Name: Sharon Ratton

Neighborhood: I currently live in West Oakland, but I work out of Bayview. 

Gig: Co-Founder, Artners in Grime

What are you up to these days? I've recently started a jewelry company with my Artner and doggy-momma (lesbian version of baby-momma), Killean Evans. We got tired of the local shops not carrying the kind of jewelry we want to buy our girlfriends so we decided to make it ourselves and sell some while we were at it.

SF is... foggy, cold, warm, sunny, windy, and stifling all at the same time. Coming from Tennessee, where the weather is the same throughout the city, the micro-climates here blow my mind.

Where would you have your last meal on earth? There have been many nights of debauchery in the Mission where I walked to the Castro to have what I thought was certainly my last meal. In the past, my "last meals" have been at three in the morning at Orphan Andy's and it is always a country fried steak and eggs.

Where do you get your local gossip? I get the Street Sheet whenever I see a vendor. It's an awesome publication. It is informative for the reader, helpful for the vendors, and gives the other local publications a run for their money. 

Who's your favorite quintessential local character? I would have to pick the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. I once stumbled out of a friend's apartment at the dead end of Dore Alley to find them having a ritual right in the middle of the street. They were ceremoniously burning things and then when they were done they all pissed on the fire to put it out.

Where's your secret spot? Nap's in the Mission is my secret spot. It's right by the trendier El Rio, and sometimes gets the overflow, but usually it's just me and old burnt-out locals playing pool. There's an older guy there, Angel, who sings oldies with the echo turned way up and there have been times when I have lost myself in my "Blue Moon" reverie and swooned like an extra from the movie Cry-Baby.

What's your favorite under-the-radar SF restaurant? I have to go ultra hipster on this one and shout out my favorite burrito truck in the Bayview. It's usually parked at Jennings and Yosemite on weekdays and it is seriously worth a trip. I tried to figure out the name of the truck by looking on Google street view but all I can make out is "TACOS". 

Where do you go to relax and get away from it all? Even though my days are spent in SF, the constant buzz of the city does get overwhelming. Over in West Oakland I got chickens and a garden in the backyard and a quiet street where my neighbors hang out working on cars. 

What's your favorite SF institution? It seems boring, but I have a weird connection to the Civic Center fountain. I've broken up with a girlfriend there, planned out art projects, called my mom homesick, ended up there with buddies after drifting around downtown and once even had to call 911 when a homeless guy ran up saying another guy was cutting people with a machete. The Civic Center fountain is like a strange magical place for me.