 Fireproof in SFSix fires between 1849 and 1851 destroyed large parts of rapidly growing San Francisco. Clearly fires were a significant hazard for a town filled with structures made of wood. Local attorney (and future Chief of Staff of Lincoln's armies) Henry Wager Halleck felt that public confidence needed to be bolstered by building a structure that would be impenetrable to fire or flood. A civil engineer trained at West Point military academy, Halleck was very able to guide the development of San Francisco's first fireproof building, the Montgomery Block, located at 628 Montgomery Street at Washington Street. A new style of architecture for office buildings inspired by the ..... |
• Kezar Pavilion - An Ongoing Legend  Kezar Pavilion - An Ongoing Legend
I remember one of my first visits to the legendary Kezar Pavilion. It was the early 90s, and I must've been around 8 years old. My father took my two brothers and me to the Pavilion for a Pro-Am summer basketball game. The fans were going crazy, the game was great, but amidst all of this I remember one moment quite clearly. After the game my older brother came running back to the rest of us. "I got to shake hands with Tim Hardaway!" a Golden State Warriors legend from the glorious TMC* days of the late 80s and early 90s. I was full of jealousy. But this was the kind of place Kezar was: an intimate sports venue where a kid could get close and personal with his ..... |
• San Francisco Tunnel History and Miscellany San Francisco Tunnel History and Miscellany San Francisco is a city of hills (over 50 by one San Francisco Chronicle count), and consequent-ly a city with many tunnels. There is a tunnel running from Aquatic Park under the Fort Mason bluff, built in 1914 and now abandoned, which was constructed to haul materials for building the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE). The tracks ran from South of Market along the Embarcadero into the Presidio for the State Belt Line Railroad. The tunnel was closed in the 1970s. PPIE construction began in 1912 in an area called Harbor View, known today as the Marina District. Around this time the Civic League of the Improvement Clubs of San Francisco created a Tunnel Committee to p..... |
• The Castro: One Neighborhood, Many Names  The Castro: One Neighborhood, Many NamesAmong San Francisco's rich tapestry of neighborhoods, one particularly colorful patch stands out. Today we commonly refer to it as The Castro, but over the years this chameleon of a community has had many monikers. For centuries, the gentle slopes leading up to Twin Peaks proved a fertile foraging ground for indigenous Ohlone Indians based in the diminutive village of Chutchui on the shores of a lagoon. In 1776, the de Anza expedition arrived and established the site of the first Mission de San Francisco de Asis, or Mission Dolores, as well as the Presidio. The Mission Trail, which connected the two encampments, intersected existing Ohlone hunting trails at what is now Castro and Market..... |
 Golden Gate BridgeThe Golden Gate Bridge, which was opened to pedestrian traffic on May 27, 1937, and to vehicular traffic the following day. Pictured here is the festive celebration featuring three sawyers who competed to be the first to cut through the final Marin barrier to the Golden Gate Bridge. With the logs sawed through, automobiles rolled onto the bridge. Chief Engineer Joseph P. Strauss wrote a poem for the occasion, which begins: At last the mighty task is done; Resplendent in the western sun The Bridge looms mountain high; Its titan piers grip ocean floor, Its great steel arms link shore with shore, Its towers pierce the sky. Bridging the Golden Gate Strait had been proposed as ear..... |
• Katrina Cottages and SF Earthquake Cottages  Katrina Cottages and SF Earthquake CottagesOn the Gulf Coast, an entrepreneur has manufactured "Katrina cottages" to sell to hurricane victims as a permanent alternative to FEMA trailers in which many are still housed. How do these Katrina cottages compare to the San Francisco earthquake shacks, provided as alternatives to tents a hundred years ago? The new cottages range in size from 308 to 1,175 square feet compared to earthquake shacks that were 140 to 252 square feetóbut today's cottages are meant to be permanent housing, whereas the earthquake shacks were built as temporary refugee camps. However, just as ultimately many of these shacks later served as the basis for larger structures, the Katrina cottages are designed as "Gro..... |
 Grauman's TheatersOne of Hollywood's early theater impresarios created his first theaters in San Francisco. Sid Grauman (1879-1950) is best known for Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. This lavish 1927 movie palace is famous for its celebrity handprintsóalso footprints, hoofprints, knees, and legsóthe in the cement in front of the building. Grauman was also one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Born on St. Patrick's Day to Jewish parents, he was named Sidney Patrick Grauman. "I owe my tremendous success to the Man Upstairs," Grauman frequently said, "but having a name that got the Jews and the Irish behind me was what cinched things." He was born in Indiana i..... |
• The Fairmont Hotel Celebrates 100  The Fairmont Hotel Celebrates 100She is a Grand Dame, the jewel in the crown of Nob Hill. She is the Fairmont Hotel, and she is turning 100 this month. When Silver King James Fair purchased the hillside at Mason and California Streets back in the late 1800s, his intent was to build the largest mansion in the neighborhood. However, when he died in 1894 this lot was still undeveloped. It remained so until 1902 when his daughters Tessie Fair Oelrichs and Virginia Fair commissioned the architectural firm of Reid & Reid to develop plans for a large hotel with the look of an Italian Renaissance Palace. By 1906, the Fairmont Hotel, 600 rooms, seven stories high, made of gray granite, cream marble, and terracotta stone, st..... |
• Craftsman Building on S. Van Ness Avenue  Craftsman Building on S. Van Ness AvenueAn unusual American example of Craftsman design principles applied to housing for the urban working class stands at South Van Ness Avenue and 26th Street. Built by the T.B. Potter Realty Company in 1905, it is a clinker brick and shingle building consisting of 16 attached cottages. Curiosity about this structure led Bathsehba Malsheen to delve into its history – and ultimately to gain San Francisco landmark status for the structure. The units originally contained Craftsman detail such as coffered redwood ceilings and leaded glass cabinets. And each unit has a small private courtyard in the back. The mystery is why there is no other example of this style of building in San Franciscan Ameri..... |
• San Francisco’s Le Petit Trianon  San Francisco’s Le Petit TrianonSan Francisco has several representations of European landmarks, including Marie Antoinette's Le Petit Trianon. The original building at Versailles Palace in France was built between 1763 and 1768 for Louis XV’s favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour (Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson). Unfortunately for her, she died before the estate was completed. Louis then gave it to his next favorite mistress, Madame du Barry (Jeanne Bécu). When Louis XVI became monarch, he gave the estate to his wife, Marie Antoinette, who used it as a retreat from palace life. The architecture was called the Greek style, a transition between the Rococo of the early 18th century and the Neoclassical of the later part ..... |
 The Saga of Sutro LibraryAdolph Sutro is obviously one of the towering figures of San Francisco history, and his legacy is indelibly enshrined in our landscape and several important institutions. The Sutro Library, located at San Francisco State University since 1982, houses approximately 40% (about 100,000 volumes) of the original legendary massive Sutro collection, salvaged from the fire-proofed Montgomery Block after the destruction of 1906. Stored in warehouses on Battery Street, the balance of the collection was destroyed. Sutro had initially planned to build a library at Sutro Heights, then decided to use half the acreage subsequently given to the University of California, on Mount Parnassus (now Mount Sut..... |
