Pacific Standard Time

We all know San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities in the world – but did you know that the average renter here spends about 34% of their salary on housing alone? So, after that rent check clears, what’s left? And how can you live a full life in SF without going broke? To help us answer these questions, we talk to San Francisco’s Chief Economist, Ted Egan, to make sense of SF’s unique rental market, as well as André Lucas, a recent SF transplant who has gone viral with a series of videos about how to live well in SF without breaking the bank. Plus, we hear from listeners about what they’re cutting from their budgets this month, and what they absolutely refuse to give up (hello, Equinox membership). For more information and episode transcripts, visit: https://sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time/ Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a subscriber: ⁠https://sfstandard.com/subscriber

Ronan Farrow spent 18 months investigating Sam Altman for The New Yorker. This week, he joined us to talk about what he found. Farrow and co-author Andrew Marantz spoke to over 100 people in Altman's orbit for their 16,000-word piece, "Sam Altman May Control Our Future — Can He Be Trusted?" The story landed just days before a Molotov cocktail was thrown at Altman's San Francisco home, amid a national wave of anxiety about AI and the people building it. In this conversation, Farrow talks about the pattern of deception described by Altman's own colleagues and investors, OpenAI's transformation from a safety-first nonprofit into a company racing for profit, and why he sees Altman's story as a window into a much bigger crisis: an industry without guardrails shaping all of our futures. We also get into what it's like to actually sit across from Altman in an interview, how Farrow's #MeToo reporting informs his approach to power, and the uncomfortable parallels between ChatGPT's tendency to hallucinate and people-please — and the personality traits sources attribute to the man who built it. Read the full New Yorker piece: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted Pacific Standard Time is a production of the San Francisco Standard. Produced by Eddie Sun and Tessa Kramer. Edited by Sophie Bearman. Mixing by Michelle Lanz. Video by Morgan Ellis. Art by Jess Hutchinson. Music by Carly Bond and Bear Attack. Hosted by Emily Dreyfuss. Subscribe to The Standard: sfstandard.com/subscriber

BART is considering cutting 70% of its service. Muni could eliminate 20 lines. Stations might close permanently. And after 9 p.m.? You're on your own. San Francisco's public transit system is facing the worst financial crisis in its history — a slow-motion collapse years in the making, accelerated by the pandemic and the rise of remote work. This week, we explain how we got here, what's on the ballot this November to address it, and what Bay Area transportation may look like if voters don't show up. Guests: Garrett Leahy, SF Standard transportation reporter; Laura Tolkoff, transportation policy director at SPUR

San Francisco has the lowest rate of children per capita of any U.S. city — and if you've ever tried to afford childcare here, you know why. This week, host Emily Dreyfuss is joined by SF Standard head of audio Sophie Bearman, who reported on the real cost of raising kids in the city, to talk about why even families earning $400,000 a year feel squeezed. They also make the case for why, despite it all, SF is a pretty magical place to raise a family — plus the debut of a new segment, "Psst," where they share a hidden gem about the city you won't want to miss.

Army veteran and San Francisco nightlife fixture Michael “Mickey” Gerold led a seemingly charmed life of private clubs and powerful friends. But his ex-girlfriend Emilia London claims that behind closed doors, he arranged for her to have sex with men for money. The earnings, totaling more than $100,000, went completely to fund Gerold’s lifestyle, London said. On this week’s episode of “Pacific Standard Time,” SF Standard reporter Anya Schultz discusses her blockbuster investigation into alleged sex crimes, explains what motivated London to share her allegations publicly, and details how she stumbled across the story at San Francisco Family Court. More reading: Inside the allegations against a San Francisco social climber accused of sex crimes One man’s trail of alleged abuse through SF’s private club scene

This week on “Pacific Standard Time," reporter Rya Jetha explains why the tech world is in a frenzy over AI’s capabilities — and why many rank-and-file engineers are facing an unsettling existential crisis. Plus, reporter Astrid Kane takes us inside the Castro Theatre’s high-stakes makeover. Was the controversy worth the result? (Spoiler: It’s glorious.) More reading: AI writes the code now. What’s left for software engineers? The Castro Theatre is officially back: Here’s who graced the grand reopening For more information and episode transcripts, visit ⁠⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠⁠. Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a member: ⁠www.sfstandard.com/member⁠.

