Grab Bag

Grab Bag #47

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

Woody LaBounty

Mar 5, 2025 • 10 min read

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

On Friday, March 14, 2025, I will be talking with author Gary Krist about his new book, Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco at the Green Apple Books Sunset District location on 9th Avenue. Come by if you are interested!

There Goes the Neighborhood

I was browsing early photos of San Francisco in a book held by Yale University’s Beinecke library and enjoyed comparing two shots of the same block of Clay Street less than five years apart.

Here’s an 1855 view of Clay Street along the south side of Portsmouth Square:

street from park — 700 block of Clay Street west of Kearny Street, 1855. Portsmouth Square in foreground.(Views of San Francisco album (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University/WA Photo 231)

Here’s an 1860 shot:

street with buildings — 700 block of Clay Street west of Kearny Street, January 1860. Rear of old St. Mary's church on California Street at upper left. (Views of San Francisco album (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University/WA Photo 231)

A couple of buildings on the left side, closer to Kearny Street are much the same, but YIMBYs apparently had some effect on the rest of the block.

Here is a fun game to play with old photos. Where was the camera? Where could someone get such a nice elevated vantage point in mid 19th century San Francisco?

Let’s take a look at what was on the east side of Portsmouth Square along Kearny Street: