Happy Veterans' Day #7 -- November 11, 2013

Happy Veterans Day to all the veterans out there. Thank you for your service to your country.

The World War One Navy recruiting poster is from LearnNC (http://www.learnnc.org/).   

Happy Halloween #7 -- October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween to all. The photograph of actress Grace Bradley comes from http://www.lucywho.com/,  Grace Bradley was the wife of Hopalong Cassidey, William Boyd.  

Happy New Year #6 -- January 1, 2013

I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

 The cartoon is from the 01-January-1913 San Francisco Call.  The signature appears to say "Henry Murphy." 

2012 -- December 31, 2012

The Giants won the World Series.  I did not have high hopes when closer Brian Wilson had to undergo his second Tommy John surgery in April, and outfielder Melky Cabrera, their most consistent hitter, got suspended in August.  

The Occupy Movement has not been as active this year, but has carried on in many places.  The rebellion in Syria has grown.

I have enjoyed the regular monthly series. 

In January I wrote about the latest Treasures set from the National Film Preservation Foundation, Treasures From the American Film Archives, The West.  I participated in a 2010 blogathon which raised money to preserve two of the short films in the set.  I did my small part for the Internet Strike. 

In February I stopped the monthly Benny Bufano series.  I will pick it up again on an irregular basis as I photograph more of his sculptures.  We celebrated the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens.  San Francisco's Old Clam House celebrated its 150th birthday.  SMART (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit) broke ground in Petaluma.

In March I started a monthly series of railroad ads.  

In April I posted a week of articles on the Titanic to commemorate the 100th anniversary of her sinking.

In May I participated in the third annual For the Love of Film blogathon: For the Love of Hitchcock.  I did five articles on Hitchcock in movie industry annuals.  We also celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

June was an exciting month.  Matt Cain pitched a perfect game against the Houston Astros on 13-June-2012.  This was the first perfect game in the history of the Giants.   Later in the June, the Giants swept the Dodgers in a three-game series.  This was the first time they had done that.

Also in June, I revived a monthly series of photos of classic cars from the 2010 San Francisco International Auto Show.  

On 24-June-2012 I celebrated the fifth anniversary of this blog. 

In July I reached the fifth anniversary of the cat pictures. Three Giants were elected to start on the All Star team, Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Melky Cabrera.

Also in July I revived the monthly series of pulp magazine and comic book covers.  

In August, during the London Olympics, I posted a series of newspaper articles about Jim Thorpe.  I resumed the Grauman's Chinese series.  I also started a new series of ads for the Oz Film Manufacturing Company.  Caesar's Italian Restaurant closed. 

In September I moved to a new office building.  I miss hearing the sirens from Station One.  I talked to school kids about the topic of the DAR essay contest: unsung heroes of the Revolutionary War.  We celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. 

Also in September, I stopped the monthly door series.  I'll probably make it an irregular series.  I started a short series within the slapstick series to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Keystone. 

In October, the Giants won the World Series, sweeping the Detroit Tigers.  I went to the parade.  BART celebrated its 40th birthday, and we observed the 50th anniversary of the start of Vatican II.  I stopped the monthly alley series.


In November, I was happy to see President Barack Obama get reelected.  Giants catcher Buster Posey was named National League MVP.  I started a new series of ferryboat photos. I attended a festival of historic vehicles that was part of the celebrations leading up to Muni's 100th birthday. 

In December, the San Francisco Municipal Railway celebrated its 100th birthday.  Pianist and composer Dave Brubeck died.  

Among the items in the series on the Van Der Weyde family were a Scientific American obituary of Dr P. H. Van Der Weyde, an obituary of son Nicholas J Van Der Weyde, and photos by his son Henry and his grandson William.  I may reduce the frequency of this series one of these months.

Inspired by the America's Cup trials, I included some images of yachts in the WA Coulter series.  I'll do more in 2013. 

I see I did not mention the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida.  We don't know the whole story, but there is injustice there.  I did mention at least a couple of the terrible mass shootings that have taken place.  The NRA has helpfully suggested that the answer is more guns.  Teachers should be armed.  Firemen should be armed.  Everyone in a movie theater should be armed.  Violence begets violence.  The NRA used to be a good organization that taught responsibility.  It has become an agent of evil. 

The image shows Texas-born actress Florine McKinney, who appeared in many movies including Horse Feathers with the 4 Marx Brothers.  It comes from the wonderful site LucyWho (http://www.lucywho.com/).

Merry Christmas #6 -- December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas, everyone. Peace on Earth and goodwill to men (women, and children).

Rube Goldberg's "Foolish Questions No 2,448,589" comes from the 25-December-1912 San Francisco Call.

Happy Thanksgiving #6 -- November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I'm grateful for health and life, my family, and my coworkers.

