San Francisco history

A Look at Before and After The Embarcadero Freeway Came Down
Current mood: extremely thankful for how the Embarcadero looks today versus how it did in the past. While no doubt useful, the elevated double-decker Embarcadero Freeway (also known as California State Route 480) was hardly aesthetically pleasing compared to the Embarcadero of today. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake severely

Here’s What It Looks Like Under Those Brick Circles In the Street
Those mysterious brick circles you see on streets? They are cisterns — a form of ancient technology adopted after the 1906 earthquake to aid firefighting. We all know about the fires that ravaged the city after the 1906 earthquake, made worse due to the rupture of water and sewage lines.

The 2025 SF Beer Passport is Here!
Step into a world of adventure with the San Francisco Beer Passport. There’s no better way to explore San Francisco than to literally drink it in. This passport is amazing! Each one contains 28 coupons to buy one beer, get a second beer FREE at 28 of the finest locally

Rediscovering My San Francisco Roots
What I’m about to tell you isn’t a secret. I’m from the East Bay. I was born in Walnut Creek, lived in Oakland’s Laurel neighborhood until I was 12 and then moved around Contra Costa until we ended up finding a permanent spot in Martinez. I lived in Emerson Arms,

The Eagle Has Been Granted Landmark Historical Status
With the Stud closing in 2020 (though currently “alive” in a sort suspended animation) South of Market’s the Eagle becomes the oldest currently operating leather bar in San Francisco. But the Eagle has taken a beating over the last ten years too; the bar announced it would close in 2011,

They Once Wanted To Put a Restaurant On Top of Sutro Tower
The iconic San Francisco “space fork” known as Sutro Tower has become a recognized symbol for t-shirts and tattoos, but the 48-year-old radio and TV signal tower was the result of a hard-fought battle between local radio and TV stations. Some wanted it where it ended up being built near

SF Nightclub Legend Harry Denton Has Died
Harry Denton’s Starlight Room atop the Sir Francis Drake Hotel has not been Harry Danton’s Starlight Room since 2019, when its name changed. But that very same Harry Denton once owned four nightclubs with his name on them across San Francisco, bringing glitz, glamor, and velvet ropes to the SF

SF’s Newest Park was Originally built by prisoners from Alcatraz : A History of Black Point Gardens
It’s not everyday that our little peninsula gets a new piece of public land, but for the last four years the Parks Conservancy, the National Park Service, and a team of volunteers, have been restoring the gardens, walkways, stairs, and terraces of The Historic Black Point Gardens. The Black Point

Trove Of Rad Vintage Muni Photos From 60s, 70s, And 80s Released Online
Some people are history buffs, some people are transit nerds, and then there’s that rare kind of person who is strangely fascinated by both local history and public transportation. That is the kind of person who will spend hours clicking and scrolling through a just released set of more than