle
30-06-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Celebrated S.F. bakery debuts sprawling new waterfront location
Fresh baked goods at Breadbelly's new location at Pier 70 in San Francisco on June 28, 2025. KELSEY MCCLELLAN/For the S.F. Chronicle People line up at Breadbelly's second location. KELSEY MCCLELLAN/For the S.F. Chronicle Owners James Wong, Katherine Campecino-Wong, and Clem Hsu (left to right) at their second, and much larger, bakery. KELSEY MCCLELLAN/For the S.F. Chronicle Some of San Francisco's most sought-after pastries are now available in a striking new waterfront location. Breadbelly, the popular Asian American bakery and No. 8 on the Chronicle's Top 100 restaurants list, just debuted its second location at Pier 70, adjacent to Dogpatch. Fans can expect all the Breadbelly hits, from thick milk bread decorated with squiggles of kaya jam and top-tier croissants to a standout breakfast sandwich, just served in a much larger setting than its original in the Richmond District. Breadbelly is newly open inside Building 12, a restored shipbuilding facility. KELSEY MCCLELLAN/For the S.F. Chronicle The bakery is inside Building 12, a massive industrial structure erected in 1941 for shipbuilding during World War II. The football field-sized building with soaring ceilings has now been restored and opened to the public as part of a major redevelopment along San Francisco's eastern waterfront. A host of new tenants are drawing people to Building 12, including a taproom from San Francisco's Standard Deviant Brewing, a custom sneaker designer, a ceramics business and a pickleball court. A $7 million immersive entertainment complex that promises live music, movies and yoga is also slated to open at Pier 70 next year. Advertisement Article continues below this ad 'The energy — it's so cheesy — but it's kind of electric,' said Clem Hsu, who runs Breadbelly with Katherine Campecino-Wong and James Wong. 'It's amazing just seeing what was just a dirt pile not too long ago now filled with people and the buzz.' Customers inside the new bakery on a recent Saturday morning. KELSEY MCCLELLAN/For the S.F. Chronicle Since the three former fine-dining pastry chefs opened Breadbelly in the Richmond District in 2018, it's drawn lines and acclaim. In 2022, the trio was a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Baker Award. They have moved all bread and pastry production to Pier 70, where the kitchen is four times as big as the Clement Street bakery. They plan to eventually offer specials that are unique to each location. The new Breadbelly has limited seating for now, but will soon build an outdoor patio, and Pier 70 is planning to add indoor seating throughout Building 12. (And by moving production out of Clement Street, the original Breadbelly will finally be able to reopen its indoor dining room, which has been closed since the pandemic.) At Pier 70, where other businesses like Standard Deviant are open all day, they hope to expand Breadbelly's hours into the later afternoon and evening, Hsu said. Initially, it will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Pier 70 development is approved for 9 acres of waterfront parks, up to 2,150 homes, up to 1.75 million square feet of commercial office and lab space, a waterfront arts building, light industrial space for local makers and rehabilitated historic buildings. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Pastry chefs Kevin Nucum (left) and May Nguyen (right) prep viennoisserie at Breadbelly at Pier 70. KELSEY MCCLELLAN/For the S.F. Chronicle The larger production capacity also means other San Francisco neighborhoods could be getting their own Breadbelly outlet. The owners tested this last summer by setting up pastry and espresso carts for a few months at Bayview plant store Flora Grubb Gardens, which Hsu said was a success. 'The beauty about having Pier 70 is that we can make more things here and our footprint anywhere else in the city might be smaller … a little satellite station,' he said. Breadbelly at Pier 70 will be open this Thursday-Sunday before eventually expanding to daily operations; check Instagram for current hours. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Breadbelly. Pier 70, Building 12, 1070 Maryland St., San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicle
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘Co-Founders' is the musical to see with your start-up (or your hip-hop) buddies
'Co-Founders' playwrights Beau Lewis, Adesha Adefela and Ryan Nicole Austin sit for a portrait during a technical rehearsal for the production at American Conservatory Theater's Strand Theater in San Francisco on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle Nine years ago, Beau Lewis created an unusual weekly therapy group for struggling tech founders. Instead of sitting in a circle of folding chairs, participants freestyled — as in hip-hop. 'There was a pressure for us to keep up an external veneer of success and not actually be open and vulnerable about all of the challenges and fears that we had,' recalled Lewis, who co-founded toy company GoldieBlox and serves as CEO of media company and would-be musical theater disruptor Rhyme Combinator. Those feelings, he continued, came out in 'whatever your subconscious brain bled out over this beat.' Choreographer Juel D. Lane works onstage during a technical rehearsal for 'Co-Founders' on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle All the angst released during those rap sessions has now evolved into 'Co-Founders,' a musical about Bay Area start-up culture whose world premiere begins performances Thursday, May 29, at American Conservatory Theater's Strand Theater. But it's no longer just Lewis' baby. