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Stuart Schuffman
Stuart Schuffman aka Broke-Ass Stuart
Stuart Schuffman aka Broke-Ass Stuart
Born
Stuart Schuffman

(1980-12-16) December 16, 1980 (age 44)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationTravel writer, television host, journalist
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, Santa Cruz (B.A. in American Studies)
Notable worksBrokeAssStuart.com; Young, Broke & Beautiful; SFGATE dive bar columnist
Website
brokeassstuart.com

Stuart Schuffman (born December 16, 1980), also known as Broke-Ass Stuart, is an American travel writer, television host, poet, performer, and journalist based in San Francisco, California. He pioneered budget-living zines and books, created IFC's travel series Young, Broke & Beautiful (2011), and runs BrokeAssStuart.com as “Editor-in-Cheap.” He writes the dive-bar column for SFGate. In 2015, he received 18,211 votes (9.56%) in his San Francisco mayoral campaign.[1]

In October 2025, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors officially declared October 17 to be "Broke-Ass Stuart Day" in San Francisco.[2]

Early life and education

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Schuffman was born in Los Angeles and grew up in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.[3] He earned his B.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Career

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Schuffman’s media journey began with zines: Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco, Volumes 1 (2004) and 2 (2005).[4] Volume 2 won the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Best Local Zine award in its 2005 Best of the Bay issue. These evolved into books published by Seven Footer Press: Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco (2007)[5] and Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in New York (2008).[6]

He also contributed to Lonely Planet travel guides and has written for SF Bay Guardian and SF Weekly. He curates BrokeAssStuart.com as “Editor-in-Cheap” and writes the Dive-Bar column for SFGate.[7][8]

From 2015 to 2021, he penned the “Broke-Ass City” column for the San Francisco Examiner.[9] His bylines have appeared in Condé Nast Traveler,[10] 7x7,[11] SF Weekly,[12] and The Bold Italic,[13] amongst others.

Publications and zines

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  • Volume 1 & 2 of the Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco zine (2004–2005)
  • Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco book (2007)
  • Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in New York City book (2008)
  • Young, Broke & Beautiful: Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply (2011), published alongside the IFC series[14]
  • Self-published zine Love Notes and Other Disasters (2014)[15]
  • Retrospective zine Slouching Towards Neverland (2022)[16][17]
  • Literary magazine The Dreams I Dreamt: Letters to San Francisco (2024)[18]
  • Forthcoming anthology The Worst of Broke-Ass Stuart (2025)[19]

Television and web series

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Schuffman co-created and hosted IFC's travel TV show Young, Broke & Beautiful (2011). While the Los Angeles Times described him as “a tireless self-promoter,”[20] and the Boston Globe said the show was “straining too hard to be different,”[21] KQED offered a more positive take: “Young, Broke & Beautiful brings Schuffman’s unique brand of adventurous budget travel to a more mainstream setting but mostly preserves his indie flair.”[22]

In 2014, he began The Kind of Late Show with Broke-Ass Stuart, a live late-night variety show uploaded to YouTube.[23] It featured guests such as Boots Riley and Kari Byron.

In 2019, he co-created and starred in the satirical web series Shaky Ground, which premiered at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. It was given positive reviews by SF Weekly [24] and the San Francisco Examiner.[25]

Mayoral campaign

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In 2015, Schuffman ran for mayor of San Francisco, finishing fourth with 9.56% of the vote. He described his bid as a protest against corporate influence and neglect of affordable living. The ethics commission later issued a fine for a technical campaign filing error, which he explained as an inadvertent mistake saying, “I just didn’t know I couldn’t do that.”[26]

References

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  1. ^ "November 3, 2015 Consolidated Municipal Election". sfelections.org. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  2. ^ Kukura, Joe (October 7, 2025). "SF Board of Supervisors Declares October 17 'Broke-Ass Stuart Day' in San Francisco". SFist. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
  3. ^ Knight, Heather (September 5, 2015). ""'Broke-Ass Stuart' challenging Mayor Lee on affordability, police accountability"". Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  4. ^ "Best of the Bay 2005 — Arts & Entertainment (Editors' Picks)". San Francisco Bay Guardian. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  5. ^ Schuffman, Stuart (2007). Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco. Seven Footer Press. ISBN 9780978817893. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  6. ^ Schuffman, Stuart (2008). Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in New York. Seven Footer Press. ISBN 9780978817800. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  7. ^ Gentile, Dan (August 24, 2021). "San Francisco's eternally young, broke and beautiful media icon tells all". SFGATE. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  8. ^ Schuffman, Stuart. "Stuart Schuffman - SFGATE". SFGATE. Archived from the original on 2025-08-05. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  9. ^ "Search results for Stuart Schuffman". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  10. ^ "Profile: Stuart Schuffman, Condé Nast Traveler". Condé Nast Traveler. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  11. ^ "Stuart Schuffman". www.7x7.com. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  12. ^ Sinkovitz, Lily (August 4, 2021). "Home is Where the Masks Are". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  13. ^ Stuart, Broke-Ass (2017-01-04). "Living in San Francisco Means . . . (Redux for 2015) — The Bold Italic — San Francisco". Medium. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  14. ^ Schuffman, Stuart (2011). Young, Broke & Beautiful: Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply. Seven Footer Press. ISBN 9781934734230.
  15. ^ Schuffman, Stuart (November 5, 2014). "Love Notes and Other Disasters". BrokeAssStuart.com. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  16. ^ Kukura, Joe (October 13, 2022). "Broke-Ass Stuart Celebrates 20 Years of Being 'Broke-Ass Stuart' In San Francisco". SFist. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  17. ^ Bastone, Nick (September 23, 2022). ""Broke-Ass Stuart" celebrates 20 years in San Francisco". Axios San Francisco. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  18. ^ Whiting, Sam. "Broke-Ass Stuart counteracts 'doom loop' with pro-S.F. literary magazine". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2025-08-27. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  19. ^ "The Worst of Broke-Ass Stuart (PRE-SALE) - PRE-SALES - Terran Empire Publishing | Publishing Company in Pollock Pines". Terran Empire Publishing. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  20. ^ Barton, Chris (July 17, 2011). "OVERRATED / UNDERRATED". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  21. ^ Gilbert, Matthew (June 24, 2011). "'Young, Broke & Beautiful'". The Boston Globe. pp. G25.
  22. ^ Korn, Mirabelle (June 23, 2011). ""Broke-Ass" Stuart Broke No More?". KQED. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  23. ^ "Broke-Ass Stuart Introduces 'Kinda Late Show'". SF Station. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  24. ^ Kane, Peter-Astrid (July 10, 2019). "Shaky Ground Skewers S.F.'s Foibles Haaaaard". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  25. ^ Katz, Leslie (May 24, 2019). "Satirical 'Shaky Ground' premieres at Roxie". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
  26. ^ Green, Emily. "Broke mayoral candidate even more broke after ethics fine". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2025-08-23. Retrieved 2025-09-05.
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