Woody LaBounty

A collection of 53 posts

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.

Yerba Buena Island

Torpedo Point

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

Paid-members only

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.

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

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.

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.

Ingleside

Ingleside Flight

Real and would-be aviators in San Francisco's Ingleside neighborhood in the early 1910s.

Downtown

Telenews Theatre

San Francisco had an all-news theater from 1939 to 1967. Admission gave you the whole world and a quiet retreat from the same.

Paid-members only

Grab Bag

Grab Bag #40

Exploding cannons, secret water tanks, and funeral pick-pockets from ye olde San Francisco.

City College

Save the Whales

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

1906 earthquake

Captive Airship

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

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.

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.