• Lighthouses Around San Francisco Bay  Lighthouses Around San Francisco BayOur friends from other locations think of this area as sunny California. But if you live around San Francisco Bay, you know about the fog. And there are other dangers for ships, including strong gales, rocks, and shoals. Lighthouses were built here since Gold Rush times to warn ships of the dangers. I spoke with City Guide Patricia Duff, who works for the United States Coast Guard in their Lighthouse Divestiture program. As Patricia told me, the lighthouses were operated by the U. S. Lighthouse Service until 1939, when the Coast Guard took control. By the 1970s, most lighthouses were automated, mariners were using GPS systems, and the keepers were not needed at these sites. The keepers’ qu..... |
• Vermont Street - Is it the Crookedest?  Vermont Street - Is it the Crookedest?Did you know that there are two crookedest streets in San Francisco? Yes, you know about Lombard Street--but did you know about Vermont Street on Potrero Hill? Running between 20th and 22nd Streets, Vermont is a 14.3 percent grade and has five full turns and two half turns. But other than those facts, your intrepid editor could not find much else. In various newspaper articles it is cited as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) building project. However, the WPA was created in 1935, and the San Francisco History Center digital photography collection shows a photo dated from 1928 with the existing curves. Also in the S.F. Public Library is a reference book listing all the WPA projects i..... |
• Tom Maguire: A Colorful Character in SF’s Theatrical Past  Tom Maguire: A Colorful Character in SF’s Theatrical Past
In her book The San Francisco Stage: From Gold Rush to Golden Spike, 1849-1869, Misha Berson remarks on the beginnings of theatrical life in San Francisco: Theater was only getting its start in the Atlantic states when San Francisco was founded during the Gold Rush. Thus, the far frontier city began its theatrical life as an equal among equals as far as theatrical experience was concerned. Given San Francisco’s importance in the development of the theater in the United States, it is interesting to examine the background and life of one of those who produced and directed on those early stages. Tom Maguire ran San Francisco’s first legitimate house for serious actors, the Jenny Lind. Th..... |
 Old Vedanta TempleIts roofline an architectural confection of fanciful domes and graceful galleries, the Old Vedanta Temple at the corner of Webster and Filbert Streets is a vibrant landmark of the Cow Hollow neighborhood. The spirited architecture of this building, however, has a firm spiritual foundation. The structure is said to be the first Hindu Temple in the Western Hemisphere. From 1905 until the community outgrew the space and dedicated the “New” Vedanta Temple in 1959 at Fillmore and Vallejo Streets, just a few blocks away, the Old Temple served as the home for what became the Vedanta Society of Northern California. An early pamphlet published by the Society noted that the Temple “…may be consider..... |
• San Francisco's West of Twin Peaks  San Francisco's West of Twin PeaksCongratulations to City Guide Jacquie Proctor on the publication of her book, San Francisco’s West of Twin Peaks, by Arcadia Press. This neighbor-hood, home to the city’s highest hill, Mount Davidson, and the 103-foot-high cross at its summit, also has links to the creation of San Francisco’s first railway and water systems, its tallest buildings and longest bridges, and a number of men who held the City’s highest office. First owned in 1846 by the last Mexican alcalde, Jose Noe, it was later purchased by the City’s fourth mayor, Cornelius Garrison, as well as its 21st, Adolph Sutro. Sutro had made his fortune digging a seven-mile long tunnel to mine the Comstock Lode beneath another Mount ..... |
 Who Knows About 650 Geary?While traipsing around the Tenderloin, researching another project, your editor sighted a very interesting Moorish style building at 650 Geary Steet. GuideLines put out a call to see if anyone knew the history of this building. Thank you to all who responded including Bob Bowen, Don Andreini, Peter Field, Gary Holloway, Ulla Kaprielian, and Ernie Ng. The building, San Francisco Landmark #195, is today the location of the Alcazar Theater. It was built in 1917 at a cost of $150,000 as the Islam Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The Shriners, a men’s social and charitable organization of the Freemasons, used the building until 1970. The building was designed by Scott..... |
• West side known as city's playground  West side known as city's playground(Reprinted from the Sunset Beacon, August 2014) The Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods are often seen as sleepy, quiet communities for families, immigrants, surfers and college students. People from outside the area rarely visit for entertainment unless they are attending a concert in Golden Gate Park or spending the day at the beach on a rare warm day. However, this part of the City has changed dramatically since San Francisco's early days. At one point, it was a hotbed for amusement and leisure. On the evening of July 15, the SF Public Library hosted a lecture at the Anza Branch about the area's history. Presenting a slideshow titled "The Outside Lands: A History of Ent..... |
• Where Was the Valencia Hotel?  Where Was the Valencia Hotel?Little did I know when I entered Cherin’s Appliance store on Valencia Street that I would find answers to a question I hadn’t been able to solve. Luckily, Michael Cherin waited on me. During our conversation I asked him if he know where the Valencia Hotel had been. He said, “Right here,” but then for validation he asked his grandfather, Lou Cherin, who is the family historian. Lou said no, the Valencia Hotel was across the street. Built in 1898, the Valencia Hotel was a four-story wood frame structure with a brick foundation. The Mission district was originally a marshland with creeks and shallow lakes. Landfill began in the 1860s, and in 1888 four hundred acres of solid ground had been..... |
• Eureka Benevolent Society and Henry Mauser in San Francisco  Eureka Benevolent Society and Henry Mauser in San Francisco
When the ground started shaking at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the three-story frame building at 436 O’Farrell, which housed the administrative offices of the Eureka Benevolent Society, was empty of workers, so no lives were lost at the site. However, after the fire raged throughout so much of San Francisco on that inauspicious day and the two that followed, only portions of the front and rear exterior walls remained standing. Having to start over was nothing new for the members of the Eureka, first organized in 1850 to provide financial assistance to “Israelites landing here, broken in health or destitute of means.” Founder August Helbing, only 25 years old when he convince..... |
• In Case of Fire, Look to Twin Peaks  In Case of Fire, Look to Twin PeaksAndy Rooney’s voice lives in my head. Yeah, that unmistakable cranky whine from CBS TV’s 60 Minutes seems to be always asking, “Do you ever wonder why...?” Do you ever wonder why San Francisco has two sizes of fire hydrants? You sometimes see them facing each other across an intersection, one Stan Laurel to the other’s Oliver Hardy. And my inner Andy wanted to know why. A fireman once gave me the first piece of the puzzle. Skinny Stan is a fairly standard model that in San Francisco runs the drinking water pumped from Chain of Lakes, a.k.a. the San Andreas Fault. Husky Oliver, on the other hand, spouts a high-pressure stream that is essentially driven by gravity through its own..... |
• Landmarks Versus National Historic Places  Landmarks Versus National Historic PlacesDid you know that the Mission Dolores is both a San Francisco Landmark and a California Historical Landmark, and also holds a place on the National Register of Historic Places? And do you know the difference in these designations? Many buildings on our tour routes display plaques indicating landmark status, but the process for achieving each form of recognition is different. National Historic Places and Landmarks The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) includes over 80,000 listings, of which over 2,400 are designated as National Historic Landmarks. Landmarks are designated by the Secretary of the Interior for their national significance. Historic places are nomi..... |
