Meet Ray Vuillemainroy, a newly hired police officer at Taraval station — at age 58. He has nearly 30 years of community policing experience in South San Francisco and Santa Barbara. But retirement didn’t suit him.
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Meet Olga Camacho, the new athletic director at Lincoln High School. Responsible for 600 student athletes and 32 teams, she is a trail blazer and survivor well-suited for the herculean task.
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Meet Gail Secchia, who became a horticulturist after decades at the phone company. While the sound of lions roaring can be thrilling for visitors to the San Francisco Zoo, many seek the tranquil garden paradise that Gail created in her post-retirement career.
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These two couples run two Fiery Hot Pot locations on opposite sides of the Sunset. One on Taraval and the other on Irving. Despite the same name, they offer different approaches to yummy hot pot — the Chinese presentation of food cooked in a steaming broth.
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Meet Raymond Wong. At 22, he fell in love with the Navy trying to avoid the Army. At 79, the Outer Sunset resident and Vietnam War veteran has devoted half a century to trying to make life better for local veterans in every branch of service. But he still lives for Fleet Week.
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Meet the group of Outer Sunset moms who started the Ocean Beach Plunge Club. They bond over early morning walks and a dip in the Pacific.
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Meet police officer Matthew Hewitson, assigned to walk Irving Street. He’s a welcome sight for merchants and shoppers. Shoplifters beware.
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Meet Jan Bautista and Sharimar Balisi. The trailblazing high school principals of Lowell and Lincoln are friends with a shared Filipina culture and life experience. Learn how they are shaping student outcomes by reshaping what leadership looks like in San Francisco's public schools.
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Meet the Shield and Scroll society, a fixture at Lowell High School since 1907. Today’s teens still compete to wear a red and white beanie that says achievement with honor — and lots of physical work.
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Meet police officer Simon Wong. He’s glad he quit a retail job to become a police cadet. The 16-year veteran embraces new technology to fight crime and hopes a younger generation will join him in what has been a fulfilling career.
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Meet police officers Dennis Lo and Philip Yang. As partners on the overnight shift at Taraval station, they’ve forged a bond as they tackle crime and help Sunset residents through vulnerable moments.
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Meet Bob Vicari. At 92, he is one of the remaining Korean War veterans in the United States. Bob has lived on Irving Street for 41 years and has forged dear friendships with his neighbors. Now, he relies on those neighbors for the care he needs as a veteran. In return, he shares poignant life memories.
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This is my love letter to the Sunset in video form. I worked with the producers at SFGovTV (City Hall’s cable channel) to pack as much life about the Sunset as possible into the video. It’s a whirlwind of people, places, history, food, and culture. Look closely and maybe you’ll see yourself!
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Meet Mike Kanzler, a legend in the surfing community at Ocean Beach. Mike’s surfboard repair shop on 34th Avenue is an essential business for one of the Sunset’s most popular activities. He fixes every board by hand. “My job is about getting people into the water,” Mike says. “And keeping them there.”
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Meet lifelong Sunset resident Hanely Chan. He joined the Navy three years out of high school. The ups and downs of his military experience led him to become an advocate for San Francisco’s 24,000 veterans.
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On every Mother’s Day, I’m grateful for the three strong women and extraordinary mothers who influenced my life. They didn’t have it easy.
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Meet Joey Snip. He opened Avenues Barber Lounge to fill the “third place” between work and home where a haircut inspires conversation and builds community. Joey says there’s so much more to his craft than being named Snip: “Barbering is an art form.” Joey calls his shop a lounge “because we want people to be comfortable being here.” Both are true at the corner of Taraval and 19th Avenue.
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A former Lutheran church on the corner of Ulloa Street and 33rd Avenue in the Sunset is filled with people again as a Buddhist temple. Three magnificent Buddhist statues from Asia were recently installed to complete the transformation of the Lutheran church that was built in 1960. The original stained glass and some pews were preserved. Meet the Sunset residents creating community and improving their lives at the vibrant new temple.
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Jonathan Ng was the first of three brothers to realize a calling to become police officers. Jonathan thought he wanted to be a civil engineer in college until he took a criminal justice class. His brothers pursued jobs in engineering and computer science but switched careers after seeing how much Jonathan loved serving Sunset residents as a police officer.
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The impact of the pandemic lockdown of four years ago still reverberates for the children who experienced it. That’s why Taylour Ganster, a Sunset-based behavior therapist, is helping kids overcome developmental delays caused by COVID isolation.
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