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.

City College

Save the Whales

Migrating for 20 years, the old Academy of Sciences whales may finally find a permanent home.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #39

Some odds and ends spotted on recent walks around the Western Addition, Woody on jury duty, and the story of the wheelbarrow man. All in all, kinda strange, but, hey, you knew what you were signing up for.

1906 earthquake

Captive Airship

How did George R. Lawrence take his amazing aerial panoramas after the 1906 earthquake?

Mission District

Spirit of Victory

A San Francisco Spanish-American War monument with some muddy messaging.

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #38

Weird bits of San Francisco history from Fisherman's Wharf to Ocean Beach.

Chinatown

Chinatown Demolition

Plague fears led to chopping down parts of San Francisco's Chinatown in 1903.

Kelly's Cove

The Naming of Kelly’s Cove

What or who inspired the name for a magical stretch of San Francisco's Ocean Beach?

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #37

Is a house from the Gold Rush still standing in San Francisco's Western Addition?

Gold Rush

Gold Rush Prefab

"Portable houses" were one solution to San Francisco's 1849 housing crisis.

Cathedral Hill

Restless Bones

The moving sarcophagus of Thomas Starr King.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #36

Animalia of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, a Richmond District dairy, Willie Mays, and more of my favorite things.

City College

Finding Founder’s Rock

The short-lived fame of a boulder at City College of San Francisco.

Embarcadero

The Legend of Lois Jordan’s White Angel Jungle

Thoughts on a famous San Francisco soup kitchen.

Grab Bag

Two Years of San Francisco Story: Grab Bag #35

Celebrating two years of San Francisco Story with an Anchor Steam at Temple Bar, a little car polo, and a lot of gratitude.

World War II

Gold Star Corners

San Francisco's 1943 plan to remember its war dead.

Russian Hill

A Park is Born

The 75-year journey to turn a Russian Hill reservoir into a San Francisco park.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #34

I come to praise San Francisco, not bury it, plus news on old stuff getting older.

Lake Merced

Lake Merced Roadhouses

San Francisco's Lake Merced was the home of roadhouse resorts from the 1850s to the early 1880s.

Pacific Heights

Victorian Comeback II

An invitation for this Saturday and the comeback of an architectural style synonymous with San Francisco.

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #33

Woody's 100th San Francisco Story heads to Eureka Valley.

1906 earthquake

Last Night in Old San Francisco

Things to do on the eve of the 1906 earthquake.

St. Mary's Park

The Bell of St. Mary's (Park)

One San Francisco neighborhood has a design best appreciated from above.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #032

Love, eggs, and baseball in San Francisco.

Haight-Ashbury

Haight Baseball

When America's pastime had a place next to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Mission District

Mixed-Use Mission Street

What changed and what didn't on one San Francisco block after the 1906 earthquake and fire.