• Carleton Watkins - Photographing Early California  Carleton Watkins - Photographing Early CaliforniaCarleton Watkins was an early photographer who captured the Western landscapes, new cities, and industries. He photographed burgeoning San Francisco, land baron estates, Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Pacific coast, and mining and rail operations. His photographs of Yosemite, seen by few people at the time, encouraged Abraham Lincoln to sign a bill which was the forerunner for the National Park System. Considered one of the best landscape photographers, he made thousands of majestic images. However, Watkins had financial problems, and many of his photographs (including many in the San Francisco History Center collection) are attributed to other people who acquire..... |
• San Francisco's Old Clam House on the Lost Waterfront  San Francisco's Old Clam House on the Lost WaterfrontThe Old Clam House, opened in 1861, is one of the oldest restaurants in San Francisco. Located on the corner of Bayshore Boulevard and Oakdale Avenue, it has also been called the Clam House and Oakdale Bar. When it opened, the restaurant was on the waterfront, sitting on Islais Creek which flowed into San Francisco Bay, and surrounded by a shallow marshy estuary. At that time, the restaurant was connected to downtown San Francisco by two wood-planked roads. Within ten years the marsh was filled in, more than 100 buildings were constructed on piles over the creek, and the area became known as New Butchertown. After the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, even more debris was dumped into the marsh. ..... |
 Mark Twain at the BancroftThe Mark Twain Papers and Project at UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library is converting the works of Mark Twain (a.k.a. Samuel Langhorne Clemens) into HTML files, making Twain’s work available electronically and for web searches. The Twain Project is translating all of Mark Twain's surviving private papers and published works, including notebooks, letters, unpublished manuscripts, drafts, deleted chapters of published books, essays, newspaper columns, editorials, and speeches. There are approximately 27,000 letters, 150 books from his library (many with notes written in the margins), clippings, scrapbooks, interviews, bills, checks, and photographs. The Project is converting not only items in the ..... |
 The Irish in San FranciscoI am the granddaughter of four Irish immigrants. They all came to the United States in the early 1900s, part of the wave of Irish immigrants who came to the United States because of the political unrest in Ireland during her struggle for independence from England. My mother’s parents first settled in Oakland and later in San Francisco, and my father’s parents lived in Los Angeles. They all came to California by way of the transcontinental railroad. They were sponsored by relatives who were already living here, and when they were able, they themselves sponsored other relatives from Ireland. I grew up in San Francisco very conscious of my Irish roots. We would celebrate St. Patrick’s..... |
 Honest Harry MeiggsOf the many dreamers, promoters, and con men who built Gold Rush San Francisco, perhaps none was as hard-working and well-liked as Henry “Honest Harry” Meiggs. Born in 1811 in New York, by his mid-twenties Harry had managed, through his own energy and abilities, to purchase a lumber mill in present-day Brooklyn. Caught by a business downturn in the 1840s, Meiggs joined the throngs heading West. But before departing, the resourceful lumberman used his remaining funds to purchase a sailing vessel and load it up with lumber to ship around the Horn. Arriving in San Francisco in January 1849, he fetched a fabulous price for his cargo. With his profits he built a sawmill and a small wharf..... |
• Talbot Green and His Green Street  Talbot Green and His Green Street Running from the Embarcadero to the Presidio, Green Street was named in William Eddy’s 1849 survey of San Francisco. But just who is the Green of Green Street? Like many of San Francisco’s earliest settlers, he was not who he seemed. Talbot Green came west in the spring of 1841 in the first immigrant party to travel over the Sierras to California. The arduous journey of this group of forty-eight settlers who set off together from Independence, Missouri, was chronicled in the diary kept by their secretary, John Bidwell. After surviving the grueling journey, Green traveled to Monterey and joined Thomas Larkin as a junior partner, conducting business on Larkin’s behalf in Los Angeles and ..... |
• Goats on Goat Island in San Francisco  Goats on Goat Island in San FranciscoGoat Island – now called Yerba Buena Island – is located halfway between San Francisco and Oakland. This piece of land has had a number of names, most referring to its inhabitants. José de Canizares, believed to be the first European to sail through the Golden Gate, named it Isla del Carmen in 1776. Apparently that name never stuck, because the locals referred to it as Sea Bird, Wood, and Yerba Buena (for the mint plant growing all over the island). When people started settling in California after the Gold Rush, there were a large number of goats brought to the island by squatters – hence the name Goat Island. The first California legislature, when passing an act establishing t..... |
