Gavin Newsome is handsome

[meshaliuknits]

What? That's politics related.



SFGate has an interesting article about him. Come for the information, click the link for the pictures.

Gavin Newsom photos from the early years …

This is First Contact, a series where we choose local newsmakers,
and find their earliest photos and articles that appeared in the
Chronicle. This week’s profile: Gavin Newsom. For the best effect, we recommend you read this while listening to The Bangles’ “Hazy Shade in Winter” from the “Less Than Zero” soundtrack.

First, let me admit to the horrible mistake of making Rose Pak the first subject in this series.
I completely underestimated our readers’ white hot dislike for the
former Chronicle reporter turned political kingmaker. It was like
throwing buckets of chum in the comments section.

It’s possible I’m going to compound this problem by following up with Gavin Newsom, current Lieutenant Governor (ugh, God) of California, former San Francisco mayor and one-time wine shop co-owner.

This week’s feature took a little digging. Two of the photos were
filed under “Newsom, Gavin” in the Chronicle photo morgue, but the
others were found under the names of various other socialites. Our first
contact with Newsom as a news subject was at age 24, months before he
was set to open the PlumpJack Wine Shop.

Articles and a few thoughts below …

The first San Francisco Chronicle coverage of Gavin Newsom was in the
above Dec. 21, 1991, article, written by my friend and former Chronicle
colleague Ruthe Stein, which appeared as the centerpiece story in our
now defunct People section. While Newsom has since stated that he didn’t
grow up wealthy, for this article he was definitely lumped in with the
Gettys and Trainas of the world.

The point of the article was that children of the rich were starting their own independent businesses. The article read: “Not
content to coast on their family name, members of the next generation
are busy making names for themselves — sometimes in interesting ways.”

Below is Newsom’s first quote of thousands in the San Francisco Chronicle. The “he” in the first paragraph is Andrew Getty:

I’m guessing this was the first of many times that Newsom read one of his own quotes  and winced.

I can’t imagine a single middle class Chronicle subscriber read that
without rolling their eyes. To be fair, I doubt Newsom was thinking
about his future political career, and couldn’t have predicted our
current recession. But the “give the Gettys access to better-quality
free wine” platform is a loser in any era.

Newsom was mentioned, but rarely quoted, regularly over the next
several years. He appeared mostly in Pat Steger’s society column. In
1997 he was appointed by Willie Brown to the Board of Supervisors.

Almost all of our early Newsom photos surround the opening of PlumpJack in 1991 and 1992.

It’s notable that he’s always had a classic look, which has aged
well. A braided belt and the subtle blond highlights were the only style
choices that stand out as particular to the 1990s. (Keep in mind this
was the “Beverly Hills 90210″ era — it’s a shock we don’t have photos of
Newsom in high-waisted acid wash jeans.)

It took me a while to figure out why he looks different, when his
features, weight and style have changed so little. I finally realized
it’s his level of confidence. He looks a little deer-in-headlights in
that above photo, and in other photos he doesn’t seem to know what to do
with his hands. The Gavin Newsom in 2012 seems very comfortable in any
media situation. Even his political enemies would admit self-confidence
isn’t a problem for Newsom.

I’m looking forward to your thought in the comments, where requests
for future First Contact features are welcome. I’ve already found old
photos of Woody Allen, Jerry Brown and (thanks to a reader tip) images
of San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer as a college-aged Oakland A’s
broadcaster.

Here are links to similar articles featuring Giants broadcaster Jon Miller in 1974 and Rose Pak in 1972.

blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2013/01/24/gavin-newsom-the-early-years/#9517-8

[starlily]

I saw that earlier today. I'm still dying at the Zoolander pose - lol!

[Deleted]

I stood a few feet from him at an event when I was living in the Bay Area. I stared. A lot.