Grab Bag #009

Welcome Friends of Woody. We have a true Grab Bag this time around, with lots to click on and maybe more Woody than is recommended.

I showed up on a recent episode of Pawn Stars Do America as the guy who knows too much and breaks the hearts of collectors who think they own something valuable. If advance scouts like me, perhaps I'll be called up to Antiques Roadshow next year.

I'm not trying to portray myself as some snob too good for cable television, but I had never seen an episode of Pawn Stars and was shocked when Rick (the Dad character, I've learned) told me they had done 21 seasons. He was obviously proud, and so I assured him he was doing God’s work. Anyway, you can stream the episode here, if you’re OK watching a lot of car commercials. I’m in the first third of the show.

Field Guide to San Francisco Street Signs

Not really a spoiler to tell you I was asked to evaluate a couple of purported San Francisco street signs. When the Pawn Stars minions called to ask me about it, I said “You should talk to Ben Zotto!” Being TV people, habitually rushed and desperate, they said in a whiny voice, “Can't you just do it?” So, I acquiesced.

But now I get to tell you why they should have called Ben Zotto. He has done all the investigating, looked at all the photos, read all the old newspapers, and has written the online guide to San Francisco Street sign history. Everyone will enjoy this. You, yes, you, will enjoy this!

I bought the street sign font, Fog City Gothic, which Ben created, and you should too. It gives projects an instant San Francisco authenticity.

Chinatown Photos Re-appropriated

I really enjoy Through a Chinese Lens, where Doug Chan examines historical photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown and provides insightful context from a Chinese-American perspective. Doug taps the usual tools of city directories and maps, but also provides translations of visible signs and mines the work of scholars like John Kuo Wei Tchen and the late Philip P. Choy. It’s manna from heaven to get past the old, shallow Euro-American takes on Chinatown traditions, architecture, and social ties. Some great scholarship is underway by Doug on images many of us have seen for years without really seeing.

As an example, the Isaiah Taber photograph above. Chinatown photographs in the 19th century were usually shot as simple souvenirs of the exotic, colorful, foreign (as in not white) part of the city. No real effort was expended with captions or accompanying descriptions. Just a Chinese butcher and grocery. Show your relatives when you get back to Iowa.

But Doug, using the work of Anthony W. Lee, did a terrific deep dive on this business, the Cheong Wo & Co. butcher and grocery store at 847 Dupont (Grant) Street on the southwest corner of Washington Street. He analyzed all the views and maps of it he could find and shared Lee’s appreciation of how Taber composed a (slightly) more complicated tableau than the routine racist, exclusionary, and colonializing perspective.

Doug writes in one post, “…a wise man once told me, ‘your history is your own.’ His unspoken corollary was that no one else would give a damn otherwise. Asian American history may be American history, but it will take Asian Americans to re-appropriate at least the photographic legacy of their pioneer generations...”

Roadhouse San Francisco Now Online

Did you miss the fun look-at-old-photos San Francisco roadhouses discussion David Gallagher and I had online on November 16th? Here it is:

When I can record these webinars I will park them on the San Francisco Story Videos page. If an hour of our banter isn't enough for you, the “Refocused” presentation from September is there too.

Buy the Old Breakers Roadhouse

So, that image above, of the Breakers roadhouse with the motorcycle club in front of it? That building, and the stables to the right, still stand at 1536 Great Highway, heavily remodeled:

If you watch the Roadhouse show you'll see there are still remnants of the old roadhouse hidden between floors. Want to take an in-person look? Somehow restore those crazy reliefs? It was recently for sale for just under $10 million:

Buy the Oldest House in the Richmond District

Looking for something cheaper? The former Life-Saving Station house at 806 47th Avenue is for sale! Amanda Bartlett at SFGate did an excellent job detailing its history, which is an unusual one. Constructed in 1878 in Golden Gate Park, the building was used by the precursor agency of the US Coast Guard. Carvel Torlakson bought it and moved it to its current site in the 1920s and there is a whole podcast episode about it you can listen to here. Just $1.3 million in American money and it’s yours.

Tackling David Duchovny

I shouldn’t have written that TV people are desperate. The production folks are under ridiculous pressure to make cultural treasures like Pawn Stars Do America and nobodies like me shouldn’t pretend they know better.

But when you have a history of sharing scenes with giants like David Duchovny, you tend to feel you have some true insights to share. Here Dave and I make television magic in the Lifetime movie “Baby Snatcher:”

This is the 30th anniversary of the made-for-TV masterpiece and yet I have heard no word of a special edition. No one has contacted me for commentary recording. Obviously, balls are being dropped.

Tip Jar is Operational

My new system now allows readers to contribute to the Woody Beer and Coffee Fund (not a nonprofit foundation). Help fuel Woody!