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Co-playwrights Adesha Adefela and Ryan Nicole Austin, who also star in the show, pushed the production to ask broader questions. It investigates how tensions might multiply for a Black female coder from Oakland — someone who's never assumed part of, or invited into, tech's inner circle — and it explores how the Bay Area's inventive spirit extends beyond tech to rap and activism. The 'Co-Founders' production team tinkers with Dadvatar during a technical rehearsal on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle 'I consider myself a techie,' Adefela told the Chronicle during a group interview in the Strand Theater's lobby, which is outfitted with a grandma-style living room, complete with a twist-dial TV set and garish-print sofa, in an effort to help new audiences feel more at home. More Information 'Co-Founders': Written by Adesha Adefela, Ryan Nicole Austin and Beau Lewis. Directed by Jamil Jude. Performances begin Thursday, May 29. Through July 6. $25-$130, subject to change. ACT's Strand Theater, 1127 Market St., S.F. 415-749-2228. As an independent artist, Adefela produces her own music, records her own videos and builds her own website, she pointed out. And her relatives, too, might jury-rig a giant sound system from a couple of boombox speakers. 'I'm like, wow, that's engineering,' she said. 'How come that isn't seen as engineering? How come I don't see my cousins and the like in places like Apple?' Advertisement Article continues below this ad In the show, a song titled 'Valley to Vallejo' works to bridge that gap, thanks especially to lyrics by Austin that put La Raza and Black Panther Party activists as well as Oakland rappers Too Short and MC Hammer on par with Silicon Valley tech giants Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The number asks, as Lewis put it, 'Does it take the same hustle to sell a tape out of a trunk as it does to sell a computer out of a garage?' Aneesa Folds rehearses 'Co-Founders' on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle Austin points out that the drive of artists from San Francisco rapper JT the Bigga Figga to Vallejo Hyphy pioneer E-40 was 'inspired by the grit and the unapologetic nature of the Black Panthers.' 'That's where the synergy is with the spirit of the entrepreneur,' she continued. 'It's like, 'Hey, I gotta make something out of nothing, and even though everything around me says no, I know that I have it within me to say yes.'' Aneesa Folds, left, and Adesha Adefela rehearse 'Co-Founders' at the Strand Theater on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle In the show, Esata (played by 'Freestyle Love Supreme' star Aneesa Folds through June 22 and Angel Adedokun for the rest of the run through July 6) has an astonishing start-up idea that she's pitching to an elite accelerator: a 'Dadvatar' that creates a simulacrum of her dead father whom she's mourning. Advertisement Article continues below this ad 'If you are a technologist, what does that look like to deal with your loss?' Adefela explained. Choreographer Juel D. Lane works onstage while Dadvatar, an avatar controlled by live-motion capture from an actor backstage, is projected on a holographic scrim during a technical rehearsal for 'Co-Founders' on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle Onstage, Dadvatar appears as a hologram interacting with flesh-and-blood actors, and he's operated in real time by actor Tommy Soulati Shepherd, who stays in a backstage booth. ACT is billing this use of technology as the first of its kind, noting that previous stage interactions between humans and holograms, as when Celine Dion sang with Elvis on 'American Idol,' have been recordings. The show's projection wizards are David Richardson, of Los Angeles' famed theater-projection-pop music hybrid 'Cages,' and Frédéric O. Boulay, who splits his time between the East Bay and what the team jokingly calls 'the East East Bay,' or France. Dadvatar, a a hologram who can react spontaneously in real time next to onstage actors, is projected on a scrim during a technical rehearsal for 'Co-Founders' on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle 'I love the things that are not supposed to work,' Boulay said, of his attraction to the project. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Richardson casually whips out sentences such as 'We've built a MetaHuman in Unreal Engine,' referring to an avatar and computer program well known in the gaming world. The resulting Dadvatar, in yellow shirt and jeans, resembles a video game character. When he appears next to human actors onstage, the result scrambles the brain; your eyes keep darting from one to the other, trying to make sense of it. Actor Tommy Soulati Shepherd, who plays Dadvatar, demonstrates the live-motion capture technology that allows him to puppeteer an avatar with his facial reactions from backstage at 'Co-Founders' on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle Dadvatar gets projected onto an invisible screen, and to manipulate him, a motion-capture camera grabs and mirrors Shepherd's facial expressions: raised eyebrows and gaping jaws, micro-shifts in cheek muscles. 'I had to get contacts,' Shepherd revealed, noting that the camera can't read his eyes through glasses. New to the experience, it takes him an hour to get his contact lenses on every morning. Actor Tommy Soulati Shepherd, who plays Dadvatar, demonstrates the live-motion capture technology that allows him to puppeteer an avatar with his facial reactions from backstage at 'Co-Founders' on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle To control Dadvatar's body movements, Shepherd uses an Xbox controller. Thankfully, he was already familiar with the gaming console, so he said that helped. