Carl Nolte

Since 1817, people have operated ranches on land that eventually became Point Reyes National Seashore. Now, they must leave.

Carter’s smile vanished as if wiped away. His remarkable blue eyes flashed. “You have completely misunderstood me,” he told the editor.

The Golden State is big -— and you never fully realize how big it is until you drive 1,000 miles and realize you saw only a fraction of the state.

Longtime San Franciscans can’t help but notice empty store windows up and down Powell, Post and Sutter. But there’s also glittering high-end stores.

Once there were thousands of skilled riveters working in the Bay Area, building ships and a couple of famous bridges, even. But it's a high-tech world now. 

Treasure Island is a combination of old and new, odd pieces of San Francisco here and there, and historic art hidden away. 

Among its first customers were Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, then-Speaker of the Assembly Willie Brown and clothier Wilkes Bashford.

The media quickly invented a shorthand to describe the mayoral candidate — he was “an outsider and Levi Strauss heir.’’ But there is so much more than that.

It’s a long walk from downtown Berkeley through the campus and up to the stadium — but well worth it.

November begins soon and nobody likes that month. Standard time is back along with early sunsets, the start of the rainy season — and a big election.