San Francisco History Podcast – Sparkletack
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Sparkletack.
16 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
San Francisco history lovers: A notice that’s a bit overdue: I haven’t recorded a podcast for years, now, and the chances that I’ll ...
OldSF.org – Map of the San Francisco Public Library’s Historical Photo Collection
24 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Just received an email from an old contact — and though I’ve not been actively updating Sparkletack, this project is just too fantastic no...
Bimbo’s 365 Club
04 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A couple of days ago, Toby of Bimbo’s 365 Club dropped me a line: “Here at Bimbo’s, we’ve recently stated to scan some of the ...
SepiaTown — a virtual San Francisco
25 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This is awesome. SepiaTown is a brand new website integrating mapping technology with crowd-sourced historical photos to create a virtually strollable...
“Frisco”? I think not.
14 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not because Herb Caen got hot under the collar about it. And yeah, I know it was practically the official name of the City in the decades f...
Lefty O’Doul Hall of Fame Campaign
16 Jan 2010
Contributed by Lukas
For years I’ve said that the enshrinement of San Francisco’s favourite son Francis Joseph “Lefty” O’Doul at Cooperstown ...
Gangs of San Francisco
14 Dec 2009
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been meaning to post about these amazing T-shirts forever. Because they’re — I kid you not — unbearably cool. It’s ...
A map that’s just my type
30 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Ork Posters has created something guaranteed to delight typophiles (that’s me) and San Francisco neighborhood geeks (check) alike. It’s a ...
Lefty O’Doul’s green suit — in color
29 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
In honor of that most noble of American pastimes, a lovely painting inspired by a favourite photo of the great San Francisco character, Lefty O’...
Inspiration! “Secret Histories of San Francisco”
25 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
"Thank you for making such an awesome show. It's really helped me out with this art project I've been working on. I'm in an art show at the San Franci...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 05.18.09
18 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1922: Flappers in the newspapers May 19, 1922 Flappers Right off the bat I have to admit the fact that -- to ...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 05.11.09
11 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:1879: Stoddard, Stevenson, and Rincon Hill Sometime in 1879: The house on Rincon Hill Last week I read to you fr...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 05.04.09
04 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:1854: A future poet's boyhood outing Spring 1854 Charles Warren Stoddard In 1854, the down-on-their-luck Stoddar...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 04.20.09
20 Apr 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:1906: Hotaling's Whiskey is spared by the Great Fire and Earthquake April 20th, 1906 The deliverance of Hotaling's ...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 04.13.09
13 Apr 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:1958: The Giants play the Dodgers in the first major league baseball game on the West Coast April 15, 1958 Major Le...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 04.06.09
06 Apr 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:1871: The fall of a hoodlum king April 9, 1871: A hoodlum king's power is broken, and all because he hated the soun...
The mysterious letter “E”
31 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
I get a lot of history questions here at Sparkletack — some I can handle, but others stump me completely. A few weeks ago, a longtime listener n...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 03.30.09
30 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK’S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:The San Francisco “Cocktail Route” 1890-something The Cocktail Route — “Champagne Days of...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 03.23.09
23 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:Slumming the Barbary Coast 1871 "A Barbary Cruise" I've been thinking about the fact that -- just like our out-o...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 03.09.09
10 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:America's "Master Birdman" makes his final flight March 15, 1915: "The Man Who Owns the Sky" It was the year of ...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 03.02.09
02 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK’S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1956: Gold medals or Gold records? An athletic crooner makes a life-changing choice 1956: “Send blank cont...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 02.23.09
23 Feb 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1852: English adventurer Frank Marryat pays a visit to a San Francisco Gold Rush barbershop. 1852: A Gold Rush ...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 02.16.09
16 Feb 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1921: the cornerstone of the Palace of the Legion of Honor is laid ... but what was underneath? February 19, 1921 ...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 02.09.09
09 Feb 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1869: the fashionable neighborhood of Rincon Hill is sliced in two. February, 1869 The battle for Rincon Hill is...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 02.02.09
02 Feb 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1849: As the fateful year of 1849 begins, a newspaper editor scrutinizes San Francisco's gold rush future. Februa...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 01.26.09
26 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1847: Thanks to a Spanish noblewoman and the quick thinking of Yerba Buena's first American alcalde, San Francisco get...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 01.19.09
19 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1890: Nellie Bly blows through town; 1897: "Little Pete" (the King of Chinatown) is murdered in a barbershop. J...