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Also of unlikely assistance: being a drummer. Shepherd has to keep one eye on a monitor displaying the Dadvatar, another on monitors displaying what's onstage, so he can react as if he's really there. He has to emote realistically with his face while operating with his hands a pressure-sensitive controller whose left-right movements don't correspond to Dadvatar's physical location but to gestural intensity. Actor Tommy Soulati Shepherd, who plays Dadvatar, demonstrates using an Xbox controller to manipulate a holographic character in real time for 'Co-Founders' on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle On his second day in the booth, he told the Chronicle, 'I'm going to get good at this.' But the bells and whistles aren't in your face, Boulay pointed out. 'The last thing you want is for audiences to walk out and say, 'That was a lot of cool technology,'' he said. Still, the show taps into debates about the supposed evils of tech that date back to 'Frankenstein' and Prometheus. Director Jamil Jude observes a scene during a technical rehearsal for 'Co-Founders' on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Jessica Christian/S.F. Chronicle 'This show reminds us that it is not technology's fault. It is the way in which we are trying to use it,' said director Jamil Jude. Ryan echoed that sentiment. 'Technology is a tool, and that tool is imbued with the power and the personality of the people that use it,' she said. 'So do you use that hammer and nail to build a concentration camp, or do you use that hammer and nail to build a temple or a theater?'
San Francisco Chronicle
11-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Has Warriors' Steve Kerr decided how to cover Steph Curry's absence?
Golden State Warriors' head coach Steve Kerr instructs his team during 4th quarter time out in Minnesota Timberwolves' 102-97 win in NBA Western Conference Semifinals' Game 3 at Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle Anthony Edwards (5) passes to a teammate between Gary Payton II (0) and Quinten Post (21) in the first half as the Golden State Warriors played the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of the Conference Semifinals of the NBA Playoffs at Chase Center in San Francisco., on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle Golden State Warriors' Kevon Looney is fouled by Minnesota Timberwolves' Mike Conley in 4th quarter during Dubs' 102-97 loss in NBA Western Conference Semifinals' Game 3 at Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle Jaden McDaniels (3) leaps to defend againt Brandin Podziemski (2) in the first half as the Golden State Warriors played the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of the Conference Semifinals of the NBA Playoffs at Chase Center in San Francisco., on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle Gary Payton II (0) puts up a layup in the first half as the Golden State Warriors played the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 of the Conference Semifinals of the NBA Playoffs at Chase Center in San Francisco., on Saturday, May 10, 2025. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle This could all fall apart in a hurry for the Golden State Warriors. They're down 2-1 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their second-round playoff series, but Saturday night's down-to-the-wire 102-97 loss shows what this postseason has the potential to become: The Warriors' craziest playoff run in the Steve Kerr era. Advertisement Article continues below this ad They have no business still being in the thick of this series, not with Stephen Curry sidelined. But the Warriors came alive Saturday and seem to believe they can go toe-to-toe with the full-strength T'wolves. Until or unless things go sideways, this is the most interesting spare-parts assembly project since Dr. Frankenstein's lab experiment. The Warriors even led by five with eight minutes to go Saturday, and though they lost, they did not collapse under the weight of reality. No Curry? No problem. OK, that's not true, Curry's absence is a monstrous problem, but the Warriors are tackling it gamely, like a guy who skipped classes all semester and now is confidently chugging Red Bull on his all-nighter before the final. When Curry went down with that hammie in Game 1, Kerr said he would use Game 2 and the day off beefore Game 3 to search for the formula for playing without Curry. He and his staff would go into the lab and tinker with various player rotations/combinations and strategies. Advertisement Article continues below this ad That's a lot of experimenting to do in a very short time. It's a level of mixing-and-matching that a coach and his staff usually do in training camp, not 10 games into the postseason. It's like putting together an IKEA credenza with a 24-second clock ticking. And yet when Kerr was asked after Game 3 how close his team is to finding the 'formula,' he said: 'Really close. I feel good about the way the game went tonight. We just couldn't close it out. Again, give them credit. They made all the plays in the fourth and (Julius) Randle and (Anthony) Edwards really got going, and we just couldn't quite overcome them once we got down. 'But we controlled much of the game. … The formula looks good. We'll have some adjustments to make, but I like the matchup. I like what we're doing.' In Game 2, Kerr seemed to be allocating playing time by pulling random names out of a hat. Saturday's substitution pattern still had a slightly experimental feel early on, then settled into something more orderly. Advertisement Article continues below this ad There's not much margin for error now, so some things seem clear. Jimmy Butler is going to go 43 minutes, minimum. Playoff Jimmy is the real deal, and they'll ride him hard. Jonathan Kuminga is suddenly playing like Kerr has wanted him to play all along, and they'll sink or swim with him. Somehow, some time during the last few days, Kuminga and Butler figured out how to play together effectively, after a half season of futility. Possibly out of the mix until further notice, because the Warriors can't wait for them to get their footing: Quinten Post and Moses Moody. This is not, and won't be, the old Steph Curry Warriors, but so far it's better than New Coke (remember that?). This squad might be a slightly better defensive team without Curry. The offense, instead of flowing gracefully around Curry, depends on a more elemental scheme, basically getting the ball to Butler and running around setting picks. Poetry lite. Different? Good grief. In the first half, the Warriors — the team that revolutionized basketball with 3-point shooting — were 0-for-5 (!) from distance. