San Francisco History Podcast – Sparkletack
Stories unearthed from the history of San Francisco, the "city that knows how".
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 17 minutes
- Episodes
- 98
- Years Active
- 2005 - 2009
#38: Rudyard Kipling in San Francisco
in 1889 this talented young writer, the son of a british colonial schoolteacher and future winner of the nobel prize for literature, visited san francisco on his way from india to england. it was not…
00:32:20 |
Sat 10 Dec 2005
#37: Philo T. Farnsworth
Riding around the chilly streets of San Francisco this week I spotted a bumpersticker that I hadn’t seen for some time: “kill your television”. The rich irony of seeing that particular message displa…
00:25:26 |
Sat 03 Dec 2005
#36: Birth of San Francisco #3
part three of the pre-history of san francisco, the early life of the village of yerba buena.
00:33:41 |
Sat 26 Nov 2005
#35: Birth of San Francisco #2
part two of the pre-history of san francisco, the early life of the village of yerba buena. the epic sweep of mexico's revolution and the annexation of california to the united states for all intents…
00:34:13 |
Sat 19 Nov 2005
#34: The San Francisco Twins
Ask anyone, the twins are just “The Twins”. They walk alike. They talk alike. But most of all, they look and dress exactly alike, and would not have it any other way. Vivian and Marian Brown are alwa…
00:19:13 |
Sat 12 Nov 2005
#33: Andrew Smith Hallidie — Father of the Cable Car
Many people who came to seek their fortune in the gold country failed to strike it rich, but ended up contributing their unique abilities and energies in much more interesting ways. This show is dedi…
00:29:08 |
Sat 05 Nov 2005
#32: Letter from the Gold Rush, 1850
there have been a great number of letters written from and about san francisco through the decades, some by visitors and some by citizens, some known around the world, others anonymous. it is fascina…
00:18:10 |
Fri 28 Oct 2005
#31: Carville — A Lost Neighborhood
san francisco is famously made up of an eccentric patchwork of neighborhoods. what is less known is that some of the most interesting and unusual have come and gone, leaving very little trace of a on…
00:14:45 |
Sat 22 Oct 2005
#30: Streets of San Francisco #2
show number two in the "streets of san francisco" series, still walking westwards, one street at a time. today's show moves from powell street to polk, with a couple of historical detours along the w…
00:26:06 |
Sat 15 Oct 2005
#29: The Legend of Black Bart
summer of 1875, and the wells fargo stagecoach is slowly rattling through a mountain pass in the sierra nevada gold country, bearing a cargo of passengers, u.s. mail, and gold. the driver pulls the h…
00:19:59 |
Fri 07 Oct 2005
#28: Birth of San Francisco #1
By the time I arrived, San Francisco was already a city — and had been one for the previous century and a half. But what went on before that time? What was San Francisco before it was San Francisco?
…
00:24:30 |
Fri 30 Sep 2005
#27: Patty Hearst, revolutionary sweetheart
The cool evening of February 4th, 1974. Nineteen-year-old Patricia Hearst, heiress to the Hearst family fortune, was relaxing in a rented apartment on campus with her fiancee. The front door burst op…
00:22:05 |
Fri 23 Sep 2005
#26: Streets of San Francisco #1
As I was riding around town this weekend, I was suddenly struck by a thought: stopped at the intersection of Broadway and Battery Streets, I suddenly wondered to myself: “Broadway? Battery? Where did…
00:21:48 |
Fri 16 Sep 2005
#25: Charles Cora and the 2nd Vigilance Committee
Charles Cora must have been a happy man as he arrived in San Francisco in 1852 with Arabella Ryan on his arm. And why not? He was a professional gambler of the highest reputation, and would have been…
00:15:25 |
Fri 09 Sep 2005
#24: Alcatraz
The very name gives one chills, doesn’t it? On a sunny day it seems almost unbelievable that such a lovely little island could have once been such an menacing symbol of power.
It’s just over a mile …
00:17:55 |
Sat 03 Sep 2005
#23: The Wave Organ
It’s one of San Francisco’s strange and secret treasures, hidden in plain sight at the edge of the Bay. As you stroll along the jetty you suddenly spy the… wait, what is that? A fragment of the ruins…
00:09:55 |
Fri 26 Aug 2005
#22: The China Clipper
I’ve just returned from a short vacation to a distinctly un-San Francisco like location… Hawaii! It took me a little while to come up with a San Francisco connection, but on the flight home I recalle…
00:17:50 |
Sat 20 Aug 2005
#21: Emperor Norton
We’ve had our fair share of peculiar citizens over the last 150 years, but in my judgement none compare to the “Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico”, his excellency Norton the First!…
00:13:35 |
Fri 12 Aug 2005
#20: Fog City
There’s a strange atmospheric phenomenon peculiar to our location halfway up the North-American coastline, something that has shaped the romantic atmosphere of San Francisco since the very moment tha…
00:10:40 |
Fri 05 Aug 2005
#19: The Mission Burrito
After a few days in san francisco, you’ll begin to notice a strange proliferation of fat silvery cylinders sprouting from the hands and faces of the local population. Is it an alien invasion? A new k…
00:12:23 |
Sat 30 Jul 2005
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