Elaine Santore

Susan Dynner captures the bleeding heart of the mosh pit in her new film, <span style="font-style: italic;">Punk&rsquo;s Not Dead</span>.Susan Dynner’s love affair with punk rock began in the early ’80s, when she was a teenager living in Washington, DC. Hooked after one Minor Threat show, Dynner began her career as a music photographer, eventually making her first foray into film as a coproducer of the 2005 indie flick Brick. Screening as part of the SF International Film Festival’s 50th season (April 26–May 10), her new documentary, Punk’s Not Dead, marks the now-L.A.-based Dynner’s directing debut.

San Francisco&rsquo;s soul may very well be located on the strip of Columbus between Broadway and Filbert. Anchored by legendary bars and the iconic City Lights Bookstore, North Beach has perhaps the most lively personality of any SF neighborhood. It’s been home at various times to Barbary Coast strip clubs, Italian-American immigrants, the first inklings of gay culture and the Beat generation.

Nursery essentials are showing the clean lines of modern design. With baby gear like this, it&rsquo;s time to think outside the pink-and-blue box.
  CHALK IT UP

A controversial documentary explores the tarnished glory of the Golden Gate Bridge.Perhaps California’s most iconic tourist attraction, the Golden Gate Bridge lures about 9 million visitors annually. But this stunning symbol of West Coast beauty has a dark side—it’s also a magnet for suicides. An estimated 19 people end their lives at the bridge each year. This grim statistic inspired the NYC-based filmmaker Eric Steel to shoot The Bridge, a documentary about the psychology and aftermath of Golden Gate Bridge suicides.

A stunning look at the legend of big-wave riding.If the world of surfing is a fraternity, then the Half Moon Bay contest known as Maverick’s is the harshest hazing ritual there is. The new book Inside Maverick’s: Portrait of a Monster Wave gives readers entrée into the secret brotherhood—no board required. “We wanted to come up with a definitive work for hard-core, big-wave surfers,” says editor Bruce Jenkins.