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Warriors are stripped down to playground pickup-game basics, but there's enough brain power — Butler, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney, Gary Payton II — to make it kinda sing at times. And that's against a solid defensive club, in the Western Conference semifinals. Professor Kerr and his staff will be tinkering with the formula right up until tipoff Monday in Game 4 at Chase Center, but it's pretty much locked in. They just need to remind their players to never make a mistake, ever, because they can't afford to. 'When (Curry's) not here, there's no room for error,' Butler mansplained. 'You can't make mistakes. You can't turn the ball over. ... And then you've got to take the right shots.' We're in new territory here. The Warriors of past playoff runs never dashed out of the tunnel before games with the world wondering who three of the starters would be. They've never had to face extinction without Curry. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But they've never had Playoff Jimmy, or this version of Kuminga. Somehow, so far, the Warriors are no longer the doomed crew defending the Alamo. This is an even battle. If you were hoping for thrills, surprises and suspense, you are not being cheated.
San Francisco Chronicle
11-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
California wine executives plead guilty to $360,000 bribery scheme
Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, which produces the popular Josh Cellars, employed two executives who have pleaded guilty to bribery. Esther Mobley/S.F. Chronicle Two California wine executives pleaded guilty to bribing a powerful alcohol distributor and a retailer to promote their products in exchange for approximately $360,000 in gift cards, luxury watches, golf trips and baseball tickets. Prosecutors in February charged Matthew Adler of Walnut Creek and Bryan Barnes of Hermosa Beach (Los Angeles County) with commercial bribery, saying that Adler had given money and gifts to employees of a wine distributor and that Barnes had given gift cards to an employee of a wine retailer in exchange for favoring their company's products. Court documents do not name the companies involved in the scheme. But Adler and Barnes' employer was Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, which produces or imports some of America's most popular wine brands such as Josh Cellars and Yellow Tail, and the distributor was Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits, the country's largest alcohol wholesaler, according to a source with knowledge of the case. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Both Adler, who was charged with a felony, and Barnes, who was charged with a misdemeanor, entered guilty pleas in federal court in Oakland in April. Between 2016 and 2021, Adler used a third-party vendor to bribe distributor employees with thousands of dollars in prepaid Visa and American Express gift cards; a $6,750 Panerai watch; a Bentley car rental; tickets to spring training baseball games; custom suits; $2,370 concert tickets; and more. He took four distributor employees on a trip to Pebble Beach, which 'cost tens of thousands of dollars and included rooms, golf and caddie fees, spa treatments, and thousands of dollars in room incidentals,' prosecutors said. Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits, which produces Yellow Tail wine from Australia, employed two executives who have pleaded guilty to bribery. Liz Hafalia/S.F. Chronicle Deutsch Family had a marketing budget of $1 million per year, according to the filing, but Adler lied to his company's accounting department about how he was spending his funds: In 2019 he said he spent $47,131.49 attending a wine and food festival, but he actually sent that money to distributor employees. Adler left Deutsch Family in 2021 and began working for Demeine Estates, a subsidiary of Napa Valley's Lawrence Wine Estates, according to a news release. Adler's attorney declined to comment. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Barnes, meanwhile, sent thousands of dollars in prepaid gift cards to the alcohol buyer of a retail chain with 'more than 100 Southern California stores,' prosecutors said. An attorney for Barnes did not respond to a request for comment. Maintaining sellers' independence is a cornerstone of U.S. alcohol law, which has mandated a three-tier system — a separate producer, distributor and retailer — since the repeal of Prohibition. Without this separation, powerful alcohol producers could influence stores to carry their products instead of others, which would diminish competition, particularly at the expense of smaller producers. Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits has frequently been accused of anticompetitive behavior. The embattled company recently settled a major lawsuit with a competitor that complained Southern had illegally boycotted it, and last year the Federal Trade Commission sued Southern for illegal price discrimination. In 2022, the Internal Revenue Service and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau descended on Southern Glazer's office in Union City in what officials described as 'an official activity.' Advertisement Article continues below this ad Adler has a hearing scheduled for September and Barnes for October.
