by Court | May 6, 2021
At night, in the smallest park in San Francisco, you can sit on a bench and listen to the swaying and creaking of eucalyptus trees. Fog may creep in, but it’s not quiet: the traffic of Bush Street roars by and there are probably some weirdos walking along Octavia....
by Court | Jan 12, 2021
Before Madame Tussaud’s there were…traveling pickled heads. And in late 19th Century San Francisco, it made A MINT. For $1 (THAT’S $30 NOW), you could see the severed head of notorious Californio Joaquin Murrieta, preserved in a jar of alcohol, at King John’s...
by Court | Jan 6, 2021
On this day in 1914, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared San Francisco’s cemeteries a public nuisance, and voted to have all remains moved. At the time, there were an estimated 100,000 people buried here, and cemetery owners, politicians, and local...
by Court | Jan 4, 2021
Did you know that Alma Spreckles and her husband, Adolph, had a special crypt designed and built directly under Rodin’s The Thinker, at the Legion of Honor? Apparently they couldn’t use it because San Francisco law prohibited further burials, but let’s think about it...
by Court | Dec 17, 2020
Did you know that James Lick’s body is actually buried underneath the telescope in the observatory named after him? WEIRD, RIGHT? James Lick was a piano maker who came to San Francisco in 1948 and made his fortune in real estate. After a successful career there, he...
by Court | Dec 10, 2020
On this day in 1852, San Francisco held its first (legal) execution. A man named Jose Forner (or Forni) was hung from a gallows erected at the top of Russian Hill. According to letter-sheets sold after the hanging, Forner killed Jose Atari after a fight over money....
