Yerba Buena Becomes San Francisco -- January 30, 2022

The Annals of San Francisco
by Frank Soulé, John H. Gihon, James Nisbet. 1855.

175 years ago today, on 30-January-1847, Lieutenant Washington A Bartlett, USN, who was the Alcade of the tiny settlement of Yerba Buena, proclaimed that the name of the settlement should change from Yerba Buena to San Francisco. It still uses this name today.

Cocoanuts 50,000 -- September 20, 2018

Daily Alta California, 09-July-1882

Until the early 1960s, the San Francisco Produce Market occupied the area along the waterfront north of the Ferry Building.  My first relative to come to San Francisco sold bananas there.

Fire and Earthquake Anniversary #7 -- April 18, 2014

Today is the 108th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

Shoreline Marker #2 -- March 26, 2014

Two plaques at Market and Battery Streets mark the San Francisco Bay shoreline when gold was discovered on 24-January-1848.  This one is on the northeast side of the intersection.  It was placed by the Native Sons of the Golden West in 1921. 

You can see the other plaque here:
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2014/02/shoreline-marker-february-26-2014_26.html

 I took the photo on 25-February-2014. 

2014 San Francisco History Expo -- March 2, 2014

Today we attended the fourth annual San Francisco History Expo at the Old Mint. There was a good crowd. There were some new exhibitors this year, including the Odd Fellows.  Here is a photo of people lined up, waiting to get in when the expo opened at 11am. 

The Friends of the Cable Car Museum were kind enough to share some of their space with the group restoring Ocean Shore Railroad car 1409.  Here are Paul Slavin and Scott Lindner, who is leading the restoration. 

The Friends of the Cable Car Museum were in a new position, as were many other groups.  I had a nice chat with Mike Phipps and Dom Holmgren, who will talk on Sunday about the Ocean Shore Railroad.  The Friends' web site has been down for over a week, but they are working on it.  Jose Godoy of the Friends designed the button especially for the Expo. 

The Market Street Railway/San Francisco Railway Museum had a nice table.  I had a good chat with young volunteers Dominic and Julian. 

They had an additional room open at the north end. 

Shoreline Marker -- February 26, 2014

Two plaques at Market and Battery Streets mark the San Francisco Bay shoreline when gold was discovered on 24-January-1848.  This one is on the southwest side of the intersection.  It was placed by the Native Sons of the Golden West in 1921. 

I took the photo on 20-February-2014. 

William Leidesdorff -- December 21, 2013

A plaque honoring San Francisco pioneer William Leidesdorff is, fittingly, displayed on Leidesdorff Street.  He settled in Yerba Buena in 1841 and became an important land owner  and civic promoter.  He was of mixed race, but it didn't slow his career in early San Francisco.  He died in 1848.  I took the photo on 12-August-2013. 

Bay Bridge Opening -- September 2, 2013

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom cut the ceremonial chain at the Toll Plaza and a line of old and new cars rode across the new eastern span and the old western span of the Bay Bridge.  The bridge should open to the public as soon as Caltrans finishes a final sweep.  The bridge is opening earlier than the planned 5am tomorrow. 

Happy Labor Day #6 -- September 2, 2013

On Bloody Thursday, 05-July-1934, police at Mission and Steuart Streets fired into a marching crowd of strikers, killing two of them. Their public funeral a few days later led to a general strike and an eventual victory for the waterfront workers. This is a memorial erected by the ILWU.

We should remember this Labor Day that people died to win us things like 8 hour day and the 5 day week.  

Yachts Will Spread Their White Wings -- August 29, 2013

From the 22-April-1905 San Francisco Call. William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the newspaper.  I wonder if this painting survived the 18-April-1906 Earthquake and Fire.  I doubt it because the headquarters of the Olympic Club burned in the fire.  Click on the image for a larger view. 

With the America's Cup and preliminary races coming to San Francisco Bay this summer, I thought I would post pictures of some racing yachts.  

YACHTS WILL SPREAD THEIR WHITE WINGS

SAN FRANCISCO CLUB OPENS THE SEASON TO-DAY AT SAUSALITO

 Amateur Tars to Receive Guests on Board Gayly Decorated Pleasure Craft.