 The photograph shows actresses Jean Arthur and Lillian Roth playing Pilgrims.  It comes from the wonderful site LucyWho: http://www.lucywho.com/

Happy Halloween #6 -- October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween to all. Betty Grable relaxes with a good book in this photo from http://www.lucywho.com/

Happy Columbus Day #6 -- October 12, 2012

Happy Columbus Day to those of you who still remember it.

Happy Independence Day #6 -- July 4, 2012

Happy Fourth of July to all.

Actress Anita Page, who passed away in 2008, was a big star in the late silent and early sound period.  She appeared in Our Dancing Daughters and The Broadway Melody.

Thank you for the photo to LucyWho (http://www.lucywho.com). 

Happy 100th birthday to Woody Guthrie. 

I was sorry to learn that Andy Griffith has died.  

Happy Flag Day #5 -- June 14, 2012

Actress Joan Leslie poses with a flag.  I remember her best for High Sierra and Sergeant York.

Thank you for the photo to LucyWho (http://www.lucywho.com).

Memorial Day #5 -- May 28, 2012

On Memorial Day it is fitting and proper to remember the men and women who gave their lives, who continue to give their lives, to give us the country we deserve.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. -- Joseph Campbell

I took this photo on 14-December-2007 at the National Cemetery in the Presidio. 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day #5 -- March 17, 2012

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone.

Actress Martha Vickers made a great impression as Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep.

Happy Groundhog Day #3 -- February 2, 2012

Happy Groundhog Day to all. This groundhog doesn't look too happy.

Happy New Year #5 -- January 1, 2012

I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.

 The cartoon by Rube Goldberg shows a man making lots of New Year's resolutions which he may not keep. It is from the 01-January-1912 San Francisco Call.  Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.

2011 -- December 31, 2011

2011 has been an exciting year, and it went by very quickly.  A family member has been ill, but he has remained fairly stable.  The Giants did not win the World Series this year.  They struggled all year with a lack of hitting and a terrible injury to Buster Posey.  The pitchers, starting and relieving, did very well considering the lack of run support.  The Cardinals beat Texas in the World Series.  Game six was one of the most exciting World Series games I have seen, with the lead going back and forth, even in extra innings.  Tony Larussa retired after the Series.

The Occupy movement sprang up this year and did some good, making people aware of the dangers of income disparity and the way the middle class has been under attack.  The Arab Spring movement has overthrown dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.  The people are still fighting in Syria.  Results in Yemen were inconclusive.

This is the 360th post in this blog for the year, the 1200th overall. I had an interesting year. I have enjoyed the regular monthly series. In the aviators series, I found some interesting people and newspaper articles. I started the year with a January, 1911 article about the deaths of two airmen on the last day of 1910.  It included a list of aviators who had died in that year.  In the train stations series, I took a side track to publish some images of Oakland train stations from an old PG and E magazine. I have posted several train station images from our trip to Nevada.  I have gotten more nice comments on the William Coulter series. In writing about the remarkable Van der Weyde (Vander Weyde, Van der Weyden, Vanderweyde) family, I found articles about Doctor Peter Henri, his son Henry, Henry's son painter Harry Faulkner Van der Weyden, and their possible ancestor, painter Rogier van der Weyden.

In January, I started a couple of new series, including one about stage magicians and one about comic books.  I posted more photos of the East Bay Terminal being demolished.

In February, we went to the first San Francisco History Expo at the Old Mint. I contributed one article and some cash to the second annual For the Love of Film film preservation blogathon. This year's theme was film noir. We raised about $5,697, which will be used to restore and preserve The Sound of Fury.  I wrote about the passing of Corporal Frank Buckles, the last surviving US Doughboy from World War One.

In March I wrote about a giant release of red balloons, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and the Saint Ignatius Downtown Busiiness Lunch, which marked the founding of the Admiral Daniel J Callaghan Society. I got to meet some survivors of Pearl Harbor. and Guadalcanal.

In April, at the suggestion of a fellow blogger, I started a new series on nicknames.  I wrote about the 150th anniversary of the bombardment of Fort Sumter.  I tried to start a new series on baseball cards, but it went nowhere.  We stood in the window of our office and saw President Obama drive by.  I started a short series on classic autos from last year's International Auto Show.

In May, US special forces killed Osama bin Laden.  We attended a Giant's game on Willie Mays' 80th birthday.  There was a big celebration.  We went to mass and a dinner at my old parish, Saint Monica's, celebrating its 100th anniversary.  I started a series on a group of San Francisco history posters called "Once Upon a Time."  The world did not come to an end on 21-May-2011.  I wrote about the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500.

In June I wrote about the day of the funeral of two San Francisco firefighters.

In July, Atlantis flew the last Space Shuttle mission.  On our way to Disneyland, I got to ride Angels Flight, the funicular in downtown Los Angeles that had just reopened after mechanical issues.  Our time at Disneyland went by too quickly.  We drove up I-5 all the way from Disneyland to Reno.  It was a very long day.  We stayed at Harrahs.  We had not visited Nevada for many years.  We rode on the newly extended Virginia and Truckee Railway from Eastgate to Virginia City.  We visited the Nevada State Railroad Museum and saw the restored McKeen car.  Our pastor at Good Shepherd, Father Piers Lahey, left at the end of the month.

