San Francisco history

A collection of 80 posts

Golden Gate Park

Ponies of the Past

The horsy history of the Polo Fields in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #42

A Woody-thinking-too-much Grab Bag. You have to expect that now and then...

Mission District

Sunshine School

How the Rotary Club introduced special education into the San Francisco school district 100 years ago.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #41

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

Ingleside

Ingleside Flight

Real and would-be aviators in San Francisco's Ingleside neighborhood in the early 1910s.

Downtown

Telenews Theatre

San Francisco had an all-news theater from 1939 to 1967. Admission gave you the whole world and a quiet retreat from the same.

Paid-members only

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

City College

Save the Whales

Migrating for 20 years, the old Academy of Sciences whales may finally find a permanent home.

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.

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #38

Weird bits of San Francisco history from Fisherman's Wharf to Ocean Beach.

Chinatown

Chinatown Demolition

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

Kelly's Cove

The Naming of Kelly’s Cove

What or who inspired the name for a magical stretch of San Francisco's Ocean Beach?

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #37

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

Gold Rush

Gold Rush Prefab

"Portable houses" were one solution to San Francisco's 1849 housing crisis.

Paid-members only

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.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #34

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

Lake Merced

Lake Merced Roadhouses

San Francisco's Lake Merced was the home of roadhouse resorts from the 1850s to the early 1880s.

Pacific Heights

Victorian Comeback II

An invitation for this Saturday and the comeback of an architectural style synonymous with San Francisco.

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.