Hinckle was an editor who knew no limits

A crowd of Bay Area writers and editors who came into professional contact with Warren Hinckle — smart, exasperating, and as determined to avoid being thirsty as he was determined to afflict the comfortable — are in mourning for the editor and writer, who died last week.

In the Bay Area 45 years ago, when Hinckle’s reputation was forged, old lefties were awestruck by this bold hero/ Robin Hood/one-eyed pirate. His reputation as a rowdy but principled troublemaker was large, and he carried himself accordingly, entering every room in full sail.

In those years, as a clerk at The Chronicle, I did some writing for City magazine. Between the time I got one assignment and the deadline I was given, the magazine was bought by Francis Ford Coppola, who installed Hinckle as its editor. “He had a sharp intelligence, enthusiasm and was an unforgettable character,” Coppola emailed last week.

I turned in my story, but Hinckle hadn’t yet read it when he responded: “What the f— do I want that for?” (It was a guide to antiques stores in San Francisco, eventually published in agate, tiny type. The magazine was paying freelancers by the published page, tiny type or not. A few years later, Hinckle was one of the founders of a writers’ union that was intended to protect freelancers.)

Especially in that age of radical chic, Hinckle cut a swath through all types of San Francisco terrain. Steve Wasserman worked for Hinckle in the mid-1970s at City, and then helped with research on “The Fish Is Red,” a book about the CIA’s attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. Among the many things Wasserman learned, he said, was “why one must always drink standing up at a bar.” (Standing allows alcohol to collect at the ankles and work its way up.) As publisher of Heyday Books, Wasserman will publish a volume of selected essays and journalism by Hinckle.

Will Hearst III, chairman of the board of the Hearst Corp., was publisher of the Examiner when Hinckle wrote a column there. Hearst and Coppola at least once discussed Hinckle, who’d worked for both of them.

Coppola told Hearst that Hinckle had made the magazine interesting. “Francis likes creativity,” said Hearst. Eventually, however, Hinckle got fired. “I gave him an unlimited budget,” Coppola told Hearst, “but he went over it.”

Organizers of a dinner on Tuesday, Aug. 30, at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club in North Beach are hoping to raise money for relief efforts for last week’s earthquake in Italy. A meatball and spaghetti dinner — the ingredients donated by Italfoods — is offered for $50. A portion of the proceeds from the dishes typical of the devastated region will be donated by restaurants including A16 in San Francisco and Oakland, as well as Locanda, Pane e Vino, Pizzeria Delfina, 54 Mint and Montesacro PinseriaEnoteca, and Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa. Those wanting to help, of course, can also do so through the Italian Red Cross.

Alaska Airlines has deemed it necessary to advise its patrons: “Stopping suddenly in the middle of a busy (airport) thoroughfare runs the risk of tripping your fellow travelers or delaying someone who’s trying to make a tight layover with only minutes to spare . ... Respect your fellow passengers’ personal space and avoid climbing over legs or reaching around torsos in your quest.” The “quest,” of course, is that of people playing “Pokémon Go,” which, despite the problems it may present, is “a pretty brilliant way to spend a layover,” says the airline.

Billy Joel’s the headliner at the Appreciation Event during the big Oracle convention from Sept. 18 to 22.

Fashionista Gladys Perint Palmer, executive vice president for artistic development at the Academy of Art University, was friends with the French fashion designer Sonia Rykiel, who died last week. Palmer, a fashion illustrator, was in Paris when Robert Altman filmed “Prêt-à-Porter,” which featured Anouk Aimée as the knitwear designer.

Rykiel served as adviser to the filmmaker. She “had the most beautiful tiny feet and exquisite shoes,” recalls Palmer. “Every evening at the dailies in the private cinema off the Champs-Elysées, she would arrive, sit next to Altman, put her feet up on the seat in front of her, so we could all admire.”

“He said he was playing ‘Pokémon Go’ and asked me to let him into my backyard. But he wasn’t wearing any pants.” Woman to woman, overheard in Indianapolis by Robert Weiner