San Francisco Historical Society

San Francisco Historical Society Opposes Renaming Schools -------------------------------------------- In a letter to the Board of Education, dated October 29, 2020, the San Francisco Historical Society has stated its opposition to the renaming of the city’s schools as proposed by the Names Advisory Committee of the Board of Education as authorized in Board Resolution No. 184-10A1. The Society focuses on San Francisco and regional history as influenced by the trail of history...Continue reading

Not all ghosts aim to scare the living. Some are benevolent visitors from the afterworld who simply seem nostalgic for the world they left behind. One such ghost is said to visit the elegant Queen Anne Hotel. Before it was a hotel, this beautiful Victorian was the home of the Lake Seminary, a private girls’ boarding school run by a woman named Miss Mary Lake. When the school was shut down, Mary Lake was devastated. According to legend, after her death Miss Lake sometimes ret...urns to the site of her beloved school to wander its halls as a benevolent ghost. Visitors who stay in Room 410, which was supposedly Miss Lake’s room, report being gently tucked in by an unseen spirit. Image: The Queen Anne’s Hotel at 1590 Sutter St. Image source: Smallbones, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons #history #sanfrancisco #sfhistory #sanfranciscohistory #sfhistoricalsociety #halloween #spooky #spookyseason #haunted #scarystories #ghost #ghoststories #victorian #victorianhouse #queenanne #hauntedhotel

Today we have a bonus #weirdwednesday post, coming from the Historical Society’s very own collection: a pair of candelabras that were once owned by a mortuary in San Francisco c. 19th century. As can be seen from the hinges at various points in the candelabras, these could be folded up to make them more compact and easily transported. The candelabras were most likely loaned or rented out to families who wished to hold funerary services at home. Image source: photo by Simone Felton, republished with permission #history #sanfrancisco #sfhistory #sanfranciscohistory #sfhistoricalsociety #halloween #spooky #spookyseason #funeral #candelabra #artifact

One favorite SF urban legend is that there is a secret network of tunnels beneath Chinatown. Some claim that the tunnels were once used to hide the bodies of the unfortunate victims of the bubonic plague; others claim that the tunnels held underground opium and gambling rings. There is not a network of tunnels beneath Chinatown. However, many buildings in Chinatown and North Beach, which are some of the oldest parts of the city, were built with underground passages connectin...g the basements of neighboring buildings. These may have provided escape routes for those conducting illegal activities in the buildings above, or a way of moving between buildings without being noticed. Many of these passages have since been boarded up, but they once offered a clandestine underground access between buildings. In these photographs you can see one such basement from a building in North Beach that once connected with its neighbor. Image sources: photos by Lana Costantini, republished with permission #history #sanfrancisco #sfhistory #sanfranciscohistory #sfhistoricalsociety #halloween #spooky #spookyseason #scarystories #northbeach #chinatownsf

[CONTENT WARNING: SUICIDE] Stow Lake may seem peaceful, but a dark tale of mystery lurks in its muddy waters. According to legend, Stow Lake is the scene of two tragic deaths, that of a woman and a babyand the woman’s ghost still roams about the lake. In one version of the tale, a young woman became pregnant out of wedlock and, upon giving birth, threw her baby into the lake before jumping into the water and drowning herself. In the second version, an inattentive young moth...er who was sitting by the lake became distracted by a stranger. While she was distracted her baby, in its carriage, rolled into the lake. When she noticed that the carriage was sinking into the water, she jumped in after it to save her babyand neither one was ever seen again. Regardless of the version, the outcome is the same: if you walk by Stow Lake at dusk you may be approached by a pale woman in white who asks you if you’ve seen her baby. Supposedly you can tell if the woman in white is nearby because the Pioneer Mother statue will turn her head away. Next up in our spooky history of San Francisco: the secret tunnels beneath North Beach and Chinatown. Keep an eye out! Image 1: Girl in White by Vincent Van Gogh, 1890 Image 2: Stow Lake Image 1 source: Vincent van Gogh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Image 2 source: https://www.foundsf.org/index.php #history #sanfrancisco #sfhistory #sanfranciscohistory #sfhistoricalsociety #halloween #spooky #spookyseason #haunted #scarystories #ghost #ghoststories #goldengatepark #stowlake

