• The Parallel Crashes by the Cliff House  The Parallel Crashes by the Cliff HouseOn the afternoon of Thursday, January 13, 1887, the 98-foot schooner Parallel left Hay Wharf in San Francisco bound for Astoria, Oregon. She was loaded with kerosene, a cask of dynamite caps, and 1,685 50-pound cases (about 42 tons) of black powder. Exiting the Golden Gate, the ship ran into strong headwinds. By Saturday evening, the captain still fought for open sea, tacking against strong headwinds. The Parallel, gripped by the tide, slowly approached the Cliff House. Captain Miller ordered his men into the lifeboats and abandoned the ship at 8:30 p.m. Mr. Wilkins, manager of the Cliff House, telephoned John Hyslop at the Point Lobos signal station an hour l..... |
 Land’s End in San FranciscoThe search in the History Room’s clipping disclosed numerous fascinating tidbits about the Cliff House. and the neighboring Seal Rocks, located 400 feet offshore. Over the years it has featured diverse entertainment – including tightrope walkers in the 1860s and a Sky Tram a hundred years later. As early as 1849 San Franciscans were making Sunday excursions to watch the seals cavorting on the Seal Rocks. When the opening of the Point Lobos Toll Road in 1863 made Land’s End easily accessible by carriage, the newly built Cliff House became a popular Sunday rendezvous spot. After the first tightrope walks over Niagara Falls created a national sensation, the fad soon came to San Francisco. On..... |
• Adolph Sutro in Panama (Part 2)  Adolph Sutro in Panama (Part 2)In Jack Leibman's series of articles culled from Sutro’s letters - here he takes up the tale of Sutro’s journey to San Francisco after the steamer Cherokee from New York deposits him in the port of Chagres on the Caribbean coast of Panama. As always, Adolph provides vivid descriptions of his experiences. The exotic natives of Chagres in Panama number about 1500 and seem to be a mixture of brown and black. "They are very lazy and passionately fond of smoking, especially the women. Nearly every girl has a cigar in her mouth or sticks it behind her ear like a pen. Men and women are clad from the hips down or not at all, and have no shame. Some women are dressed in fine ..... |
 Chagres TravelersPeople bound for California from New York or New Orleans generally sailed to the port of Chagres in Panama, then traveled overland 60 miles through jungle and over mountains to reach the Pacific Ocean and await a ship to transport them north. The harbor was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502. For three centuries under Spanish rule, the village was considered unhealthy and unruly. When tens of thousands of gold-seekers landed there on their way to California, the village did not have the resources—including sanitation or police—to handle all the people. The biggest dangers included robbery and insect- and water-born diseases such as Chagres or Panama fever (yellow fever), malaria,..... |
 SF's First World's FairThe United States found itself mired in recession in the first years of the 1890s. San Francisco and the state of California suffered with the rest. Unemployment was up and productivity and the markets were down. The only bright spot nationwide was the 1893 Columbian Exposition, better known as the Chicago World’s Fair. Shortly after the grand opening, San Franciscan Michael Harry de Young, vice president of the Columbian Commission, recognized an opportunity to promote his city and state. San Francisco Chronicle publisher de Young proposed an adjunct to the Chicago Fair for San Francisco, to be held in the dead of winter. On June 1, 1893, de Young announced his plans to open the Califor..... |
• PPIE: San Francisco's Finest World's Fair (Part 1)  PPIE: San Francisco's Finest World's Fair (Part 1)The building of the Panama Canal in the beginning of the twentieth century meant expanded trade and less costly passage east for local goods shipped through San Francisco. In 1904, the San Francisco Merchants’ Exchange proposed that San Francisco should host a world’s fair celebrating the opening. Our great quake and fire in 1906 put those plans on hold, but San Franciscans did not forget. In October 1909, President William Taft announced January 1, 1915, as the date for the opening of the canal. The San Francisco Merchants’ Exchange met and by March 22, 1910, incorporated the Panama Pacific International Exposition Company. Local support quickly generated six million dollars in subscript..... |
 San Francisco and the UN
June is United Nations Month. On June 26, 1945 – the UN was officially born when delegates from fifty nations gathered at San Francisco’s War Memorial Veterans Building to sign the UN Charter. US President Franklin Roosevelt had insistently pushed his fellow war leaders Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin to create an organization to replace the League of Nations. Roosevelt’s passionate advocacy was acknowledged when, at their February 1945 meeting in Yalta, the three leaders agreed to hold the UN Conference in the US. But why San Francisco? For that we can thank Secretary of State Edward Stettinius. During the Yalta Conference, he awakened in the middle of the night from a dream a..... |
• PPIE: San Francisco’s Finest World’s Fair (Part 2)  PPIE: San Francisco’s
Finest World’s Fair (Part 2)
