SFist checks out the 510: Happy Birthday, Jack London
The namesake for Oakland's shopping/tourist destination was born 130 years ago today in San Francisco. A plaque on the Wells Fargo building at 3rd and Brannan marks his birthplace. As a boy, London moved to Oakland with his family after high rents drove them out of San Francisco; it warms SFist's heart to know that fleeing the city to escaping ever-rising housing costs is something of a civic tradition in the Bay Area.
The Oakland High School attendee went on to extract revenge against schoolchildren everywhere by writing a series of books guaranteed to be used in classroom lessons on everything from symbolism to manifest destiny. SFist is personally very fond of Call of the Wild, but we're always a sucker for a good doggie tale.
Plaque image from the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.
SFist Lisa, Contributing
Should you feel like celebrating London's birthday today, wander on down to Jack London Square today. You can get there via BART (get off at the 12th Street/City Center Station. Ride the 72R or 72M to Jack London Square.) or take the Broadway exit off I-880 (there's ample parking). Check out the Jack London cabin. As the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "A remote cabin in Alaska was authenticated by a handwriting expert from Oakland PD's forgery detail as having notes in London's hand on the ceiling. The cabin was dismantled, and dragged out of the wilderness. A city in Canada got a cabin made with half of the logs; the other half-cabin has been in Jack London Square since 1970, right by Heinold's."
Then raise a glass in his honor. You may want to try Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon, but that might be a little crowded today. So check out the Fat Lady: it comes well-recommended by Gastronomie not once, but twice!.
(Personally, SFist is a little miffed that Barclay's Restaurant and Pub appears to have closed down its downtown outpost: we loved dropping in there for a beer and a rare flatiron steak with a knob of blue cheese on top. But we'll live.)