In honor of Halloween, this week we’ll be doing a series of posts on five spooky urban legends, and the history that surrounds them. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was an incredibly scary place. The island served as the location of a military prison from 1910-1933, and then became a federal penitentiary from 1934-1963. Considered inescapable due to the cold and treacherous waters of the San Francisco Bay, it was generally reserved for the ...most dangerous prisoners who were considered beyond rehabilitation. Prisoners there lived under strict rules, with all things beyond food, shelter, clothing, and medical attention considered privileges. The worst punishment was solitary confinement in the prison’s D-Block. One famous prisoner, the Birdman of Alcatraz, spent six years there. The worst solitary confinement cells, nicknamed the Hole, had nothing more than a toilet and two blankets. Inmates lived alone, in complete darkness. There are many rumors of angry ghosts haunting Alcatraz. The most famous is the haunting of Cell 14D, the most brutal cell in the Hole. Legend has it that a prisoner in Cell 14D began screaming that he saw two glowing eyes inside the cell with him. The guards ignored his screams, but when the screams abruptly stopped, the guards entered the cell to see what had happened. The prisoner was dead, an expression of horror on his face and the imprint of hands on his throat. An autopsy declared that the strangulation could not have been self-inflicted. It is believed that he was strangled by the ghost of a 19th century prisoner who has reportedly been seen wandering the halls of D-Block at night. Keep an eye out for our next post, where we tell the story of the ghost of Stow Lake. #history #sanfrancisco #sfhistory #sanfranciscohistory #sfhistoricalsociety #halloween #spooky #spookyseason #haunted #scarystories #ghost #ghoststories #alcatraz

Take a virtual tour of Chinatown, developed by local walking tour guide, Gloria Lenhart. Secrets of Chinatown leads you on a virtual stroll through one of San Francisco’s oldest and most fascinating neighborhoods. This tour begins at the SFHS Museum at 608 Commercial Street. There are 15 stops along the route. Portsmouth Square (where the Goddess of Democracy lives), Wentworth Place, the Chinese Telephone Company, Tin How Temple, and St. Mary’s Square are just a few of the ...places you’ll visit on the tour. Download the mobile app: City Explorer San Francisco, then download "Secrets of Chinatown" Historic photos of Chinatown in the 1890s and early 1900s by noted photographer Arnold Genthe accompany the tour. Quizzes, a map of the route, and street views of each stop via Google earth make this journey one you shouldn’t miss. It’s free, it’s fun, and you can enjoy the tour from the comfort of your armchair.

Take a virtual tour of the Barbary Coast developed by local walking tour guide, Gloria Lenhart. Bohemians, Beats and the Barbary Coast leads you on a virtual stroll through one of San Francisco’s oldest neighborhoods. Download the mobile app: City Explorer San Francisco, then download Bohemians, Beats and the Barbary Coast You’ll follow the footsteps of Mark Twain, Emperor Norton, Jose Sarria (the Nightingale of Montgomery Street) and others who infused the Barbary Coast... with bawdy fun and creative energy. This walking tour begins at the SFHS Museum at 608 Commercial Street. There are 10 stops along the route. You’ll visit the Montgomery Block, the Belli Building, the Columbus Tower, and City Lights bookstore. You’ll visit the Canessa Printing building, once home to the Black Cat Café, a gathering place for bohemian artists and one of the city’s first gay nightclubs. Quizzes, audio recordings, a map of the route and street views of each stop via Google earth make this journey one you shouldn’t miss. It’s free, it’s fun, and you can enjoy the tour from the comfort of your armchair.

artists on the edge San Francisco has long been a mecca for artists. By 1880 we had one of the largest opera houses in the country, drawing luminaries such as Sarah Bernhardt, Edwin Booth, Luisa Tetrazzini, Enrico Caruso, Lillie Langtry, and Lotta Crabtree. Isadora Duncan was born in the Tenderloin and first taught modern dance in SF. The first moving picture exhibition occurred here in 1880.... Writers in particular were drawn to the untamed edge of the West. Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London, Bret Harte, Frank Norris, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Saroyan, and Wallace Stegner all lived and worked here. With them came the beginnings of a Bohemian culture that would forever influence the city’s identity. In the early 1900s a favorite Bohemian hangout was Carville, an ad hoc neighborhood of retired wooden horse cars set in the sand dunes at today’s Ocean Beach. Writers and musicians frequented Carville to talk, drink, play music, and generally escape civilized life. Photo courtesy of OpenSFHistory.org