• Hollywood Stars Visit San Francisco's Chinatown  Hollywood Stars Visit San Francisco's ChinatownIn 1947, near the end of an unhappy five-year marriage, Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth sat in a dark theater and tensely watched a Chinese opera production. Only four years earlier, Hollywood’s “Boy Wonder” had married “The Love Goddess,” but whatever happiness they had once enjoyed was short-lived. They had come to San Francisco’s Chinatown not for the theater, but to make a film of their own, Lady from Shanghai. In the movie, Orson Welles’s character gets caught up in a murder scheme, and he confronts Rita Hayworth’s character in a pivotal scene that takes place during the Chinese opera performance. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll likely remember that the climactic last scene takes ..... |
 SF Theater Quiz
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• Castro Movie Makeover: Glimpses of the Castro from 30 Years Ago  Castro Movie Makeover: Glimpses of the Castro from 30 Years Ago
Guides for the Castro: Tales of the Village tour have been able to observe the ongoing retrofit to the Castro as its appearance from 30 years ago is brought to life. The time warp is all part of the Gus Van Sant film entitled Milk. The biopic on the life of the first openly gay man elected to office in the United States stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White. Filming began on January 22, 2008, and is slated to continue until March 15th. For those of us who walk the Castro and, through our stories, evoke the images of decades ago, these are exciting times! Construction workers have altered the Castro Theatre marquee to use the color palette from the late seventies. The..... |
• Wayside Chapel of St Francis  Wayside Chapel of St FrancisThe City’s smallest and largest churches once stood side-by-side atop Nob Hill. Perched in the shadow of Grace Cathedral, the Wayside Chapel of St. Francis opened on May 28, 1945. When the Episcopal Bishop wanted a chapel where people could come 24 hours a day to pray for their loved ones at war, the bishop’s chaplain suggested they convert a tiny construction shed on the California Street side of the still-unfinished cathedral. Built in 1932, the wooden structure had been used as the fund-raising office for the cathedral building campaign, and subsequently as Dinwiddie Construction’s on-site office. And thus in the waning years of World War II, generous donors helped to convert it i..... |
• Baroness von Schroeder, Rambling Bits of History  Baroness von Schroeder, Rambling Bits of HistoryThis article began as a search to learn more about Baroness von Schroeder, the developer of a Mission district residential area. Her trail proved to intersect with many of the movers and shakers of San Francisco at the turn of the last century. Between 1889 and 1894, Baroness Mary Ellen von Schroeder developed 27 houses on South Van Ness (then called Howard Street) between 22nd and 23rd Streets and the backing lots with houses facing Capp Street. Designed by architect Thomas J. Welsh (1845-1918), the Eastlake or American Stick style houses sold for around $5,000. Many of the existing houses have the original flash glass—small colored glass squares surrounding the main window pane. Welsh d..... |
 Crystal Palace Market “The Palace was an emporium dedicated to the palates of the cosmos. It probably had food from Saturn. It was the FAO Schwarz of the stomach.” Thus author Gus Lee describes the Crystal Palace Market of his youth in China Boy, the fictionalized account of his boyhood that was San Francisco’s choice for this fall’s “One City/One Book” shared reading experience. His description is no exaggeration. During its 36-year run, the 71,000-square-foot market imported goods from at least 37 countries to provide the most varied offerings in the country. Its 65 shops included four dairy stands – selling 36,000 eggs daily –, four poultry stands, six butcher shops, three fish markets, and seven fruit..... |
• Swensen’s Ice Cream: Looking Back at a Neighborhood  Swensen’s Ice Cream: Looking Back at a Neighborhood
In 1948 Earle Swensen opened his ice cream store on Hyde and Union Streets. Since then, more than 180 flavors have been created, Swensen's franchises have opened worldwide, and Swensen became a multimillionaire. Earle Swensen, the son of a Norwegian brick mason, started making ice cream on a Navy troop ship in the South Pacific during World War II. He only had the ingredients for vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but he said the sailors didn't care what flavor he made – they just wanted something cold in the hot climate. Back in San Francisco, he became a Deputy City Assessor. When a small store became vacant on Russian Hill, he started his empire with $750. Realizing he needed more cap..... |
• Albion Castle – San Franciscans, their Beers, and the Story of One Brewery  Albion Castle – San Franciscans, their Beers, and the Story of One BreweryNineteen-year-old John Burnell, already an experienced brewer trained in London, came to San Francisco in 1868. He bought a parcel of land with large flowing springs in an area where brothers Robert and Philip Hunter managed real estate transactions for the new city – an area known today as Hunter’s Point. Here in the 1870s Burnell established the Albion Porter & Ale Brewery. The building he erected, featuring a three-story tower reminiscent of a Norman castle from Burnell’s native England, has always been known as the Albion Castle. The Castle was recently in the news when it was auctioned off for $2.1 million. The building has walls two to three feet thick and was built with stone t..... |
• The SF Chronicle Building Restored  The SF Chronicle Building RestoredSan Francisco’s first skyscraper, whose original façade has been hidden for more than 40 years, is presently undergoing restoration. Located at 690 Market Street at the corner of Kearny and 3rd Streets, the structure was originally the Chronicle Building, but has been known in recent years by its tenant, Washington Mutual. It was the Chronicle's home until 1924 and shares the important “newspaper corner” intersection with the Hearst and former Call buildings. The building’s 1889 brick and stone façade was covered with white enamel sheets in a 1962 modernization, but at least some of the original material was preserved underneath. Interestingly, although it is historically known as the Ch..... |
 Old Mt. Sutro, Reborn!Mt. Sutro – where is that? This is a question that I often get from San Francisco natives and long-time residents. After over 20 years spent growing up high up on Sutro’s southern slope, even I didn’t know precisely until recent years, although I knew that it was somewhere in that dense forest up behind UCSF. The summit of Mt. Sutro lies in Sutro Forest, which is to the south of UCSF’s main campus at Parnassus Heights, west of Cole Valley, east of the Inner Sunset, and north of the Sutro Tower and Twin Peaks. Mt. Sutro is San Francisco’s fourth highest summit at 904 feet. Nearby Twin Peaks and Mt. Davidson are much more visible, partly due to the remnants of Sutro’s Giant Forest, w..... |
 Graffiti in San FranciscoCity Guide's North Beach by Night guides are saddened every time they lead walkers past the marvelous mural on Romolo Place off Broadway between Columbus and Kearny. Created by artist Ann Sherry in 1994, the 200-foot-long mural entitled “Gold Mountain” depicts the history of the Chinese in San Francisco. It includes such Chinatown icons as Donaldina Cameron, who rescued Chinese girls forced into prostitution, Edsel Ford Fong, the famously rude waiter at Sam Wo’s restaurant, and Betty Ong, a flight attendant on the first plane to hit the World Trade Center on 9/11, who was painted into the mural in 2003. Chinatown native Betty Ong, a flight attendant whose plane was flown into the World Tr..... |
 Jack Kerouac Alley Mural
Perhaps as you stroll along Columbus Avenue in North Beach, you pay little attention to the sixty-foot-long Jack Kerouac Alley, aptly situated between the landmark City Lights Bookstore and legendary Vesuvio Café. The passageway that served as a transportation shortcut from Chinatown to North Beach was once a refuge for back-alley drinkers and rotting garbage. Today, Jack Kerouac Alley is transformed into an inviting pedestrian-only thoroughfare complete with decorative lampposts and poetry from eastern and western cultures inscribed on the brick walkway connecting the two neighborhoods. The renovated alley was opened to the public on March 31, 2007, under the funding and direction of the Ch..... |
• Secret Places to Go in San Francisco  Secret Places to Go in San Francisco
City Guides know that San Francisco holds a plethora of delightful surprises beyond the cable cars and Fisherman’s Wharf. But could there be some FREE hidden gems you haven’t discovered yet? With map in hand and a bit of Internet route pre-planning, I recently set off to see some of San Francisco’s non-traditional sights. First stop was the City College campus on Ocean Avenue to view Diego Rivera’s Pan American Unity mural, painted in 1940 for the Golden Gate International Exposition. Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo lived in San Francisco while he created this stunning work combining the art, culture, history, politics, religion, and technology of the Americas. City Guides will offer a t..... |
• San Francisco Armory in the Mission  San Francisco Armory in the MissionCity Guides offers three different tours in the Mission. None venture remotely near the hulking ugly pseudo-Moorish Armory building at 1800 Mission Street. With clinker brick exteriors, four octagonal towers, and 200,000 square feet of space, this forbidding structure was built in 1912-14 as an arsenal for the US National Guard, replacing one in the Western Addition destroyed in 1906. Its ultimate cost, including land, was $500,000. Besides its official function as a military training and storage facility, it was used frequently for sporting events and prizefights. Said to be the largest building of architectural importance in the Mission, it has the largest unsupported enclosed volu..... |
• Ella Castelhun - A Lesser Known Woman Architect  Ella Castelhun - A Lesser Known Woman ArchitectIn 1901, the State of California adopted a law that required all practicing architects to be licensed, either demonstrating their experience in the field of architecture or passing an exam and fulfilling requirements in education and experience. Julia Morgan was the first woman to appear on the roster of licensed architects, receiving license number B344 in 1904. The second woman licensed to practice architecture in California was Ella Castelhun, who received license B358 in 1905. In contrast to Morgan, she remains little known. Unfortunately, her file is not available at the State of California Architects Board. The last record of her architectural career is her inclusion in the 1920 r..... |
• The Russian Connection in San Francisco  The Russian Connection in San FranciscoWe all know about Fort Ross in 1830, Sebastopol, the Russian River, and Russian Hill, where artifacts of buried Russian sailors have been found. Perhaps we also know that the founding of the Presidio may have been inspired by Charles III of Spain because of concern about Russian incursions from the north. A few of us know about the Russian exploration of San Francisco Bay in 1812, when the Russian-employed botanist von Chamisso first described the California poppy, took a specimen back to St. Petersburg, and enshrined it in the Russian Museum, where it still resides as the “type specimen,” the original. Most of us have heard the romanticized love story of Count Rezanov and Concepcion Arg..... |
• San Francisco Coffee Roasters  San Francisco Coffee RoastersCoffee is one of the most exported commodities in the world. It originated in Yemen and by the 1400s trading brought it to Africa, Arabia, and the Mediterranean. After achieving popularity in Europe in the 1600s, “the Wine of Araby” traveled to America, where by the end of that century it overtook beer as the favorite breakfast drink. During the Mexican-American War in 1846, it was a ration for soldiers. Traders spread coffee to other hot climate growing areas, including the East and West Indies. And just like the Gold Rush immigrants traveling to California, green coffee beans also came by ship. San Francisco became a center for coffee roasting businesses, with coffee a main part of t..... |
• San Francisco Emporium Rooftop Holiday Tradition  San Francisco Emporium Rooftop Holiday TraditionA ferris wheel, merry-go-round, train, and visit with Santa Claus and his elves – all these treats and more awaited visitors to the rooftop holiday carnival presented every Christmas by the Emporium on Market Street. Once upon a time this venerable department store also boasted an indoor ice rink and an auditorium for lectures and concerts by The Emporium Orchestra. The last Christmas carnival was held in 1995, the Emporium’s 100th anniversary year and the year the store closed. A reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle interviewed visitors and quoted an Emporium employee who boasted, “Our Santa is the best Santa in the Bay Area.” (In fact, there were two Santas, separated by screens..... |
• The San Francisco Ferry Building Clock  The San Francisco Ferry Building ClockFerry Building Guides were recently treated to a talk by Dorian Clair, a specialist in antique clocks who in 2000 began working on the Ferry Building’s famous timepiece. Today the Ferry Building still boasts its original Special #4 clock made by the Boston clock maker E. Howard in 1898. It is the largest dialed, wind-up, mechanical clock in the world. Before the ’06 quake, this top-of-the-line clock lost only two seconds a week. Although the clock is now powered by an electric motor installed by Dorian, the old weight and pendulum system is still in place and could be hooked up in a few hours. This system’s one-ton weight, which dropped 48 feet in 8 days when it powered the clock, now..... |
 Visitacion ValleyEditors Note: City Guide Cynthia Cox fell in love with Visitacion Valley after purchasing a wonderful old fixer-upper there six years ago and hearing tales of the community’s past from her octogenarian neighbor. Cynthia incorporated this information into her two-part City Guides Special Visitacion Valley May/October Neighborhood Walk. GuideLines is grateful to Cynthia for sharing the following Viz Valley historical overview: For thousands of years, today’s southern San Francisco neighborhood nestled between Bayview Heights and John McLaren Park was inhabited by Native Americans who hunted in the hills and fished in the nearby bay. But with the July 2, 1777 “discovery” and nami..... |
• Art Deco in San Francisco's Downtown  Art Deco in San Francisco's DowntownOne day in the spring of 2003, fellow City Guide Bob Bowen and I visited the lobby of the Telephone Building on New Montgomery Street. We were on a trial walk for a revived Downtown Deco Tour, which a few of us had decided to bring back to life after conducting Art Deco Marina for several years. A security guard working for SBC, which then owned the building, kindly allowed us into the inner sanctum. We stood in the wide lobby of San Francisco’s first real high-rise, with its dark marble walls, occasionally accented by shiny metal trim. A glorious multi-colored ceiling in the pattern of a Chinese quilt brightened the space, and various animal forms seemed to float overhead. Above the elev..... |
• Yerba Buena Lane: San Francisco's Newest Street  Yerba Buena Lane: San Francisco's Newest Street
Although open since 2002, the pedestrian-only thoroughfare named Yerba Buena Lane is finally coming into its own. With the recent opening of the Contemporary Jewish Museum and Jessie Square, many people are now taking notice of this lively and interesting area for the first time. Yerba Buena Lane allows pedestrians to flow from the Union Square area north of Market Street to the museums and public landscapes of Yerba Buena Gardens south of Market (SoMa), without a long detour down to Third or Fourth Street. At 550 feet long, it is designed to provide a convenient corridor for over 5 million people annually, fulfilling a vision of urban planners over 50 years in the making. Historical..... |
• Archbishop’s Mansion in San Francisco Archbishop’s Mansion in San Francisco The handsome French Second Empire structure was built in 1904 for San Francisco’s second Archbishop, Patrick Riordan (1841-1914). A major architectural asset and anchor to the Alamo Square Historic District, it was at the turn of the century an important symbol of the Catholic Church’s prominence in San Francisco’s religious, social and cultural life. The Mansion’s architect was Frank Shea, who worked on several projects for the Catholic Archdiocese, including St. Vincent de Paul on Steiner Street and Holy Cross on Eddy Street. Archbishop Patrick Riordan played an important role in San Francisco history. Arriving in 1882, he set about building churches, schools, and hospitals. The Arc..... |
