On the weekend of September 25-27, 2020, San Francisco History Days presented a curated selection of:

1. Virtual Presentations: hosted via Zoom or Twitch, approximately 30-60 minutes in duration.
2. Author Talks: informal Q&A sessions with historians who have published works within the last year, approximately 30 minutes in duration.
3. Guided Tours: virtually highlighting exhibitions, locations not accessible to the public; and exploring neighborhoods by theme and in-person.
4. Featured Events: city-wide and world premiere offerings you can visit it in-person at participating locations or see for the first time at San Francisco History Days 2020.

Click on the hyperlinked names of exhibitors, speakers, sponsors, tour guides, authors, and artists to see more featured fun on their individual San Francisco History Days Participants and Authors + Artists page

Friday, September 25, 2020

9:00AM to 3:00PM – (In-Person) Building Tour with the Marines’ Memorial Foundation

Owned and operated by the Marines’ Memorial Association, a 501(c) (19) Veterans Non-Profit Organization, Marines’ Memorial Club is the first ever “Living Memorial” in the United States, offering historic exhibits featuring American military history from all eras, and a library and museum with artifacts and books donated by grateful members, Veterans and their families.

Visit the Marines’ Memorial at 609 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA, 94102 l between 9:00AM and 3:00PM for a self-guided tour of the building. They will have staff stationed in the Lobby of the Marines’ Memorial, passing out tour brochures and answering questions before you browse the 12 floors of the Living Memorial at your own pace.

This free event was part of San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Please email development@marinesmemorial.org to schedule a future appointment.

10:00AM – (Virtual) Celebrating SF History Days–Academy Style with California Academy of Sciences

Incredible photos! Amazing history! Specimens galore! In this extra-special, San Francisco History Days-themed program, Head Librarian Rebekah Kim will talk about the earliest days of the Academy; Research Collections Registrar Lindsay Palaima will cover the history of African Hall (from the original dioramas to its use as a WWII optics shop); and collections managers from our botany, entomology, geology, ichthyology, and anthropology departments (and more!) will show a lineup of incredible specimens connected to the natural—and cultural—history of San Francisco. Don’t miss it!

Saturday, September 26, 2020

All Day – (In-Person) New Self-Guided Walking Tour of Pacific Heights with San Francisco Heritage

10:00AM – (Virtual) The Presidio of San Francisco: From Spanish Colonial Outpost to National Park with the Presidio Historical Association

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

10:30AM – (Virtual) Emperor Norton Live! The Ruler Who Decreed Treasure Island with the Treasure Island Museum

Almost 70 years before Treasure Island was built, its construction was mandated by an imperial proclamation.

The royal in question was, of course, San Francisco’s favorite eccentric, Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. His August 1869 decree also required the building of the Bay Bridge.

In this lecture, Emperor Norton himself, as famously portrayed by Joseph Amster, will employ a magic lantern (ok, PowerPoint) to present his life and times, with special emphasis on his connection to Yerba Buena and Treasure Islands.

You will learn about Emperor Norton—the man and the myth, his rise and fortune, how he lost everything and became the Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, how San Francisco embraced his Imperial reign, the truth about Bummer and Lazarus, The Widow Norton, Norton’s relationship to the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, his death and burial, and much more.

Speaker: Joseph Amster is a tour guide, journalist, historian, California native, and resident of San Francisco on and off since the ‘70s. He has he worked as editor of the Orange County Blade and IN Los Angeles magazines, and as a cook at San Francisco’s legendary Salmagundi restaurant. He is a board member of the San Francisco History Association and E Clampus Vitus Yerba Buena Chapter 1, and a co-founder of the Emperor Norton Legacy League. He and husband Rick Shelton founded Time Machine Tours, which offers Emperor Norton and other tours, and does lectures, weddings, and special events.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Upcoming Lectures page on their website or join their Email List to learn about future programs. 

10:30AM – (In-Person) Golden Gate Park East with San Francisco City Guides

It was the 1860s, and everyone had heard about New York City’s Central Park — a spacious plot of green that contrasted sharply with the metallic landscape beyond. To recreate such a space in San Francisco, city officials looked west, where the unincorporated Outside Lands lied dormant and unused. By the turn of the century, Golden Gate Park had developed into an enormous playground for a recreation-starved city, earning its nickname as the “Lungs of San Francisco”.

