A friend just left San Francisco for her second “tour of duty” in Zambia, working for UCSF’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, which develops a low-tech first-aid device for hemorrhaging pregnant women called LifeWraps. I was impressed and horrified by her efforts combating the high frequency of death and disability around childbirth. More after the jump…
Continue reading UCSF Saving the Lives of Pregnant Women in Developing Countries
We’ve seen the aftermath before, but this before/after is impressive, no? More after the jump…
Continue reading Valencia Street Sinkhole
Carl Nolte offers a reminder about the original inhabitants of a re-activated Mission Bay:
“There are thousands of us,” said Andrew Galvan, who is a descendant of a Bay Miwok man named Liberato and an Ohlone woman called Obulinda who were married in Mission Dolores in 1802. Galvan is the curator of Mission Dolores and is not extinct.
It’s bad enough that the elimination of the 26-Valencia will wreak havoc on my personal life. But it turns out that the line I often stumble upon to get home has been running since 18-fucking-92 (shown above in its 1943 variation).
Back then, it was a trolley that ran from Steuart St. near the Ferry Building all the way down to the cemeteries in Colma. Shit, if that still ran, I could take it to Target!
The final insult is that, apparently, electric streetcars themselves were largely built in San Francisco as a way to develop the Sunnyside area – my homeland – for its real estate. And this is how I’m repaid – with forced late-night pedestrianism and wallet-thinning cab rides.
With the forthcoming death of several MUNI lines, I suppose transit is on the brain. More after the jump…
Continue reading ‘For Saving Life’ – Streetcar Fender Design from 1895
Why on God’s green earth did anyone dream up this 1938 stunt? To quote the narrator, “Your guess is as good as mine.”
This poor horse chased a handful of sugar and towed a fat, useless human named “Shorty Roberts,” as it swam the Golden Gate just to settle a bet about whether horses can swim:
The swim took 23 minutes and 15 seconds—an hour less than it had taken an Olympic swimmer. When Blackie and Shorty arrived in SF, the SPCA was waiting, but admitted that Shorty looked much worse than the horse and didn’t cite him. Shorty always insisted that the horse loved swimming in the bay.
Sure he did, and why not?
(Spotted@)
Recommended book: Historic Photos of San Francisco
The black and white footage at the beginning of this video, grabbed from the Square America blog, shows some dapper Japanese-American immigrants in the 1920s in San Francisco. Especially dignified given the open historical discrimination against them, even before the internment atrocities of WWII.
Be sure to check out this poignant 1942 timeline from the SF Chronicle of the history of the Japanese American community in SF, which ends with the last of 5,280 people being “evacuated” out of the city.
Last night Japanese town was empty. Its stores were vacant, its windows plastered with “To Lease” signs. There were no guests in its hotels, no diners nibbling on sukiyaki or tempura. And last night, too, there were no Japanese with their ever present cameras and sketch books, no Japanese with their newly acquired furtive, frightened looks…
They left San Francisco by the hundreds all through last January and February, seeking new homes and new jobs in the East and Midwest. In March, the Army and the Wartime Civil Control Administration took over with a new humane policy of evacuation to assembly and relocation centers where both the country and the Japanese could be given protection. The first evacuation under the WCCA came during the first week in April, when hundreds of Japanese were taken to the assembly center at Santa Anita. On April 25 and 26, and on May 6 and 7, additional thousands were taken to the Tanforan Center. These three evacuations had cleared half of San Francisco. The rest were cleared yesterday.
I wonder what became of the hopeful, posing folks in the above film clip during this era. (I presume the second, color portion of the clip means they managed to stay together, even if they had to move to Chicago.)
Erik Wilson, known as Generik11 on Flickr
Igor Uriarte, known as 20R3Mun on Flickr
They each get a ticket to Rick Prelinger’s Lost Landscapes of San Francisco.
Thanks to everyone who submitted images and helped to get our Flickr pool started with a bang.
If you haven’t bought your ticket to the screening yet, hurry up, because they’re going fast.
So wrote Father Junipero Serra, that great self-flagellator, to the Spanish Commandant General upon encountering the welcoming Ohlone Indians on the land that is now San Francisco. Congregations of Indians were struck with awe as Serra struck his body with chains, pounded his chest with stones, and burned it with hot candles.
