Sparkletack - the San Francisco History Podcast

SFWeekly: “Nonconformity Still Reigns”

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:52:58 +0000

Apparently yours truly is the go-to source on non-conformity in historical San Francisco. That's the way the SFWeekly is leaning, in any case. An hour of phone-schmoozing with intrepid reporter Lauren Smiley resulted in the following introduction to story about modern-day San Francisco kooks and characters:

In the beginning of our city's love affair with odd ducks, there was Emperor Norton. A businessman in Gold Rush San Francisco who lost his pants on an investment in Peruvian rice, he re-emerged as a grand character of his own invention: "Emperor of These United States" and "Protector of Mexico." He waltzed about town in a secondhand military uniform while newspapers printed his official edicts without caveat and establishments honored his fake currency.

If Los Angeles lionizes its celebrities, San Francisco has always embraced, or at least tolerated, its homegrown eccentrics. "I can't imagine any other city in the world where [Emperor Norton] could have become what he became with the acceptance of the city," says Richard Miller, an armchair historian who creates podcasts on San Francisco legends for his Web site, Sparkletack. "Some say all the loose nuts rolled west ... people who hadn't made it elsewhere, or just different from the average bears."

Take a look at the rest of the SFWeekly's article, and not just because of that little quote -- Lauren hits the high spots from the Brown Twins (who refused to be interviews by the Weekly without cash on the barrelhead) to Frank Chu (who could not be contained). The premise of the story is that there's still hope for San Francisco ... and I hope she's right.

Bullitt: the greatest car chase ever (from space!)

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:56:37 +0000

This video takes Bullitt about ten steps further. It's a side-by-side display that -- through the techno-wizardry of geocoding -- shows the schase scene's logic-defying route from space. Now you can track Steve's '68 Mustang GT turn by screeching turn through every neighborhood in the city -- just like a James Bond super-villain:

Click to view at full size

check out the whole post here

book review: Oakley Hall’s “Ambrose Bierce Mystery Novels”

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:35:57 +0000

An inordinate number of my youthful hours were spent in the company of the mystery novel; Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy L. Sayers ... I couldn't get enough. Somewhere along the line, though, the fixation faded ...

But it's back.

I've discovered a series of detective novels that -- in a "you got chocolate on my peanut butter!" kind of way -- seem to have been written with me in mind:The setting is 1890's San Francisco, the lively heart of the Gilded Age. And the detective? None other than our own famously cynical wit-about-town, that brilliant literary misanthrope Mr. Ambrose "Bitter" Bierce.

See what I mean?

Just a minute: Ambrose who?

And I quote: “Buried Treasure in San Francisco?”

richard - sparkletack — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:29:09 +0000

I love this blog, if for no other reason than the jawdropping diversity of the email that slips over the digital transom. This note from a few weeks ago just about takes the biscuit. In breathless terms it tells the story of a decades-long treasure hunt, a project just brimming with danger, doggedness and derring-do! [...]

book review — “Historic Photos of San Francisco”

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 26 May 2008 03:28:14 +0000

I read a lot of books on San Francisco and California history. And though these posts are labeled “book reviews”, the only books you’ll ever see here are those that I’ve really enjoyed. In short, if you see it here, it’s a great book — I’ve no urge to write about the stinkers! And [...]

SFist: “A Jitney Elopement” — Charlie Chaplin’s San Francisco film

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:30:35 +0000

File this — again — under “there’s ALWAYS a San Francisco connection”. A reader recently alerted me to the fact that Charlie Chaplin, America’s favourite clown (and perhaps the most influential performer in motion picture history), shot one of his bazillion-odd silent movies on location in and around Golden Gate Park. “A Jitney Elopement” is classic [...]

Pacifica is back!

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:29:54 +0000

When last we encountered this goddess-behemoth, she was being blown up by the Navy at the end of the ‘39 Pan-Pacific Exposition. The mythical goddess Pacifica — symbol of the Fair — had loomed over Treasure Island for the duration, a sternly imposing concrete figure of some 80 feet tall. Though sculptor Ralph Stackpole had [...]

sparkletack facebook group

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:23:32 +0000

Web 2.0 here we come … there’s a brand new Sparkletack group on Facebook. You can post photos and video, add links, start a discussion, or just join the group and show your enthusiasm for Sparkletack and San Francisco history. And if you’re not already part of Facebook, it’s painfully easy to join. C’mon, drop by [...]

tour review — san francisco ghost walk

richard - sparkletack — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:09:38 +0000

I love San Francisco, I love history, and I love walking. Luckily for me, there are a billion walking tours out there. Every so often I participate in one of these, try to pick up a thing or two, and take some notes for you. Ratings systems provide a useful shorthand, but your mileage [...]

san francisco steam coffee?