San Francisco Timecapsule: 01.12.09
12 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT: 1861: the notorious countess Lola Montez dies in New York; 1899: a small boy defends himself in a San Francisco courtr...
Emperor Norton Day: “Le Roi est Mort”
09 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Emperor Norton Day One hundred and twenty-nine years ago today, the Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico crumpled in front ...
Sparkletack Interview: Amateur Traveler Podcast transcript!
06 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
As I mentioned here recently, a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of goofing around with Chris Christensen from the Amateur Traveler podcast....
San Francisco Timecapsule: 01.05.09
05 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK: San Francisco's notorious "Demon of the Belfry" goes to the gallows. January 7, 1898: The execution of Gilded Age San Francisco's mos...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, December 22-31
22 Dec 2008
Contributed by Lukas
THIS WEEK: the fiery fate of the first Cliff House, and the case of a parrot who would not sing. Click the audio player above to listen in, or just re...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, December 15-21
15 Dec 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. THIS WEEK:a couple of ite...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, December 8-14
08 Dec 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. THIS WEEK: a hanging from...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, December 1-7
01 Dec 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. THIS WEEK: In 1856, the b...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, November 24-30
24 Nov 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. November 24, 189...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, November 17-23
17 Nov 2008
Contributed by Lukas
" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to "read on ...
Zoe the Pirate returns to Treasure Island
13 Nov 2008
Contributed by Lukas
Since writing and recording the (epic!) Sparkletack two-podcast series on the history of Treasure Island, Anne Schnoebeln Schnoebelen of the Treasure ...
Sparkletack Interview: Amateur Traveler Podcast
11 Nov 2008
Contributed by Lukas
In which I am interviewed by the capable Chris Christensen of the Amateur Traveler podcast -- a wonderful show devoted to travel and travel storie...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, November 10-16
10 Nov 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. November 10, 184...
San Francisco toothpick contraption, 35 YEARS in the making
04 Nov 2008
Contributed by Lukas
The obsessions that San Francisco provokes are a clear measure of the city’s seductively nutty power. This video takes the biscuit; a Rube Goldb...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, November 3-9
03 Nov 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. November 7, 1595...
Timecapsule podcast: San Francisco, October 27-November 2
27 Oct 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. October 28, 1881...
Timecapsule podcast — San Francisco, October 20-26
20 Oct 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. October 24, 1861...
Timecapsule podcast — San Francisco, October 13-19
13 Oct 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. October 18, 1851 ...
Timecapsule podcast — San Francisco, October 6-12
06 Oct 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. October 9, 1776 ...
Timecapsule podcast — San Francisco, September 29-October 5
29 Sep 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A weekly handful of weird, wonderful and wacky happenings dredged up from the kaleidoscopic depths of San Francisco history. October 1, 1938 ...
Timecapsule podcast — San Francisco, September 22-28
22 Sep 2008
Contributed by Lukas
September 24, 1855 The preserved head of Joaquin Murieta and the hand of Three-Fingered Jack were sold at auction today to settle their owner's...
Something new: weekly Time-capsule podcast, September 15-21
18 Sep 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A little explanation is in order So. The schedule of Sparkletack production has fallen off a bit during the past year, and for that I apologize. I ...
Lana Turner — a San Francisco noir
15 Sep 2008
Contributed by Lukas
Yet another one for the "there's always a San Francisco angle" files ... Years before the discovery of the platinum haired Lana Turner at a H...