He dreamed of a utopian 10-year apprentice program whereby, after intense “rehabilitation,” the native residents would have fully adopted the customs of European living and could be given back some of their land as devout Catholics. More after the jump…
Continue reading “Missions, my lord, missions – that is what this world needs”
With the Mission on the verge of getting its Valencia Street West sidewalk back between 16th and 19th Streets, reader Brian Stokle points us to this nifty Flickr set complete with drawings of how Valencia Street looked over the ages. According to brunoboris, with the latest round of modifications, the sidewalks will return to their original width. More after the jump…
Continue reading Valencia Street Lane Saga, 1925-2010
Different people have different instincts when they come across something previously unknown. Some want to hoard it for themselves or a peer group, and use it for a future payoff. Others want to share. More after the jump…
Continue reading Interview With San Francisco’s Guerrilla Archivist, Rick Prelinger
The Long Now foundation has generously offered Spots Unknown readers two free tickets to Rick Prelinger’s upcoming presentation of previously-unseen archival footage of a lost San Francisco. It happens on Friday, December 4th at the Herbst Theatre. If you’re in town then, and want to go, read on…
Continue reading Ticket Giveaway: ‘Lost Landscapes of San Francisco’ Screening
First of all, I can’t tell which way most of those 1960s cars are traveling. One thing I do know: that bus and everyone on it are screwed. And wow, that sure is a lush and green post-Summer of Love San Francisco awaiting the hep cats that are fortunate to be headed the right direction.
(via Eric Fischer)
Continue reading Friday What The… Double Deck Golden Gate Bridge?
My curiosity was piqued by this Kottke post, so that a quick search turned up these awesome photos of happy inhabitants. More after the jump…
Continue reading San Francisco Opium Den Photos circa 1889
The fantastic footage (with ambient-only sound) and trivia, combined with an infusion of pride for San Francisco’s past and present, make this segment, called simply, “Cable Cars,” a great way to spend 5 minutes of computer time. Along the way, you’ll meet: Ken Lunardi, operator; Norm Feyling, mechanic; and Bob Harris, carpenter.
Produced by Greg Burk for SFGTV‘s award-wining magazine series “City In Focus.”
Related book: Historic Photos of San Francisco
From Amazon
From Powell’s
My favorite bit from this scan of an original flyer in support of Proposition “A”: “All statements in this leaflet are accurate and factual.” That reassuring disclaimer apparently made this passage adequately persuasive:
Who endorsed Proposition “A”? Taxpayer’s groups… labor… doctors, lawyers, merchants, housewives, educators, Republicans, Democrats – everybody who wants a prosperous Bay Area. Opposition? Scattered, local, self-interested.
Indeeeed. The proposition required a district-wide 60% “yes” to pass; it got 61.2%, with the help of folks who cynically voted for it even though they wanted, and expected, it to fail. More after the jump…
Continue reading 1962: SAVE the BAY AREA from CHOKING to DEATH (with BART)!
This map (courtesy, Prelinger Library) is a good way to visualize how much of the city burned after the earthquake/fire of 1906. It of course led to the building of refugee camps around the city, including in Mission (now “Dolores”) Park.
Here’s a blow-up of the cemetery locations:
That’s right, the original plans recommended “first stage” service past Palo Alto to the south, and across the Bay to San Rafael to the north! I wonder how many stages ago that was?
Maybe they should have drafted up some counterfeit money with which to pay for this pipe dream. (Even a tiny fraction of this fantastical scheme is itself worth much higher fares year after year, it seems.)
(via)
I can’t even recall how I Googled my way onto this book review – by a psychiatrist, of a pathologist’s published work
Many original contributions to forensic medicine were made by physicians associated with the Coroner’s Office and UCSF, including the “most unique” discovery that death by air embolism could occur with cunnilingus when air was blown into the vagina.
Was that an important move back in the day? Yikes.
Needless to say, I’m trying to get my twisted little hands on this gem of a book as I type. If anyone has seen it, please hit the comments.
It looks like Amazon only has links to used copies of the book: San Francisco Coroner’s Office: A History, 1850-1980
“Guerrilla archivist” Rick Prelinger is once again joining forces with the Long Now Foundation for the 4th in his series of screenings titled, “Lost Landscapes of San Francisco.” More after the jump…
Continue reading Rick Prelinger’s Lost Landscapes of San Francisco 4