In August I wrote about some new features in San Francisco, including the Powell Street Promenade and the parkmobiles. We finally got to visit the Porziuncola at the Shrine of Saint Francis.

In September, we observed the 10th anniversary of 09/11.  I talked to groups of schoolkids about cable cars and the War of 1812.  We moved to a different floor at work.  Jason Schmidt and Marvin Benard were added to the Giants Wall of Fame.

In October, we observed the 10th anniversary of the Afghan War.  I took my mother to a big mass at Saint Monica's, celebrating the 100th anniversary.  The world did not end on the revised date of 21-October-2011.

I was happier about the results of this year's November elections. The Bay Bridge celebrated the 75th anniversary of its opening.  I attended a fundraiser for the restoration of the only surviving Ocean Shore Railroad passenger car.  I led my first Market Street walking tour, for the community support campaign at work.  The Occupy Movement grew, but police in several places tried to shut it down.  In one particularly egregious case, an office at UC Davis pepper sprayed a line of seated, unresisting students.  I started a new series on ghost signs.  With the beginning of Advent, we began using a new revision of the Roman Missal.  People were confused.  Crab season was delayed because of a price dispute between the fishermen and the wholesalers.

In December, most of our troops came home from Iraq.  I started an irregular series of photos of Odd Fellows' Halls.

I was sad about the passing of some good people: Tommy Bermejo of Tommy's Mexican Restaurant; Canadian politician Jack Layton; Barbara Kent, perhaps the last surviving person to star in a silent movie as an adult; Smokin' Joe Frazier; philanthropist Warren Hellman; actor Harry Morgan; writer and unlikely politician Václav Havel.

I reviewed several DVDs and DVD sets, including Gaumont Treasures, M Hulot's Holiday, The Adventures of Captain Marvel, The Miracle Rider.

My cable car website (http://www.cable-car-guy.com/) turned 15 years old in November.  This means it has been in operation longer than about half the cable car lines that were ever built.

The image shows actress Ruth Hall, whose best-known part was Zeppo Marx's love interest in Monkey Business. She appeared in many B Westerns.  I comes from the wonderful site LucyWho (http://www.lucywho.com/).

Merry Christmas #5 -- December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas, everyone. Peace on Earth and goodwill to men (women, and children).

Santa heads to bed for "A Well-Earned Rest" in a Rube Goldberg cartoon from the 25-December-1911 Washington Times.

Happy Thanksgiving #5 -- November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I'm grateful for health and life, my family, and my coworkers.

 The photograph shows musical comedy star Janis Paige trying to fatten up or perhaps improve the health of a turkey. Janis Paige appeared in many movies and television shows, but is most famous for appearing in the original production of The Pajama Game on Broadway.

Happy Halloween #5 --October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween to all. The photograph of actress Nancy Carroll comes from http://www.lucywho.com/,  Nancy Carroll started acting in silent movies, became a big star in early musicals, and developed into a strong dramatic actress.  Personality conflicts with Hollywood producers shortened her career on film, but she spent the rest of her life working on the stage and in television.

Happy Columbus Day #5 -- October 12, 2011

Happy Columbus Day to those of you who still remember it.

Walter Russel Mead's blog Via Meadia has an interesting article on the origins of Columbus Day: http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/10/10/happy-columbus-day-observed/

"In American history, the fight to make a holiday on Columbus Day actually had almost nothing to do with the actual arrival of Christopher Columbus in the western hemisphere. It wasn’t about celebrating the European conquest of the Americas or the extirpation of the native tribes.

"The day was made a holiday after years of lobbying as a way of recognizing the contribution of Roman Catholics and immigrants generally to American life.  It is a holiday to celebrate diversity, not to commemorate the imperial outreach of Ferdinand and Isabella, a deeply regrettable couple who were notorious oath breakers, inquisitors and anti-Semites.


"Back in the 1930s there was a widespread feeling among both Protestant and Catholic Americans that Roman Catholics, and especially Catholics from non-English speaking countries, were not and could not be “real Americans”. Al Smith, the popular governor of New York, was the first Roman Catholic ever nominated for the presidency by a major party; suspicion of his religion made his defeat even greater than usual, as many solidly Democratic and pro-Prohibition voters in the South deserted the Catholic 'wet' to vote for the reliably dry Protestant, Herbert Hoover.

"For the KKK in those days, Catholics were one of the foreign influences that 'real' Americans had to fight, and many Protestant whites still considered Italians, Greeks and other southern European ethnic groups to be too 'swarthy' to be fully white."

Happy Admission Day #2 -- September 9, 2011

We don't hear much about Admission Day anymore. This image from the 09-September-1900 San Francisco Call shows the naval parade held for the 50th Admission Day in 1900.

I was happy to see Ryan Vogelsong get the Willie Mac award. Good choice.