Julie Zigoris
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jzigoris.bsky.social
Julie Zigoris
@jzigoris.bsky.social
SF storyteller, award-winning journalist and PhD of Slavic Studies. Current project: The Lost Artist. Former culture reporter @sfstandard. Bylines: @lithub @atlasobscura, @huffpost, @bostonglobe, @nyt, @sfgate and many more. 🔗 www.juliezigoris.com
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
"If careerists had not been so easy to bribe and blackmail, ordinary people would not have to suffer under this group of sadistic oligarchs and politicians. Our era is the culmination of complicity."
sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/jackhammer...
Jackhammering Into the Sewer
A look through the Epstein files.
sarahkendzior.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
Thought I was done writing about the bullshit that outside media says about S.F.

But this pair — making fun of unhoused people in wheelchairs — coaxed me out of retirement.

On loving the city, and the fragility of visiting adult male Patriots fans.

Gift link 🎁

www.sfchronicle.com/totalsf/arti...
Are all Patriots fans this soft? Boston radio hosts mock S.F. in idiotic Super Bowl tirade
Radio hosts Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti failed the empathy test this week when they took to the airwaves to call San Francisco a “zombie apocalypse.”
www.sfchronicle.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:58 AM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
17th & Wisconsin, 1980s
Much talk of the demise of Thee Parkside (spent many afternoons there after Sunday softball at Jackson Playground) Not sure of the date, but here's a shot from photographer Jo Babcock when it was Frank's Place. The Ferrerro family owned Frank's place for 42 years. #sfhistory
January 29, 2026 at 6:10 PM
Imagine my surprise when we're in New Orleans for the Chewbacchus parade and what do I see but the EMPEROR NORTON marching band? SF and Nola are sister cities in so many ways.

#Chewbacchus #NOLA #krewe #SF #EmperorNorton #parade #mardigras
January 29, 2026 at 7:51 PM
The Peet's closures throughout the Bay Area have me reflecting on the deep dive I wrote about founder Alfred Peet and his legacy. I could have predicted this—and that the iconic coffee brand's exacting founder would have never approved.
sfstandard.com/2023/04/07/p...

#peets #SF #coffee #BayArea
Peet’s Is Now the World’s Largest Coffee Company. Would Its Notoriously Exacting Founder Approve?
One man’s dissatisfaction with San Francisco’s mid-century coffee scene jump-started a revolution and birthed a global brand.
sfstandard.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
On ancient myths, legends, and folklore of Russian forests.
The Ancient Myths and Medieval Legends of the Vast Russian Forest
A man rows a canoe along a broad, glassy river. As he approaches the sandy shore, he fires two shots from his rifle. Villagers rush to greet him and his honored guest: a bear. The hunter has alread…
buff.ly
January 26, 2026 at 7:30 PM
People *turned out* for the opening of the new Muni exhibition in San Francisco's City Hall. Check it out for yourself: missionlocal.org/2026/01/sf-m...

#SanFrancisco #Muni #theworm #opening #art #cityhall #SF
'Moving San Francisco' exhibit highlights 122 years of Muni magic
The transit exhibition becomes a history of San Francisco, showcasing notable figures like Phyllis Diller and Harvey Milk.
missionlocal.org
January 26, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Reporting on the long tail of sadness left by Claude's death in San Francisco for @missionlocal.org 🐊

#Claude #RIP #SanFrancisco #CalAcademy

missionlocal.org/2025/12/clau...
Claude’s death leaves an alligator-sized hole in S.F. hearts
From underdog to heartthrob, Claude the albino alligator's Hollywood-worthy story is a symbol of the city itself.
missionlocal.org
December 4, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
Today in #ArtAdventCalendar, commemorating a local legend. Claude was an albino alligator who lived at the Cal Academy of Sciences. Rest well, Claude.

#artyear #illustration
December 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
RIP Claude, who is so beloved in our family we once made his likeness in Rice Krispies for my daughter’s birthday 😭

#claude #calacademy #sanfrancisco
December 3, 2025 at 3:40 AM
"The future of San Francisco is going to thrive because we look at the past." @peterhartlaub.bsky.social

#SanFrancisco #history #wnp #neighborhoods
December 1, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
Analog Bags—sacks filled with tactile distractions like books and knitting—are a welcome break from phones. @jzigoris.bsky.social asked San Franciscans about the things they carry: sf.gazetteer.co/whats-in-you...
What’s in your analog bag?
The latest device-free trend contains everything from knitting to notebooks to Tolstoy
sf.gazetteer.co
November 17, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
@jzigoris.bsky.social reports from inside The Box SF in SoMa, where 15 million pieces of ephemera can yours. sf.gazetteer.co/save-all
Save all
15 million individual items, some dating back to the 1600s, are waiting to be discovered at The Box SF
sf.gazetteer.co
November 13, 2025 at 5:39 PM
There's no place in San Francisco — no place in the world — like The Box. Yet so few locals know it exists. I didn't, until a couple months ago. That's why I love reporting on this city; there's always more to uncover.

