Pacific Standard Time is the SF Standard’s weekly news podcast about the people and ideas driving San Francisco's future — and their ripple effects across the country. Hosted by Emily Dreyfuss and Jesse Alejandro Cottrell. New episodes Wednesdays.
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Introducing 'Pacific Standard Time'
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 • Duration 04:21
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
What happened when ICE came to California (City)
Episode 1
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 • Duration 37:06
California City is a tiny town that’s become home to the state’s largest ICE detention center. Residents want it gone, but the mayor — a former rapper who nearly joined N.W.A. — is struggling to do anything about it.
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
How dead mice delivered Mayor Lurie his first big fail
Episode 2
Wednesday, November 26, 2025 • Duration 29:57
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
AI writes the code now + The Castro Theatre’s glow-up
Friday, February 20, 2026 • Duration 35:58
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.
The SF teachers strike + governor candidate Matt Mahan
Episode 10
Tuesday, February 10, 2026 • Duration 45:34
There’s a new way to catch “Pacific Standard Time” — we’ve added video to our podcast. We’ll continue to drop new episodes each week, with hosts Emily Dreyfuss and Jesse Alejandro Cottrell covering the latest news affecting San Francisco and the Bay Area.
This week on “Pacific Standard Time”:
News and business editor Kevin Truong on the teachers strike that has shut down San Francisco public schools. Plus, Emily’s kids drop by the office to explain what they’re doing — and what they’re worrying about — now that schools are closed.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan explains why he entered the California governor’s race and makes the case as to how his experience has prepared him for the top state office.
More reading:
Live updates: SFUSD teachers strike coverage
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan enters gridlocked race for California governor
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.
Sleep hacking, peptides, and orgies: How SF is finding joy in 2026
Episode 9
Friday, January 30, 2026 • Duration 57:59
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.
Chefs can't stomach their menu prices either
Episode 8
Wednesday, January 21, 2026 • Duration 24:26
It’s not just you. San Francisco chefs are “mortified” by how much it costs to eat at their restaurants.
That’s according to Sara Deseran, an editor-at-large at The Standard who covers food and dining. She talked to chefs and restaurant owners who are trying to price their menus without scaring away customers.
This week on “Pacific Standard Time,” Deseran sits down with host Emily Dreyfuss to discuss how chefs feel about their menu prices, what factors are influencing costs, and what diners can do to feel a little better when settling the tab.
‘It’s embarrassing’: SF chefs are mortified by their own menu prices
Chicken, red sauce, and influencers gone wild: 10 trends that defined the year in eating
The next generation of AI founders can't even drive
Episode 7
Wednesday, January 14, 2026 • Duration 31:05
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
Meet the San Franciscans trying to become U.S. citizens
Episode 6
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 • Duration 26:38
Abigail Larios felt confident going into her U.S. citizenship test: She’d been studying all year, had worked on her English, and was ready to talk about her history in the country.
But as she was leaving her immigration interview hours later, officials told her they weren’t ready to swear her in as a citizen. They’d need a couple of weeks to review her record.
Months later, Larios remains in citizenship limbo.
Her story reflects the confusion and uncertainty surrounding citizenship in the second Trump presidency, which has included an executive order targeting birthright citizenship, the growing threat of raids by immigration agents, and a move to make the process more difficult. This has led to an uptick in longtime U.S. residents seeking citizenship.
“There is more of an urgency to become a citizen,” said Jake Simons, who runs a citizenship class at the Mission-based nonprofit Centro Latino. “The administration has kind of imposed this fear that anything could happen, regardless of if you're a permanent resident, regardless of if you're a citizen.”
On this episode of “Pacific Standard Time,” The Standard visits Simons’ citizenship class and follows Larios as she attempts to complete the process during one of the most fraught periods in recent immigration history.
Background reading:
Bracing for the ICE storm, SF immigrants are in hiding
A green card was once enough for Chinese immigrants. Now they don’t feel safe
This is what happens when your immigration judge is fired
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
What Claude taught his keeper — and everyone else in San Francisco, too
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 • Duration 15:17
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