• Diana Statue in Sutro Heights Park  Diana Statue in Sutro Heights ParkDiana the Huntress…Artemis. If you have been on our Lands End: Sutro Highs and Lows tour, you have seen this statue at Sutro Heights, the park located in the northwest corner of San Francisco near Ocean Beach. It was once the home of Adolph Sutro, Comstock Silver Baron, San Francisco mayor, land developer, and builder of Sutro Baths and the second, most grandiose Cliff House. Sutro loved statues, and at one time had 200 surrounding the grounds and niches on the cliffs above Ocean Beach. Only two original statues remain--the Stag and Diana the Huntress. In addition, gracing the entrance gates are copies of the original Lions that were replaced after they deteriorated. Sutro collected thes..... |
 San Francisco's BirthdayJune 29, 1776—just a few days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence a continent away in Philadelphia—is celebrated as the official birthday of San Francisco. It was on this date that the Spaniards celebrated their first mass under a temporary shelter at the site of the future Mission Dolores. In March of that year, a Spanish scouting party under Captain Juan Bautista de Anza had determined the sites for a future presidio overlooking the entrance to the bay and, in a sheltered valley to the southeast, a mission. They named the small stream and lake where the mission was to be built Arroyo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Lake of our Lady of Sorrows). De Anza’s advance..... |
• 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..... |
• 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..... |
• A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 7  A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 7In earlier episodes Isabelle traveled by steam ship from Bangor to New York City, freshened up (accidentally) at the exclusive Astor Hotel, and met her future husband while getting stuck in her hooped skirt exiting a coach (apparently one of the reasons this fashion never really took hold.) From that point on she refers to Mr. Lusk as My Knight. In the last episode she described her traveling companions on the steam ship to Panama; and she continues in this part. You can read Parts 1 - 6 on the City Guides website. In 1856 more women and children were traveling to California. One man stated during this period, "The greatest annoyance on board the ship is the number of babies and ch..... |
• A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 2  A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 2This article is a continuation of Isabelle Walton Lusk’s memoir. She journeyed from Bangor, Maine to the California Sierras. In Part 1, Isabelle described herself and her trip preparations. Part 2 - Isabelle Meets her Chaperon and Travels to New York So with my two trunks, my [several] hundred dollars, [I traveled over the Maine countryside] on the 23rd of November 1856 for California. I took a steamer to Belfast where I met my chaperon, Mrs. Lucille Barnard.(1) She with her two bo..... |
 John W. GearyThe following are excerpts from Rand Richards’ newest book, Mud, Blood and Gold - San Francisco in 1849. All throughout the year 1849, thousands of people poured into San Francisco “like bees to a swarming.” One of those was John White Geary. Geary, for whom Geary Boulevard and Street are named, spent only three years in San Francisco but he looms large in the City’s early history. picture1left300 Geary was born in western Pennsylvania in 1819. His penniless father died when he was 14, forcing young Geary to leave school to work to support his widowed mother. He put himself through college and studied law and civil engineering. During the Mexican War, he served as a ..... |
• Stockton and Kearny, Ending at Mason  Stockton and Kearny, Ending at MasonThere is no such intersection. Stockton and Kearny, like their street names, pursued parallel courses - but eventually collided and ended at odds. Both streets start at Market Street, but Kearny ends at Telegraph Hill, while Stockton, befitting its namesake, runs to the Embarcadero. Unlike their streets, the two men did intersect rather uncomfortably and ignominiously during the taking of California, and later at the sensational court-martial of John Frémont in Washington. Commodore Robert Stockton arrived in Monterey to replace the retiring Commodore Sloat, who had just occupied Monterey. This was a crucial moment in California history in July 1846, shortly after the declaration of war ..... |
• A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 1  A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 1Isabelle Walton Lusk wrote her memoir in the 1920s, when she was in her 90's, about traveling to California. Her great-grandson, Eric Bennion, heard from his mother that Isabelle was looking for her lost father who disappeared somewhere near Nicaragua on the journey back to Bangor, Maine. Other relatives intimated that she was actually not looking for Dad, but for treasure he supposedly buried in California. More likely, thinks Eric, she just did not want to be the daughter who was assigned caretaker of her mother - and took her opportunity to escape Maine. Her memoir will be published in GuideLines in installments. Part 1 - Isabelle Prepares to Travel On October 16..... |