Jolly Supper and Jinks for the Sailor Boys

 The yachting season of 1905 will be opened to-day. Large flags will fly over the home of the San Francisco Yacht Club at Sausalito and all the available bunting will be employed to decorate the pleasure craft lying at
anchor off the water front. Not quite all the fleet is in commission yet. but the finishing touches are being put on as rapidly as possible and in a week or two all the yachts will be ready for cruising.

During the afternoon there will be music and dancing in the main hall of  the clubhouse , and impromptu receptions on board the yachts. The reception at the clubhouse will be from 2:30 to 530 p. m. At 7 o'clock supper will be served in the boatroom and at 8:15 the yachtsmen and their friends will adjourn to the main hall for the jinks. There will be vocal and instrumental music, story telling an exhibition of Japanese self-defense and other interesting items. At 11 o'clock a light supper will 'be served. At midnight a launch will leave the club float to convey back to San Francisco such of the guests as desire to return to their homes. To-morrow morning: the opening cruise of the season will be taken, the signals being griven from the sloop Challenger, W. G. Morrow's flag ship.

The sloops Espy, Sans Souci, Merope, Amigo and Phoenicia, which for. several seasons past have sailed under the flag of the Corinthian Club, will fly the San Francisco burgee this year. Espy has been renamed Nautilus and Sans Souci will be called White Heather. It is likely that Phoenicia will sail under a new appellation.

On Saturday, the 29th inst. the Corinthian Yacht Club will hold its opening reception and dance in the afternoon at its Tiburon Quarters.  At night the opening jinks will be given.  On Sunday, the 30th, the opening cruise of the season will be held on signal from Commodore T. Jennings' sloop Speedwell.

It has been decided that the opening entertainment of the Oakland Canoe Club shall be held on Saturday, May 6, and the first cruise on Sunday, May 7.  Commodore Charles Stewart's sloop Beatrice, while waiting to go upon the ways at Alameda. had a hole punched in her by a sunken pile. A new plank has been inserted and she is as sound as ever. A schedule of events for the season is nearly ready.

A Dalton Harrison, commodore of the Encinal Yacht Club, announces that the season will be opened on Saturday. May 20 with an afternoon of races and aquatic sports, in which the Oakland Canoe Club has been invited to take part. In the evening a dance will be given in the Encinal clubhouse.

The South Coast Yacht club will open the season with a race on Saturday the 29th inst. The course, will be six miles to leeward of the anchorage off Terminal Island and back. The event is open to all yachts in, the club. The owner of the winning boat will receive a handsome cup presented by J. Pugh.  On June 17 the South Coast Yacht Club will hold one of the most ambitious yacht races ever held on the Pacific Coast. This will be a race from San Pedro around Santa Barbara Island and back, a distance of 110 miles. It is expected that two days will be required to cover the course.

YACHTS PLACED ON CANVAS FOR THE OLYMPIC CLUB

W. A. Coulter, The Call's Marine Artist, Paints a Striking Picture for Louis Rosenfeld.

W. A. Coulter, The Call's marine artist, has just completed a canvas for Louis Rosenfeld, which will interest yachtsmen and all those who love the water. Mr. Coulter, who knows every rope and spar in use on a sailing vessel, has grouped twenty of the best known yachts of the bay on a canvas eight feet by three. Some are reaching on the port tack. Others are running free, while the remainder are on the starboard tack. For a background the artist shows Sausalito, Mount Tamalpais, Alcatraz and Angel islands.

The painting is intended for presentation to the Olympic Club and will be hung in a conspicuous place in the big Post-street building.

What Cheer House -- August 27, 2013

This plaque, at Leidsdorff and Sacramento, marks the site of the What Cheer House, a famous San Francisco tea-total hotel founded by Robert Woodward, who later created Woodward's Gardens.

What Cheer House later became a generic name in 19th Century California for hotels that did not serve or sell alcohol. 

http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2013/08/ghost-sign-22-august-22-2013.html

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Famous Figure of Fiction -- August 23, 2013

The first actor to become famous for playing Sherlock Holmes was American William Gillette. Arthur Conan Doyle had killed Sherlock Holmes in 1893, but, needing money, was happy to let Gillette write a four act play, Sherlock Holmes, or The Strange Case of Miss Faulkner. In fact, Gillette had to write the play twice, because the first manuscript burned in the fire at Lucky Baldwin's Hotel and Theater at Powell and Market in San Francisco on 23-November-1898.  Gillette played Holmes more than 1300 times, and his play was the basis for later films with John Barrymore and Basil Rathbone.  The play also introduced a love interest for Holmes, Alice Faulkner. 

