It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. We had flying cars, and we had massive homeless sweeps. From the heart-wrenching stories of the forgotten souls whose ashes are scattered at the Golden Gate to the dazzling allure of Silicon Valley’s latest tech miracles, The Standard’s culture reporting in 2024 captured a range of San Francisco that astonished and perplexed. Whether it’s the opulence of six-figure children’s parties or the vibrant reality of open-air drug markets, our reporting this year has been a study in the city’s contradictions. Here are the 10 culture stories that defined 2024.
San Francisco is reclaiming its psychedelic heritage. With psilocybin effectively decriminalized in the city, options for exploration rebound. As with finding a good sourdough, the search for magic mushrooms needn’t take you far from home — hell, you can even have your shrooms delivered. Or make them your religion.
A restoration team working to overhaul the Castro Theatre’s century-old interior uncovered something fantastic: an enormous, forgotten arch framing the stage. While we await the theater’s anticipated reopening in 2025, check out the city’s most incredible archaeological find of 2024.
There’s a drug that’s selling even faster than fentanyl in San Francisco: sugar. At the city’s open-air drug markets, duffel bags full of sweet treats sell out in minutes; experts have theorized that sugar activates similar receptors in the brain. On any given night, people lie across sidewalks in the Tenderloin surrounded by empty ice cream cartons, discarded chocolate wrappers, and drained bottles of soda.
The Killers may have been the headliner. Chappell Roan was the act most people were there to see. But Outside Lands’ most bonkers moment belonged to 76-year-old Grace Jones. The singer, songwriter, actress, and model entered the stage atop a flowing, 40-foot ballgown that looked vaguely like a Keith Haring artwork — and that was before she started hula-hooping.
“We wanted flying cars. Instead, we got 140 characters,” tech overlord Peter Thiel famously lamented. Well, a Silicon Valley company has been slowly developing the machinery required for drivers to experience vertical takeoff and landing. Now, they’re market-ready, and you can get your hands on one for around $200,000. Just make sure you have a charger nearby.
In tech dreamland, the sky’s the limit for children’s birthday parties, which have become extravagant affairs on par with weddings. Silicon Valley parents are splashing out on expert chefs, entire circuses, and decadent bouncy houses, and some performers are even asked to sign non-disclosure agreements. With elaborate themes and lavish performers, these parties are, in the words of one organizer, “like Burning Man, but for kids.”
Over the past three years, a funeral home director and his assistant have made monthly trips to the Golden Gate to solemnly scatter the cremated remains of dozens of the city’s unclaimed dead.
They tend to be among the city’s poorest and most marginalized residents. Most died of drug overdoses in their apartments or on sidewalks. They were as young as 23 and as old as 82: men and women, white and Black, Latino and Asian, all of them San Franciscans. As the boat returns to the shore, its horn blows three times, a final goodbye to the dead.
If you’ve ever been to a mural unveiling in San Francisco, it’s likely you’ve brushed up against public-art power broker Lisa Brewer. However, after one of her clients claimed she’d been swindled out of $40,000, The Standard’s investigation revealed a decades-long pattern of unhappy artists and clients.
At the San Francisco Motorcycle Club, one of the oldest such U.S. organizations, you’ll find mustaches, bikes, and the coolest leather jackets in the city. Ahead of its 120th anniversary, we found a thriving culture that measures the safety of its members against its outlaw past.
A culture war has broken out among San Francisco’s dog trainers. One faction advocates for positive reinforcement, emphasizing rewards without discomfort, while the other supports using shock collars to correct unwanted behaviors. The divide is only growing deeper, and those involved will fight tooth and nail to defend their methods.