 history and culture from my favourite city, san francisco -- in easily digestible 5-minute spots!Primary Format :
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the reber plan for san francisco bay
it's easy to forget that the shape of san francisco's built environment was determined, at some point in the past, by someone having a vision about what got built where.
unsurprisingly, san francisco's history includes an amazing number of extremely "creative" plans which seem to us today to be absolutely insane. in 1945, a schoolteacher and amateur theatrical producer named john reber devised a plan to solve all of san francisco bay's water and transportion ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the reber plan for san francisco bayit's easy to forget that the shape of san francisco's built environment was determined, at some point in the past, by someone having a vision about what got built where.
unsurprisingly, san francisco's history includes an amazing number of extremely "creative" plans which seem to us today to be absolutely insane. in 1945, a schoolteacher and amateur theatrical producer named john reber devised a plan to solve all of san francisco bay's water and transportion problems in one fell swoop. his ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
lotta crabtree - the san francisco favourite
as i mingled with thousands of my fellow citizens at the "san francisco rising" earthquake commemoration in the cool morning hours of april 18th, i found myself staring at the monument known as "lotta's fountain". it twinkled like a brand new penny under the floodlights, and i wondered how many in the crowd were asking themselves, "who is this lotta person, anyway, and why are we standing in front of her fountain"?
... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
lotta crabtree - the san francisco favouriteas i mingled with thousands of my fellow citizens at the "san francisco rising" earthquake commemoration in the cool morning hours of april 18th, i found myself staring at the monument known as "lotta's fountain". it twinkled like a brand new penny under the floodlights, and i wondered how many in the crowd were asking themselves, "who is this lotta person, anyway, and why are we standing in front of her fountain"?
in this week's podcast we'll take a look at this quintessential star of the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
caruso, the palace, and the 1906 earthquake
enrico caruso (the greatest opera singer in the world), checks into william ralston's legendary earthquake-proof palace hotel (the heart of gay nineties san francisco) just days before the most disastrous three days in san francisco history.
this week's podcast chooses just one of the many thousands of individual stories to emerge from the catastrophe, following the eccentric italian superstar and the storied hotel through their respective t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
caruso, the palace, and the 1906 earthquakeenrico caruso - the greatest opera singer in the world - checks into william ralston's legendary earthquake-proof palace hotel - the heart of gay nineties san francisco - just days before the most disastrous three days in san francisco history.
this week's podcast chooses just one of the many thousands of individual stories to emerge from the catastrophe, following the eccentric italian superstar and the storied hotel through their respective trials and tribulations. one survives... but t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the notorious lola montez
it was may of 1853, and a ship was steaming into san francisco bay. on the gently rolling deck stood a tall shapely woman of striking appearance: glossy dark hair, skin the color of sweet cream, and beautiful gray-blue eyes. she'd been the star of the voyage -- attracting the attention of every male soul on board -- and though she had never set foot in san francisco, a stage play based on her history was on the boards at the san francisco theatre, and a horse bearing her na ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the notorious lola montezit was may of 1853, and a ship was steaming into san francisco bay. on the gently rolling deck stood a tall shapely woman of striking appearance: glossy dark hair, skin the color of sweet cream, and beautiful gray-blue eyes. she'd been the star of the voyage -- attracting the attention of every male soul on board -- and though she had never set foot in san francisco, a stage play based on her history was on the boards at the san francisco theatre, and a horse bearing her name would be runni ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the bella union and the barbary coast
through the years following san francisco's gold rush all the way up until being burned to cinders by the 1906 fire, the barbary coast was a flickering red beacon of decadence and mayhem. it is impossible to overstate the no-holds-barred-depravity of this little spot of land nestled between chinatown, north beach and the waterfront -- but in the midst of the crime and degradation, an institution was born on the edge of portsmouth square that rose to a heighth of fame unusua ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the bella union and the barbary coastthrough the years following san francisco's gold rush all the way up until being burned to cinders by the 1906 fire, the barbary coast was a flickering red beacon of decadence and mayhem. it is impossible to overstate the no-hold-barred-depravity of this little spot of land nestled between chinatown, north beach and the waterfront -- but in the midst of the crime and degradation, an institution was born on the edge of portsmouth square that rose to a heighth of fame unusual in this infamous ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the trolls of san francisco (APRIL FOOLS!)san francisco is a city with many layers, both metaphorically speaking and in a very literal sense. walking across cesar chavez street the other morning, i couldn't help but be reminded of the many streams and brooks that used to cross the city and whose beds are now buried underneath our feet. with its thousands of unmarked graves, buried ships, a shoreline that's no longer a shoreline, and old, lost buildings, the city is like an ancient tel, an archeological wonder with strata that run d ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the trolls of san francisco (APRIL FOOLS!)
