Melody Saradpon

The city keeps its best things on a loop: the same hill at dawn, the same table with the usual order, and the same farmers stalls since 1943. Lately we’ve been drawn to what repeats. Call it habit. We call it ritual. Read on to explore which ones we’ve enjoyed seeing, drinking, and eating time and time again. THE LATEST Neighborhoods have more than one life, and our writer Daisy Barringer shares how she sees Cole Valley like a village—from morning to night, one block at a time.

Inside the Bay Area death cafe: cake, candor, and mortality WRITER Melody Saradpon Fernwood interior—photo courtesy of Daniel Waynick Located in the South Pacific Ocean, on southern Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, stands a 90-foot-tall wooden tower built to face death. Since time immemorial, the tower has been erected every year as a rite of passage for the young village men—constructed by hand with no safety net or harness.

Summer rituals are no new thing, and our 75th issue (!) asks the question: where do rituals begin, and what makes them last? In celebration of our 1-year anniversary under new ownership, we brought in creative collaborators Sonya Yu and designer Tyson Lee to help us find out. We uncover rituals in both literal and abstract forms: a round-up of the best weekly ritual meals in SF, an intimate death cafe experience, and chefs styled in unexpected portraits of their daily practice.