San Francisco history

Tidbits and vignettes on San Francisco's often-fascinating history, from the Gold Rush to the Summer of Love and everything in between.

By SFGate

SFGate
San Francisco
A brief history of San Francisco's absurd, extravagant and sometimes stupid skyscraper war
SFGate - Katie Dowd
The view, circa 1900, over San Francisco's business district: the Call Building at center, Palace Hotel, Chronicle and Examiner at left, Temple Emanu-El at right The first salvo in the San Francisco skyscraper
May 3
SFGate
San Francisco
She admitted to stalking and murdering an SF tycoon. A jury acquitted her.
SFGate - Greg Keraghosian
The so-called "Panther Nurse," Frieda Weltz. Frieda Wilmelmina Weltz was equal parts incriminating and coy as she told authorities she intentionally shot and killed her wealthy former employer in the of
April 24
SFGate
Debunking Berkeley's greatest bit of liquor lore
SFGate - Katie Dowd
The Claremont Resort and Spa, the sprawling white hotel in the Berkeley hills that has been a Bay Area landmark since 1915. It’s perhaps the most famous bit of liquor lore in Berkeley history: the student
April 19
SFGate
San Francisco
San Francisco's bubonic plague epidemic has eerie parallels to modern day
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A group of men stand in the street below paper lanterns outside the Yuen Fat & Co. premises in Chinatown, San Francisco in 1901. It was only in retrospect that San Franciscans remembered they started dead
April 9
SFGate
The remarkable life of 'Alice Smith,' once San Francisco's most famous sex worker
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A few of San Francisco's infamous "Ladies of the Barbary Coast," sex workers who lived and worked in the city's many brothels. This photo was taken in the 1890s. No one now living knows who Alice Smith
March 31
SFGate
'The Laughing Killer': The Bay Area serial killer who wasn't
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Ralph Jerome von Braun Selz jokes around with photographers at the San Mateo County jail. A few hours after Ralph Jerome von Braun Selz led police to the shallow grave of a dead woman, he staged a photoshoot
March 25
SFGate
San Francisco Bay Area
How a quarantine saved everyone on Yerba Buena Island during the 1918 flu pandemic
SFGate - Douglas Zimmerman
United States Naval Training Station on Yerba Buena Island in the early 1900's. For those wondering how successful San Francisco's attempt to combat the spread of the coronavirus will be, a lesson from
March 18
SFGate
The bloody reign of the King of Irish Hill, San Francisco's destroyed neighborhood
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A view of Irish Hill in the 1890s. Little cottages are in the foreground, behind them is the Union Iron Works. Everyone in Irish Hill knew Frank McManus. The husky, six-foot-tall proprietor of the Union
March 16
SFGate
The 'Muni Love Bus:' How SF's safest driver didn't notice a porn being filmed behind him
SFGate - Greg Keraghosian
Muni bus driver George Martensen pictured in 1963, the same year he was named Man of the Month for his safe driving. Muni driver George Martensen was decorated for his attention to safety throughout his
March 9
SFGate
San Francisco once pioneered America's cruelest legislation: Ugly laws
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A San Francisco police officer watches pedestrians pass by in 1904. In 1867, San Francisco went on crusade — not against murder, rape or assault — but against the scourge of public ugliness. Even those
March 3
SFGate
San Francisco
The tin box that solved the mystery of San Francisco's Octagon House
SFGate - Katie Dowd
The McElroy Octagon House in San Francisco's Cow Hollow neighborhood is one of two octagon houses in the city — and just a handful of survivors from around the nation. Although PG&E bought it in 1924,
February 29
SFGate
https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/article/sf-foundling-asylum-history-orphanges-california-15068898.php
SFGate
February 23
SFGate
San Francisco
The San Francisco tour guide deception that made Chinatown's many myths
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A Chinese butcher and grocery store, San Francisco, California, circa 1885. If you’ve ever heard the urban legend that a series of tunnels run underneath San Francisco’s Chinatown, you have a group of
January 30
SFGate
The bizarre tale of Bertha Boronda, the Bay Area's Lorena Bobbitt
SFGate - Katie Dowd
The mugshot of Bertha Boronda after she was convicted in 1908 of "mayhem" against her husband Frank. She was sentenced to 5 years in San Quentin, which then still had a women's prison. The screams came
January 15
SFGate
San Francisco
What San Francisco looked like 100 years ago
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Market Street from Powell, looking down toward San Francisco's Ferry Building in 1920. The Bay Area started off 1920 with a bang — of the terrifying variety. At around 4 p.m. on New Year's Day, 5,000 of
