local history

A collection of 56 posts

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.

Haight-Ashbury

Haight Baseball

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

Christmas

The 12 Firehouses of Christmas

From 1948–1950, San Francisco fire stations went crazy with an annual Christmas decoration contest. Here are Woody's top dozen.

Mission District

Maguire's Houses

Life on one Mission District block on February 22, 1887 at 11:35 a.m.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #009

A true Woody LaBounty Grab Bag: Pawn Stars, Chinatown revealed, historic real estate for sale, and the first San Francisco Story Annual released.

North Point

The Cobweb Palace

Abe Warner's cobweb-filled saloon in San Francisco's North Point neighborhood was captured on film before demolition and now we know when.

Golden Gate Park

Riding the Windmill

In the early 1920s, riding one of the blades of Golden Gate Park's Dutch windmill was kind of a thing.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #008

A preview of Woody's San Francisco Story Annual 2022 featuring an excerpt about the larger-than-life diva, Lilian Slinkey, AKA "Madame Durini."

Mission District

A Day Trip on the Mission Road, Part 2

Sunday pleasure resorts like Woodward's Gardens made San Francisco's Mission District more family-friendly in the 1860s and 1870s.

Mission Dolores

A Day Trip on the Mission Road, Part 1

In the 1850s, San Francisco Sunday recreation meant getting across sand dunes and marsh to the Mission.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #007

A history of where you can put your car...and more.

Downtown

1868: The First “Big One”

The "great San Francisco earthquake" of 1868 and the next one on the way.

Union Square

Hallowed Ground on Sutter Street

From the time of its dedication on March 23, 1866, the old Temple Emanu-El was a landmark of 19th-century San Francisco.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #006

Strange adventures of young men in San Francisco, market memories, a walnut elephant, and recognizing City Cemetery.

Crocker-Amazon

The Temple on Naples Street

Solving the mystery of the mini Greek temple that once stood in San Francisco's Crocker-Amazon neighborhood.

Golden Gate Park

10 Highlights from the 1894 Midwinter Fair

The good, the bad, and the ugly from the 1894 fair which made Golden Gate Park's Music Concourse.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Woody Grab Bag #005

A Woody LaBounty salad bar of child pyramids, feminist art, poetry, sandlot baseball, and Mr. Fixit.

Downtown

Reclaiming Admission Day

September 9th can mark the inclusion of California to the United States and be a yearly commitment to an inclusive California.

Ocean Beach

Seeing the End of Playland

Playland at the Beach, San Francisco's version of Coney Island, closed for good on September 4, 1972. Photographer Dennis O'Rorke artfully captured the final days.