local history

A collection of 129 posts

Golden Gate Park

Electric Tower

Light shows in Golden Gate Park aren't a new thing.

South of Market

The Last to Know

San Francisco stories end with the last storyteller.

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #61

A gaseous San Francisco history grab bag of hats, instant photos, and one famous recipe.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve and a Pepsi, 1943

Ringing in the new year in the middle of World War II at San Francisco's Pepsi-Cola Center.

Christmas

Tetrazzini's Christmas Gift

In 1910, the world's greatest soprano gave San Francisco a present.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #60

The problems of man, more Barbary Coast history, and SFPD's first woman officer.

San Francisco Zoo

Mothers Building 100

A historic landmark waits to be restored at the San Francisco Zoo.

Ingleside

Bicycle Bandits Hit Ocean Avenue

San Francisco's Ingleside Inn was the end of the line for famed host Cornelius Stagg.

Downtown

Still Lucky

In 1898, "Lucky" Baldwin lost a big bet with one of San Francisco's most notable fires.

Mission District

Mission Miracle Mile

In 1949, Mission merchants sweet-talked San Francisco's mayor into a special status.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #58

A night owl reporter wanders across San Francisco in 1887.

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #57

Salty diner memories and Jack the Ink Thrower's reign of terror.

Lake Merced

Guns and Golf

A duel between two prominent California politicians took place near San Francisco's Lake Merced in 1859.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #55

Babylands, acid-scarred roses, and three formidable women on a San Francisco vacation.

Downtown

Lotta’s 150th

A birthday for San Francisco's most liked landmark.

Telegraph Hill

Telegraph Place

Having a crush on some long-gone San Francisco houses and wondering what happened to Good Children.

Ocean Beach

Ocean Beach Airfield

In the 1910s, the Christofferson brothers flew high in San Francisco before tragedies brought them down.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #54

The last house, the widest sidewalk, and the coldest winter San Francisco stories.

Ingleside

Cottages of Care

When San Francisco's Ingleside was a home to Homewood Terrace.

Octagon Houses

A Home for All

San Francisco's landmark octagon houses.

Parkside

The Parkside Village

Early 20th century boosting for a new neighborhood in San Francisco's Sunset District.

North Beach

The Beach at North Beach

San Francisco's North Beach may not have been where you thought it was.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #52

Signs of the times and San Francisco views here and gone.

Dogpatch

Old School Dogpatch

San Francisco's oldest public-school building is still doing its job.

North Beach

Beat Elegy

Death laid at the door of the Beat Generation in 1958 San Francisco.