Sunset neighborhood — televised history tour
28 Aug 2008
Contributed by Lukas
The ubiquitous and erudite Woody LaBounty of the Western Neighborhood Project takes Brian Hackney of CBS Channel 5 on a televised history tour of his ...
Vintage snapshots of San Francisco pt. 2: Google-mapped
18 Aug 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A couple days after I passed on this alert to the amazing Charles Cushman photo collection, another reader immediately saw possibilities for this care...
Faded time capsule — vintage snapshots of San Francisco
13 Aug 2008
Contributed by Lukas
A reader alerted me to an amazing post that just popped up over at Laughing Squid. See the two photos below? The first comes from an online collect...
Kitchen Sisters on NPR: “Birth of Rice-A-Roni”
08 Aug 2008
Contributed by Lukas
1940s San Francisco. A young Canadian immigrant and her Italian pasta family husband move into the spare room of an old Armenian woman. The res...
Grandpa’s archives: San Francisco Chronicle aerial photo ca. 1949
01 Aug 2008
Contributed by Lukas
My mother called a few days ago, opening the conversation with a breathless "I think I've found something that might interest you!" She was right. ...
SFWeekly: “Nonconformity Still Reigns”
02 Jul 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Bullitt: the greatest car chase ever (from space!)
01 Jul 2008
Contributed by Lukas
This video takes Bullitt about ten steps further. It's a side-by-side display that -- through the techno-wizardry of geocoding -- shows the chase scen...
book review: Oakley Hall’s “Ambrose Bierce Mystery Novels”
20 Jun 2008
Contributed by Lukas
An inordinate number of my youthful hours were spent in the company of the mystery novel; Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy L. Sayers ......
And I quote: “Buried Treasure in San Francisco?”
12 Jun 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
book review — “Historic Photos of San Francisco”
26 May 2008
Contributed by Lukas
I read a lot of books on San Francisco and California history. And though these posts are labeled “book reviews”, the only books you’...
SFist: “A Jitney Elopement” — Charlie Chaplin’s San Francisco film
30 Apr 2008
Contributed by Lukas
File this — again — under “there’s ALWAYS a San Francisco connection”. A reader recently alerted me to the fact that Cha...
Pacifica is back!
11 Apr 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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 go...
sparkletack facebook group
08 Apr 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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...
tour review — san francisco ghost walk
06 Apr 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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...
san francisco steam coffee?
21 Mar 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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...
sparkletack reviewed by “San Francisco City Guides”
16 Mar 2008
Contributed by Lukas
Sparkletack is featured in this month’s “Guidelines”, the newsletter of the non-profit San Francisco City Guides. You know about the...
SFist — “not even jackassable”
14 Mar 2008
Contributed by Lukas
The latest from my little column over at the SFist: “Not Even Jackassable” We perused the recent SFist post about the pitiable state of Sa...
1907 harrison street mainline — photographic google map
25 Feb 2008
Contributed by Lukas
It’s my favourite thing, finding physical evidence of times past in the landscape of contemporary San Francisco. That’s why I was delighte...
SFist — whiskerless waiters at the palace hotel
19 Feb 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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 whi...
book review — “The Bottle Imp”
15 Feb 2008
Contributed by Lukas
I read a lot of books on San Francisco and California history. And though these posts are labeled “book reviews”, the only books you’...
The fog rolls in — 24 hours in 144 seconds
12 Feb 2008
Contributed by Lukas
This is spectacular. Twenty-four hours of San Francisco are compressed into less than three minutes of time-lapse video, gorgeously captured from the ...
#66: Alma de Bretteville Spreckels
03 Feb 2008
Contributed by Lukas
It’s one of San Francisco’s best-loved monuments — the figure of a heartbreakingly beautiful girl balancing lightly atop a granite c...
