Denise E. Clifton

Denise Clifton is the author of Tables from the Rubble (Tandemvines Publishing, 2017), which tells the stories of San Francisco restaurants that arose after the 1906 earthquake – highlighting a few still feeding the city today. She is also the founder of Tandemvines Media, where she leads organizations and authors in crafting visually compelling narratives in multimedia and print formats. Tables from the Rubble, for example, is available in both print and multimedia versions to take advantage of the storytelling opportunities of each medium. Her latest project is a multimedia book telling the story of Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market, publishing in early 2019.

Denise spent nearly 20 years as an award-winning journalist, designer and art director for the Seattle Times. She continues to be a regular contributor to Mother Jones.

Tables from the Rubble transports readers to San Francisco in the years just after the Great Quake of 1906. Amid the ruins, restaurants rose to feed the hungry and lead the recovery. Today a handful of the restaurants that opened during those boom years remain – some still serving customers in the same spaces where they first opened, offering food and drinks with a direct link to San Francisco’s century-old past.

Tables from the Rubble tells the stories of Swan Oyster Depot, Liguria Bakery, Comstock Saloon, the Palace Hotel, the House of Shields, John’s Grill, and Schroeder’s Cafe – among many others. And it follows the journey of Sam Wo, which was saved by the hard work of one family and an entire community committed to the historic Chinatown restaurant’s legacy.