The San Francisco Mission Zoo: Wilder Days in Glen Park (Part II)
Part II: Dame Nature Has Done Her Part “Next to the Klondike excitement, the subject which is creating the greatest local interest is that of a Mission Park.” Those who knew and loved the Gum Tree Grove in the area of today’s Glen Canyon claimed, “Dame Nature Has Done Her Part.” The tract was treasured […]
The San Francisco Mission Zoo: Wilder Days in Glen Park (Part I)
Part I: Fisticuffs Over a Monkey Ranch Picture yourself in San Francisco in the waning years of the Gay Nineties. It’s a pleasant Sunday morning and over the breakfast table, while sipping a cup of freshly brewed Golden Gate Coffee, you hear the question, “My dear, whatever shall we do today?” Before the days of indoor […]
Defining San Francisco: How Our City Became a City (Part II)
Part II: The Golden Era of San Francisco In Part 1 of Defining San Francisco: How Our City Became a City, we saw how entrepreneurial spirit and a forward-looking vision transformed the tiny hamlet of Yerba Buena into the growing Town of San Francisco. In a daydreaming exercise, it was possible to imagine the sleepy […]
Defining San Francisco: When Our City Became a City (Part I)
Part I: Lots Under Water are the Most Valuable Property in Town On any morning, take a tramp along Montgomery Street in the Financial District. Make your way up Second Street toward Folsom and Harrison to what remains of Rincon Hill. Along the way, take a moment … listen. Can you hear them? The residual […]
USS Comanche: Ironclad of San Francisco
Many of us are familiar with the story of the ironclad warships, the Monitor and the Merrimack. But how many of us have ever heard of the USS Comanche, ironclad of San Francisco? As we are about to learn, her inglorious history may have served to erase any awareness of her existence. The battle of the […]
Weekend Logjam: Picnics and Excursions Beyond San Francisco
Day-tripping and weekend trekking are favorite pastimes of San Franciscans. As Friday draws near, many of us consider our options for getting the heck out of town, whether it be a tramp on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, wine tasting in Napa or Sonoma counties, or adventure in the Gold Country or Sierra Nevada Mountains. But, oh the […]
The Expeditious Conveyance of Intelligence to and from San Francisco
The Internet is running out of room. But, no worries – you’ve already been upgraded. Did you even know? I came across this surprising news on one of my daily forays to Google. Like the universe we live in, I thought the Internet was infinite. According to Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist at Google and […]
Where’s Ursus? Tracking Bear in San Francisco
Hiking anywhere along the streets of San Francisco, it may be difficult to imagine the wildness that once dominated the City’s landscape. Today, open space areas such as Glen Canyon and the Presidio tease us with hints of the previous nature of the City. But it wasn’t so long ago that residents were still at […]
Cows in the City
In the second half of the 19th century, one might tramp to the peak of Telegraph Hill or the summit of Twin Peaks to view the panoramic landscape … one dotted by grazing, ruminating dairy cows, that is. Yes, these were the Outside Lands of yesterday’s upper San Francisco peninsula. Name almost any City neighborhood and it […]
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