Herbert Hesse

1942 - 2019

Herbert V "Herb" Hesse

November 5, 1942 - December 17, 2019

San Francisco lost one of its adopted sons with the passing of Herb Hesse on December 17, 2019. Although born in Chicago and raised in Eureka, California, he was seduced by the siren calls of Chronicle columnists Herb Caen and Charles McCabe and the talk jockeys of 1960s KSFO radio, who wove dreams and images of a magical, fog-bound Xanadu.

The call was strengthened by the arrival of the Giants in 1957. Herb and his younger brother used to take the Greyhound down on Friday night from Eureka, catch the two weekend games at Seals Stadium and return Sunday night arriving in time for school the next day.

Herb would take along a suit and on Saturday nights, after eating at Tommy's Joynt, he would dress up and wander through such spots as Trader Vics and Enrico's or sit and read the paper in the classic hotel lobbies of the Palace, the St. Francis and the Fairmont.

Herb moved to the City in 1965 to finish college at SF State, and except for one tour with Army Intelligence, he never left. Much of his life tracked the history of the City: he was at State when the national guard was putting down the student riots in 1969, one of his roommates was a founding member of the Jefferson Airplane and he saw Barbra Streisand and Lennie Bruce at the Hungry I.

He spent most of his life mingling with other people who wouldn't live anywhere else, most often as a cabdriver for Yellow, or as a bartender at several of the traditional neighborhood bars around the City. He even sold real estate for awhile because how else to feel the pulse of the City.

He shopped at Safeway, bought his ice cream at Bud's and then at Mitchells, his pizza at North Beach, saw movies at the Castro and played golf at Harding Park, Sharp Park and Lincoln.

San Francisco returned his devotion by protecting his housing through rent control and providing personal and quality medical care at the VA hospital at Ft.Miley for which he and his family were always grateful.

Like many of his generation, he was drawn to the 49ers of Kezar Stadium and the Giants of Seals Stadium and Candlestick; he even managed to include the Championship Season of the Warriors at the Cow Palace.

Although Herb had managed to overcome alcoholism, heart failure, stage IV esophageal cancer, diabetes and Parkinsons' disease, the recent collapse of both the Giants and the Warriors may have been too much to overcome. His last words, uttered during a recent Warriors' game, "I can't watch any more of this" might have referred as much to national events as to the sports match.

Herb was never happier than when he could take visiting relatives on a cab-driver's tour of The City, taking the shortcuts and double parking while his guests took their photos. Inevitably, people would tell him that it was a beautiful city and that made him proud because it wasn't just a beautiful city, it was His Beautiful City.

Appropriately, a private family memorial was held at the Columbarium.

Herb is survived by his six siblings, numerous nieces and nephews and all those who love San Francisco.