san francisco is a city with many layers, both metaphorically speaking and in a very literal sense. walking across cesar chavez street the other morning, i couldn't help but be reminded of the many streams and brooks that used to cross the city and whose beds are now buried underneath our feet. with its thousands of unmarked graves, buried ships, a shoreline that's no longer a shoreline, and old, lost buildings, the city is like an ancient tel, an archeological wonder with ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
adolph sutro, the populist millionaire
adolph sutro, the populist millionaire
adolph sutro is one of those names "hidden in plain sight" in san francisco. his name adorns or is associated with a great number of san francisco icons: sutro baths, sutro heights, mount sutro, sutro forest, and of course, the cliff house, but who was he?
this week's podcast explores the history of the millionaire philanthropist who gave so much to our city and whose story is ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
adolph sutro, the populist millionaireadolph sutro is one of those names "hidden in plain sight" in san francisco. this week's podcast explores the history of the millionaire philanthropist who gave so much to our city and whose story is -- amazingly -- almost forgotten.
for further edification:
> the western neighborhoods project
thanks to paul quiggley for this week's music "snow scene", made available through a creative commons license.
Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the columbarium and the caretaker
looming over the inner richmond like a miniature roman temple, the columbarium is one of those features of the san francisco architectural landscape that everybody notices, but almost no one has visited.
in an attempt to answer the oft-voiced question "what is that thing, anyway?", in this week's podcast a visit is finally paid to this sumptuous victorian repository for cremated remains, the baroque center of what was once a 167 acre cemeter ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the balclutha and the chantey sing
one cool saturday night last month i found myself shivering with a group of strangers down at the gate to the hyde street pier by aquatic park, staring into the murky shadows along its wooden length and waiting to be let in. why? to sing, of course.
the park service website reads simply "sing traditional working songs aboard a floating vessel." the songs? sea chanteys. the vessel? a majestic iron-hulled squarerigger called the "balclutha". i ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the balclutha and the chantey singone cool saturday night last month i found myself shivering with a group of strangers down at the gate to the hyde street pier by aquatic park, staring into the murky shadows along its wooden length and waiting to be let in. why? to sing, of course.
the park service website reads simply "sing traditional working songs aboard a floating vessel." the songs? sea chanteys. the vessel? a majestic iron-hulled squarerigger called the "balclutha". i had no idea how inspiring the experience could ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
sam clemens and the celebrated jumping frogthough the rest of the country thinks of samuel langhorne clemens as a southerner, it was a little time in san francisco and the wilds of california which turned young sam into "mark twain". this week's podcast tells the story of how a misfired duel, a bungled gold-mining claim, a suit for libel -- and yes, a frog -- conspired to create a work which took new york by storm and helped to forge an american original.
for further edification:
> the celebrated jumping frog of calaveras county ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
sam clemens and the celebrated jumping frog
though the rest of the country thinks of samuel langhorne clemens as a southerner, it was a little time in san francisco and the wilds of california which turned young sam into "mark twain". this week's podcast tells the story of how a misfired duel, a bungled gold-mining claim, a suit for libel -- and yes, a frog -- conspired to create a work which took new york by storm and helped to forge an american original.