For a lot of people, 2025 was a rough year — and 2026 isn’t proving much better. So amid difficulty and despair, “Pacific Standard Time” hosts Emily Dreyfuss and Jesse Alejandro Cottrell wanted to discover the ways people are embracing joy. At the first live taping of “Pacific Standard Time,” Dreyfuss and Cottrell talked about the big and small ways San Franciscans are finding joy this year. They interviewed The Standard’s Zara Stone about the way techy self-optimizers are tracking and tweaking their way toward joy and Bonobo Network founder William Winters about what the city’s robust orgy community can teach us about building community. Background reading: Silicon Valley is done watching you sleep. Now it’s getting handsy in the bedroom Everyone has a Chinese peptide dealer now The new laboratory for happiness science: A Silicon Valley rave What do you eat at a San Francisco orgy? Caterers describe the spread For more information and episode transcripts, visit ⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠.Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a member: www.sfstandard.com/member.

Tech founders used to drop out of college. Now many aren’t even going. This week on “Pacific Standard Time,” we talk to Rya Jetha, who covers tech culture for The Standard, and 13-year-old founder Michael Goldstein. Background reading: ‘It’s normal in this city to be a dropout’: AI founders are starting younger than ever Meet the 13-year-old looking to cash in on the AI boom For more information on this week’s episode, visit ⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a member: www.sfstandard.com/member

The death of Claude, the beloved albino alligator at the California Academy of Sciences, was one of the biggest news events of the year in San Francisco. Claude, who turned 30 in November, died in early December from late-stage liver cancer. Since then, the city (and the world) has been in mourning: The academy has been flooded with goodbye letters, and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar wants to rename a street in the reptile’s honor. Claude was seen by many as an ambassador of San Francisco’s quirkiness and independent spirit. For those who grew up alongside him, he was a steady, constant companion amid the backdrop of a rapidly changing city. For others, he was the mascot for the vast animal kingdom housed at the California Academy of Sciences. For Emma Kocina, Claude’s keeper and a senior biologist at the academy, Claude was a daily companion. She spent eight years feeding, training, and caring for the delicate animal. Kocina says she’s still trying to understand why Claude captured so many hearts, but she feels the weight of his loss for herself and all San Franciscans. “It's a lot of pressure to care for an animal that's so loved by not only the academy, but the city,” she told Pacific Standard Time. “I have a hard time separating myself out from the thousands of people that are distraught over it.” In an end-of-year bonus episode of “Pacific Standard Time,” we talk to Kocina about what Claude taught her — and all of us — in his 17 years perched on a heated rock in California Academy of Science’s artificial swamp. For more information on this week’s episode, visit ⁠⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠⁠. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a member: ⁠www.sfstandard.com/member⁠

Who's wearing always-listening AI necklaces? A lot of people, actually. The Standard’s Zara Stone explains why startups are pushing wearable tech, and Internet privacy researcher Chris Gilliard offers some words of caution. Background reading: This conversation is being recorded — and so is everything else you do in San Francisco He wanted a friend who always listens and never leaves. So he built one For more information on this week’s episode, visit ⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a member: www.sfstandard.com/member

In early November, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie beamed with pride as he introduced Beya Alcaraz as the Sunset District’s next supervisor. A week later, Alcaraz resigned, after reporters uncovered her failings as a small business owner. The ill-fated eight-day tenure of Alcaraz dealt a political blow to Lurie’s streak of successes. On this week’s episode, The Standard’s Gabriel Greschler and Adam Lashinsky explain what this fiasco means for Lurie and what it tells us about the political landscape today. Background reading: The 200-hour supervisor Daniel Lurie learns a bitter lesson For more information on this week’s episode, visit sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a member: www.sfstandard.com/member

A smart, surprising weekly podcast about California’s future—and why what happens here matters everywhere and to everyone. Hosted by SF Standard culture editor Emily Dreyfuss and enterprise reporter Jesse Alejandro Cottrell. New episodes Wednesday mornings, beginning Nov. 19. If you want to support this podcast, you can become a member at: www.sfstandard.com/member