I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still here.
As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.
As founder and an editor at ML, I've been trying to figure out how to make my interest in local news sustainable. If Mission Local is a model, the answer might be that you - the readers - reward steady and smart content. As a thank you for that support we work every day to make our content even better.
More by Lydia Chávez
I loved Hawker Fare, and had my favorite dishes. I also loved the colorful ambiance and that it was a big space, making it safer during Covid days. I often got my dinner to go. However, I’ve been wary of going out alone after dark – which was already earlier than 5 p.m. in December – because I was knocked down by a bicycle on the sidewalk over a year ago and have not fully recovered. I was looking forward to more delicious curries. The unique, one of a kind restaurants are disappearing from Valencia. SO sad!