January 2
SFGate
One eccentric socialite is to blame for California's wild pig problem
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A California feral wild boar, the direct result of George Gordon Moore's hunting escapades in the 1920s. California's wild pigs are massive and ubiquitous. They can grow into 200-pound ripping machines.
Dec 26, 2019
SFGate
San Francisco's forgotten Thanksgiving Day Balloon Parade
SFGate - Douglas Zimmerman
150,000 people attended the San Francisco's holiday balloon parade on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, 1952. Did you know almost 60 years ago, San Francisco held a giant balloon parade that rivaled the grand
Nov 27, 2019
SFGate
Princess Margaret
'The Crown' shows Princess Margaret's US trip. Here's what her real visit to SF was like.
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon ride a cable car in San Francisco during their American tour in Nov. 1965. In season three of the Netflix series "The Crown," a fictionalized retelling of Queen Elizabeth
Nov 18, 2019
SFGate
San Francisco
Inside the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in San Francisco
SFGate - Tessa McLean
Located at 140 Maiden Lane, the V.C. Morris Gift Shop was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948. The structure now houses Italian menswear brand ISAIA. Unless Chanel and Hermès are regular stops on your
Nov 14, 2019
SFGate
San Francisco
We peeked inside San Francisco's incredible Old Mint building
SFGate - Katie Dowd
In 1874, San Francisco’s new Mint building opened to great fanfare. After the demands of the Gold Rush quickly rendered the city’s first mint unsuitable, the U.S. government purchased a lot at the corner
Nov 13, 2019
SFGate
San Francisco
Striking photos show the Bay Bridge under construction
SFGate - Katie Dowd
The Bay Bridge towers under construction in Oct. 1934. The Golden Gate Bridge can also be seen under construction. Although it's the lesser-loved bridge in the Bay Area, the Bay Bridge has its photogenic
Nov 11, 2019
SFGate
San Francisco
A San Francisco archive has added hundreds of amazing photos. See the best ones here.
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A parade goes through the Grand Army of the Republic Arch on Market Street in San Francisco, 1886. For San Francisco history lovers, there are few places more amazing on the internet than OpenSFHistory.
Nov 5, 2019
SFGate
San Francisco
The San Francisco butler who lured a homeless man to his death to keep his job
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A photograph of San Francisco butler Frank Miller from "Celebrated Criminal Cases of America," a 1910 crime book written by Thomas Samuel Duke. Editor's note: This is the fourth in a four-part series infamous
Oct 30, 2019
SFGate
We toured inside the Presidio's stunning former military homes
SFGate - Katie Dowd
If you've ever been to San Francisco's Presidio, you've no doubt seen the beautiful homes nestled within: rich brick mansions, bright white duplexes, veranda-fronted bachelors' quarters. The homes are
Oct 23, 2019
SFGate
Mobsters, Marilyn and Sinatra: The legendary Cal Neva Lodge is preparing for guests again
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Guests at a swimming pool at the Cal Neva Lodge on the shore of Lake Tahoe in 1959. The resort and casino straddles the border between Nevada and California. It was owned by Frank Sinatra from 1960 to
Oct 20, 2019
SFGate
'Death at Haight orgy': The 1969 San Francisco murder trial with many witnesses but no convictions
SFGate - Greg Keraghosian
A screenshot from the Dec. 28, 1969 San Francisco Chronicle after the death of Ann Jiminez in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. Four young men were charged with raping and murdering her, but none were convicted.
Oct 18, 2019
SFGate
The most haunted places - and best ghost stories - in the Bay Area
SFGate - Katie Dowd
The Presidio Officer's Club, which underwent a historic renovation a few years ago, is just one of many spots in the Presidio that supposedly houses ghosts. A lady in a black dress has reportedly been
Oct 15, 2019
SFGate
'I've felt better ever since I killed': The bizarre thrill-kill of Daly City teen Penny Bjorkland
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Photos from Penny Bjorkland's exclusive jailhouse interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. Editor's note: This is the second in a four-part series on infamous Bay Area murders of yore. A new story be
Oct 11, 2019
SFGate
'Object, matrimony': The forgotten tale of the West Coast's first serial bride killer
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Editor's note: This is the first in a four-part series on infamous Bay Area murders of yore. A new story will be published each Friday in October. James P. Watson was new in town and in the market for
Oct 4, 2019