Kathy Fang, Part 2 (S8E10)
Storied: San Francisco
In Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. Kathy left her hometown of San Francisco for the first time to go to college at USC. Originally, she wanted to major in science. There was and perhaps still is a prevailing expectation in her culture to go into some sort of lucrative career. Surely, no one would want to go into the food business intentionally, so the trope goes. So Kathy set out to make her parents proud. Soon enough, though, she realized she doesn’t like science, and switched to becoming a business major. She earned a bachelor’s in entrepreneurship and operations and soon...
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Kathy Fang, Part 1 (S8E10)
Storied: San Francisco
Kathy Fang was born in the Chinese Hospital in Chinatown in San Francisco. In this episode, meet and get to know Kathy. These days, she’s the co-owner (with her dad) and chef at in South of Market. She’s also joined her parents in running their restaurant, the legendary . But her story starts with Lily and Peter (her mom and dad). We’ll get to Lily and Peter’s story, of course. But Kathy begins by talking about her unique position being born just up the hill from her parents’ restaurant, and essentially growing up at House of Nanking. She sees herself as perfectly positioned not...
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Jake Rosenberg’s “Epicenter” (S8 bonus)
Storied: San Francisco
Listen in as I chat with return guest about his latest book, Epicenter. The photobook beautifully captures the skateboarding scene at the Embarcadero from 1990 to 1993. The accompanying IRL photo exhibit for Epicenter has been extended through Sunday, Jan. 25, at 201 Jackson St. More info . Here’s the last episode we did with Jake, all about his previous book, Right Before My Eyes: We recorded this podcast over Zoom in December 2025. Photo of Jovantae Turner by Jacob Rosenberg
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Artist Hollis Callas, Part 2 (S8E9)
Storied: San Francisco
In Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. The “bootcamp” post-college and early career experience Hollis had at Creative Circus was interesting—she found herself seemingly taking it more seriously than many who’d come right out of a four-year program. She also balanced getting engaged and married in this time. Every year, Hollis’s grad school organized portfolio reviews with advertising agencies in either New York or San Francisco. Luckily for all of us, the year it was her turn, Creative Circus took students to The City. Once here, they met folks from big firms, including...
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Artist Hollis Callas, Part 1 (S8E9)
Storied: San Francisco
We’re baaaaaaack! Happy New Year, y’all! In this first episode of 2026, meet and get to know San Francisco artist . Hollis first came across my radar a few years ago when she won a contest to design our city’s new “I voted” stickers. I soon learned that she’s something of an artistic fixture in one of my adopted neighborhoods—The Inner Richmond. So I sat down with her one afternoon in November to learn more about her life. In Part 1, Hollis, an artist, illustrator, and designer, begins sharing her life story, which started in Atlanta. She grew up in the same Georgia house where...
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A Year-End Chat with Friend-of-the-Show Vandor Hill of Whack Donuts (S8 bonus)
Storied: San Francisco
Listen in as my friend Vandor Hill and I wrap up his second year of Whack Donuts’ brick-and-mortar location. This is Vandor’s third appearance on Storied: SF. Here are the other two episode’s we’ve done with him: We recorded this podcast at in Embarcadero 4 in December 2025. Photo by Jeff Hunt
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Lex Sloan, Henry S. Rosenthal, and The Roxie, Part 2 (S8E8)
Storied: San Francisco
In Part 2, we pick up right where we left off in Part 1. Continuing her history of 3117 16th Street, Lex notes that “The Roxie has lived many lifetimes.” She describes the Eighties and Nineties as busy times for the theater. They ran a series of Werner Hertzog films in that era. Akira Kurisawa visited for some of his movies. Many local films and film festivals took place at The Roxie. Frameline was set there. San Francisco and the greater Bay Area were becoming something of a cinema mecca. The aforementioned Roxie Releasing ended up helping the business in times when ticket sales weren’t...
