Zara Stone

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Zara Stone

At a recent orgy at a home in the East Bay, DJ J. Maximilian had to politely ask an amorous group to stop using his gear for support. Their activity was shaking his equipment. “They were so focused on each other that they didn’t realize,” he said. It wasn’t the first time. The sex parties he DJs — held in mansions, Airbnbs, speakeasies, and warehouses all over the Bay Area — rarely come with a proper booth. “Sometimes they give you a folding table or a coffee table.

2 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Zara Stone

NowWater began flowing from a pipe onto hundreds of acres of dry, sunbaked lake bed as California officials filled a complex of shallow ponds near the south shore of the Salton Sea in an effort to create wetlands that will provide habitat for fish and birds, and help control lung-damaging dust around …

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Zara Stone

For Saahil Mishra, student body president at Lick-Wilmerding, the elite private high school in Ingleside, this year’s prom was the culmination of a dream. The theme was Enchanted Forest, complete with an ice cream sundae bar, a tarot reader, a glitter tattoo station, and a band, all set inside San Francisco’s golden-domed City Hall. But while Mishra looked appropriately classy in a tuxedo with a navy blue bow tie and shiny shoes, one item was conspicuously missing from his fit: a smartphone.

2 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Zara Stone

Mid-Market has earned its reputation as the city’s no-man’s-land. Despite attempt after attempt to rehabilitate the area (see: new IKEA, dead Whole Foods, abandoned Twitter HQ), it remains mostly empty retail spaces, shuttered offices, and many people visibly high on drugs.

3 weeks ago | sfstandard.com | Zara Stone

Recommendations are a dime a dozen, but in Pro Tips, we go directly to the source, asking experts for their professional opinions on the city’s best cultural offerings. As you make your summer plans, don’t forget to leave room in your suitcase for a great book. To help you figure out what to read next, we asked eight Bay Area writers — who read constantly, obsessively, and very, very opinionatedly — for their go-to selections.