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:16:16 +0000

I ran across an old and beautiful (not to mention HUGE) coffee urn in front of a Portland antique store today. Just like a magpie, shiny objects catch my eye — so I stopped to check it out. It’s become a running joke that there’s always a San Francisco angle, and sure enough there [...]

sparkletack reviewed by “San Francisco City Guides”

richard - sparkletack — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:46:49 +0000

Sparkletack is featured in this month’s “Guidelines”, the newsletter of the non-profit San Francisco City Guides. You know about them already, right? Free tours all over town run by smart, dedicated volunteers? I’ve experienced several (and reviewed a couple (1, 2) of their offerings, so it seems only fair that they’d take a [...]

SFist — “not even jackassable”

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:42:49 +0000

The latest from my little column over at the SFist: “Not Even Jackassable” We perused the recent SFist post about the pitiable state of San Francisco’s streets with a certain sense of nostalgia for the good ol’ days. You know, the days before this newfangled “asphalt paving” even entered the scene. In the Year of the Gold [...]

1907 harrison street mainline — photographic google map

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:11:51 +0000

It’s my favourite thing, finding physical evidence of times past in the landscape of contemporary San Francisco. That’s why I was delighted when Aaron, a Sparkletack reader, sent me to a page of photographs snapped by a railfan in 1907. The website displaying the photos is the passion of Amtrak engineer (and native San Franciscan) [...]

SFist — whiskerless waiters at the palace hotel

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:40:05 +0000

The latest from my little column over at the SFist: Whiskerless Waiters at the Palace Hotel In the middle part of the 19th century, a thick set of whiskers were an essential facial feature of every man of Victorian respectability. These were not simply expressions of pride or masculine peacock vanity, but due to a whole rainbow [...]

book review — “The Bottle Imp”

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:14:24 +0000

the fog rolls in — 24 hours in 144 seconds

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:01:06 +0000

This is spectacular. Twenty-four hours of San Francisco are compressed into less than three minutes of time-lapse video, gorgeously captured from the hills above Sausalito. The city and bay spend most of the day almost buried by a dramatically roiling mass of fog, which finally whisks itself out to sea to reveal the sparkling lights [...]

#66: alma de bretteville spreckels

richard - sparkletack — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:17:47 +0000

It’s one of San Francisco’s best-loved monuments — the figure of a heartbreakingly beautiful girl balancing lightly atop a granite column high above Union Square. She soars above both pedestrians and pigeons, gracefully clutching trident and victory laurels, lifting her shapely arms in triumph over the city of San Francisco. It was intended to [...]

SFist — “Leg Bones for Baseball Bats”

richard - sparkletack — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:55:14 +0000

Researching San Francisco history means spending way too much time sitting in the dark. In the library, I mean, staring at microfilm of old newspapers. Hours of scanning those scratched and blurry archives makes me a little punchy, so I blinked and rubbed my eyes at this gruesome headline from the February 13, 1902 [...]

tour review — victorian home walk

richard - sparkletack — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:37:41 +0000

SFist — tippling with kipling, san francisco 1889

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:26:53 +0000

The 74th anniversary of “Repeal Day”, the end of Prohibition in the United States provided the inspiration for this entry. Tippling with Kipling, San Francisco 1889 Ah, today should be a citywide holiday, it really really should. December 5th marks the 74th anniversary of the end of Prohibition, just a tick of the geological clock since that [...]

“the good herb” — yerba buena

richard - sparkletack — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 19:27:24 +0000

San Francisco is following me around. You know what I mean — it probably happens to you too: wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, something pops up to bring your attention back to the City Formerly Known as Yerba Buena. Which brings me to my point: I’m in the midst of a short trip to coastal [...]

SFist — san francisco, “the paris of the west”

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:00:13 +0000

This meandering SFist entry was inspired by an email from a listener. Royce recalled hearing those evocative words in some episode or another, and just wondered if I could tell him which one it was. Turns out I’ve used them four times already — in episodes #26, #40, #43, and #55 [...]

the winnah and undisputed champeen

richard - sparkletack — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:33:13 +0000

The results of the Sparkletack “favourite episode poll” are in! Okay, they’ve been in for a month already — but it isn’t as if the dominance of Emperor Norton is something that’s going to go stale … or even come as a real surprise. One hundred and twenty-seven years after his passing, the “Emperor of [...]

‘39 world’s fair butterfly

richard - sparkletack — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 22:50:09 +0000

What is it exactly? It’s built like a notebook, with a couple of sheets of green and magenta construction paper sandwiched between its plastic wings … but it can’t really be opened for writing, and on the opposite wing — the Oakland side — there’s a patent number and the tiny word “bookmark”. Bookmark [...]

screwball time-traveling noir: the bay time detective

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:48:07 +0000

An email showed up last week which I found impossible to overlook, beginning as it did with the words “Hail, Sparkletack!” Clearly a writer of taste and intelligence! But wait — could a person of “taste and intelligence” be responsible for words like these?: Here’s the tale of three typically offbeat San Franciscans who do just [...]

love letter — san francisco history center

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 19:00:47 +0000

Dearest San Francisco History Center, I have longed to write to you for so long, but it has taken me months to work up the nerve. If only you could appreciate how wonderful you are. Here’s what you reveal about yourself on the official website, so typically demure and self-effacing: The Daniel [...]

#65: memories of an argonaut

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:00:26 +0000

To many of the thousands of gold-seekers pouring through the Golden Gate back in 1849, the word “Argonaut” was already a familiar one, drawn from the ancient myth of “Jason and the Golden Fleece”. “Argonaut” was the name applied to Jason’s band of heroic companions, combining the name of his ship — the “Argos” — [...]

book review — “Treasure Island; San Francisco’s Exhibition Years”

richard - sparkletack — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:04:49 +0000

1938 san francisco street map

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:00:24 +0000

Mark Pritchard over at San Francisco Metroblog has alerted us to a fabulous new Flickr find; a 1938 street map of San Francisco in vivid pinks, blues, and greens. And why fabulous? In 1938 there are no freeways yet in sight. Lefty O’Doul’s Seals Stadium is still in place — as are the Sutro Baths. [...]

#64: san francisco’s treasure island (pt. 2)

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 16:00:12 +0000

What is Treasure Island? Why is it there? And where is it going? In the second episode of this 2-part podcast series, San Francisco’s plan for a mid-bay international airport is abruptly derailed by World War II. The US Navy seizes the island, transforming the former World’s Fair location into “Naval Station Treasure Island”. The [...]

“story of treasure island” transcript online

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:46:13 +0000

Transcripts for Sparkletack’s 2-part “Story of Treasure Island” podcast series are now online at the website of the upcoming Treasure Island Music Festival (September 15th-16th). » Transcript: Treasure Island Music Festival » Podcast: The Story of Treasure Island (part 1) » Podcast: The Story of Treasure Island (part 2) And why are they there? Well, the inspiration for [...]

SFist — anniversary of a flesh wound

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:21:48 +0000

Number 6 in the new series of Sparkletack posts on SFist.com, San Francisco’s collaborative urban blogging project. Anniversary of a Flesh Wound The violent melodrama characterizing the recent murder of a journalist investigating “Your Black Muslim Bakery” has conjured the entire Bay Area history of political violence into our memories. Dan White, James P. Casey, David [...]

poll: choose your favourite sparkletack episode!

richard - sparkletack — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 19:29:22 +0000

An amazing 63 episodes of Sparkletack have floated out into the digital ether so far — 64 if you count the infamous “Trolls” episode. That’s well over two years of storytelling, and though I’ve read some fantastic individual comments, I don’t have a good sense of which stories you like the best. The style of [...]

#63: san francisco’s treasure island (pt. 1)

richard - sparkletack — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 19:22:30 +0000

Treasure Island is easily visible from San Francisco’s Embarcadero, a low-lying front porch jutting out towards the Golden Gate from Yerba Buena Island. Palm trees in a silhouetted row set off massive white buildings, dwarfed by the towering silver Bay Bridge marching across the water towards Oakland. That bridge carries over 130,000 people a [...]

“mr. summers’ 1941 vacation” — prelinger archive

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:08:05 +0000

I’m addicted to the “moving images” section of the Internet Archive — particularly the Prelinger Archives, recently absorbed into the Library of Congress. This massive collection of “ephemeral films”, a term which covers just about anything not made for commercial entertainment (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) is a fantastic source for unexpected historical treasures. [...]

book review — “San Francisco Almanac”

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:00:22 +0000

SFist — mark twain torched lake tahoe?

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 19:30:35 +0000

The re-post of #5 in the new series of Sparkletack posts on SFist.com, San Francisco’s collaborative urban blogging project. Mark Twain Torched Lake Tahoe? The wildfire raging up near Lake Tahoe reminded us of our dear old cousin Mark. Mark Twain, that is, and what we remembered was his own brush with accidental arson up Tahoe [...]