SFist — “Leg Bones for Baseball Bats”
24 Jan 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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...
tour review — victorian home walk
05 Jan 2008
Contributed by Lukas
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...
SFist — tippling with kipling, san francisco 1889
05 Dec 2007
Contributed by Lukas
The 74th anniversary of “Repeal Day”, the end of Prohibition in the United States provided the inspiration for this entry. Tippling with K...
“the good herb” — yerba buena
01 Dec 2007
Contributed by Lukas
San Francisco is following me around. You know what I mean — it probably happens to you too: wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, some...
SFist — san francisco, “the paris of the west”
26 Nov 2007
Contributed by Lukas
This meandering SFist entry was inspired by an email from a listener. Royce recalled hearing those evocative words in some episode or another, and jus...
the winnah and undisputed champeen
15 Nov 2007
Contributed by Lukas
The results of the Sparkletack “favourite episode poll” are in! Okay, they’ve been in for a month already — but it isn’t...
’39 world’s fair butterfly
10 Nov 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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 w...
screwball time-traveling noir: the bay time detective
17 Oct 2007
Contributed by Lukas
An email showed up last week which I found impossible to overlook, beginning as it did with the words “Hail, Sparkletack!” Clearly a write...
love letter — san francisco history center
08 Oct 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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 ap...
#65: Memories of an Argonaut
25 Sep 2007
Contributed by Lukas
To many of the thousands of gold-seekers pouring through the Golden Gate back in 1849, the word “Argonaut” was already a familiar one, dra...
book review — “Treasure Island; San Francisco’s Exhibition Years”
22 Sep 2007
Contributed by Lukas
I read a lot of books on San Francisco and California history. And though these posts are labeled “book reviews”, the only books you’...
1938 san francisco street map
28 Aug 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
#64: San Francisco’s Treasure Island (pt. 2)
27 Aug 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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...
“story of treasure island” transcript online
24 Aug 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Transcripts for Sparkletack’s 2-part “Story of Treasure Island” podcast series are now online at the website of the upcoming Treasur...
SFist — anniversary of a flesh wound
22 Aug 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Number 6 in the new series of Sparkletack posts on SFist.com, San Francisco’s collaborative urban blogging project. Anniversary of a Flesh Wound...
poll: choose your favourite sparkletack episode!
05 Aug 2007
Contributed by Lukas
An amazing 63 episodes of Sparkletack have floated out into the digital ether so far — 64 if you count the infamous “Trolls” episode...
#63: San Francisco’s Treasure Island (pt. 1)
05 Aug 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Treasure Island is easily visible from San Francisco’s Embarcadero, a low-lying front porch jutting out towards the Golden Gate from Yerba Buena...
“mr. summers’ 1941 vacation” — prelinger archive
17 Jul 2007
Contributed by Lukas
I’m addicted to the “moving images” section of the Internet Archive — particularly the Prelinger Archives, recently absorbed i...
book review — “San Francisco Almanac”
02 Jul 2007
Contributed by Lukas
I read a lot of books on San Francisco and California history. And though these posts are labeled “book reviews”, the only books you’...
SFist — mark twain torched lake tahoe?
29 Jun 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#62: Samuel Holladay, Pioneer Squatter of Lafayette Park
22 Jun 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
SFist — island for sale…
20 Jun 2007
Contributed by Lukas
The re-post of #4 in the new series of pieces for the SFist, San Francisco’s collaborative urban blogging project. nugget o’ history ̵...
SFist — sands-can-drift-so
11 Jun 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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 pr...
vintage san francisco maps — on the cheap!
08 Jun 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
tour review – pacific heights (sf architectural heritage)
05 Jun 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
SFist — at least today they’re being shot with cameras
30 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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 blogg...
7×7 san francisco — on the newstands now
30 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Well, the promised 7×7 interview has finally hit the streets. It’s a disconcerting experience to read one’s spoken words in print, es...
#61: Lefty O’Doul — The Man in the Green Suit
28 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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...