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, CA
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
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
SFGate
San Francisco, CA
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
SFGate
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
SFGate
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
SFGate
San Francisco, CA
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.
SFGate
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
SFGate
An English brewer built a Norman castle in San Francisco. It's still there today.
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Some people think there’s a ghost at Albion Castle. It’s the perfect setting for a good ghost story, as any old San Franciscan will tell you. The two-story Norman castle, with its three-story turret, like
SFGate
San Francisco, CA
A portrait was hung in the Legion of Honor for 'Vertigo.' No one's seen it since.
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Kim Novak sits entranced by the Portrait of Carlotta, a key plot element in the Hitchcock classic "Vertigo." The portrait, then as now, is arresting. The woman, doe-eyed but with a knowing expression,
SFGate
San Francisco, CA
In 1939, sabotage killed dozens on the City of San Francisco. The killer was never found.
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A pile driver in action at the scene of the wreck of Southern Pacific's luxury streamliner train "The City of San Francisco." The crash took place in Carlin, Nevada in August 1939. The City of San Francisco
SFGate
San Jose, CA
The untold story of the San Francisco kidnapping of Joe DiMaggio's sister Nellie
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A DiMaggio family portrait from Oct. 1936: On the floor, seated: sisters Mae Scrivani and Frances Petromilli with brother Mike (left). On Joe's lap: nieces and nephews Joan, 'Little Joe,' and Betty. Standing
SFGate
The San Quentin prison doctor who performed over 10,000 human experiments
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Dr. Leo Stanley, middle, the chief surgeon at San Quentin state prison from 1913-1951. Shortly before Thanksgiving 1919, as Antone Lepara was waiting to be hanged for murder, his soon-to-be widow received
SFGate
San Francisco, CA
130 years of amazing photos from Ocean Beach
SFGate - David Curran
Ocean Beach has long been one of San Francisco's most popular destinations. Whether to surf, sunbathe, picnic, or just take a walk along its 3 miles of shoreline, people have headed to the city's biggest
SFGate
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco's first broadcast was so terrible, it's amazing TV ever caught on
SFGate - Katie Dowd
One hundred guests in cocktail attire were buzzing with excitement in the Starlight Room atop the St. Francis Drake Hotel on the evening of May 25, 1948. After introductory remarks — and a few drinks they
SFGate
A dismembered body, a love child and the Klan: The wildest SF cold case you've never heard of
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A Chronicle photo illustration showing some players in the Bessie Ferguson case. To left and right of Ferguson are two hotel workers who saw her before her death. Below is Dr. J. Loran Pease, who was having
SFGate
Old San Francisco comes to life in charming color images
SFGate - Katie Dowd
A sightseeing streetcar passes by Parnassus near Second in 1909. The photo was hand-colored by Charles Smallwood. There's something extra special about colorized vintage photos. While black and white are
SFGate
Did the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 swallow a cow alive?
SFGate - Mike Moffitt
According to a Point Reyes rancher, the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 opened up a fissure on his property that swallowed his dairy cow Matilda. (Cow photo for illustration purposes only.) In movies
SFGate
Unusual 1906 San Francisco earthquake photos up for auction
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Rare 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire photos are being auctioned by Swann Auction Galleries. A lot of unusual 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire photos are up for auction, encompassing rarely
SFGate
Do you recognize these mystery locations from historic San Francisco photos?
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Two adorable little ones pose on a hillside in San Francisco. But where? They're stunning moments in time: two children on a hill overlooking the city, a happy smiling couple on Valentine's Day 1937, row
SFGate
'Is it safe to take acid?': We talked to Dr. Hip, a sex and drug advice columnist in the 1960s
SFGate - Susana Guerrero
Nestled within a November 1969 Sunday Chronicle paper are two very distinct advice columns. The first is “Dear Abby” and begins with a question that concerns a high school romance, while the other opens
SFGate
Before BART opened the Transbay Tube, they let George Lucas film a movie inside
SFGate - Katie Dowd
The first celebrity to step foot in BART's Transbay Tube? Oddly enough, it was George Lucas. But he wasn't yet a celebrity. Just 25 years old — a 1970 San Francisco Chronicle story called him "frail, and
SFGate
The building of San Francisco: Historic construction photos of our famous structures
SFGate - Bill Disbrow
The Palace of Fine Arts was not meant to be a permanent structure when it was built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, but when the city decided to keep it long-term, it needed to be partially reconstructed
SFGate
The tangled tale of Jean Harlow, her dead husband and a woman found drowned in Sacramento
SFGate - Katie Dowd
Paul Bern, noted producer, writer and studio executive, whose suicide shocked the country, and his bride, Jean Harlow. This picture was taken shortly after their 1932 marriage. Dorothy Millette checked