In the May issue of GuideLines, James R. Smith, author of San Francisco’s Lost Landmarks (2005, 2007), described San Francisco’s bid to host the world’s fair celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal, and the creation of the fantasy world of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. In this issue: The fair’s glorious success. San Franciscans bought 100,000 Opening Day badges at 50 cents each, pre-paid entry to the exposition. At six o’clock on the morning of February 20, 1915, those San Franciscans tu..... |
• Thomas Baldwin Jumping in Golden Gate Park  Thomas Baldwin Jumping in Golden Gate ParkIn January 1887 in Golden Gate Park, Thomas Baldwin set a record with his jump from a hot air balloon in a parachute that he had designed himself. Captain Tom, or Professor Baldwin, as he liked to call himself, had been orphaned at a young age and joined the circus as a balloon acrobat at age 14. He spent the next 10 years performing in balloons at shows and fairs across the country, offering to parachute from a balloon at the rate of a dollar a foot. A thousand feet were eagerly bought for the successful Golden Gate Park jump. Baldwin made a major contribution to parachute design by creating a harness and by making the parachute flexible so it could be packed. He volunteered his ex..... |
• The Flowers and Fruits of Chinese New Year  The Flowers and Fruits of Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year, which falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, is observed with a sense of celebrating the earth coming back to life after winter. It is a time for starting a new year with hope and promise as symbolized with the opening of flower buds. As we approach Chinese New Year of 4702, which falls on February 9th this year, shops in the Chinese community start to display red azaleas and red gladiolas as well as the large pomelo, oranges, tangerines, and bright mandarin oranges with the leaves attached. In Southern China, peach or plum blossoms are brought into the house with the hope that the buds on the bare branch will open on New Year’s Day. Opening flowers a..... |
Presidents in San Francisco
The celebration of Presidents’ Day on February 21 calls to mind some dramatic presidential moments that occurred in San Francisco. By far the most sensational encounter of a president with the City was that of Warren G. Harding, counted by some as the worst president in American history, who died at the Palace Hotel in 1923. As scandals began to surface about the graft and corruption that was rampant in his administration, Harding and his wife, Florence, set off from Washington, D.C. on a cross-county tour to strengthen his popularity with the American people. Among his retinue was his homeopathic physician and close family friend, “Doc” Sawyer. Although Harding had exhibited signs o..... |
• San Francisco State Normal School -1903- A Personal History  San Francisco State Normal School
-1903- A Personal History Pictured here is the San Francisco State Normal School in 1903 and after the earthquake and fire of 1906. What was to become today’s San Francisco State University opened in 1899 in this rented building located on Powell between Clay and Sacramento Streets. Of the plain stone structure, which had previously served as a church and as Boys’ High School, one faculty member wrote, “It would be difficult to locate another normal school building that was as old, inconvenient, or depressing.” Following is the story of one of the first graduates of San Francisco State Normal School and her connection to two extraordinary San Franciscans. My grandma was privileged to know and le..... |
• 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 1909 Portolá Festival”Pageant Is Too Big for Eye to See or Brain to Grasp; Even With Smoked Glasses.” With this headline, the San Francisco Examiner trumpeted the wonders of the 1909 Portolá Festival. Opening on October 19 – three and a half years and one day after the 1906 quake – the five-day festival showed the world that San Francisco was back in business. Its tremendous success opened the way for the City to host the Panama Pacific International Exposition six years later. San Francisco was also eager to announce its recovery from disastrous post-quake labor dissension and the political corruption that had culminated in the trial and guilty verdict against former political boss Abe Ruef. As one lead..... |
• Golden Gate International Exposition: SF’s Final World’s Fair – Part 1  Golden Gate International Exposition: SF’s Final World’s Fair – Part 1As early as 1933, San Franciscans urged their politicians to host another world’s fair to follow up on the success of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. Mired in the “hard times” of the Great Depression, they were eager to bring increased trade to the City, and to celebrate the opening of two engineering marvels, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco and its surroundings had grown markedly by the 1930s, with the Bay Area now boasting two million residents. Lacking the open land required to host the proposed Golden Gate International Exposition, backers of the fair looked to San Francisco Bay and selected Yerba Buena Shoal, lying jus..... |
• Golden Gate International Exposition: SFs Final World’s Fair - Part II  Golden Gate International Exposition: SFs Final World’s Fair - Part II The world found itself at war on February 18, 1939, just as it had been on that very date for the opening of the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915. The United States claimed neutrality both times. Accompanied by a light breeze, the sun shone brightly on San Francisco Bay. Automobiles jammed the causeway exiting the new San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, and loaded Key System ferries steamed across the Bay that Saturday morning, all awaiting the grand opening of the Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco’s third world’s fair. San Francisco was again in celebration mode, and the fair openly supported peace with all nations. The fair charged an entrance fee of fif..... |
