We started 2021 as a very small team with a funny name, and we ended it with a fast-growing newsroom under a new banner, The San Francisco Standard. It was a weird COVID year, of course, and the city struggled in many ways. But we found plenty of joy too.

We dove deep into the Tenderloin District, covering the heated policy debates and their human impact.

COVID-19 was of course on our minds. Earlier in the pandemic, we took a look inside a ready-to-go makeshift hospital, which would have been used for patient overflow if the pandemic were to push other recovering patients out of their hospital beds. Thankfully, it was never needed. 

The word ‘recall’ was on many peoples’ minds, and we tracked the process of the school board recall from an attempted steal to ballot delivery.

With worries about crime soaring and San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin facing a recall, we were ready with background on the staunchly progressive lawyer and some sharp analysis of what’s really going on with crime.   

We tried to stay close to San Francisco’s many communities through this tumultuous year. From the Sunset, where residents grappled with affordable housing plans…. 

…to the Fillmore, where Black leaders, including actor Danny Glover, are calling on the city to donate the Fillmore Heritage Center, where the Black Panthers’ meal program once lived.

The Black Lives Matter mural there was repainted, alongside many other artistic tributes to George Floyd and the Black community. 

We documented the dancing when the Castro Street Fair returned, and discussions about surveillance, privacy and politics were fueled by a vote about security cameras in the Castro.

And we roamed the Mission, to document the return of the Dia de Los Muertos Celebration.

We also documented a Mission Victorian that doubles as a “sculpture garden,” created by a local dad who turned to art while separated from his children. 

When thousands of San Franciscans marched for women’s rights, we watched from above and reported from the ground. 

When five SF Walgreens locations shut, citing excessive shoplifting, our photographers documented how other local businesses dealt with retail crime. 

When the “biggest game of the year” came to Oracle park, San Franciscan humans and bunnies alike shared their excitement.  

We gave our readers a sneak peek into San Francisco’s newest circus performance, Dear San Francisco, which is filling the big shoes of Beach Blanket Babylon at North Beach’s Club Fugazi. 

With a critical eye trained on city hall, we photographed Mayor London Breed — a lot. 

On the steps of our lawmakers’ offices, we documented press conferences, anti-vaccine mandate protests…

…and once, a set of puppies. 

Inside that gold-draped building, we were on the floor (literally) for David Chiu’s inauguration as City Attorney.

In preparing our readers for the slew of elections coming to 2022, we spent time with each of the AD-17 race candidates, including David Campos, whose campaign buttons feature his pup’s face. 

The end of 2021 is just the beginning for us. We look forward to living up to our tagline and helping you to better “Know Your City” in 2022.