San Francisco History Podcast – Sparkletack
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
drafted by the SFist!
25 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Sharp-eyed readers — or should I say “San Francisco blog addicts” — will have noticed the recent appearance of yours truly on ...
buried history
10 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
The buzz over recently exposed timbers of the “King Philip”, a clipper ship which foundered at Ocean Beach in 1878, got me thinking about ...
7×7 san francisco
08 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
“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 trai...
a sparkletack tour of san francisco
04 May 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#60: Starr King and the California Civil War (pt. 2)
27 Apr 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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 Cali...
tour review — ferry building (sf city guides)
12 Apr 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, ...
sparkletack interviewed – VerySpatial podcast
11 Apr 2007
Contributed by Lukas
San Francisco is about to be invaded by geographers! The annual convention of the Association of American Geographers is coming to town, and Jesse Rou...
#59: Starr King and the California Civil War (pt. 1)
09 Apr 2007
Contributed by Lukas
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? Onl...
book review — “River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West”
14 Mar 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’...
mission street railroad graphic
09 Mar 2007
Contributed by Lukas
I have more than a passing interest in transportation and urban infrastructure issues — not because I have any expertise in the subject, mind yo...
#58: The Crocker Spite Fence
21 Feb 2007
Contributed by Lukas
History is rife with bizarre confrontations and grand feuds, but in San Francisco none were more bizarre than the showdown between Charles Crocker (be...
book review — Mark Twain’s “Roughing It”
10 Jan 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’...
tour review — 1906: phoenix rising (sf city guides)
09 Jan 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, ...
sparkletack interrupted… an update
21 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 l...
announcement: sparkletack takes a break
08 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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,...
#57: The Reber Plan for San Francisco Bay
08 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Unsurprisingly, San Francisco’s history includes an amazing number of extremely “creative” plans which seem to us today to be absolu...
#56: Lotta Crabtree — the San Francisco Favourite
30 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#55: Caruso, the Palace, and the 1906 earthquake
16 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s podcast chooses just one of the many thousands of individual stories to emerge from the catastrophe, following the eccentric Italian...
#54: The Notorious Lola Montez
08 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s podcast grapples with the unbelievable legend of Lola Montez, the gorgeous Irish peasant girl with the soul of a grifter and the hea...
Tour Review — Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco
06 Apr 2006
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, ...
#53: The Bella Union and the Barbary Coast
01 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
All sorts of San Francisco legends shared her stage and its Barbary Coast history, among them Oofty Goofty, Big Bertha, Lola Montez, Emperor Norton an...
#52.5: The Trolls of San Francisco
01 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#52: Adolph Sutro, the Populist Millionaire
25 Mar 2006
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s podcast explores the history of the millionaire philanthropist who gave so much to our city and whose story is — amazingly ...
Tour Review — Chinatown Alleyway Tours
22 Mar 2006
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, ...
#51: The Columbarium and the Caretaker
19 Mar 2006
Contributed by Lukas
In an attempt to answer the oft-voiced question "what is that thing, anyway?", in this week’s podcast a visit is finally paid to this su...
#50: The Balclutha and the Chantey Sing
11 Mar 2006
Contributed by Lukas
The Park Service website reads simply "sing traditional working songs aboard a floating vessel." The songs? Sea chanteys. The vessel? A majest...
#49: Sam Clemens and the Celebrated Jumping Frog
04 Mar 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Though the rest of the country thinks of Samuel Langhorne Clemens as a southerner, it was a spell in San Francisco and the wilds of California which t...
#48: Mark Twain and the Great Earthquake of 1865
25 Feb 2006
Contributed by Lukas
By now just about every San Franciscophile has been alerted to the fact that April 18th of this year will mark the centennial of the 1906 earthquake &...
#47: Robert Louis Stevenson — Chinatown Treasure
18 Feb 2006
Contributed by Lukas
San Francisco has a long-standing reputation as a literature-loving town, as evidenced by government statistics ranking us as having the highest per-c...
#46: San Francisco Fortune Cookie
11 Feb 2006
Contributed by Lukas
On a tour of the alleyways of Chinatown last week I learned something that I hadn’t heard before — namely, that the world-famous Chinese f...
#45: Frank Chu Just Shows Up
04 Feb 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Downtown San Francisco on a Tuesday afternoon, and every businessman’s face looks the same. Whatever happened to eccentric and iconic characters...
Thank You!
30 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
San Francisco Magazine for the complimentary review of Sparkletack appearing in the “Snap Judgements” section of the January issue. The Fe...
#44: Moving the Dead — San Francisco Cemeteries
28 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
There are only three cemeteries left within the city limits of San Francisco. Note the phrase carefully: “left” in San Francisco. There we...
#43: San Francisco Motorcycle Club — Since 1904
21 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
Established at the dawn of the century, the San Francisco Motorcycle Club has thrived for over a hundred years.There are plenty of fossils in this tow...
#42: Alexander Leidesdorff — The Black Millionaire
14 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
It was 1841, and like so many of those who have washed up on these shores, then or since, William Alexander Leidesdorff was a man on the run from his ...
#41: The Golden Gate Bridge, a Modest Proposal
07 Jan 2006
Contributed by Lukas
“So what do you think of that beautiful bridge?” I started to say, but she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, an odd, wistful look in he...
#40: Luisa Tetrazzini and Christmas eve
31 Dec 2005
Contributed by Lukas
“I will sing in San Francisco if I have to sing in the streets, for I know that the streets of San Francisco are free.” It was 1910. San F...