• Foch and Joffre Visit San Francisco  Foch and Joffre Visit San FranciscoThe east side of the Palace of the Legion of Honor is flanked by a wide gravel path, the Lincoln Park golf course, and a row of tall Monterey cypress trees. On closer inspection, two of these trees are accompanied by rocks bearing embedded bronze plaques. The plain weathered plaques are similar in format. One simply states that on December 3, 1921, Ferdinand Foch, Marechal de France, planted the tree; the other marks a similar event on April 7, 1922, by Joseph Joffre, Marechal de France. What was the background to these intriguing memorials? What brought these distinguished military commanders of the Allied forces in France in World War One to this remote, barren spot on the edge of the ..... |
• Pan Pacific International Exhibition, 1915: Prelude to the Fair  Pan Pacific International Exhibition, 1915: Prelude to the Fair One hundred years ago this month, San Francisco was in a frenzy of final preparations for the opening of the Pan Pacific International Exhibition. What the San Francisco Chronicle called “the greatest year in all the history of San Francisco” began with an aerial demonstration on New Year’s Day. Famed local aviator Lincoln Beachey performed loop-the-loops and other daring feats over the exposition grounds while attempting to break the world altitude record for bi-plane flight. (He failed, but still climbed to 11,982 feet!) picture1left600 This year, Guidelines will provide month-by-month highlights of the 1915 Exposition, as well as details of the PPIE Centennial Celebration which kic..... |
 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..... |
 Sewer WalkEven now, nearly 30 years later, it's difficult to define the Suicide Club, but certainly challenging mindless tradition was one goal. So was balancing "the hype" - providing an alternative platform for thoughts on current events. And, of course, there were adventures that conquer fears. On this particular night, we all dressed up, in tuxedos and ballgowns, with rubber waders, and gathered on Grove Street at the entrance to Davies Hall where we mingled with the "swells" who were arriving for the symphony opening night performance. We watched as the line of limos disgorged their satin- and lace-wrapped riders; waved as they dashed up the steps and into the concert hall. Then we turned t..... |
• Tanforan 1910 Aviation Meet: Rambling Bits of History  Tanforan 1910 Aviation Meet: Rambling Bits of History Horseracing was a popular pastime in the early days of San Francisco. However, most of the race tracks failed as business ventures for reasons including the difficulty of getting there (before paved roads), competition from other tracks, poor financial planning, municipal laws, and the City wanting the land. A number of wealthy San Francisco horse owners banded together in 1899 to build the Tanforan Race Track in San Bruno. Its investors wanted to get away from San Francisco laws, and rural San Bruno was mainly a large dairy farm with no municipal regulations. Adolph Spreckles, Leland Stanford, and George Hearst raced their horses here. The track did well even though it was outside the ..... |
• Burning Man: Where It All Began  Burning Man: Where It All BeganIn 1986, when Larry Harvey and Jerry James built an 8-foot tall wooden figure and set it aflame on Baker Beach, they sparked North America’s largest outdoor festival. By 1989, “the man” was 40 feet tall and the crowd over 300 strong. Encouraged by the SFPD, Harvey found a new home for the annual event, Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, where artists of all kinds and veteran “burners” make a yearly pilgrimage. There they create a magical temporary city of free expression. This year’s event (Aug 26-Sept 2, 2013) is expected to draw 68,000. ..... |
• PPIE100 events and exhibits:  PPIE100 events and exhibits: City Rising: San Francisco and the 1915 World’s Fair: California Historical Society Feb 21, 2015 to Jan 10, 2016 At CHS headquarters at 678 Mission Street, we invite you to take a journey inside the exposition to see what fairgoers would have encountered 100 years ago in the grand palaces, exotic foreign pavilions, and the amusement midway known as the Joy Zone. At the Palace of Fine Arts, we explore this city within a city. The only PPIE building saved from demolition, the Palace of Fine Arts was repaired in the 1930s and reconstructed in the 1960s. Visitors will see how the fair, a city of wonder with its own water, power, and transportation systems, and even a dedicat..... |
• PPIE100: San Francisco’s 1915 World’s Fair and the Dawn of Championship Auto Racing  PPIE100: San Francisco’s 1915 World’s Fair and the Dawn of Championship Auto Racing This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the international debut of the Miller Engine, an event that would completely revolutionize the aviation, marine and automotive industries, determine the identity and international relevance of American motor sports, and usher in a Golden Age of championship auto racing. The 1915 American Grand Prix and Vanderbilt Cup Race, held in conjunction with the Panama- Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, were seminal events in the history of auto racing. They occurred at a critical juncture in motor sports, when the automotive industry was growing at an exponential rate, and right before racecar design changed hands from big auto manuf..... |
 April 1915 at the PPIEpicture1left300 New Aviator Replaces Beachey. On the Saturday night before Easter Sunday, in front of a crowd of 70,000, the largest since opening day, Chicago aviator Art Smith made his San Francisco debut. Smith was brought in to replace Lincoln Beachey, who plunged to his death before thousands of fairgoers in March. Smith performed in a biplane, instead of the monoplane that led the Beachey tragedy. Smith performed dozens of aerial loops as he dropped several thousand tickets to Joy Zone attractions down on to the crowd. The he wowed the crowd by appearing to tumble uncontrollably and shooting off fireworks that simulated flames before righting his plan. After the performance th..... |
 PPIE Centennial This is our Fair and our State picture1right250 June 10, 1915, was an otherwise typical spring day in San Francisco when the influential journalist Delilah Beasley made the journey across the bay to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition from her home in Berkeley. Beasley, writing simultaneously for northern California's mainstream daily and largest newspaper, the Oakland Tribune, and for the black newspaper, the Oakland Sunshine, had visited the 1915World's Fair before. But this time, she went with a different purpose: to witness the Bay Area's African American citizens as they marched in a parade at the state's most spectacular event of the year. Beasley and other A..... |
• Audrey Munson: Exposition Girl  Audrey Munson: Exposition Girl
picture1right200 Audrey Munson served as the model for so many works of art for the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 (PPIE) that she became known as Exposition Girl. In fact, by some estimates she was the model for more than 75 percent of the 1500 or more sculptures displayed at the PPIE. Today, there is only one reminder of her left in San Francisco. Star Maiden by Stirling Calder stands in the courtyard of the Citigroup Center building on Sansome and Post. Audrey’s career began in 1906 at age 15 when photographer Ralph Draper approached her on a New York street. Draper recommended her to his friend, sculptor Isidor Konti, who convinced Audrey’s mother to let her pose nude for his scul..... |
• Social and Political Tensions at the PPIE  Social and Political Tensions at the PPIEOn July 9, City Guides celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition with a continuing education event at the California Historical Society. Guides enjoyed a reception and a private viewing of the PPIE exhibit City Rising. Anthea Hartig, CHS Executive Director, warmly welcomed City Guides and encouraged all of us to explore the collections of the CHS library when we’re doing research on San Francisco, Bay Area, and California history. picture1right180 The second part of the evening featured an insightful lecture by Abigail Markwyn, author of Empress San Francisco: The Pacific Rim, the Great West, and California at the Panama-Pacific Internat..... |
• PPIE 100: Historic Road Trip arrives in San Francisco  PPIE 100:
Historic Road Trip arrives in San Francisco
In celebration of the Centennial of the Panama Pacific International Exposition and a century of road travel across America, the Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) joined automotive and 1915 World’s Fair enthusiasts at the Palace of Fine Arts on August 19 to welcome the arrival of a historic 1915 Ford Model T, after it traveled more than 3,500 miles, recreating the amazing cross country journey from Detroit to San Francisco that young Edsel Ford took one hundred years ago. In the summer of 1915, 21-year-old Edsel Ford, the only son of Henry Ford, and six boyhood friends were among the thousands of Americans who took to the road to visit the west and the world’s fair exposition in San Fran..... |
Thomas Baldwin Jumping in Golden Gate Park
by Susan Saperstein
In January 1887 in Golden Gate Park, Thomas Baldwin set a record with his jump from a hot air balloon in a parachute that he had designed himself. Captain Tom, or Professor Baldwin, as he liked to call himself, had been orphaned at a young age and joined the circus as a balloon acrobat at age 14. He spent the next 10 years performing in balloons at shows and fairs across the country, offering to parachute from a balloon at the rate of a dollar a foot. A thousand feet were eagerly bought for the successful Golden Gate Park jump.
Baldwin made a major contribution to parachute design by creating a harness and by making the parachute flexible so it could be packed. He volunteered his expertise during World War I, when as Chief of Army Balloon Inspection and Production he supervised the building of all spherical, dirigible and kite balloons. Baldwin built the first government airship in 1908 (U.S. Signal Corps Dirigible Number One) and became known as "The Father of the American Dirigible." He died in 1923 at the age of 68 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with military honors.
Information from Hill Aerospace Museum and Pioneers of American Aviation homepages. Photos reprinted with permission, San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.
“Jump from balloon at San Francisco"
"My first jump from balloon”
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