Extending from the Conservatory of Flowers to the Music Concourse, the East End is home to sites both historically significant and contemporarily beautiful — including AIDS Grove, the Shakespeare Garden, Children’s Playground and the Music Concourse. We’ll also take a trip (optional, but encouraged) to the De Young Museum’s tower for a panoramic view of the park. Breathe deep and enjoy a natural oasis on the Pacific.

This free event was staged in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco City Guides website to sign up for future tours. 

11:00AM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Alexander Tarr

Join us for an informal, 30-minute “Ask an Author” Q&A session with Alexander Tarr, co-author of A People’s Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Alexander Tarr is Assistant Professor of Geography at Worcester State University. His research, writing, and cartography examine the development of cities, food politics, and digital culture. His work, co-authored with Rachel Bahinsky, is an alternative history and geography of the Bay Area that highlights sites of oppression, resistance, and transformation.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

11:00AM – (In-Person) Green City Gardens with Planet Drum Foundation

As one of our few Participating Locations for San Francisco History Days 2020, you can join Planet Drum Foundation in identifying native plants and replacing name plates in their gardens at  Harper and 30th Streets. You can also visit this location for self-guided tours of the Sidewalk Gardens all weekend.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Event Calendar on the Planet Drum Foundation website for future programs. 

11:00AM – (Virtual) A Tale of Two Connected Sites with The Presidio Trust

Join John Bertland, Presidio Trust Digital Librarian, for a presentation on the history of two connected sites on the northern edge of the Presidio where the Partnership for the Presidio – the Presidio Trust, the Golden Gate NRA, and the Golden Gate Parks Conservancy – is currently engaged in major ecological restoration and development projects. Learn about Quartermaster Reach and the latest stage in the daylighting of Tennessee Hollow, which will connect the creek to Crissy Marsh and which will be completed later this year. Bertrand will also explore the site next to it which features the much anticipated Tunnel Tops project, 14 new acres of parkland over the recently reconstructed Doyle Drive and which will connect the Main Post to Crissy Field.

While quartermaster logistical support has been a major theme in the history of both areas, they have been the sites (or very near the sites) of a wide variety of functions including the Ohlone village of Petlenuc, gardens, a target range, the principal route from the Main Post to the main wharf (non-extant), hospital buildings including an isolation ward, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a place to watch air shows, Doyle Drive, Women’s Army Corps barracks, and a Burger King.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

11:00AM – 3:00PM – (In-Person) Self-Guided Tour of Treasure Island with the Treasure Island Museum

Staff from the Treasure Island Museum they will be tabling in front of Building One on the island where you can collect a self-guided history tour pamphlet. You can also access this map online.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Upcoming Lectures page on their website or join their Email List to learn about future programs. 

12:00PM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Lincoln Mitchell

Join us for an informal, 30-minute “Ask an Author” Q&A session with Lincoln Mitchell, author of San Francisco Year Zero: Political Upheaval, Punk Rock and a Third-Place Baseball Team.

Lincoln Mitchell is a writer and professor who grew up in San Francisco and now lives in New York City where he teaches in the political science department at Columbia University. San Francisco Year Zero is his sixth book. Lincoln writes primarily on American politics and foreign policy, baseball and San Francisco, but rarely in the same piece. He has been widely published in American and European journals, newspapers and other media. Lincoln has been a Giants fan since the mid-1970s.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over.

12:00PM – (In-Person) Black Point and Fort Mason with Shaping San Francisco

Thank you, San Francisco History Days 2020 attendees! This event was so popular that registration is now closed. 

We traverse the grounds of the old military base and discover histories of farms, soldiers, abolitionists, and a lost lagoon. From the Fontana Towers to Aquatic Park we discuss urban development, ecology, slavery, World’s Fairs, and militarism.
Led by Chris Carlsson and LisaRuth Elliott

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days and is now over. Visit the Shaping San Francisco website for a listing of future programs. 

