Sydney Goldstein, Maestro of Public Conversation, Dies at 73

Sydney Goldstein, a San Francisco impresario who helped pioneer the art of showcasing conversation as a cultural offering, died Sept. 25 in Los Angeles. She was 73.

Her daughter, Kate Goldstein-Breyer, confirmed the death without specifying a cause.

Goldstein in 1980 founded City Arts & Lectures, a nonprofit organization that brought notable figures — mostly writers, critics, artists and musicians — to San Francisco for thoughtful, onstage conversations with smart interviewers.

Over nearly four decades, a well-rounded parade of accomplished celebrities were drawn to her stage, among them Stephen Sondheim, Doris Lessing, Bruce Springsteen, Nora Ephron, Maurice Sendak, Pauline Kael, John Updike, Patti Smith, Gilda Radner, Roxane Gay, M.F.K. Fisher, William F. Buckley Jr. and Joan Didion.

Her evenings of literary programming, which were offered as a series, much like subscriptions to the symphony or opera, served as a model in other cities, including Seattle, Pittsburgh and Portland, Oregon. They also helped elevate the art of literary conversation, which is vastly more widespread today than it was in the early 1980s. Goldstein kept ticket prices low so that more people could attend.

The interviews were taped before live audiences and then fashioned into hourlong broadcasts that aired on KQED in San Francisco and more than 100 other public radio stations around the country. The tapes are archived at the University of California, Berkeley.

Goldstein did not conduct the interviews herself. “She was a producer, not a performer,” her daughter said, though she did do one interview, with comedian Jonathan Winters.

Most of her interviewers were journalists, people who had a natural curiosity and the temperament to put a guest at ease. Occasionally Goldstein arranged for one well-known person to interview another, as when Anita Hill appeared in conversation with Spike Lee or Tony Kushner interviewed Susan Sontag. Many participants returned often.

“You wanted to go back because it felt right,” said Calvin Trillin, a writer for The New Yorker who appeared several times as both an interviewer and an interviewee. “She had a lot of respect for writers. It wasn’t like a big, corporate moneymaking gig; it was comfortable and family-like.”

Sydney Rachel Goldstein was born on Oct. 13, 1944, in San Francisco to Edward and Dorian (Goldman) Goldstein. Both parents were jewelers.

She graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco and started college at San Jose State but dropped out after two weeks. That she never obtained a college degree was a point of pride, her daughter said. “She liked to push against societal expectations and be a little provocative,” she said.

In 1976 Goldstein married Charles Roberts Breyer, now a senior federal judge for the Northern District of California. (His brother is Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court.) Along with her daughter and husband, she is survived by a son, Joseph Breyer; a sister, Dorian Lewis; and three grandchildren.

One of Goldstein’s first jobs was planning public events for the College of Marin, a community college north of San Francisco. Steven Barclay, who worked there with her in the late 1970s and became her associate director at City Arts, said she used to cold-call people like Lillian Hellman and Mary McCarthy to see if they would come to campus and talk about their work. After considerable cajoling and repeated offers, he said, most people usually said yes.

“She had a lot of hubris,” Barclay recalled. “But she had a talent for knowing who to invite, why they were significant at that moment, and for going after the names that would have real cultural resonance.”

Goldstein eventually left the college and parlayed her talents and her growing roster of celebrities into City Arts & Lectures. She staged her events at the Herbst Theater, booking them out of her home before moving her offices to a storefront.

In the pre-internet era, Barclay noted, writers were especially eager for ways to promote their work, and most welcomed a paid trip to San Francisco to speak to an educated, affluent audience.

After dreaming up the programs, Goldstein most loved focusing on the details, arranging two upholstered armchairs just so on the stage with a carpet and vase of flowers. “The idea of making a conversation be an evening performance is really what she was able to do,” Barclay said, much like what the 92nd Street Y does in New York.

When the Herbst Theater was closed in 2012 for repairs, she spearheaded the renovation of the Nourse Theater, a grand space in San Francisco with 1,600 seats.

Goldstein retired last year and turned over the reins of City Arts to her daughter, who is co-director with Holly Mulder-Wollan. It puts on about 50 programs a year.

Terry Gross, the host of the NPR show “Fresh Air,” said in a tribute Tuesday that Goldstein’s program series “became a model for cities around the country.” Goldstein once booked Rosemary Clooney for a concert and, knowing that Gross was a fan, arranged for Gross to interview her.

“Sydney changed my life in several ways, and so did a couple of people she introduced me to,” Gross said. She thanked her “for all she contributed to the world of arts and culture, the boost she gave writers and the thousands of interesting evenings she gave audiences.”