historical photos

A collection of 34 posts

Silver Terrace

Selling Silver Terrace

Photographer Eadweard Muybridge had a job to do in southeast San Francisco in 1869.

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag #48

Woody goes artifact-hunting in San Francisco's past.

Stern Grove

Trocadero Rebirth

San Francisco's last roadhouse is resurrected in Stern Grove.

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag #47

Portsmouth Square in the 1850s, old photos found, and memorializing motherhood.

Western Addition

Moved by Faith

The 1850s San Francisco church that kept moving west.

Panhandle

Wheelmen’s Panhandle Palace

The 1890s rise and quick fall of the Velodrome bicycling track next to Golden Gate Park.

Sunnyside

Mudslide on Foerster

Rainy Februaries bring thoughts of a dark day on San Francisco's Mount Davidson.

Yerba Buena Island

Torpedo Point

An explosive point of interest tucked under the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Rincon Hill

The Unkindest Cut

The 1860s Rincon Hill project that put the cut in San Francisco's East Cut neighborhood.

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag #44

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #43

Emporium roof rides, the Human Jukebox, and Dianne Feinstein: a classic San Francisco Grab Bag, right?

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag #40

Exploding cannons, secret water tanks, and funeral pick-pockets from ye olde San Francisco.

Cliff House

Stuck in Zero Gear

I used to walk to work daily, mixing in the 38-Geary bus now and then. But job responsibilities have had me mostly behind the wheel this year and I’m trying to find a way to get back walking. Driving is the American norm, of course. The most recent AAA

1906 earthquake

Captive Airship

How did George R. Lawrence take his amazing aerial panoramas after the 1906 earthquake?

Mission District

Spirit of Victory

A San Francisco Spanish-American War monument with some muddy messaging.

Chinatown

Chinatown Demolition

Plague fears led to chopping down parts of San Francisco's Chinatown in 1903.

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag #36

Animalia of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, a Richmond District dairy, Willie Mays, and more of my favorite things.

City College

Finding Founder’s Rock

The short-lived fame of a boulder at City College of San Francisco.

Embarcadero

The Legend of Lois Jordan’s White Angel Jungle

Thoughts on a famous San Francisco soup kitchen.

Russian Hill

A Park is Born

The 75-year journey to turn a Russian Hill reservoir into a San Francisco park.

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag #34

I come to praise San Francisco, not bury it, plus news on old stuff getting older.

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.

Mission Bay

A Walk on Long Bridge

When San Francisco's Mission Bay was a bay.

Christmas

The 12 Firehouses of Christmas

From 1948–1950, San Francisco fire stations went crazy with an annual Christmas decoration contest. Here are Woody's top dozen.