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A collection of 24 posts

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag #37

Is a house from the Gold Rush still standing in San Francisco's Western Addition?

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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.

Embarcadero

The Legend of Lois Jordan’s White Angel Jungle

Thoughts on a famous San Francisco soup kitchen.

Grab Bag

Two Years of San Francisco Story: Grab Bag #35

Celebrating two years of San Francisco Story with an Anchor Steam at Temple Bar, a little car polo, and a lot of gratitude.

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 #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.

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.

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.

Mission District

Maguire's Houses

Life on one Mission District block on February 22, 1887 at 11:35 a.m.

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag #009

A true Woody LaBounty Grab Bag: Pawn Stars, Chinatown revealed, historic real estate for sale, and the first San Francisco Story Annual released.

North Point

The Cobweb Palace

Abe Warner's cobweb-filled saloon in San Francisco's North Point neighborhood was captured on film before demolition and now we know when.

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Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #008

Mission District

A Day Trip on the Mission Road, Part 2

Sunday pleasure resorts like Woodward's Gardens made San Francisco's Mission District more family-friendly in the 1860s and 1870s.

Mission Dolores

A Day Trip on the Mission Road, Part 1

In the 1850s, San Francisco Sunday recreation meant getting across sand dunes and marsh to the Mission.

Downtown

1868: The First “Big One”

The "great San Francisco earthquake" of 1868 and the next one on the way.

Union Square

Hallowed Ground on Sutter Street

From the time of its dedication on March 23, 1866, the old Temple Emanu-El was a landmark of 19th-century San Francisco.

Crocker-Amazon

The Temple on Naples Street

Solving the mystery of the mini Greek temple that once stood in San Francisco's Crocker-Amazon neighborhood.

Ocean Beach

Seeing the End of Playland

Playland at the Beach, San Francisco's version of Coney Island, closed for good on September 4, 1972. Photographer Dennis O'Rorke artfully captured the final days.

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Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #004

Living with the fog in San Francisco, figuring out the identity of Vin the doghouse-maker, and a moving dormer window on a Haight-Ashbury apartment building.

Pacific Heights

The Orphaned Pillar

San Francisco's Pacific Heights has a 7-foot remnant from a moved house that escaped the 1906 earthquake and fire.

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Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #002