In San Francisco, neighborhoods make a name for themselves
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Kevin Fisher-Paulson and his dog Queenie pose in front of a mural at Cordova Market & Deli in San Francisco.Courtesy Kevin Fisher-PaulsonShow MoreShow Less
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Detail from the “A Neighborhood Inspired by History and Champions” mural.Courtesy Kevin Fisher-PaulsonShow MoreShow Less
On a recent sunny and windy Wednesday, I had a lunch date with retired Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik at the Boulangerie. I write this not only because it gives me the chance to name-drop, but because she told me to meet her at the “Octavia Green.”
The part of me that is male refused to ask for directions. But other than a guess that it was near Octavia Street, I had no clue where to go.
April 28, 1869
On this day in 1869, eight Irish laborers joined forces with a group of Chinese laborers to lay ten miles and fifty-six feet of track in under twelve hours for the Central Pacific Railroad company. It was a record in track-laying never to be equalled. The feat was the result of an ongoing rivalry between the Union Pacific and Charles Crocker’s Central Pacific. Each rail handler lifted approximately 125 tons of iron during the day. A few days later, the workmen rode in a wagon as part of Sacramento’s railroad celebration, while onlookers threw them flowers.
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The story of the creation of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Streetwise - Birth of a Bridge
by Frank Dunnigan Frank Dunnigan, WNP member and columnist. -
From the mid-1840s, when Captain John Fremont declared California’s independence from Mexico, local land speculators were eyeing the hills of today s Marin County, and wondering just how the area could be linked to the community of Yerba Buena, as San Francisco was then known for both public and personal benefit. A bridge was the ideal solution, but the swift currents and the depth of the waters at the entrance to San Francisco Bay, along with other factors, presented insurmountable challenges for decades.
(Gabe Meline/KQED)
When you re stuck in the tiny, old-fashioned elevator of the Lan Mart building, no one can hear you scream.
Upstairs at the Lan Mart.
(Gabe Meline/KQED)
Anne Bishop the owner of Pilates With Anne on the second floor discovered this a few years ago, on her way to teach a class. Because her pilates studio wraps around the elevator shaft, and she knew she had a room full of students waiting for her, Bishop, on realizing the elevator was jammed, called out for assistance. Despite being separated by only a single door, not one person on the other side heard her. I couldn t believe they couldn t hear me yelling! she recalls now.