#62: samuel holladay, pioneer squatter of lafayette park

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 22:10:26 +0000

On a recent Pacific Heights walking tour I found myself standing atop Lafayette Park. As I admired the spectacular view, the guide told an unfamiliar story about a mansion that once occupied this hill. The building is long gone now, of course, but its history is a wild one. Here’s the story: Samuel Holladay, respectable [...]

SFist — island for sale…

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:24:08 +0000

The re-post of #4 in the new series of pieces for the SFist, San Francisco’s collaborative urban blogging project. nugget o’ history — Island for Sale Who knew that one of the five islands in San Francisco Bay was privately owned? Even stranger, “Red Rock Island” is now up for sale, for a paltry $10 [...]

SFist — sands-can-drift-so

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:52:09 +0000

Here it is, the re-post of #3 in the new series of little pieces for the SFist, one of San Francisco’s fastest growing collaborative blogging projects. nugget o’ history — Sands-can-drift-so San Francisco was once pretty much a giant sand dune. We’ve even heard it said that the very name derives from the once common epithet [...]

vintage san francisco maps — on the cheap!

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:40:04 +0000

File this under cheap and geeky thrills: full-size photocopies of old San Francisco maps for pocket change! I got a hot tip about this from a friend of mine several years ago, but with my usual alacrity, didn’t follow it up until this week! Kevin works in the public housing industry, and often has occasion [...]

tour review — pacific heights (sf architectural heritage)

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:00:49 +0000

Here’s the thing — I love San Francisco, I love history, and I love walking. Luckily for me, there are a billion walking tours out there, and every so often I take one. I do my best to keep my know-it-all mouth shut and learn a thing or two, pick up a few ideas [...]

SFist — at least today they’re being shot with cameras

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 30 May 2007 22:45:04 +0000

Here it is, the re-post of #2 in the new series of little pieces for the SFist, one of San Francisco’s most well established collaborative blogging projects. At Least Today They’re Being Shot with Cameras Could it be that our lost little whale pair have finally had their sonar set to rights? And wouldn’t that be [...]

7×7 san francisco — on the newstands now

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:59:23 +0000

Well, the promised 7×7 interview has finally hit the streets. It’s a disconcerting experience to read one’s spoken words in print, especially if it turns out that they’ve been edited to fit the story! I’m not complaining, though — it’s all more or less correct. And the more San Franciscans are inspired tune in [...]

#61: lefty o’doul — the man in the green suit

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 28 May 2007 02:25:40 +0000

You’ve seen the green and white signs in front of the “Lefty O’Doul Restaurant and Piano Bar” down on Geary Street, but who is Lefty O’Doul? Just another phony Irish name invented to sell beer? Absolutely not! The silhouette of that left-handed slugger on the sign is a clue. Lefty O’Doul was a baseball player, [...]

drafted by the SFist!

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 25 May 2007 22:35:42 +0000

Sharp-eyed readers — or should I say “San Francisco blog addicts” — will have noticed the recent appearance of yours truly on the SFist, a San Francisco-obsessive collaborative blogging venture. And why? Well…. because they asked me. They’re a solid bunch of San Franciscophiles, and I jumped at the chance to wedge a little [...]

buried history

richard - sparkletack — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:32:29 +0000

The buzz over recently exposed timbers of the “King Philip”, a clipper ship which foundered at Ocean Beach in 1878, got me thinking about San Francisco’s legacy of maritime corpses — especially those which ended up becoming part of the foundation of the city. I’m talking about the ships buried underneath downtown San Francisco. One [...]

7×7 san francisco

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:22:37 +0000

“Hey mom, my picture’s gonna be in a magazine!” Strange but true. I just spent an hour in a studio with a battery of hot lights trained on my mug… the results of which should appear in the June 2007 issue of San Francisco’s local style magazine “7×7“. I suspect the “new media” cachet of podcasting [...]

a sparkletack tour of san francisco

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 04 May 2007 15:00:50 +0000

My long-time supporter Michael Roberts sent an email several months ago that absolutely made my day: After listening to your podcasts for the last six months, I couldn’t wait any longer and took a trip to the city so that I could experience some of your “brand” of history. He’s in good company. This isn’t the [...]