12:00PM – (Virtual) Diversity and Inclusion in Public Spaces: African American Artist Sargent Johnson at the San Francisco Maritime Museum with San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

Join us for a San Francisco History Days exclusive tour of the San Francisco Maritime Museum led by Park Guide Alvin Riveras focused on the artist Sargent Johnson.

Sargent Claude Johnson was one of only two African American artists employed by the Works Progress Administration in California. His artwork in the Maritime Museum reflects a fusion of American and traditional African cultures. Discover how he portrays and elevates a positive identity for African Americans through his art in 1930’s America – a time when such representation would not have been visible.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

1:00PM – (Virtual) Legacy of the Glen Park Curve: 250 Years of Transit History in the I-280 Corridor with Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project

Join Glen Park historian Evelyn Rose, Director of the Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project, as we recall a major route of our local transit history. There have been many changes in the Glen Park-Sunnyside-Fairmount district over the past 200 years yet a familiar and recognizable curve in the road has persisted. We’ll discuss the earliest traces and trails, including the El Camino Real, that would lead to the San Francisco-San Jose Rail Road, later the Southern Pacific; the city’s first electric route, the San Francisco-San Mateo Electric Railway; the Geneva Car Barns that later became the MUNI yards; the construction of Interstate 280; and finally, the Bay Area Rapid Transit System.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Events Page on the Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project website for future programs. 

1:00PM – (Virtual) Revealing San Francisco’s Hidden 19th-Century Black History: A Tour of California Historical Society Artifacts with the Institute for Historical Study

Co-sponsored by the California Historical Society and the California African American Museum

Join Susan D. Anderson, history curator of the California African American Museum, for a talk and tour of artifacts that reveal the hidden history of San Francisco’s 19th-century African American past. Anderson’s talk begins with the Gold Rush and weaves the state’s raucous beginnings into the national narrative.

The photographs, manuscripts, and publications in this presentation allow viewers to experience the urgency of early campaigns for civil rights and the fervent hopes of the African American community. Learn about the beloved ship’s captain who has a street named for him in West Oakland. Hear a Civil War poem by a distinguished Black poet and friend of John Brown proclaimed in public in 1864 San Francisco. See court documents of the lawsuit brought to challenge discrimination on streetcars 90 years before Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

This presentation proves that California history is more challenging, complicated, and fascinating than we’ve been taught. Hosted and co-sponsored by the Institute for Historical Study, co-sponosred by the California Historical Society and the California African American Museum.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco History Days Facebook to see a recording of this lecture, as well as the Public Programs Page on the Institute for Historical Study website and the Programs Page on the California African American Museum website. 

1:00PM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Matthew Booker

Join us for an informal, 30-minute “Ask an Author” Q&A session with Matthew Booker, author of Down by the Bay: San Francisco’s History Between the Tides. This is the first environmental history of San Francisco Bay. It treats the area as both a natural and a human space; as both estuary and city.

Born in Berkeley, Matthew Booker was raised in rural western Sonoma County. He taught environmental history at North Carolina State University for sixteen years, before joining the National Humanities Center in July 2020 as its Vice President for Scholarly Programs.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

1:00PM – (In-Person) Boots to Books Literary Walking Tour with Bikes to Books

Finally a tour for all the folks who have told the Bikes to Books founders “I’d love to come, but I just don’t bike.” This one-mile stroll through literary North Beach visits some of our favorite Bikes to Books locations and authors and a bunch of new ones, visiting over sixty years of literary history in a two-hour tour. All participants get a complementary copy of our companion sixteen-page minizine (and we’ll show folks how to fold them as well!)

In 1988, twelve streets were renamed for artists and authors who’d once called San Francisco their home, on a proposal from City Lights Books founder, and former SF Poet Laureate, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. In 2013, the Bikes to Books literary history bicycling tour and mapping project was born, co-created by Nicole Gluckstern and Burrito Justice. In 2019 we made our first SF History Days appearance, and also debuted our Boots to Books walking tour. We’re excited for the opportunity to combine the two this year and hope you’ll join us!

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. You can find upcoming Bikes to Books events through Burrito Justice. 

1:00PM – (In-Person) The Presidio with San Francisco City Guides 

From Spain, to Mexico, to the United States — The Presidio has been home to more militaries than almost any other fortress in America. And for good reason: it’s a sprawling, fortified estate strategically located at the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula. During the Spanish-American War, it was where America’s troops were trained and shipped across the Pacific. A decade later, it would be an oasis for earthquake survivors, housing refugees and coordinating rescue efforts.

Lawmakers transformed the space into a National Park in 1996, and since then the Presidio has become one of the greatest (and greenest) places to explore in all of San Francisco. Join us on a walk through San Francisco’s panoramic, luscious park, with wooded areas and scenic views as far as the eye can see.

This free event was staged in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco City Guides website to sign up for future tours. 

1:30PM – (In-Person) 1850’s Paris of the Pacific with San Francisco City Guides

Everyone in France heard the rumors. Or saw the news reports “of gold mines…fabulous riches awaiting only the hands of miners to be picked up.” Some packed their bags and set off for California. These French left their mark on the culture of the booming city. The French influenced society, especially in food and fashion. Without them, it’s hard to imagine San Francisco becoming our sophisticated, cosmopolitan metropolis.

We will walk through the heart of Gold Rush San Francisco and learn the stories of some of the thousands of French who influenced the City’s development with restaurants, bakeries, shops, laundries, banks and bordellos. From the Gold Rush to today, San Francisco has been the “Paris of the Pacific!”

This free event was staged in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco City Guides website to sign up for future tours. 

2:00PM – (Virtual) Treasure Island: Build It and They Will Come – Organized Labor at the Golden Gate International Exposition with The Living New Deal

From the first scoops of mud to the final coat of paint applied to the buildings of the Golden Gate International Exposition, organized labor was there. Join Harvey Smith, Project Advisor for the Living New Deal and author of “Berkeley and the New Deal” for a presentation discussing the contributions of organized labor to the creation of Treasure Island, and the construction of the courts and palaces of the exposition, where Labor Day was honored in both 1939 and 1940 with special ceremonies. Over half the cost of the World’s Fair was contributed by the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Events Page on The Living New Deal website for future programs. 

2:00PM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Robert Barde + Pat Cunneen

Join us for an informal, 30-minute “Ask an Author” Q&A session with Bob Barde and Pat Cunneen, co-authors of South End: Sport and Community at the Dock of the Bay.

Bob Barde is the retired Deputy Director of the Institute of Business and Economic Research at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also Executive Director of the Experimental Social Science Laboratory (aka Xlab). He has written on immigration and public health for a number of scholarly journals and even has a little piece on maritime history for Sea History.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over.

2:00PM – (In-Person) Japantown with San Francisco City Guides

In the late 1800’s, what is now known as San Francisco’s Japantown hosted a vibrant Jewish community, as the sites of three present or former synagogues attest. Japantown per se dates from the earthquake and fire of 1906. During World War II, Japanese American residents were sent to internment camps and replaced largely by African Americans, whose thriving businesses included many jazz clubs. Beginning in the 1950’s, a decades-long urban renewal project reshaped both the neighborhood’s population and its physical landscape. Today we see classic Victorians next to Japanese-style architecture, as well as the ghosts of historic jazz clubs replaced by modern structures of glass and steel.

This free event was staged in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco City Guides website to sign up for future tours. 

3:00PM – (Virtual) Libraries of the Barbary Coast, 1848-1879 with Mechanics’ Institute

San Francisco since its birth has been a literary town. The thousands of people who came to California during the Gold Rush were voracious readers – eager to catch up on the news of the day and to while away the time between shifts in the gold fields with a good book. While many were as simple as a bookshelf of titles in a boarding house; there was a great need for true libraries (with their own building, an organized collection of books, and a staff) to serve the needs of the city’s growing population. In this illustrated lecture, librarian Taryn Edwards will describe the importance of these early libraries as centers for information (i.e. where the best gold diggin’s were), self-guided education, camaraderie, and social change.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Mechanics’ Institute Events Page for future programs and their San Francisco History Days exhibitor page for recordings of other programs held that weekend.

3:00PM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Paul Bignardi

Join us for an informal, 30-minute “Ask an Author” Q&A session with Paul Bignardi, author of A Fleet History of the San Francisco Municipal Railway.

Paul Bignardi was born in San Francisco and grew up in South San Francisco, San Bruno and Daly City.  He spent a lot of time in The City while growing up, including riding all types of Muni transit vehicles.  He graduated from S.F State University with BA degrees in Political Science and History, an MPA, and with a JD from UC-Hastings Law.  He has worked for over 24 years in Transit Planning at AC Transit, the National Park Service, and 14 years at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA – current parent agency of Muni).

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

4:00PM – (Virtual) Press, Bindery, and Foundry Tour with The Arion Press

Take a guided tour of the nation’s oldest and largest type foundry located in the Presidio of San Francisco. Designated an “irreplaceable cultural treasure” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Mackenzie & Harris was established with demonstration Monotype machines from the Panama Pacific International Exposition’s Palace of Machinery. These have been preserved as part of the historic foundry, still in operation on a full-time basis, where handset and composition “hot metal” type is manufactured for the Arion Press and other letterpress customers.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Upcoming Events Page on The Arion Press website to find future programs. 

5:00PM – (Virtual) The Two Browns of San Francisco: Conversations with Jerry Brown and Willie Brown with the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley

In this presentation, OHC Director Martin Meeker and OHC Historian Todd Holmes discuss their oral histories with Governor Jerry Brown and Mayor Willie Brown. One a San Francisco native, the other a migrant who made the city his lifelong home, both Browns became political icons and left indelible imprints on the state of California. Here Meeker and Holmes feature segments of their recorded oral histories on their lives in San Francisco.

Visit the Oral History Center’s San Francisco History Days 2020 Home Page for more on the City’s history, the OHC, and the Center’s collection at the Bancroft Library.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

6:00PM – (Virtual) Film Screening: San Francisco Cable Cars with November Fire

Join filmmaker Strephon Taylor for a screening of his documentary, San Francisco Cable Cars (2017), after which he’ll provide a Q&A session.

Before our modern transportation systems, cities in the United States were about as large across as the distance a person could walk. As technology advanced after the Civil War, the horse-bus became the preferred method of transportation and cities began becoming larger. After witnessing a horsecar accident that resulted in the destruction of the animals, Andrew Smith Hallidie, a San Francisco resident, put his knowledge of Gold Rush ore mining using steel rope into use with the very first steam driven public transportation system. On Clay Street in 1873, the first cable car was successfully put into action and began our ride through history. Hallidie’s inspiration would soon become the transport for the country and the rest of the world. The 1906 earthquake and fire nearly ended its use, as did its consolidation and bribes to city politicians. Finally, it took the leadership of a woman to save the last working lines in the world from a city seemingly resigned to live without its historic transport. Ride along on the ropes with historians and the people who still work with the cars everyday. At over 140 years old, the San Francisco Cable Cars are a moving monument, a snapshot of nearly lost technology, a romance story, and the very heart of The City.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

6:45PM – (Virtual) Tenderloin Neon + Matchbooks SF with San Francisco Neon and the Tenderloin Museum

Follow a historic trail via neon and matchbooks on an online journey with hosts Katie Conry from the Tenderloin Museum with Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon. You’ll see stunning visuals of vintage match books and neon signs from the nightclubs, hotels, and late-night greasy spoons that formed the Tenderloin’s mid-century nightscape. Just like matchbooks, historic neon signs are a fascinating synecdoche of the small businesses they represent, and a window to the past explored through material culture. Tour includes iconic businesses remembered vividly through vintage ephemera, video clips, and historic photographs.

This free event was presented in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Tenderloin Museum’s Public Programs Page and San Francisco Neon’s Events Page for future programs.

Sunday, September 27, 2020

All Day – (In-Person) Self-Guided Walking Tour of Chinatown with the San Francisco Historical Society

10:00AM – (Virtual) The 49 Mile Scenic Drive with Walking San Francisco

Come celebrate San Francisco’s famous, 80-year-old, 49-mile loop trail around the city (and its totally cool pop icon, the seagull sign) during this fun, lively, history-packed virtual tour by the authors of “Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive.”

You’ll hear stories of San Francisco heroes and villains, from Crocker’s Spite Fence to the Freeway Revolt heroes; the origin of the “Drive” at the 1939-1940 Golden Gate International Exposition; about hidden gems such as the Warrior statue under the 101 freeway and lesser known tales of the Broderick-Terry duel site, buffalo soldiers in the Philippines, and more. Additional quizzes and sing-a-longs are fun for the whole family.

These are the authors who inspired the ongoing challenge to WALK the drive in one year, and whom the San Francisco Chronicle hailed as the “foremost experts on the Drive.” You won’t want to miss this excursion available from the comfort of your own homes.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Author Events Page on the Walking San Francisco’s 49 Mile Scenic Drive website for future programs.

11:00AM – (In-Person) Green City Gardens with the Planet Drum Foundation

As one of our few Participating Locations for San Francisco History Days 2020, Planet Drum is hosting renewing the native plant identification tags at their Green City Gardens located at Harper and 30th Streets on Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 11am. The gardens are available for self guided explorations after the tags are replaced on Saturday and all day Sunday.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Event Calendar on the Planet Drum Foundation website for future programs. 

11:00AM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Anne Evers Hitz

Join us for an informal “Ask an Author” session with Anne Evers Hitz, author of Lost Department Stores of San Francisco: Six Bygone Stores That Defined an Era (History Press, 2017) as well as Emporium Department Store (Arcadia, 2014) and San Francisco’s Ferry Building (Arcadia, 2017). Hitz is a proud fifth-generation San Franciscan with a long interest in San Francisco history, its lores and legends.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the author’s Speaking Page for future programs. 

11:00AM – (Virtual) Mining the Archives: Primary Sources from the California Gold Rush with the Society of California Pioneers

Designed to support remote learning, this program introduces open-access resources for students, teachers, and armchair historians. Featuring artifacts and manuscripts from the collection amassed and maintained by The Society of California Pioneers since 1850, these online portals offer primary sources that separate fact from fiction.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

11:00AM – (In-Person) Haight-Ashbury with San Francisco City Guides

It’s 1967 and the sun is shining on San Francisco. You’re walking through the Haight-Ashbury, weaving through groups of long-haired kids smoking joints and laughing. As you pass the legendary Straight Theater, you hear Jerry Garcia and the Dead letting loose a psychedelic storm of sound. You’re in the Hippie Capital of the world.

But the story of Haight-Ashbury is much more than just tie dye and bell-bottoms — it’s an epic cultural transformation spanning from the 1906 earthquake, through the Great Depression and World War II, all the way to the ‘60s. See where the counterculture was born, and learn how the area’s unique position and community enabled its growth. Bring a smile and plenty of good vibes.

This free event was staged in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco City Guides website to sign up for future tours. 

11:00AM – (In-Person) Golden Gate Bridge with San Francisco City Guides

What more is there to say?

It’s an international symbol of San Francisco, a mind-blowing feat of engineering, and one of the most-photographed places in the entire world. The iconic Golden Gate Bridge has captivated locals and tourists alike since it opened in 1937. It was the world’s longest and tallest suspension bridge at its opening, and almost a century later, remains one of the most impressive structures ever built by humans.

Immerse yourself in the story of the Golden Gate, featuring soaring architectural design, stunning engineering, terrifying geology, ripping currents and tides, famous fog, sailboats, ships, marine mammals, fearless ironworkers, naysayers, conservative bankers — oh, and an absolutely breathtaking view. Experience a true wonder of the world — with guides who can tell you how it all happened.

This free event was staged in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco City Guides website to sign up for future tours. 

12:00PM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Peter M. Field

Join us for an informal “Ask an Author” Q&A session with Peter M. Field, author of The Tenderloin of San Francisco Through Time (2019). He has lived in San Francisco since 1970, where he was a longtime homeless psychiatric case manager in the Tenderloin, as well as in other areas. He’s led walking history tours of the neighborhood for City Guides since 2006, and is the author of several articles and a book about the Tenderloin’s history.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over.

