As told to Sindya Bhanoo, Illustrated by Lola Noguer
The shows have stopped at the Cow Palace, now it’s one of the city’s longest food lines
Once the venue for massive shows featuring everything from wrestling to rodeos, nowadays the Cow Palace in Daly City plays host to one of the largest food bank sites for the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. Some 1,200 to 1,500 residents from San Francisco and San Mateo County lineup every Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 […]
Residents line up to be tested at new Mission District COVID-19 mobile testing site
Hundreds more people than expected showed up for the opening day of the new Mission COVID-19 mobile testing site at Alabama and 19th streets on Thursday. The site, located at the Latino Task Force Resource Hub, will be open for walk-up and appointment testing every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The first day was […]
Demand at the Mission’s COVID-19 mobile testing site is strong, but SF Department of Public Health lags in providing tests and other supplies
The Latino Task Force’s new mobile testing site at 701 Alabama St. entered its second week today with more than 200 people in line by 10 a.m., a sign that the 300 tests it managed to secure from the Department of Public Health would be insufficient. The Department of Health told the Latino Task Force […]
A Mother Gets COVID, Her Son Gets Surgery
Say you are 11 years old, say your mom has tested positive for Covid and is pretty sick with the virus in your apartment, say your dad takes you and your brother and sister to get tested, and you all test positive. Though you have no symptoms, a few days later, you get appendicitis. That […]
Alone in a pandemic: ‘I am used to living alone, but I miss my chats, my cafecitos and talking about my memories.’
If Charlie Chaplin had been born in Zakatecoluca, La Paz, El Salvador, he might easily have looked like Jose Montes, (a plumper version). Montes, who turned 70 on June 28th, has the sweet demeanor, the wise sad eyes, and the off kilter gait of Chaplin. He has now lived exactly half his life in the […]
The Latino Task Force emerges to take on COVID-19
In a neighborhood that quickly boarded up and felt abandoned by the end of March, it was hard not to wonder what would happen to the Mission District’s large immigrant population. Nannies, construction workers, and small business operators were either unemployed or venturing out to grocery stores, construction sites, or gig economy jobs, praying that […]
Kimberly: A young woman’s story of isolation in SF’s Mission District
As told to Sindya Bhanoo, Illustrated by Lola Noguer
At La Cocina, COVID-19 changed everything—except its baked-in resiliency
Spring at La Cocina, a nonprofit incubator for low-income food entrepreneurs, means entrepreneurs ironing out the details of business dreams: how to price menu items, scale up recipes for large batches, and design their ideal restaurants. It’s a hard, creative, and exhilarating process, but getting a spot in La Cocina’s program means the immigrant or […]