• San Francisco’s Mount Davidson  San Francisco’s Mount DavidsonCentered in the crossroads of Portola Drive, O’Shaughnessy Boulevard, and Monterey Boulevard, Mount Davidson is near the geographic center of the city. You can walk up to the trailhead on Juanita Street. The walk winds up the hill, through overhangs of pine and eucalyptus trees, to the top of the mountain, at 938 feet it is the highest peak in San Francisco. As you wind around the hill towards the west, you come upon solemn and lonely trees. Once known as Blue Mountain thanks to its profusion of colorful wildflowers, the peak was part of Don Jose de Jesus Noe’s 4,443-acre San Miguel Rancho granted in 1845 by Mexican governor Pio Pico. After California gained statehood, French naval ca..... |
• Emporium Dome Celebrates 100  Emporium Dome Celebrates 100Editors’ Note: The October 2004 GuideLines featured a story on the Emporium dome when it was hoisted on a perch for a year during construction of the Westfield Centre. The following article revisits the story with some new information and permission from the Bancroft Library to publish another photo. September 2008 was the 100th birthday of the dome in the Westfield Centre. In 1896 a cooperative of merchants rented space at the Parrot Building at 835 Market Street and called their venture the Emporium. As its signature feature, the building contained a magnificent dome. The Parrot Building was designed by Albert Pissis, who also designed the James Flood Building across t..... |
• Court of Appeals and Old Main Post Office Building  Court of Appeals and Old Main Post Office BuildingPenny Bradshaw had the wonderful idea for the Class of 2008 to keep in touch on a regular basis by meeting for lunch once a month to discuss and share experiences, and Tuesday, October 7th, was scheduled for our “first date.” When I discovered that the United States Court of Appeals and Old Main Post Office were offering a docent tour that day (and had a café on site!), seven of us met on the steps of this most beautiful example of an American Renaissance / Beaux Arts classical style building and took the tour given by Ms. Ellie Foster, docent since ’97, who had previously volunteered at various museums in Washington, D.C. This building has a special meaning for me since it was here, ..... |
• The Call Building of San Francisco  The Call Building of San FranciscoSan Francisco’s Call Building shared the spotlight with the Ferry Building as the city’s most notable landmark at the turn of the twentieth century. San Francisco’s first skyscraper, it was depicted by Thomas Kinkaid in his nostalgic painting San Francisco Market Street, and it stands as a point of reference in locating other structures in historic photographs. We can credit the very public feud between two leading San Francisco families for the construction of this grand building. Claus Spreckels dominated the sugar industry from the 1860s until 1905, when the new C&H co-op broke his monopoly. After gaining control of Hawaiian cane sugar production through his ownership of the Hawaii..... |
• The Old Mint Building in San Francisco  The Old Mint Building in San FranciscoCity Guide Larry See recently joined the San Francisco Museum & Historical Society’s members-only tour of the Old Mint and shares this report: Built in 1874, at one time the Old Mint held about one-third of all of the gold in the nation. It sits on bedrock just ten feet below the surface. The foundation is four feet thick, with two-inch reinforcing iron bars interlaced all though it. The walls are a combination of very thick sandstone on the outside with granite and brick in the interior. Huge heavy iron shutters protect the windows. The ceilings are approximately 20 feet high, with graceful brass lighting hung from the ceiling. There was only one "slightly" successful known inc..... |
 Lombard StreetThe block of Lombard between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets began as a straight, cobblestone street with a 27% grade. In the 1920s the people living on this street wanted cars, but the street was too steep for vehicles. Carl Henry, insurance and drug business executive, is credited with initially proposing the idea of a curved street. Henry owned half of the lots on the 1000 block of Lombard and land all around the street. He created a lily pond and rose gardens, and had planned to give his land to the city as a park. However, when he died his widow sold the property to pay off debts. Since the Lombard Street lots were inaccessible by autos, the property values were not as high as on ne..... |
• Timothy Pflueger Gets a Street  Timothy Pflueger Gets a StreetThanks to City Guide Therese Poletti, on December 16th the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, at their last meeting of the year, passed a resolution to rename the former Chelsea Place, a short alley behind 450 Sutter, Timothy Pflueger Place, honoring the city's great architect of the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Therese brought the resolution to outgoing Board President Aaron Peskin, who reported that the resolution was passed in a unanimous vote. In fact, Supervisor Jake McGoldrick was so enthused about the proposal that he asked to be a co-sponsor. Therese, author of the recently released book Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger, became interested in Pflueger's work..... |
 Dearborn GardenJoni Mitchell’s well-known lyric “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” is a rueful sentiment about the destruction of our natural environment. But there is at least one place in San Francisco where that process was actually reversed. The Dearborn Community Garden is located on a quiet street about two blocks northeast of Dolores Park, adjacent to 43-49 Dearborn Street. It was formerly an employee parking lot for the Pepsico bottling plant situated at the southwest corner of 17th and Valencia Streets. This is also where the police station is now. As the plant's business started to wane, the parking lot stood virtually empty for many years. Neighbors started to garden there, taking..... |
 St. Dominic’s ChurchDominicans first arrived in San Francisco from Spain in 1850, and established their first priory in 1863 at Van Ness and Broadway. That same year, the Dominican Friars paid $6,000 for the city block bounded by Steiner, Bush, Pierce, and Pine Streets, anticipating the future development of what was still the largely open country of the Western Addition. picture1left300 The first St. Dominic’s Church, blessed in 1873, was a small, unpretentious wooden church at the corner of Bush and Steiner Streets. To accommodate a rapidly growing congregation, a second, much larger church was built of brick on the same site; this church opened in 1887 but was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. During the..... |
 St. Rose AcademyFrom January 1906 until June 1990, St. Rose Academy shared with St. Dominic’s Church the city block purchased in the Western Addition by the Dominican friars in 1863. picture1left300 The oldest private girls’ school in San Francisco when it closed in 1990, St. Rose was founded by the Dominican sisters of San Rafael in 1862. It soon outgrew its first convent on Brannan Street between Third and Fourth Streets, and moved into its new St. Rose Academy on Tyler Street (later renamed Golden Gate) between Steiner and Pierce in 1878. After this building was consumed by fire in 1893, the school found temporary quarters at two other sites before constructing their new academy on the land owned by ..... |
 2830 Pacific Avenue HouseThis house is one of the spectacular Georgian brick mansions atop the Gold Coast Hill. It is the westernmost of a pair of twin homes designed in 1910 by Nathaniel Blaisdell for George Lingard Payne, a manufacturer of carriage bolts. Payne shared the $42,500 residence with his wife, five children, chauffeur, cook, and four lodgers, but only for the winter seasons; they summered in Mill Valley. picture1left300 2830 Pacific boasted up-to-the-minute conveniences, like an early Otis elevator, laundry and trash chutes, and two walk-in Hermann safes. It featured a ground floor ballroom, landscaped garden terrace, and an unusual side driveway commodious enough for up to ten vehicles, leading to ..... |
• Missing Features in Golden Gate Park: Why is this Mound Here?  Missing Features in Golden Gate Park: Why is this Mound Here?
