{"id":219727,"date":"2026-03-14T16:47:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/219727\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T16:47:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:47:02","slug":"therapy-in-golden-gate-park-dj-jazzy-jeff-at-san-tung-and-xai-in-the-dumpster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/219727\/","title":{"rendered":"Therapy in Golden Gate Park, DJ Jazzy Jeff at San Tung, and xAI in the dumpster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tongues are always wagging in San Francisco \u2014 and The Waggle is your straightest shot to gossip. Got a tip or some tea to spill in our weekly gossip column? Email us at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our boo is about to leave us, San Francisco, and we\u2019re feeling a certain kind of way about it. We\u2019re talking, of course, about Sam Smith, the singer who has fallen in love with the city during their 20-night residency at the new and improved Castro Theater. What will we do without their Finstagram food videos <\/a>and genuine glee over the beauty of our city? \u201cI\u2019ve never felt so much a part of a community. My first time in San Francisco was the first time visiting a place that provides that safety \u2014 what a fucking place,\u201d Smith told the audience last weekend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before skipping town, Smith brought their foodie-tour \u201cSam Served\u201d to beloved Sunset Chinese restaurant San Tung, after so many fans (including Pharrell (opens in new tab)<\/a>, DJ Jazzy Jeff (opens in new tab)<\/a>, and Draymond Green (opens in new tab)<\/a>) suggested the wings couldn\u2019t be missed. The singer showed up early enough to be first in line \u2014\u00a0a very pro move. \u201cYou were right, piggies, you were right!\u201d they told the camera, fingers glistening with sauce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bestselling author and local scenester Erin Leigh Carlson commented on Instagram, \u201cSam, can you please establish permanent residency in SF??? We \u2764\ufe0fyou!!!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

We agree! And we\u2019re sure the kids who sold Smith $1 lemonade (opens in new tab)<\/a> from their stand do, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But forget lemonade stands: In 2026, what we need is pop-up therapy in the park. Therapists Ali Pflaum (opens in new tab)<\/a> and Jessica Good (opens in new tab)<\/a> think so too. They will be holding open office hours Saturday afternoon along JFK Drive, for anyone who wants to talk about their feelings with a human rather than a chatbot. The two friends first set up in Golden Gate Park a week ago with a sign that read \u201cAsk a HUMAN therapist!\u201d More than 30 people stopped by for advice. On their minds? Anxiety over the state of the world, of course, and about what AI means for the future. But mostly people wanted advice about relationship issues. \u201cEven a therapist came and sat down to talk to us,\u201d Pflaum said. At various points, strangers gathered for impromptu group therapy, though Pflaum is quick to point out that these casual conversations are not actual therapy. Still, we\u2019ll take old-fashioned human connection wherever we can find it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoTherapy in the park with Jessica and Ali. | Source: Ali Pflaum<\/p>\n

Tech cafeteria food: Today\u2019s tech workers may be hostages to OpenClaw, their lives run from tiny Mac minis<\/a> \u2014 but at least they are eating well. New OpenAI employee and everyone\u2019s favorite tech prankster Riley Walz built an interactive scraper (opens in new tab)<\/a>for tech company cafeteria menus. Why? Because why not. As the AI people like to say, you can just do things! Thanks to Walz \u2014 whom The Standard revealed this week as the proud new owner and paver of \u201cDirt Alley\u201d<\/a> \u2014\u00a0we know that on Friday, Nvidia employees were treated to \u201ctruffled duck confit pizza,\u201d OpenAI employees were chowing down on \u201cbeef birria ramen with spicy beef consomme,\u201d and Atlassian was serving \u201cspicy pork bulgogi with sesame and tamari\u201d \u2014 the day after it announced 1,600 layoffs (opens in new tab)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

C\u2019est the newest hot spot: The Waggle snagged a couple of bar stools during opening night at Jou Jou<\/a>, the frou frou new French restaurant in the Design District from the star duo behind Lazy Bear, Colleen Booth and David Barzelay. Cocktails and the raw bar were on point, though we couldn\u2019t stay for mains. Pilates influencer Alexis Haynes did, though, and delivered an ASMR-esque restaurant ree (opens in new tab)<\/a>l with trenchant observations such as the big-eyed tuna being \u201csuper fresh\u201d and the tarte tatin being \u201cperfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grok leaves applicants on read: On Thursday, the same day he reportedly pushed out (opens in new tab)<\/a> two more founders of his AI startup xAI, Elon Musk took to his personal diary, X, to announce that the company had \u201cnot been built right the first time around\u201d and needed to be entirely rebuilt. This follows troubling behavior from the company\u2019s flagship AI model Grok, which has been known to create and share images of child sexual abuse, speak lovingly of Hitler, spread conspiracy theories, harass people, and just generally be wrong a lot. (Sound like anyone else you know?) For all of those reasons, top AI developer talent has apparently been hard for the company to attract. On Thursday, Musk announced that he\u2019d figured out the problem: xAI\u2019s recruiting problems were due to an error in the xAI code itself. \u201cMany talented people over the past few years were declined an offer or even an interview @xAI (opens in new tab)<\/a>. My apologies,\u201d he tweeted. (opens in new tab)<\/a> Now, Musk says, the company is going through past applicants to see who got passed over. The unemployed blue check crowd has never been thirstier in the comments.<\/p>\n

Fulk as fuck: San Francisco\u2019s preeminent interior designer, church owner, (opens in new tab)<\/a> and giraffe (opens in new tab)<\/a>enthusiast Ken Fulk is selling his wine country ranch estate. The 76-acre country home near St. Helena hit the market this week at a list price of $4.5 million. But Fulk isn\u2019t going anywhere. In fact, he\u2019s everywhere. On Thursday night, he was partying with former mayor Willie Brown, current mayor and influencer Daniel Lurie, Lurie\u2019s wife and Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s Director of Protocol Becca Prowda, gallerist Jessica Silverman, hospitality maven Samantha Bechtel, and socialite Sonya Molodetskaya at a party celebrating the newly reopened Big Four restaurant at The Huntington Hotel, which Fulk designed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mind the Gap: Riding on Bad Bunny\u2019s fluffy Super Bowl halftime coattails, Gap dropped a campaign (opens in new tab)<\/a> that\u2019s entirely in Spanish, starring queer Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko. Credit Calvin Leung, Gap\u2019s head of creative and the hometown hero behind this collab, who\u2019s quietly on a streak: He masterminded last year\u2019s viral Katseye x Gap Milkshake<\/a> campaign that brought Kelis back into everyone\u2019s Spotify rotation. The sweats might be gray, but the vibes are anything but. We see you, Gap, and we are waggling about this glow-up.<\/p>\n

Will the real Alysa Liu please stand up? A San Francisco woman named Alysa Liu had her Instagram account suspended because she shares a name with a certain famous figure skater. Meta apparently flagged her real account as an imposter. ABC\u2019s 7 On Your Side (opens in new tab)<\/a> team is trying to help her get the account back, but so far, no dice. The real real Alysa Liu was back on home turf as the belle of the ball outside Oakland City Hall for a party in her honor. Many Oakland A-listers showed up, including Kehlani, W. Kamau Bell, ice skating legend and East Bay native Kristi Yamaguchi, and more than a few people sporting Liu-inspired raccoon wigs. Missing was the second-coolest Oakland girl of the moment, Zendaya, but she was spotted hanging with Liu on Tuesday (opens in new tab)<\/a> at Paris Fashion Week.<\/p>\n

\"AAlysa Liu spoke to reporters in Oakland Thursday. | Source: Miles Cull for The Standard