Streetcar.org has been advertising on some of the local radio channels. This site has some interesting perspectives on past traffic issues and how they were solved, and is rich with historical facts about our the Market Street Railway.

- Janis Stone

One of the most famous buildings in a famous city is the San Francisco Ferry Building. Once when ferries were the only way to get across the bay from Oakland, Richmond or Marin County, this was one of the busiest places in San Francisco.

Today, the ferry building has undergone a renovation and has been reborn as the Ferry Building Marketplace, a sort of farmer’s market meets the food court! The Ferry Building Marketplace website says this about the history of the building:

Opening in 1898 on the site of the 1875 wooden Ferry House, the Ferry Building became the transportation focal point for anyone arriving by train from the East, as well as from all the East Bay and Marin residents who worked in the city.  From the Gold Rush until the 1930s, arrival by ferryboat became the only way travelers and commuters—except those coming from the Peninsula—could reach the city.

Today…the Ferry Building and its 240-foot tall clock tower is the iconic landmark of the San Francisco waterfront. The dramatic heart of the building is a three-story tall, sky lit hall, known as the Nave. It runs the entire 660-foot length of the building. The ground floor of the Ferry Building is devoted to a 65,000 square foot public food market showcasing the very best of the Bay Area’s world-renowned food community. The second and third floors of the building house 175,000 square feet of office space and the ceremonial hearing room of the San Francisco Port Commission.

Mick Orton

When I moved to the Bay Area, one of the first places we had lunch was the Cliff House. I had no idea of the history behind the place. I just enjoyed the Pacific Ocean views, the sea gulls and the sea lions out on the rocks.

Perhaps this is where the saying “Third time is a charm” comes from, since the previous 2 Cliff Houses were burned down. The third was built in 1909 and in 1977 was acquired by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The Cliff House history page says this about the 3 versions of the Cliff House:

The first Cliff House was a modest structure built in 1863 by Masters Butler and Buckley…On Christmas Day 1894, the Cliff House was destroyed by fire.

Sutro spent $50,000 in 1896 to rebuild the Cliff House in grandiose style…This exquisite building survived the 1906 earthquake only to succumb to a raging fire the following year.

A third Cliff House was built in 1909 by Sutro’s daughter Emma…The Cliff House was remodeled several times before the National Park Service acquired it in 1977. Today the Cliff House is preserved as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

We constantly look for interesting places to go and history of our City. So keep coming back to see what we’ve found!

- Mick Orton

San Francisco has had its share of characters over the years. One of the more eccentric citizens of the ninteenth century is self-proclaimed “Emperor” Norton. SFMuseum says this about him:

So much has been written about Emperor Norton, and interest in this ninteenth-century character continues into the twenty-first century. Many of the “decrees” attributed to Norton I were fakes; written in jest by newspaper editors at the time for amusement, or for political purposes. Those “decrees” listed here were, we believe, actually issued by Norton.

September 17, 1859 – Joshua A. Norton, who lost his money in an attempt to corner the rice market, today declared himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

December 2, 1859 – Norton I dismissed Gov. Wise of Virginia for hanging John Brown and appointed John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky to replace him.

February 1, 1860 – Decree from Norton I ordered representatives of the different states to assemble at Platt’s Music Hall to change laws to ameloriate the evils under which the country was laboring.

July 16, 1860 – Decree from Norton I dissolved the United States of America.

October 1, 1860 – Decree from Norton I barred Congress from meeting in Washington, D.C.

February 5, 1861– Norton I changed the place of his National Convention to Assembly Hall, Post and Kearny, because Platt’s Music Hall had burned.

September 17, 1861 – A new theater, Tucker’s Hall, opened with a performance of “Norton the First,” or “An Emperor for a Day.”

October 1863 – Death of Lazarus, Emperor Norton’s dog.

Read more here.

- Mick Orton

Not only is Alcatraz one of our San Francisco attractions, but it is also a historical site; first as a military fort to protect the bay 1853, then as a federal prison when the fort was demolished and the cellhouse built between 1908-1911. The prison was closed in 1963 and was briefly occupied by American Indians in 1969-1971 after which it became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1972. 

The SFGenealogy website has some interesting information about escapes from the prison that supposedly was inescapable!

- Mick Orton

Around 1864 Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, left Nevada after working for a Virginia City newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise and came to San Francisco to work for a variety of newspapers. The PBS website says the following in their New Perspectives on the West series:

The experience of filing daily reports on the picturesque doings in a Nevada mining town helped Clemens sharpen and broaden his abilities as a writer. After two years, he carried those talents to San Francisco, where he wrote for a variety of newspapers and periodicals, among them The Californian, edited by Bret Harte. Though they were to quarrel later, at this time Clemens and Harte shared a common ambition, and the more experienced Harte proved a valuable guide as Clemens tried to work the comic artifice out of his humor and develop a more natural, conversational style. With “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” published in 1865 by The Saturday Press of New York, and reprinted by newspapers across the country, this style made its first appearance, a style readers would soon come to recognize as the voice of Mark Twain. Clemens left San Francisco in 1866…

An independent researcher named Barbara Schmidt has created a website with a collection of Mark Twain quotes and newspaper articles. Those written in San Francisco may also be read here.

Of all the characters that have lived in our city, Mark Twain surely was one of the most colorful. A quote most often falsely attributed to him is, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Though it’s a great line, and can be true when the fog makes a visit, SNOPES has documented that Mr. Clemens did not say this.

- Mick Orton
Marketing Director

San Francisco is part of the 1849 gold rush. Here is an excerpt from the Virtual Muesum of San Francisco:

In 1848, the school census showed a population of 575 males, 177 females and 60 children, a population of 812. The buildings numbered 200. there were two hotels, boarding houses, saloons and ten-pin alleys. Twelve mercantile houses were established, two more wharves were in the course of construction, the townspeople were hopeful, and the prospects of the city good. April 3, 1848, the first public school was opened.

As Spring advanced, the story of gold findings at Sutter’s mill began to spread widely. Very quickly the excitement leaped to fever heat. Gold became the irresistible magnet and nothing could check the insistent rush. Laborers, clerks, waiters, servants, all disappeared as if by magic, and melted into the stream of feverish beings headed for the slopes of the Sierra.

In the month of May 1848 more than 150 people left San Francisco, and the days added to the departures. On May 29, “The Californian” announced it could not issue the newspaper “until further notice” because all of its employees had quit. Other papers were quickly closed for the same reason. On July 15, the “Californian” managed to get out slip of a paper announcing “The Whole World at War” alluding to the Revolution in France. The military governor of California issued a proclamation calling on the people to assist authorities in apprehending Army and Navy deserters who had joined the gold rush. Public schools were ordered closed because of the rush to the gold fields…

Read the rest of the story here.

-Mick Orton
Marketing Director