Stuart Schuffman

Stuart Schuffman (born December 16, 1980), better known as Broke-Ass Stuart, is an American travel writer and blogger known for his guidebook Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco, of which he released two versions in zine form and one in book form. His travel documentary television series Young, Broke & Beautiful debuted in June 2011 on IFC.

His zines won "Best Local Zine" in the San Francisco Bay Guardian's yearly "Best of the Bay" issue. He contributed to Lonely Planet's books Western Europe and Europe on a Shoestring, for which he wrote the Ireland chapters. Schuffman writes mostly in first-person narratives about his travel. In 2008, he released Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in New York City. Schuffman is the "Editor in Cheap" for his eponymous culture website and a food, drink, and night life culture contributor to the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

In 2014, Schuffman began the "Kind of Late Show with Broke-Ass Stuart," a late-night variety show recorded live and uploaded to youtube. The same year, Schuffman released a new zine, "Love Notes and Other Disasters."

Biography
Stuart Schuffman was born into a secular Jewish family in Los Angeles. At the age of two, he moved to El Paso and then moved to San Diego at age seven. He went to University City High School. In 2003 he graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz with a Bachelors in American Studies. He has a younger brother.

Literary career
Schuffman writes of his introduction to travel writing:

"'I was working in a candy store in San Francisco when all this madness started. One day, an older kid from my neighborhood in San Diego came into the store with his fiancée (they’re married now). It had been years since I’d seen him, so it was really nice to hear what was going on in his life. After we chatted for a bit, and they bought some candy (I slang candy like a motherfucker), the fiancée handed me her card and told me that I should give them a shout next time I was in San Diego. After they left, I looked at her card. It said she was a travel writer. I thought to myself, 'Travel writer? I wanna be a travel writer,' and it was then that I decided to be one.'"

Upon graduating from UCSC, he moved to San Francisco and compiled his experience on living a frugal lifestyle in the city into the first edition of Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco. The first edition garnered him the "Best Local Zine" award in the SF Bay Guardian' s Best of the Bay issue. "Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco v.2," came out in July 2005.

In 2006, Schuffman contributed to the Lonely Planet books Western Europe and Europe on a Shoestring. He traveled through Ireland for two months and composed narratives and tips geared towards the young and thrifty travelers of Europe.

In November 2007, the third version of Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco was released, this time with Falls Media Publishing Company.

Broke-ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in New York City was released on December 7, 2008, also by Falls Media.

In 2014, Schuffman released a 60-page zine entitled "Love Notes and Other Disasters," which compiled some of his more well known pieces such as "Living in SF Means," "Why You Should Fuck a Writer," and other unreleased prose and poetry.

Television series
On June 24, 2011, the travel documentary television series Young Broke & Beautiful, created and hosted by Schuffman, debuted on IFC. The show intended to explore lesser-known and "alternative" travel experiences; the opening series included visits to New Orleans, Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis, Boston, and San Diego. Critical response included negative comments from Chris Barton of the Los Angeles Times, who called Schuffman "a tireless self-promoter" with "tastes [that] aren't as edgy as he thinks," and Boston Globe critic Matthew Gilbert, who felt the show was "straining too hard to be different".