• A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 3  A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 3In the first two parts of Isabelle Walton's memoir, she traveled from Maine to New York City, and was separated from her chaperon on the way to their hotel. She mistakenly went to the luxury hotel Astor House, while Lucille Barnard was at another hotel. Part 3 - Isabelle dines at the Astor House, meets her future husband I sat a moment and said do you think it is possible they took Mrs. Barnard to another hotel? That might be, or my coach took me to another hotel. I asked quickly what hotel is this? "Why, this is the Astor House," [said Mrs. Ashley]. [I thought], I suppose their coach will take me to the [steamer]. [She also said], "The city is full of ..... |
• A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 4  A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 4Twenty-one year old Isabelle Walton traveled from Maine to California, and wrote this memoir in her 90s. In Parts 1-3, Isabelle wrote about preparing for her trip, meeting her traveling companion, dining in New York, and meeting Mr. Salmon Lusk. You can see the earlier parts on the City Guides website. Part 4 - Boarding the Ship People were falling over Mrs. Barnard's carpetbag and jostling us right and left trying to find their staterooms [on the steam ship]. I found ours at last. We were so far in, what is called the aft.(1) Light filtered through from a small porthole in the side of the ship. |
• A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 5  A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 5In her 90s, Isabelle Lusk wrote about her journey from Maine to California. At the time of her writing, she had lost her sight and much of her hearing. As she wrote her memoir on a manual typewriter, using onionskin paper, she often did not hear the carriage return bell. She typed over many of her remembrances and parts of this memoir are lost. In Parts 1-4, Isabelle described her background and trip preparations, meeting her traveling companion, and finding her way to the steamship. You can find the earlier installments on the City Guides website. Part 5 - Off to Panama When the dinner bell rang, Henry was sound asleep but little Charley was wakeful. I told [Mrs. Barnard..... |
• A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 6  A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 6Over the last year GuideLines has been publishing the memoir of Isabelle Walton Lusk. She traveled from Maine to California when she was 21, and wrote this memoir in her 90s. You can read the previous installments on the City Guides website where she describes meeting her chaperon Mrs. Lucille Barnard, arriving at the wrong hotel in New York, and being rescued from a hooped skirt mishap by the man who would become her husband (she refers to him as My Knight.) In this part, Isabelle has boarded the steamship that will take her to the Panama Railroad. Part 6 - Life on the Ship It seemed we were overloaded. Our steamer was only allowed nine hundred passengers a..... |
• A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 8  A Trip to California in 1856 - Part 8This article is a continuation of Isabelle Walton Lusk's memoir about traveling from Maine to California. Even though steam ships did not depend on wind, weather was still important for smooth traveling. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote of his trip on a steamer. "I was in the forward part of the vessel where all the great waves struck and broke with voices of thunder. In the next room to mine, a man died. I was afraid that they might throw me overboard instead of him in the night."(1) Part 8 - Coal Stop in Kingston, JamaicaWe soon [traveled] down to where it was beginning to be hot, and poor Mrs. Bernard almost suffocated w..... |
 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 Birthday
June 29, 1776—just a few days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence a continent away in Philadelphia—is celebrated as the official birthday of San Francisco. It was on this date that the Spaniards celebrated their first mass under a temporary shelter at the site of the future Mission Dolores.
In March of that year, a Spanish scouting party under Captain Juan Bautista de Anza had determined the sites for a future presidio overlooking the entrance to the bay and, in a sheltered valley to the southeast, a mission. They named the small stream and lake where the mission was to be built Arroyo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Lake of our Lady of Sorrows).
De Anza’s advance group was followed three months later by an expedition of soldiers, Mexican settlers, and two Franciscan priests led by Lt. Don José Joaquin Moraga. Having traveled north from Sonora in Mexico (from a settlement near present-day Tucson, Arizona), the group arrived on June 27 and set up camp on the lake. Two days later Father Francisco Palóu dedicated this site of the original Mission San Francisco de Asis by saying mass at the open air chapel that Moraga had ordered built.
The mission was dedicated to the patron saint of the Franciscan order, but has always been popularly known as Mission Dolores after the name of the lake. The first mission church, dedicated on October 8, 1776, was located where the Roxie Theater stands today at Camp and Albion Streets near 16th Street—very near the geographical center of today’s City and County of San Francisco. In 1782 Palóu laid the foundation stone of the present Mission Dolores when it was rebuilt on more solid ground. Completed in 1791, it is the oldest building in San Francisco.
Historic photo reprinted with permission, SF History Center, SF Public Library.
Mission Dolores has for many years hosted commemorations of San Francisco’s birthday,
as in this photo from June 29, 1959.
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