Woody LaBounty

Stephen "Woody LaBounty" is a San Francisco history writer, speaker, and general gadabout. San Francisco Story is his side project, done for his own enjoyment of researching and sharing local history.

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #33

Woody's 100th San Francisco Story heads to Eureka Valley.

1906 earthquake

Last Night in Old San Francisco

Things to do on the eve of the 1906 earthquake.

St. Mary's Park

The Bell of St. Mary's (Park)

One San Francisco neighborhood has a design best appreciated from above.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #032

Love, eggs, and baseball in San Francisco.

Haight-Ashbury

Haight Baseball

When America's pastime had a place next to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Mission District

Mixed-Use Mission Street

What changed and what didn't on one San Francisco block after the 1906 earthquake and fire.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #031

Batteries at the Bridge, the bay bombers, and banning the long hairs.

California Street

Runaway Cable Car

The worst accident in San Francisco cable car history.

Richmond District

Bank/Bar

Why Apollo, not Dionysus, adorns the front of a Richmond District bar in San Francisco.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #030

San Francisco newspaper memories from a debris box.

Sunset District

Tornado House

When a twister hit San Francisco's Sunset District.

Miraloma Park

Lost in Miraloma Park

A 1947 prankster makes a very public comment on a San Francisco neighborhood West of Twin Peaks.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #029

History bon bons just for Friends of Woody

Mission Bay

A Walk on Long Bridge

When San Francisco's Mission Bay was a bay.

Pacific Heights

One Million Bricks

Was San Francisco's massive Calvary Presbyterian church moved more than 20 blocks in 1901? Yes and no.

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #028

San Francisco History Guy goes all stream-of-consciousness on the Broadway tunnel, buried ships, and petting parties in alleys.

Columbia Heights

Finding Columbia Heights

In 1893, a San Francisco neighborhood was born in the countryside. It took just a few decades to shoo away the cows and get piped-in water.

Clip Show

Best of San Francisco Story 2023

The top ten San Francisco Story posts for 2023 according to the guy who wrote them and who is, of course, incredibly biased.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #027

Christmas

Outdoor Christmas Tree Association

In the late 1920s, a San Francisco man crusaded to save big trees from being sacrificed for the holidays.

Paid-members only

San Francisco Story Annual

San Francisco Story Annual 2023

Union Square

Street Cameraman

One man, one million photos taken on the streets of San Francisco.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #026

Football, beer, and chariots... Is this the most manly Grab Bag ever? Plus, it's Woody's birthday.

Weird History

1896 UFO

127 years ago, a mysterious phantom in the night sky had the San Francisco Bay Area buzzing.

San Francisco Zoo

Storyland

From 1959 to the 1990s, kids could step into fairy tales at the San Francisco Zoo.