for further edification:
... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
mark twain and the great earthquake of 1865
by now just about every san franciscophile has been alerted to the fact that april 18th of this year will mark the centennial of the 1906 earthquake -- the "big one" which destroyed the city that once was, and gave rise to the one which we inhabit today.
but that "great quake" of 1906 was only the second to bear the name.
the first great quake happened in 1865, and though its memory has faded somewhat, the co ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
mark twain and the great earthquake of 1865by now just about every san franciscophile has been alerted to the fact that april 18th of this year will mark the centennial of the 1906 earthquake -- the "big one" which destroyed the city that once was, and gave rise to the one which we inhabit today.
but that "great quake" of 1906 was only the second to bear the name.
the first great quake happened in 1865, and though its memory has faded somewhat, the coincidental presence of the young sam clemens (or mark twain, as the nation woul ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
robert louis stevenson - chinatown treasuresan francisco has a long-standing reputation as a literature-loving town, as evidenced by government statistics ranking us as having the highest per-capita spending on books in the country. over the decades this city has nurtured a great number of notable writers from mark twain to dashiell hammett.
there's one literary memorial in town, though, that has always puzzled me, and that is the apparently incongruous monument to robert louis stevenson set in the midst of the open-air living roo ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
robert louis stevenson - chinatown treasure
san francisco has a long-standing reputation as a literature-loving town, as evidenced by government statistics ranking us as having the highest per-capita spending on books in the country. over the decades this city has nurtured a great number of notable writers from mark twain to dashiell hammett.
however, there's one literary memorial in town that has always puzzled me. that is the apparently incongruous monument to robert louis stevenson ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
san francisco fortune cookie
on a tour of the alleyways of chinatown last week i learned a story that i hadn't heard before -- namely, that the world-famous chinese fortune cookie was invented right here in san francisco.
that's right -- the fortune cookie is just about as chinese as french toast is french.which is to say, not at all.
our young guide gave us the outlines of a history that is apparently well known around here, but someth ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
san francisco fortune cookieon a tour of the alleyways of chinatown last week i learned a story that i hadn't heard before -- namely, that the world-famous chinese fortune cookie was invented right here in san francisco.that's right -- the fortune cookie is just about as chinese as french toast is french.which is to say, not at all.our young guide gave us the outlines of a history that is apparently well known around here, but something told me that it could bear a little further investigation -- so i began to dig. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
frank chu just shows up
downtown san francisco on a tuesday afternoon, and every businessman's face looks the same. whatever happened to eccentric and iconic characters like emperor norton and oofty goofty? you search the streets, hoping desperately for a flicker of life or a flash of the eccentricity that once shaped our city. then you spot something out of the corner of your eye. it's a sign of some sort, with letters fluorescing brightly on a black background. it looms over the downtown lunchti ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
frank chu just shows updowntown san francisco on a tuesday afternoon, and every businessman's face looks the same. whatever happened to eccentric and iconic characters like emperor norton and oofty goofty? you search the streets, hoping desperately for a flicker of life, a flash of the eccentricity that once shaped our city. then, out of the corner of your eye, you spot something. it's a sign of some sort, fluorescent letters on a black background, looming over the downtown lunchtime scene like an alien invader, ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
moving the dead - san francisco cemeteries
there are only three cemeteries left within the city limits of san francisco. note the phrase carefully: "left" in san francisco. there were once far more than just three, which makes perfect sense -- after all, thousands upon thousands of san franciscans have passed away since the establishment of yerba buena 170 years ago, and they all required a final resting place.
the question is, what happened to them... and where are they now?
... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
san francisco motorcycle club - since 1904established at the dawn of the century, the san francisco motorcycle club has thrived for over a hundred years.
there are plenty of fossils in this town, relics of another age, but the SFMC represents living history, from the days when motorcycles were little more than heavyweight bicycles with engines squeezed into their frames -- suspension negligible, handling worse -- up through the modern era. but this isn't about machines, it's about people -- and the members of second-oldest contin ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
san francisco motorcycle club - since 1904
established at the dawn of the century, the san francisco motorcycle club has thrived for over a hundred years.
there are plenty of fossils in this town, relics of another age, but the SFMC represents living history, from the days when motorcycles were little more than heavyweight bicycles with engines squeezed into their frames -- suspension negligible, handling worse -- up through the modern era. but this isn't about machines, it's about p ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
alexander leidesdorff - the black millionaireit was 1841, and like so many of those who have washed up on these shores, then or since, william alexander leidesdorff was a man on the run from his past -- a man trying desperately to reinvent himself on the blank canvas of the western coast.
though hardly anyone remembers his name these days, he became essential to the fabric of yerba buena, honored and mourned by the entire city upon death. he racked up an unparalleled array of "firsts" in the city, state, and even country -- not the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
alexander leidesdorff - the black millionaire
it was 1841, and like so many of those who have washed up on these shores, then or since, william alexander leidesdorff was a man on the run from his past -- a man trying desperately to reinvent himself on the blank canvas of the western coast.
though hardly anyone remembers his name these days, he became essential to the fabric of yerba buena, honored and mourned by the entire city upon death. he racked up an unparalleled array of "firsts" ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the golden gate bridge, a modest proposal"so what do you think of that beautiful bridge?" i started to say, but she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, an odd, wistful look in her eyes. "what is it?" i asked. she turned to me with a grave expression and said -- "at the risk of sounding crazy, is there a reason that the bridge would be sad?" i understood just what she had sensed, and i suspect that you do too. there's a blot on the bridge that mars its beauty. every time i cross it, i think about those who have chosen to jump.offi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the golden gate bridge, a modest proposal
"so what do you think of that beautiful bridge?" i started to say, but she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, an odd, wistful look in her eyes. "what is it?" i asked. she turned to me with a grave expression and said -- "at the risk of sounding crazy, is there a reason that the bridge would be sad?" i understood just what she had sensed, and i suspect that you do too. there's a blot on the bridge that mars its beauty. every time i cross it, i think about those who have ch ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
luisa tetrazzini and christmas eve
"i will sing in san francisco if i have to sing in the streets, for i know that the streets of san francisco are free."
it was 1910. san francisco was still in a bad way following the great earthquake and conflagration of 1906, and in fact, the whole decade had been kind of rough. the brightest spot without question in this opera-mad city had been the sudden emergence of the zaftig soprano luisa tetrazzini, the "florentine n ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
luisa tetrazzini and christmas eve"i will sing in san francisco if i have to sing in the streets, for i know that the streets of san francisco are free."
it was 1910. san francisco was still in a bad way following the great earthquake and conflagration of 1906, and in fact, the whole decade had been kind of rough. the brightest spot without question in this opera-mad city had been the sudden emergence of the zaftig soprano luisa tetrazzini, the "florentine nightingale". she rose to prominence in san francisco but talent a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the great diamond hoaxit was 1871. william ralston had become one of the richest and most powerful men in california, partly on the strength of his shrewd business maneuverings, but largely on the fact that he was an incorrigible gambler, a exemplar of his optimistic age. he lived so largely, and spent so lavishly, on his beloved city as well as on himself, that at the peak of his powers he picked up a nickname that has stuck to this day; "the man who built san francisco".nothing seemed impossible in the heady ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the great diamond hoax
it was 1871. william ralston had become one of the richest and most powerful men in california, partly on the strength of his shrewd business maneuverings, but largely on the fact that he was an incorrigible gambler, a exemplar of his optimistic age. he lived so largely, and spent so lavishly, on his beloved city as well as on himself, that at the peak of his powers he picked up a nickname that has stuck to this day; "the man who built san francisco".
... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
rudyard kipling in san franciscoin 1889 this talented young writer, the son of a british colonial schoolteacher and future winner of the nobel prize for literature, visited san francisco on his way from india to england. it was not only his first visit to the city, but his first time in america - he was on assignment to record his impressions and write letters back to an indian newspaper - and his brash and snobbish reactions to san francisco and its wild inhabitants are alternately flattering, insulting and very amusing. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
rudyard kipling in san francisco
in 1889 this talented young writer, the son of a british colonial schoolteacher and future winner of the nobel prize for literature, visited san francisco on his way from india to england. it was not only his first visit to the city, but his first time in america - he was on assignment to record his impressions and write letters back to an indian newspaper - and his brash and snobbish reactions to san francisco and its wild inhabitants are alternately flattering, insulting ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
rudyard kipling in san franciscoin 1889 this talented young writer, the son of a british colonial schoolteacher and future winner of the nobel prize for literature, visited san francisco on his way from india to england. it was not only his first visit to the city, but his first time in america - he was on assignment to record his impressions and write letters back to an indian newspaper - and his brash and snobbish reactions to san francisco and its wild inhabitants are alternately flattering, insulting and very amusing. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
philo t. farnsworth
riding around the chilly streets of san francisco this week i spotted a bumpersticker that i hadn't seen for some time: "kill your television". the rich irony of seeing that particular message displayed in san francisco struck me as it always does. why? because television was invented right here in fog city, a fact most everyone has forgotten, along with its inventor, mr. philo t. farnsworth.
i don't know if a more euphonious name for an in ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
philo t. farnsworthriding around the chilly streets of san francisco this week i spotted a bumpersticker that i hadn't seen for some time: "kill your television". the rich irony of seeing that particular message displayed in san francisco struck me as it always does. why? because television was invented right here in fog city, a fact most everyone has forgotten, along with its inventor, mr. philo t. farnsworth.i don't know if a more euphonious name for an inventor could have ever been dreamed up! philo was ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
birth of san francisco #3
part two of the pre-history of san francisco, the early life of the village of yerba buena. this is the concluding episode on this theme, taking you right up to the edge of 1848. in this episode: goats, bears, mormons!
as you listen, if you'd like, take a minute and pop a digital pin into the frappr map down there on the right.
for further edification:
> bear flag revolt
> john ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
birth of san francisco #3part two of the pre-history of san francisco, the early life of the village of yerba buena. this is the concluding episode on this theme, taking you right up to the edge of 1848. in this episode: goats, bears, mormons!as you listen, if you'd like, take a minute and pop a digital pin into the frappr map down there on the right.for further edification:> bear flag revolt> john brown's account> sloat's proclamationthanks to ryo sode for the use of the beautiful tune "yosemite", courtesy of the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
birth of san francisco #2
part two of the pre-history of san francisco, the early life of the village of yerba buena. the epic sweep of mexico's revolution and the annexation of california to the united states for all intents and purposes passed the town by. monterey, sonoma, and the great californio ranchos were where most of the action was, with yerba buena developing slowly and in the background.
in this and next week's shows i will wander through the years betwee ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
birth of san francisco #2part two of the pre-history of san francisco, the early life of the village of yerba buena. the epic sweep of mexico's revolution and the annexation of california to the united states for all intents and purposes passed the town by. monterey, sonoma, and the great californio ranchos were where most of the action was, with yerba buena developing slowly and in the background.in this and next week's shows i will wander through the years between the building of that first sail-cloth shanty on t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
birth of san francisco #2part two of the pre-history of san francisco, the early life of the village of yerba buena. the epic sweep of mexico's revolution and the annexation of california to the united states for all intents and purposes passed the town by. monterey, sonoma, and the great californio ranchos were where most of the action was, with yerba buena developing slowly and in the background.in this and next week's shows i will wander through the years between the building of that first sail-cloth shanty on t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website
the san francisco twins
the san francisco twins
ask anyone, the twins are just "the twins". they walk alike. they talk alike. but most of all, they look and dress exactly alike, and would not have it any other way. vivian and marian brown are always ready to stop and chat, always ready with a pair of matching smiles and wrist-up hand-waves worthy of a pair of queens... whether you find them cute or creepy, they are among the most photographed icons in all of san francisco, and have ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | |