HOODLINE (SAN FRANCISCO) -- At the event, we spoke with Ben Fong-Torres, the magazine’s managing editor from its early days. Born in Alameda, he graduated from San Francisco State University in 1966 after studying radio, television and film.
In his role, he helped originate Rolling Stone’s tradition of running in-depth interviews, profiling people like Paul McCartney, Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles. In the 1970s, he also hosted local radio talk shows and worked as a rock DJ.
Fong-Torres, who chronicled the intersection of music and popular culture at concert halls like The Matrix, Avalon Ballroom, and The Fillmore, said that while he’s lived in the Castro for more than three decades, he still has a deep connection to the Upper Haight and believes it still has the same heart and spirit from his youth.