Woody LaBounty

Stephen "Woody LaBounty" is a San Francisco history writer, speaker, and general gadabout. San Francisco Story is his side project, done for his own enjoyment of researching and sharing local history.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #48

Woody goes artifact-hunting in San Francisco's past.

Jackson Square

International Settlement

The exotic restaurant row that was the last gasp of San Francisco's Barbary Coast.

Stern Grove

Trocadero Rebirth

San Francisco's last roadhouse is resurrected in Stern Grove.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #47

Portsmouth Square in the 1850s, old photos found, and memorializing motherhood.

Western Addition

Moved by Faith

The 1850s San Francisco church that kept moving west.

Panhandle

Wheelmen’s Panhandle Palace

The 1890s rise and quick fall of the Velodrome bicycling track next to Golden Gate Park.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #46

San Francisco history grab bag with kissing, blessings, dancing, and star-gazing.

Sunnyside

Mudslide on Foerster

Rainy Februaries bring thoughts of a dark day on San Francisco's Mount Davidson.

Yerba Buena Island

Torpedo Point

An explosive point of interest tucked under the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Western Addition

Tales from the Hotel Jefferson

Beginnings and ends in San Francisco’s Western Addition.

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #45

Super-sized San Francisco history hash of huckster cowboys, old cars, old bars, ruined mansions, hitching posts, and Lotta's fountain.

Outer Mission

Where is Geneva Terraces?

Sherbet-colored cottages in a mostly secret San Francisco neighborhood.

Rincon Hill

The Unkindest Cut

The 1860s Rincon Hill project that put the cut in San Francisco's East Cut neighborhood.

Christmas

Christmas Letter 2025

"A Christmas Carol" is a love story, especially for Woody.

Richmond District

Carzonia Apartments

Cable-car-house living in the Richmond District after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #44

Mint Hill

Orphan Asylum

The stone castle which gave shelter to thousands of children and two street names to San Francisco.

Sunset District

Making 19th Avenue

The highway through San Francisco's Sunset District started as a rutted country road.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #43

Emporium roof rides, the Human Jukebox, and Dianne Feinstein: a classic San Francisco Grab Bag, right?

Downtown

The Monkey Block

How San Francisco's Montgomery Block, built in 1853, survived every disaster, but lost to one man.

Golden Gate Park

Ponies of the Past

The horsy history of the Polo Fields in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #42

A Woody-thinking-too-much Grab Bag. You have to expect that now and then...

Bayview

Quesada Gardens

Two transformations of one block 100 years apart in San Francisco's Bayview District.

Mission District

Sunshine School

How the Rotary Club introduced special education into the San Francisco school district 100 years ago.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #41

World Series parade, gas stations, and Great Highway history—a San Francisco grab bag.