#60: starr king and the california civil war (pt. 2)

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:01:20 +0000

At the end of the Part One of this two part series, Abraham Lincoln had been elected president, the Civil War had broken out, and the question of California’s loyalty to the Union was in grave doubt. The youthful Unitarian minister from Boston was a newcomer to the scene, but his powerful voice had [...]

tour review — ferry building (sf city guides)

richard - sparkletack — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:36:21 +0000

sparkletack interviewed - VerySpatial podcast

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:07:48 +0000

San Francisco is about to be invaded by geographers! The annual convention of the Association of American Geographers is coming to town, and Jesse Rouse, cohost of the VerySpatial podcast (an excellent show covering geography and geospatial technology) thought I would be a good candidate to give their listeners some idea about what there [...]

#59: starr king and the california civil war (pt. 1)

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 05:47:35 +0000

Over 100,000 people a day travel the Geary Street corridor. But how many glance over and notice the grey statue standing watch at Franklin Street? Only a very few look even further, and notice the low, stone sarcophagus nestled in front of the gothic Unitarian Church. Walk right up to it and you’ll discover [...]

book review — “River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West”

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:28:49 +0000

mission street railroad graphic

richard - sparkletack — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:03:05 +0000

I have more than a passing interest in transportation and urban infrastructure issues — not because I have any expertise in the subject, mind you — I just find it fascinating to ponder the way technology and movement have shaped our surroundings. Craig Butz, a listener of mine, feels the same way. While examining his [...]

#58: the crocker spite fence

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 07:22:34 +0000

History is rife with bizarre confrontations and grand feuds, but in San Francisco none were more bizarre than the showdown between Charles Crocker (bellicose railroad robber baron) and Nicholas Yung (unassuming German undertaker). Call it “a tale of two egos”. It was over a very small piece of land, but this property was located on [...]

book review — Mark Twain’s “Roughing It”

richard - sparkletack — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:16:51 +0000

tour review — 1906: phoenix rising (sf city guides)

richard - sparkletack — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:28:38 +0000

sparkletack interrupted… an update

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:07:00 +0000

My time away from the show has been action-packed, both because of the profusion of ideas for changes and improvements, and also because my personal life has taken an unexpected turn for the hectic. Moving out of my cozy apartment after almost eight years turned into a much more complicated maneuver than I had [...]

announcement: sparkletack takes a break

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 08 May 2006 07:58:00 +0000

well, here goes: as i give attention to some exciting san francisco related projects that i’ve been cooking up, including the writing of a book, sparkletack will be on hold for a month or two. the book will be a how-to guide on the subject of urban history podcasting, something I hope will inspire [...]

#57: the reber plan for san francisco bay

richard - sparkletack — Mon, 08 May 2006 02:37:00 +0000

unsurprisingly, san francisco’s history includes an amazing number of extremely “creative” plans which seem to us today to be absolutely insane. in 1945, a schoolteacher and amateur theatrical producer named john reber devised a plan to solve all of san francisco bay’s water and transportion problems in one fell swoop. his outrageous proposal was [...]

#56: lotta crabtree — the san francisco favourite

richard - sparkletack — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 07:29:00 +0000

in this week’s podcast we’ll marvel at beautiful lotta crabtree, quintessential star of the late 1800s. she was the protege of lola montez, the highest paid performer on broadway, the darling of the entire nation, and the most popular comedienne of her era. as you may already suspect, her story begins right here in california, [...]

#55: caruso, the palace, and the 1906 earthquake

richard - sparkletack — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 08:36:00 +0000

this week’s podcast chooses just one of the many thousands of individual stories to emerge from the catastrophe, following the eccentric italian superstar and the storied hotel through their respective trials and tribulations. one survives… but the other does not. for further edification: » “the san francisco earthquake” - gordon thomas.max morgan witts » “lest we forget” [...]

#54: the notorious lola montez

richard - sparkletack — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 14:57:00 +0000

this week’s podcast grapples with the unbelievable legend of lola montez, trailing her across the world from london to paris to munich to san francisco. she was self-created diva royalty who, in her own words, was “always notorious, never famous”. for further edification: » research files from bruce seymour’s lola montez : a life, an incredible [...]

tour review — dashiell hammett’s san francisco

richard - sparkletack — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 06:54:52 +0000

#53: the bella union and the barbary coast

richard - sparkletack — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 14:28:00 +0000

all sorts of san francisco legends shared her stage and its story, among them oofty goofty, big bertha, lola montez, emperor norton and lotta crabtree. today’s podcast tells the story of the 60 years in which the “bella” was the most popular show in town. for further edification: » the barbary coast - herbert asbury, [...]

#52.5: the trolls of san francisco

richard - sparkletack — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0000

the history of one of these hidden layers is, however, little known and rarely spoken of - i refer of course to the san francisco trolls. though some hold that the trolls are a primitive people original to this area, and were in the hills even before the native american ohlone, other, more reputable sources [...]