Old San Francisco, which is the San Francisco of only the other day, the day before the Earthquake, was divided midway by the Slot. The Slot was an iron crack that ran along the center of Market Street, and from the Slot arose the burr of the ceaseless, endless cable that was hitched at will to the cars it dragged up and down. In truth, there were two slots, but in the quick grammar of the West time was saved by calling them, and much more that they stood for, “The Slot.”

– From South of the Slot by Jack London, first published in The Saturday Evening Post, Vol. 181, May, 1909

Writer Jack London defined The City as two slots on either side of the Market Street cable car line – South of the Slot and North of the Slot. We cover, ostensibly, north of the Slot, but we also like to write about restaurants, the arts, sports, and events in other parts of The City and throughout the Bay Area that we feel would be of interest to Northsiders (features that we call “Get Outta Town” and “Get Across Town”).

To us, Northside is a demographic – intelligent, curious people looking for substance over glitz; people who want to curl up on their sofa on a rainy Saturday morning and read a feature story that is more than a blurb with pretty pictures. Chances are, they don’t go to work on a skateboard, but they also believe that where they live is an address, not an attitude. Politically, they fall to the moderate side, at least by San Francisco standards – anywhere else in the country they would be considered raging liberals.

In May of this year when I took over as publisher and editor-in-chief of Northside San Francisco and the Marina Times, I’d already been contemplating, during my four years as editor, what I wanted for the future of both publications. For the Marina Times, it was simple – continue to bring the residents of the Marina district local news and stories that matter to them; that hit close to home. For Northside SF, it was bit more complex. I wanted to keep the same great content – from Bruce Bellingham’s coverage of Arts & Entertainment to Tablehopper Marcia Gagliardi’s unique look at restaurant news, to Michael Murphy’s in-depth features on sports and athletes – but I also wanted to bring our look and feel up-to-date with a new design, new branding, and a new Web site. I wanted to increase our circulation and make Northside SF more available not only within the Northside, but throughout The City, and the Bay Area. After months of dreaming, scheming, and hard work, the new Northside SF debuts today with our second annual “Best of Northside Food & Wine” issue. In a couple of weeks, it will roll out in news racks from downtown San Francisco to Palo Alto to Marin to all of the East Bay BART stations.

A doctor in Russian Hill wrote us a letter earlier this year that said simply, “Thank you for giving me a publication as smart as I am.” We certainly hope that we keep you entertained and informed and, most important, keep that sense of community that makes our publication unique. We also hope you like what you see, and continue to like what you read. And as always, we love to hear from you, so please, don’t be a stranger.