Gillette played Holmes in a 1916 feature film for Essanay, which is believed to be lost. The ad is from the 24-December-1916 Bisbee, Arizona Daily Review. Note that the film was "Released through the Big Four -- Vitagraph, Lubin, Selig, Essanay, Inc."  VLSE succeeded the Motion Pictures Patents Company, which had tried to establish a monopoly on film production and distribution. 

Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.

Fremont and Mission -- August 21, 2013

Right after I moved into my present office, they tore down the building next door.  They have been excavating and dewatering for a few months, but they must be done now because yesterday they poured concrete in the bottom of the hole.  We speculated on the purpose of the smaller hole in the middle.  Note the big crane on the Fremont Street side.  There is a construction stairway on the side opposite Mission.  I took the photo yesterday. 

Orpheum -- August 9, 2013

The Orpheum opened as a vaudeville house in 1926.  Later it had a vaudeville and movies policy.  Now it hosts musicals.  I took the photo on 10-May-2013. 

Firehouse #70 -- August 5, 2013

San Francisco native Ruth Asawa has placed many of her sculptures around the city.  One of the favorites with many people is the fountain in the plaza of the Hyatt Union Square Hotel.  The fountain, installed in 1973, was formed using baker's clay, with help from friends and school kids who created some of the people, animals and autos.  It was then cast in bronze.  Unfortunately, the fountain has been threatened by Apple, which wants to replace the building at Post and Stockton with an ugly Apple Store which would displace the fountain.

This section of the fountain depicts Engine 12 on Stanyan Street.  I imagine her helpers created the fire truck and the dog.  

Fly Trap 50 Years -- July 27, 2013

The Fly Trap Restaurant at Sutter and Montgomery Streets closed on 27-July-1963.  My grandfather was a partner and the chef.  The Fly Trap was a businessman's restaurant in the heart of the Financial District.  Only one woman worked there, as a cashier, and female lunch customers were rare. 

Louis Besozzi (the Big Boss) opened it in 1898 as Louis' Fashion.  His brothers had restaurants called Henry's Fashion and Charley's Fashion.  Louis' Fashion became known as the Fly Trap because of strips of fly paper needed because of horse-drawn streetcars. 

Wells Fargo closed the business so they could build a new headquarters building, which they no longer occupy. 

It's probably a good thing it closed because my grandfather would have worked till he died, like 2 of his 3 brothers.  Because of his forced retirement, I grew up spending a lot of time with him. 

Cliff House 150 -- July 17, 2013

There has been a Cliff House at Land's End in San Francisco since 1863. Today and tomorrow the Cliff House is holding events to celebrate its 150th birthday. Learn more about them on the Cliff House website (http://www.cliffhouse.com).

There is some debate over whether the present structure, shown here not too long after it opened in 1909, is the third or the fourth building. It was recently renovated and I don't care for what the Golden Gate National Recreation Area did with it. The front is almost blank. The inside is unattractive.

When I lived in the Richmond District, I used to love to walk out to the Cliff House, especially on extra-foggy days.

Coliseum Theatre -- July 10, 2013

The Coliseum Theatre on Clement Street was open from 1918 to 1989, with a couple of interruptions.  The Reid Brothers designed it.  Now there is a Walgreen's on the ground floor and condominiums upstairs.  I saw Jaws there, and a bunch of other movies. 

Propelled By Cable -- June 27, 2013

A plaque dedicated to Andrew Hallidie and the Clay Street Hill Railroad. It was moved to the lower terrace of Portsmouth Square when the Square was remodeled in 2001. I took the photo in April 2002.

Casey at the Bat 125 #2 -- June 6, 2013

June 3 was the 125th anniversary of the publication of Ernest Lawrence Thayer's poem "Casey at the Bat" in the San Francisco Examiner on 03-June-1888. The poem was published under the pseudonym Phin, so the issue of who wrote it was debated for years. The poem was constantly reprinted in newspapers. This illustrated version is from the 20-April-1902 Saint Paul Globe.  Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.