Old photo

A collection of 50 posts

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #57

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

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.

Octagon Houses

A Home for All

San Francisco's landmark octagon houses.

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 #50

Apartments in a park, baseball in a pasture, parents in a nightclub, and one goat.

Russian Hill

Living Off the Grid

San Francisco's 1840s Laguna Survey gave the city some growing pains

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #49

After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but before the fire, and one man trying to get home.

Castro

Bringing in the Light

An homage to Orphan Andy's diner in San Francisco's Castro District

Silver Terrace

Selling Silver Terrace

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

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #48

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

Paid-members only

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.

Paid-members only

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?

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #41

World Series parade, gas stations, and Great Highway history—a San Francisco grab bag.

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.