In its 140-year history, Golden Gate Park has contained many features that have moved, been reconstructed, or disappeared. picture1right300 For the 25 years he has walked in the park near his home, Eric Bennion had always wondered why there was a man-made earthen mound around the tennis courts. It is filled in with trees and shrubs with a path on top. There does not seem to be a particular architectural reason to enclose tennis courts with this landscape feature. picture2right300 I joined Eric in exploring this mystery, and we discovered that the tennis courts site was once the location for the park’s second bandstand, the New Music Stand, located where the clubhouse is now. Th..... |
• 826 Valencia: Pirates and More  826 Valencia: Pirates and MoreLast year while doing one of my walks in the Mission Dolores Neighborhood, I suddenly realized that I had been bypassing one of San Francisco's most interesting and famed addresses, 826 Valencia, now listed as a San Francisco Designated Landmark. picture1right300 This relatively modest storefront exterior masquerades as a pirate supply store, providing a commercial “front” for its real business, which must be seen to be believed. If you can get past the tantalizing random and eclectic pirate supplies, such as spyglasses, eye patches, wooden legs, a fish tank, and an infamous tub of lard, the rest of the facility is dedicated to a vibrantly unique tutoring enterprise, now in its ninth ..... |
 Our Day with Huell HowserHuell Howser, creator and host of California Gold on Public Broadcasting affiliates, contacted City Guides seeking people for two episodes of the program in 2008. This included the 75th Anniversary of Coit Tower, and a story on which street is the crookedest. picture1right300 Laura Schoeder recruited Mary Nell York and Masha Zakheim for Coit Tower. City Guide Emeritus Mary Nell led this tour for many years, and Masha, an author and educator, is the daughter of Coit Tower muralist Bernard Zakheim. Because of a GuideLines article, I became the subject matter expert on Vermont Street. Phil Noyes, the show’s producer, asked me to give some history on Lombard Street. He said, “Just read a ..... |
• Sutro’s Triumph of Light Statue  Sutro’s Triumph of Light StatueSan Francisco maps from the early 1900s show a depiction of the Statue of Liberty on a hill above 17th Street, near Clayton Street. This rise is called Mount Olympus, and at the time, was considered the geographic center of San Francisco. Adolph Sutro—silver baron, philanthropist, and one-time mayor—owned the land. And, as he did on his other property, Sutro installed a statue. picture1right300 Like Sutro’s other statuary, this was a Belgian copy of something he saw on his travels. The Triumph of Light depicted Lady Liberty victorious over Despotism. picture2right300 On Thanksgiving Day, 1887, a crowd congregated at the no-longer-existing intersection of Ashbury and 16th Streets f..... |
• Treasures at Mission High Museum  Treasures at Mission High MuseumSometimes an era or institution is forgotten when not enough resources are available to collect and memorialize artifacts or stories from the past. This is not the case for Mission High School, whose rich history has been preserved in a museum located right inside the school. The idea for the museum was initiated and eventually implemented by a group of volunteers in the Mission High School Alumni Association. This included Ted Scourkes and Walter Swan, who previously served as principal and teacher at the school, respectively, and now are active volunteers at the museum. Tucked inside a rectangular room, the museum’s artifacts include antique school furniture and equipment, photogra..... |
 Crocker’s Spite FenceIf you look up “spite fence” in the Wikipedia you will read: “A spite fence is an overly tall fence typically constructed between adjacent lots by a property owner who is annoyed with, or wishes to annoy, a neighbor or who wishes to completely obstruct the view between lots.” Just below the definition you see a picture of the top of Nob Hill before 1906 that includes one of the most famous (or shall we say infamous?) spite fences ever built. picture1right300 The story has been told a number of ways, but generally goes like this. Charles Crocker, one of the “Big Four” partners in the Central Pacific Railroad, had become a multi- millionaire and wanted to build a mansion at the to..... |
The Prelinger Library Last month while visiting the show Green Dimensions at Lower Fort Mason, Building D, I came across an exhibit in the lobby, a fascinating continuously changing video about the history and landscape changes in the Bay Area coastal regions. This display was produced by the Prelinger Library, a facility unknown to me, and to everyone else in my vicinity. I decided to investigate, and thus spent several hours one Sunday afternoon, on site. The Prelinger Library is a unique private collection located in a faceless obscure building just off Folsom Street at 8th. It is staffed by the Prelingers, a welcoming and helpful couple, who are solely responsible for the collection, retrieval, classificat..... |
 Terra Cotta in SFThere is a multitude of terra cotta building decoration in San Francisco, and much of this is thanks to the town of Lincoln, 30 miles northeast of Sacramento. The town began in 1861 as a railroad terminus on land owned by railroad pioneer Theodore Judah. Civil War veterans settled in the area to raise cattle and orchards, and coal mining began in 1873. In 1874, when a source of high quality clay was discovered nearby, several Chicago businessmen decided to open a clay products manufacturing plant. A year later Gladding McBean opened as the first producer of clay sewer pipe west of the Rockies. Sewer pipe was, and continues to be, Gladding McBean’s main product. In 1884 the company began ..... |
 Opera in North BeachGuideLines frequently receives emails from people who have read our articles on the City Guides website, and request information. This includes:
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 Bay Bridge ClimbElaine Molinari, former City Guides Director (1985 - 1990) contributes a story this month on San Francisco Bay Bridge shenanigans. No matter that it was illegal, I was too old for such things, and my husband was a cop - it was an adventure we couldn't miss. This was acute urban daring, and we were being challenged. Twenty-five years ago, when the world was not yet afraid of terrorists, a group of five friends led by an intrepid urban cowboy, planned a surreptitious nighttime exploration of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Gary, our trusted leader, had climbed the bridge before, and had encouraged us to conquer our fears and join him (Gary was a City Guide and was a founder of t..... |
• Harold G. Stoner and Adolph G. Sutro  Harold G. Stoner and Adolph G. SutroAdolph Sutro is well known as a former Mayor of San Francisco, owner of the Cliff House, and builder of the Sutro Baths. His lesser known grandson, Adolph G. Sutro, teamed up with one of San Francisco's most prolific - yet largely unknown - architects, Harold G. Stoner, to bring their own legendary landmarks to the "City by the Bay." It was Sutro's grandson who commissioned Harold G. Stoner to design the magnificent medieval mansion that once stood high above San Francisco on Mt. Sutro. Built for $250,000 in the middle of the Great Depression, it was called "La Avenzada." Two decades after being sold to ABC in 1948, the City deemed it a firetrap and required its demolition as part of th..... |
 GuideLines QuizDo you know what and where this building is? picture1left250 The building is the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, a gift to the City from Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, and home of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums. The building is based on the Palais de la Legion d’Honneur in Paris, France. This is the back of the building. The sculptural figures on the dome are based on the gods and goddesses: Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Minerva, Diana, and Ceres. The busts (thirteen in all) are based on unidentified people of their day. GuideLines heard that the sculptures are made of fiberglass and contacted Elisabeth Cornu, retired conservator, to confirm. She told us: They a..... |
 Marines Memorial TheaterIf you've recently seen a show at Marines, you probably noticed that although it's a plain auditorium, it's in pristine shape. This is due, in large part, to the current manager, Roxanne Goodfellow. She was also instrumental in redoing the Post Street Theatre some years ago, but unfortunately, that space has closed. These are both important houses in San Francisco theatre history, but Marines holds an especially pivotal place in the history of regional theatre in the United States. picture1left300 Until the 1920s, regional theatre was alive and well in San Francisco. Then the Shubert brothers, among others, came on the scene, and bought and built theatres where they brought shows f..... |
 GuideLines Quizpicture1left600 The photo is taken from the top floor of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) looking out the window facing Minna Street. You can find Waldo, the creation of author Martin Handford. SFMOMA is the first museum on the West Coast devoted to modern and contemporary art. In 1935, art patron Albert Bender donated 36 artworks, including The Flower Carrier by Diego Rivera, to begin the museum's collection. GuideLines discovered that the museum has nothing to do with Waldo. People at the business located at 170 Minna believe that the building owner put Waldo on the roof...... |
 A Note On SpeakeasiesDuring a recent Palace Hotel tour, a guest asked if there was a speakeasy in the hotel during Prohibition. Author and GuideLines contributor James R. Smith gave us some information on speakeasies: Every hotel had a speakeasy of some sorts. There were a couple of federal arrests at the Palace, so they did have one but I don't know exactly where. The Sir Frances Drake built a speakeasy between floors, although no one drank there. Liquor was sent up to the rooms. Prior to Prohibition, no respectable woman would drink in a bar. San Francisco speakeasies were usually restaurants, and that's when women first drank in public. Playland had a speakeasy as well. |
• Willis Polk – His Work is Everywhere!  Willis Polk – His Work is Everywhere!My interest in the architect Willis Polk began when I trained as a docent at Filoli, a mansion he designed in Woodside. It continued when I became a guide for the tour City Scapes and Public Places. On that tour, the number of Willis Polk designed buildings is remarkable. Of course, I had seen a house he designed on Russian Hill, but I did not realize how much he was a part of the Arts and Crafts movement. A number of individuals were involved in that movement and worked together including Joseph Worcester, A. Page Brown, Ernest Coxhead, and Willis Polk. The first houses Polk designed in San Francisco showed that he was aware of the Shingle Style popular on the East Coast, had ..... |
• Coffee Dan’s - Most Popular SF Speakeasy  Coffee Dan’s - Most Popular SF SpeakeasyNo one should forget San Francisco’s riotous Coffee Dan’s. The original club opened in 1879 as a cabaret located in the basement below Daniel Davis’ restaurant on the southeast corner of Sutter and Kearny. After the earthquake and fire of 1906, Dan moved his club to Powell and O’Farrell Streets. Like its predecessor, it opened for breakfast, serving customers long past dinner with entertainers that belied the apparent low station of the café. Posh city magazine The Wasp proclaimed Coffee Dan’s the rendezvous for San Francisco’s elite in their May 20, 1916 issue. picture1left250 Dan died in 1917 and son John Davis took over management. It was Prohibition and Coffee Dan’s was now..... |
• Pier 70 – A View from Inside  Pier 70 – A View from Inside Pier 70, which lies on the cusp of the Dogpatch Historical District, is not your typical pier - it is almost 70 acres in size. The long wharf, made of timbers that at one time extended from 20th Street into the bay, is now mostly gone. It is a place I discovered not long after moving from New York to San Francisco five years ago. I was attracted to the area because of its similarities to the waterfronts of port cities located on the east coast. It is also one of the few remaining spots in this city where brick industrial buildings continue to stand their ground - even after earthquake, fire, and the decline of industrialization. Shipbuilding and repair thrived here for over 150 ..... |
 Golden Gate Bridge TowerWhen I was 8 years old, my mother took me to the Statue of Liberty. I was so afraid looking down as we were ascending to the crown, that I would not budge after the second level. But when Cynthia Gregory asked if I would accompany her on a trip in the teeny tiny elevator to the top of the Golden Gate towers, well....I jumped at the chance. Daniel Belman, who works security on the Bridge, offered Cynthia the trip after she performed his marriage. He met us in the parking lot. We got hard hats, signed releases (and probably a criminal background check), and then Daniel took us in a small Cushman cart to the south towers along the bridge walkway. This was a navigational feat itself ar..... |
 The Octagon House2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the (McElroy) Octagon House, owned by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in California (NSCDA-CA). It is located on the corner of Gough and Union Streets in Cow Hollow. Octagonal structures have been documented as early as 300 B.C. Early North American examples include Thomas Jefferson’s private retreat Poplar Forest, built in Virginia in 1806, and the Octagon House in Washington, D.C. built in 1801. This building served as a temporary White House during the War of 1812, and formerly served as the headquarters for the American Institute of Architects. These buildings were popularized in North America and Canada in t..... |
• Carl G. Larsen: The Gentle Dane  Carl G. Larsen: The Gentle DaneSometimes called the “Gentle Dane,” Carl Gustav Larsen was born in 1844 in Odense, Denmark. He came to San Francisco in his late 20s and worked as a carpenter. In 1879, he started the popular Tivoli Café downtown on Eddy Street. When the Tivoli Café was destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906, Larsen was undaunted; he rebuilt and opened it as the new Hotel Larsen, where he lived. Carl Larsen’s first venture into Sunset District real estate was in 1888, when he bought one block at an auction. The area was still dominated by sand dunes and was largely inaccessible. Larsen continued to buy land in the Sunset, and by 1910 he owned fourteen city blocks and scattered lots that tota..... |
 The Missing Mission LakeWell…..we are all embarrassed about this. The Mission Dolores Neighborhood and Mission guides held a special workshop with Christopher Richard. He is the Associate Curator of Aquatic Biology at the Oakland Museum of California, and has researched what he thinks is the story of the San Francisco mission founded on the shores of a "now-vanished" lake. Guides have all been telling our walkers about this lake on the Mission tours. He thinks it is a misconception. In his research, Christopher has come to the conclusion that there was no lake where Mission Dolores was founded. He has arrived at the position that:
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• San Francisco’s St. Francis Wood  San Francisco’s St. Francis Wood In my current work, San Francisco's St. Francis Wood, the history is told of one of the country's most successful examples of a City Beautiful "garden suburb" through historical images and photographs. Known for 100 years as one of San Francisco's finest residential neighborhoods, early visitors were impressed with the graceful streets, parks, and landscaping designed by the renowned Olmsted Brothers and the classically-inspired public monuments designed by the prominent architect John Galen Howard of the University of California. The houses reflect many period revival styles and the talents of dozens of architects, yet the effect is homogeneity of scale, color, and style.This ..... |
• From Nickelodeons to Movie Palaces  From Nickelodeons to Movie PalacesThe following is an excerpt from Therese Poletti's book, Art Deco San Francisco, The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger.In the spring of 1920, a trio of brothers-William, Elias, and George Nasser-came to see Timothy Pflueger. They had got Pflueger's name from the Humboldt Bank, where they had obtained a loan to expand their growing neighborhood theatre on Castro Street.The Nassers owned two small theatres in the Mission district where Pflueger lived and a larger theatre on Castro in the Eureka Valley neighborhood. In 1907 their father, Abraham, an immigrant from Lebanon, turned the family market on Collingwood and Eighteenth streets into the Liberty. In its first incarnati..... |
• Pied Piper Returns to Palace  Pied Piper Returns to PalacePublic reaction was swift and vocal when the Palace Hotel in March announced plans to sell its Maxfield Parrish painting “The Pied Piper” at Christie’s auction house. Twitter feeds streamed, online petitions popped up, and the hotel switchboard began buzzing relentlessly. Even San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee called, asking hotel management to reconsider. picture1left600 How could a “mere” painting generate such passion and affection? The main reason probably is its longevity. It’s been hanging behind the bar at the hotel since 1909, with a brief interruption during Prohibition when it moved to a ballroom after the bar was closed. The painting returned to the bar a..... |
 KIDS ROCKpicture1right250 “California, here I come,” thought Jolene Babyak as her family traveled from Indiana to San Francisco in 1954. Her mother promised her an airplane ride, boat ride, and chance to live on an island. But after stepping off the Van Ness dock and onto the boat, they were lost in fog. Minutes later the jagged cliffs of Alcatraz appeared. “My mother oversold us,” laughs Jolene, who lived on the island from ages 7 to 9, and again at 15. Her father was the prison’s Associate Warden when 60 families lived on the 22-acre rock. The place was teeming with kids. It was like living in a small town with a jail on top, report alumni who gather on Alcatraz every August to celebrate the pr..... |
 Celebrating Our SurvivorsThe eight buildings here are among the few that survived the 1906 disaster and are still standing today. The Ferry Building has gone through several renovations, but now – restored and repurposed – it’s back and better than ever. Only the Call Building, once called “the handsomest tall building in the world” by architectural critic B.J.S. Cahill, is unrecognizable in its current form. In the late 1930s, the dome was removed to permit the addition of six additional floors and the entire building received an Art Deco makeover. picture1left180 picture5left180 picture6left180 |