#39: The Great Diamond Hoax
17 Dec 2005
Contributed by Lukas
It was 1871. William Ralston had become one of the richest and most powerful men in California, partly on the strength of his shrewd business maneuver...
#38: Rudyard Kipling in San Francisco
10 Dec 2005
Contributed by Lukas
In 1889 this talented young writer, the son of a British colonial schoolteacher and future winner of the Nobel prize for literature, visited San Franc...
#37: Philo T. Farnsworth
03 Dec 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Riding around the chilly streets of San Francisco this week I spotted a bumpersticker that I hadn’t seen for some time: “kill your televis...
#36: Birth of San Francisco #3
26 Nov 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Part three of the pre-history of San Francisco, the early life of the village of Yerba Buena. (if you missed ’em, listen to part one and part tw...
#35: Birth of San Francisco #2
19 Nov 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 annexa...
#34: The San Francisco Twins
12 Nov 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 woul...
#33: Andrew Smith Hallidie — Father of the Cable Car
05 Nov 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#32: Letter from the Gold Rush, 1850
28 Oct 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#31: Carville — A Lost Neighborhood
22 Oct 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#30: Streets of San Francisco #2
15 Oct 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Show number two in the “Streets of San Francisco” series, still walking westwards, one street at a time. Today’s show moves from Pow...
#29: The Legend of Black Bart
07 Oct 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 passen...
#28: Birth of San Francisco #1
30 Sep 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 tim...
#27: Patty Hearst, revolutionary sweetheart
23 Sep 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#26: Streets of San Francisco #1
16 Sep 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#25: Charles Cora and the 2nd Vigilance Committee
09 Sep 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 gambl...
#24: Alcatraz
03 Sep 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 su...
#23: The Wave Organ
26 Aug 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
#22: The China Clipper
20 Aug 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#21: Emperor Norton
12 Aug 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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 Stat...
#20: Fog City
05 Aug 2005
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a strange atmospheric phenomenon peculiar to our location halfway up the North-American coastline, something that has shaped the romanti...
#19: The Mission Burrito
30 Jul 2005
Contributed by Lukas
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...
#18: Firebelle Lil — Elizabeth “Lillie” Coit
22 Jul 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth “Lillie” Hitchcock Coit was one of the prototypically colorful characters of San Francisco history. A daughter of high society, ...
#17: The San Francisco “Conversation”
15 Jul 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody’s having it. at home, at work, on the bus… everywhere in San Francisco the same question… and what are we asking each othe...
#16: San Francisco Pyramid
09 Jul 2005
Contributed by Lukas
What is that THING looming above the San Francisco skyline? Almost a thousand feet tall, covered in stone, with a bright red beacon at the top… ...
#15: The Golden Gate Bridge and Suicide
02 Jul 2005
Contributed by Lukas
The Golden Gate Bridge is the no. 1 suicide landmark in the world. It opened proudly in 1937, but less than two years — and 11 jumpers later ...
#14: The Golden Fire Hydrant of San Francisco
25 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
The “fact” that San Francisco was completely destroyed by the Great Earthquake of 1906 is widely known, of course — but less well kn...
#13: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
19 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
I can clearly remember the first time I saw the wild parrots of San Francisco flying through the air over my neighborhood. I couldn’t believe my...
#12: San Francisco Blue Jeans
15 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Well, I always thought that I knew the story of Levi’s jeans, how the Bavarian Levi Strauss showed up in Gold Rush San Francisco with a ton of h...
#11: Straight Razor Morning
12 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
A nightmare week of computer mayhem and chaos has stimulated the nostalgic, anti-digital-technology side of my brain, and inspired me to talk about my...
#10: The Ruination of Fatty Arbuckle
06 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Think celebrity trials and sensationalist journalism were born yesterday? Think again. The ongoing trial of Michael Jackson has put me in mind of the ...
#9: Schadenfreude and San Francisco High Society
04 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
“Schadenfreude” is a lovely German word that means “the joy we take in observing the misfortunes of others” — more or le...
#8: Corpseflower at San Francisco Conservatory
02 Jun 2005
Contributed by Lukas
What a day! Computer problems got you down? I can personally recommend a trip to visit the super-stinky corpseflower to put things in perspective! It ...
#7: San Francisco Shanghai
27 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Oh, for the life of a sailor in Gold-Rush San Francisco! Those hard-luck men and boys were lucky enough to witness the birth of a brand new wild west ...
#6: Where’s The Food?
25 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
So that’s what San Francisco is missing — good street food! We’ve got some of the greatest restaurants in the world, but for a cheap...
#5: San Francisco Fireworks – On The Air
23 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Fireworks over San Francisco Bay make me feel like a kid again! the annual waterfront “Kaboom” celebration and a little Bay Area radio his...
#4: Steam Beer – The Authentic San Francisco Style
21 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Tonight’s podcast features a special method of German homework avoidance: brew up a batch of beer, breathe in the delicious aroma of malt and ho...
#3: Street Flowers
18 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Spinning junk into art — is a smile returning to the face of San Francisco? I haven’t been carrying my digital camera, just got a couple o...
#2: Dogs In The Pharoah
17 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
San Francisco memories of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, Egyptian architecture, and a dog lovin’ apartment building.
Sparkletack #1
15 May 2005
Contributed by Lukas
Podcast the first…thoughts on the venerated San Francisco tradition of “sidewalk recycling”, and I don’t mean cans and bottles...