misc Whiskerless Waiters at the Palace Hotel In the middle part of the 19th century, a thick set of whiskers were an essential facial feature of every man of Victorian respectability. These were not simply expressions of pride or masculine
misc "Leg Bones for Baseball Bats" - 1902 San Francisco Chronicle Researching San Francisco history means spending way too much time sitting in the dark. In the library, we mean, staring at microfilm of old newspapers. Hours of scanning those scratched and blurry archives
Arts & Entertainment Tippling with Kipling, San Francisco 1889 Ah, today should be a citywide holiday, it really really should. December 5th marks the 74th anniversary of the end of Prohibition, just a tick of the geological clock since that final state
Arts & Entertainment San Francisco, "the Paris of the West" Yup, "the Paris of the West". It's a phrase that's been liberally applied to our fair city, perhaps most notably when the mayor of the Paris of, um, "France", arrived in San Francisco
Arts & Entertainment nugget o' history: Anniversary of a Flesh Wound The violent melodrama characterizing the recent murder of a journalist investigating "Your Black Muslim Bakery" has conjured the entire Bay Area history of political violence into our memories. Dan White, James P. Casey,
Arts & Entertainment nugget o' history: Mark Twain torched Lake Tahoe? The wildfire raging up near Lake Tahoe reminded us of our dear old cousin Mark. Mark Twain, that is, and what we remembered was his own brush with accidental arson up Tahoe way.
Arts & Entertainment nugget o' history: Island for Sale... Who knew that one of the five islands in San Francisco Bay was privately owned? Even stranger, "Red Rock Island" is now up for sale, for a paltry $10 million. The last time