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Lex Sloan, Henry S. Rosenthal, and The Roxie, Part 1 (S8E8)
Storied: San Francisco
When you tell friends you’re going to see a movie at The Roxie, there’s an almost palpable envy that sets in for them. In this episode, meet Lex Sloan and Henry S. Rosenthal. Lex is ’s executive director and Henry is on its Board of Directors and the chair of the theater’s capital campaign, which we’ll get to. In the meantime, if you’d like to help keep a bona fide San Francisco landmark in its rightful home until the end of time (they’d sure love you to, and so would I), donate to the Forever Roxie fund . We start with Henry, who lets us know that the “S” in his name stands...
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Neighborhood Basic Bitch: The Mission District, w/H.P. Mendoza and Bitch Talk (S8 bonus)
Storied: San Francisco
Listen in as I join and of to chat with about all things Mission District. We wax poetic about H.P.’s home hood, spinning yarns about the infamous neighborhoo'd’s past, present, and future. We recorded this podcast at in (duh) The Mission in November 2025. Photo by
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Randall Ann Homan and Al Barna of SF Neon, Part 2 (S8E7)
Storied: San Francisco
In Part 2, we pick up more or less where we left off in Part 1, hearing the story of how Randall and Al came to love all things neon. Their enthusiasm kicked into high gear when they started noticing neon signs coming down, and they decided to try to do something about it. That something started with documenting the signs. And with that came a bit of a learning curve, especially around photographing artificial lights at night. Over the next five years, they captured and captured and captured, getting as many extant signs as they could find. Randall had some book design experience under her...
info_outlineIn Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. Ian and I talk about how big baseball was in his life in his high school and early college years. He was a left-handed pitcher, which made him attractive to coaches. By the time he transferred to UC Berkeley, though, sports receded and academics took over. He played what’s called club ball, which Ian explains is something between varsity high school-level and community college.
At Berkeley, Ian majored in renewable energy, a topic that shows up in the art he does today. He minored in education, something that shows up in his coaching of kids these days. He lived in Berkeley while going to school there, and speaks to that experience.
Ian moved back to The City after he graduated, in 2014. But, as he puts it, since then, he’s “left and come back many times.” First was Seattle for a summer. Then Portland for a year and a half. We go on a bit of a sidebar after I offer up my opinion that some folks in the Pacific Northwest can come across as friendly, but they can also be rather passive-aggressive.
After Portland was New York City, where Ian lived for half a year. Then Nashville for three months. And after that, he got into a teaching program in Madrid, Spain, which I express my jealousy of. (Barcelona is one of my favorite places on Earth.)
He was in Madrid right as the COVID pandemic hit, in fact. The teaching program he was in allowed him plenty of downtime—he worked essentially four days a week, four hours per day. And a lot of that time on his hands was filled with a rediscovery of doing art. His plan had been to leave at the end of a school year, and that happened to coincide with the onset of COVID.
His return to his hometown, and his time here since 2020, has been spent trying to do art full-time. And that’s where Ian’s and my life intersect. It happened one day in the very location where we recorded this podcast: 540 Bar.
Break Fake Rules was born when Ian lived in Spain. It started with stickers. He handed them out—to friends, to strangers. He came up with the phrase and liked it, among other reasons, for its openendedness. He feels “Break Fake Rules” requires participation, something he sees as going against the way technology is leading us. But BFR isn’t the only artistic endeavor in Ian’s life.
Ian does a lot of collage work. Lately, he’s been cutting up vinyl from discarded billboard signs. He’d tried working with paper and glue to make murals, but the elements always got the better of his outdoor art. Old billboard vinyl is the solution he’s been looking for.
Those of you who follow Storied:SF on Instagram might have recently noticed a few collaboration reels between us and Break Fake Rules. Ian approached me a couple months ago about being on a series he produces called “People Should Know,” where someone—an artist, a small-business owner, a podcaster—comes on and speaks with a fencing-masked interviewer to talk about what they do and what folks should know about what they do. You can check out full-length videos of everyone who’s been on People Should Know on the Break Fake Rules website. It was a lot of fun to do, so thanks, Ian!
In asking Ian to let people know how to find him, we decided to start off with our favorite platform—in real life! He’s currently selling furniture at Stuff by Luxe. He’s got Break Fake Rules stuff there, too, as well as some of his 2D and 3D art. His website is BreakFakeRules.com. Find @breakfakerules and his personal account, @ianglues, on Instagram.