#sanfrancisco #ephemera #antiques #advertising #sf #soma
Save all
15 million individual items, some dating back to the 1600s, are waiting to be discovered at The Box SF
sf.gazetteer.co
November 14, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
For Halloween, @jzigoris.bsky.social conjures the spirit of San Francisco’s long lost Museum of Witchcraft & Magic: sf.gazetteer.co/when-satan-l...
When Satan lived at Fisherman’s Wharf
For a few years in the 1970s, the Museum of Witchcraft & Magic cast a spell on San Francisco tourists
sf.gazetteer.co
October 31, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Real life can be so scary that my historical deep dive into SF’s former museum of witchcraft felt downright charming.

When Satan lived at Fisherman’s Wharf - sf.gazetteer.co/when-satan-l...

#fishermanswharf #sf #witchcraft #magic #halloween
When Satan lived at Fisherman’s Wharf
For a few years in the 1970s, the Museum of Witchcraft & Magic cast a spell on San Francisco tourists
sf.gazetteer.co
November 5, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
Don't miss Nastia Voynovskaya's sobering, in-depth report on the state of AI-generated music and musicians — and the avenues left to human musicians (because now we have to specify that):

www.kqed.org/arts/1398257...
AI Is Coming for the Music Industry. How Will Artists Adapt? | KQED
The rise of AI-generated ‘artists’ prompts labor and free speech concerns as big tech aligns itself with the far right.
www.kqed.org
October 22, 2025 at 6:49 PM
As a former educator, I thought the role of teacher was one thing AI could not replace. Then I learned about this new private school that opened in SF ...

#SanFrancisco #teacher #educator #AI #SF #education

www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco...
San Francisco private school using AI instead of teachers to teach students
Students spend just two hours on core subjects, all taught by AI-powered apps instead of teachers. And the adults serve as guides and coaches for when students need motivational and emotional support.
www.cbsnews.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
Hell yes, Pittsburgh. Love Yinz. No Kings.
October 18, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
Here's @jzigoris.bsky.social with a deep dive into the Chinese workers who basically built up Northern California's wine country from scratch in the 1860s and 1870s. I didn't know this history! www.kqed.org/arts/1398179...
The Chinese Roots of Northern California’s Wine Industry Run Deep | KQED
Despite a long association with Europeans, Chinese laborers established the iconic vineyards of Sonoma and Napa Valleys.
www.kqed.org
September 29, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
It’s crazy how they can just start chucking law-abiding people in prison and change societal expectations around that, so that many people just say “welp, that’s just a thing that happens here now (and it ain’t me)!”
Go, a college student, has a dependent visa (her mother, an Episcopal minister, is here on a religious worker visa), which doesn't expire until Dec. But when she tried to renew it early, ICE nabbed her and sent her halfway across the US to a detention center.
www.wthr.com/article/news...
Purdue student detained by ICE and taken to troubled Louisiana holding facility
Yeonsoo Go, 20, was detained after her immigration hearing in Manhattan and taken away by ICE agents.
www.wthr.com
August 4, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
In messages to faculty and staff, university leaders cited federal policy changes under the Trump administration as key drivers behind the cuts.
Stanford lays off hundreds, citing federal cuts under Trump
In messages to faculty and staff, university leaders cited federal policy changes under the Trump administration as key drivers behind the cuts.
bit.ly
August 5, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
ABC News’ “This Week” looks back at the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings and interviews me about my new oral history and the importance of remembering first-hand accounts: abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/vid...
Video New book uses oral history to tell story of the atomic bomb
ABC News' chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz speaks with author Garrett Graff about his new book on the atomic bomb during WWII ahead of the event’s 80th anniversary.
abcnews.go.com
August 3, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Julie Zigoris
Aaron Boehmer examines the hope in human connection and Octavia Butler’s “speech sounds.”
What We Can Give Each Other: On Octavia Butler’s “Speech Sounds”
In 1983, Octavia E. Butler published “Speech Sounds” in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, a short story that would win her her first Hugo Award a year later. Written, as Butler put it in the…
buff.ly
August 4, 2025 at 2:00 PM