• Modern Engineering for Earthquake Safety  Modern Engineering for Earthquake SafetyA conversation with Robert Reitherman, Executive Director of the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE), a non-profit organization devoted to the advancement of earthquake engineering research, education, and implementation. For information on CUREE and their research go to: www.curee.org. What was learned from the 1906 disaster that helped engineers make buildings safer? The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake occurred a little too early in history for major engineering lessons to be learned. Today we know that unreinforced masonry buildings -- buildings with brick walls that have ..... |
• At Last: Julia Morgan receives AIA Gold Medal  At Last: Julia Morgan receives AIA Gold Medal
The American Institute of Architects Gold Medal is considered to be the profession’s highest honor. The Gold Medal honors an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. In December 2013, the AIA Board of Directors voted to give the 2014 award to Julia Morgan. picture1right300 Recognition from AIA for her architectural achievements would come 57 years after her death. Morgan’s grandniece received the award on her behalf at the AIA 2014 National Convention and Design Exposition in Chicago on June 28. Morgan, who died in 1957, won a litany of firsts and established a new precedent for greatness in the field. A build..... |
• The Emporium: Grand Dame of Market Street  The Emporium: Grand Dame of Market StreetMany native San Franciscans have fond memories of the “Big E.” It was the place where you got your first grown-up jacket, did your back-to-school shopping, and rode the big slide on the roof or, at Christmas time, the train. Christmas also meant a visit with Santa and a photo. A trip downtown was something special that you dressed up for, and in the 1950s that meant gloves and a hat. picture1left350 The Emporium aimed for a middle-class clientele, and for over 100 years after its founding in 1897 it not only succeeded but thrived, despite near total destruction in the 1906 earthquake. The Union Square stores — Magnin, the City of Paris, and the White House — catered to the hig..... |
• Preserving Downtown Open Spaces  Preserving Downtown Open Spaces Hidden throughout downtown San Francisco are dozens of small parks, rooftop gardens, indoor atriums, plazas and other restful spaces known to city planners as POPOS – Privately Owned Public Open Spaces. SF City Guides’ City Scapes tour takes walkers into some of these spaces in the Financial District, and other tours like South of Market Architecture Stroll visit them. Although there are specific regulations regarding public access to these spaces, several building managers and property owners have recently been testing the boundaries of the law. picture2right200 First some background on POPOS. In 1961, New York City passed the nation’s first comprehensive zoning ordinances designed to ..... |
• Legendary Locals of the Outside Lands  Legendary Locals of the Outside Lands These profiles are from Legendary Locals of San Francisco’s Richmond, Sunset, and Golden Gate Park (Arcadia Publishing), by City Guide Lorri Ungaretti, who leads tours of the Sunset, Richmond, and Stern Grove. Her book includes many more remarkable people from the city’s west side. Three distinct areas — the residential Richmond and Sunset Districts, separated by Golden Gate Park — were once considered the western desert of San Francisco. At one time, much of this land was inaccessible sand dunes, and many people believed it was uninhabitable. Over time, however, visionary people moved sand, created a great park, constructed roads, laid water and sewage lines, and built h..... |
• Ferry Building Clock Springs Forward  Ferry Building Clock Springs Forward
Time Travel “If you want to join us, you need to be there at 1:15am sharp. We change the clock precisely at 2am,” said Paul. I thought, this is going to be interesting. I had just met Paul Bailey-Gates at History Days at the Old Mint. He had stopped by my table, which was piled high with copies of my book, San Francisco’s Ferry Building. While chatting, he mentioned that he goes up into the Ferry Building tower every spring to help Dorian Clair, who maintains the 1898 clock, and adjust the time for Daylight Savings Time. Paul asked if I’d like to accompany them, and I leapt at the chance. He would have to get permission for me to go, and a few days later the chief en..... |
• Frank Lloyd Wright and Nick’s Merchandise  Frank Lloyd Wright and Nick’s MerchandiseAs with a lot of research, this article began as a hunt for something else: Why is there a city street only existing enclosed in the Safeway parking lot on Market Street in San Francisco? Named Reservoir Street, it is near the San Francisco Mint on Hermann Street. I discovered that this location was once a reservoir in the mid-1860s, built as part of the plan to develop what are now the Castro and Noe Valley districts. Then I came across the gem that the area behind the Safeway and adjacent to the Mint was a proposed site for a Frank Lloyd Wright designed mortuary. picture1left350 In the 1940s, Frank Lloyd Wright was approached about designing a mortuary complex for Nicholas Dap..... |
West side known as city's playground
by James King
(Reprinted from the Sunset Beacon, August 2014)
The Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods are often seen as sleepy, quiet communities for families, immigrants, surfers and college students. People from outside the area rarely visit for entertainment unless they are attending a concert in Golden Gate Park or spending the day at the beach on a rare warm day. However, this part of the City has changed dramatically since San Francisco's early days. At one point, it was a hotbed for amusement and leisure.
On the evening of July 15, the SF Public Library hosted a lecture at the Anza Branch about the area's history. Presenting a slideshow titled "The Outside Lands: A History of Entertainment and Amusement," Rory O'Connor described an area that had a rich and varied history over the last 150 years.
O'Connor, a former newspaper reporter and current public relations executive, has been researching the history of the Sunset and Richmond districts for years.
"Every time I look deeper, there's another great story to learn; it's a lot of fun," he said.
From the 1880s until the '70s, people came from all over the region to experience what the neighborhood had to offer. People came to eat, dance, swim, ice skate, enjoy amusement park rides and games, or just spend a day at the beach. O'Connor described this part of the city as different from the rest of San Francisco because much of what happened here was "far removed from the more traditional stories of San Francisco history."
O'Connor regaled the audience with stories of the rich and famous who visited this pocket of San Francisco. Charlie Chaplin filmed a movie, heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson trained, and Olympian and actor Johnny Weissmuller swam in the western edge of the City. A stunt woman named Velma the Daredevil even strapped herself to one of the blades of the Murphy Windmill as it rotated through the air. Nonetheless, the entertainment was not just for daredevils and movie stars, it appealed to people of all walks of life.
The original attraction was the Cliff House. It was first built in 1863 when miles of sand dunes separated downtown San Francisco from the Pacific Ocean. However, in time, the city and its infrastructure expanded to make the western edge of San Francisco accessible to all. Although the Cliff House has been destroyed multiple times by fire or explosion, San Francisco is currently home to its fourth iteration of the restaurant at the same location as the original.
The lecture also covered the famous Sutro Baths. Despite the fact that only ruins remain today, it was once a thriving swimming pool complex. Built in 1896 by the wealthy businessman and former mayor Adolph Sutro, the baths were a popular place to swim, ice skate and socialize. Unfortunately, by the '60s, the complex had been abandoned and the building burned to the ground. The site is still accessible today and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the western part of the city.
At the lecture, members of the audience chimed in with their memories of bygone San Francisco landmarks. Both the Fleishhacker Pool and Playland at the Beach were popular with baby boomers and their parents. Located where the San Francisco Zoo parking lot currently sits, the Fleishhacker Pool was the largest outdoor swimming pool in the world. It opened in 1925 and closed in 1971. Playland at the Beach was once located at the opposite end of the Great Highway near Balboa Street, where condominiums and a Safeway now sit. Until it closed in 1972, it was called the "Coney Island of the West." The amusement park grew over time and was popular with families and young people for its roller coasters, games and food.
"The neighborhoods have changed so dramatically in such a short time; I've seen photos of my own block in the '50s, and the differences from then to the 80s to now are startling," O'Connor said. Even though the Fleishhacker Pool, Sutro Baths and Playland at the Beach are gone, they live on in history books and in the memories of San Franciscans of a certain age. O'Connor encourages people to learn more about the area. "It's fun to share these stories, and to help people who live here understand the area's past as a way of understanding how it came to be what it is today," he said.
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