Jon Carroll

Jon Carroll (born November 6, 1943) was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1982, when he succeeded columnist Charles McCabe, to 2015, when he retired. His column appeared on the back page of the Chronicle's Datebook section (the newspaper's entertainment section) Tuesdays through Fridays. Locally, he was best known for his liberal politics and his odd, self-referential humor.

Carroll was born in Los Angeles and raised in nearby Pasadena. He attended (but did not finish) UC Berkeley, where he edited the campus humor magazine, the California Pelican. Before becoming a newspaper columnist, he worked on the editorial staff at Rolling Stone magazine (assistant editor, 1970) where he wrote "Voice Denies Nixon Drug Use," Rags magazine, Oui, a Playboy spinoff (editor, 1972); the Village Voice (West Coast editor, 1974); WomenSports magazine (Consulting editor); and New West magazine (editor, 1978, where he won a National Magazine Award in 1979).

On Friday, October 30, 2015, Carroll wrote: "Yes, it's true; I'm retiring. Thirty-three years is a long time to do anything, and 8,700 columns is, well, a lot of columns. I haven't exactly had to wait my turn... My last column is Nov. 20..."

Carroll has long lived in Oakland, with his wife, author Tracy Johnston, and a cat named Pancho, occasional subject of his columns. He writes satire, memoir, political comment and anarchic humor.

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