First House of Sea Cliff
by Florence Holub
Noe Valley Voice, in Florence s Family Album - From the Ashes of 1906 , April 2001)
Every April, many of us dwell upon a terrible disaster (besides our tax returns): the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906. The 65-second temblor struck our fair city in the early hours of Wednesday, April 18. The raging fire that followed left four square miles of destruction.
Although my family, in Idaho at the time, had little knowledge of the event, our late friend Phoebe Brown and her family lived through the disaster and dealt with it bravely. The Brown family lived in a lovely, well-appointed home on Van Ness Avenue. After the powerful jolt struck -it was later determined to be 8.0 on the Richter Scale -the Browns house was still standing, but listing to the rear. All its contents the furniture, china, portraits -had been thrown to the floor and shattered. But luckily, none of the family members was harmed.
All Outside Lands News
January 2007 - Lafayette Elementary School, old and new, and a Then and Now look at 38th and Balboa. We pay some attention to the architectural gems of the Sunset, starting with Pinehurst Lodge and the Trocadero Inn.
November 2006 - John Freeman tells us about the Richmond district s Beer Town, a Then and Now look at 20th and Taraval, and pages for Parkside markets past and present: 22nd and Taraval, 555 Taraval (16th Avenue Foods), and 1201 Vicente (Pinelake Market). Plus, Alamo Elementary School.
October 2006 - St. Paul s Presbyterian Church in the Oceanside is 100 years old (check out the old basketball photos!) and Argonne School photos. (Did you know the first idea for a name was Park-Presidio School?)