12:00PM – (Virtual) Balclutha and Star of Alaska: One Ship, Two Names, and Very Mixed Experiences with San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

Join us for a San Francisco History Days 2020 exclusive virtual tour of the Balclutha led by Park Rangers Christopher Edwards and J.R. Earnest.

The Full-Rigged Ship Balclutha is full of stories about challenge, strife, and survival. Often, these stories are interpreted through the ship’s voyages around Cape Horn. Difficult stories also manifest through the human experiences of her last career in the salmon fishing industry. During this time with the Alaska Packers Association (renamed Star of Alaska), stories of challenge, strife, and survival can be found in the plight of the cannery workers and how they became caught up in the tragic experience of debt peonage. Join Park Rangers Christopher Edwards and JR Earnest for a revealing look into the cannery workers and their shipboard living spaces.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

1:00PM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Dale Fehringer

Join us for an informal “Ask and Author” Q&A session with Dale Fehringer, author of San Francisco: Legends, Heroes and Heartthrobs. 

A 40-year resident of San Francisco and a Noe Valley resident, San Francisco history is a passion and writing is a second career.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

1:00PM – (Virtual) San Francisco Murals Under Assault: From the Victor Arnautoff GWHS Murals to Bernard Zakheim UCSF Toland Hall Murals with LaborFest

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Events Page on the LaborFest website for future programs. 

1:00PM – (Virtual) Heritage in the Neighborhoods with San Francisco Heritage

1:30PM – (Virtual) Film Screening: “Finding Place”with Black X Film Festival

San Francisco History Days 2020 is proud to partner with Black X Film Festival to feature a curated selection of virtual programs. Join them for Finding Place, a collection of films centered around the idea of place as it pertains to home, refuge, community, and the politics of Blackness which denies access to places both physically and symbolically.

This free event was presented in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

2:00PM – (Virtual) Making History: a panel discussion about writing and publishing history with the Mechanics’ Institute

A panel discussion about the ins and outs of historical publishing.Speakers include: Chris GruenerPublisher of Cameron Books, Laurie Krill Acquisitions Editor from History Press, Lee Brunoauthor and developmental editor from the Collective Book Studio, and Lana Costantinithe editor of the Argonaut, the journal of the SF Historical Society.  Moderated by Taryn Edwards, Librarian and Strategic Partnerships Manager for the Mechanics’ Institute.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See their exhibitor page for a recording of this program, and also the Mechanics’ Institute Events Page for future programs.

2:00PM – (In-Person) Civil War San Francisco with Friends of Civil War Alcatraz

Steve Johnson, a member of the Friends of Civil War Alcatraz, will tell you about San Francisco during the Civil War at the Black Point overlook at this 30-minute guided experience of Upper Fort Mason. You will hear how and why the city was defended by a system of forts, the armaments used, and the attempt to steal gold by secessionists in 1863.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Activities Page on the Friends of Civil War Alcatraz website for future programs. 

2:00PM – (In-Person) Murals & The Multi-Ethnic Mission with San Francisco City Guides

See how the culture, lore, and history of this neighborhood have literally left their mark on its walls! We start with a four-story mural at the Women’s Building and view many others, including an eight-story example at Bethany Center. We’ll invoke ghosts from the past, including Catholic missionaries, orthodox Jews, German Lutherans, and Palestinian refugees. But we won’t wallow in the past. The neighborhood is now a hipster magnet, full of modern construction and re-purposed buildings on the Mission Street “Miracle Mile.” Specific destinations may vary in this dynamic district where change is the only constant!

This free event was staged in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco City Guides website to sign up for future tours. 

2:00PM – (In-Person) Castro: Tales of the Village with San Francisco City Guides

When Harvey Milk won his historic 1977 race for the Board of Supervisors, he ran the campaign out of his humble Castro District camera shop. For the past decade, a vibrant gay community had been taking root in the Castro — one that would come to transform San Francisco politics out of sheer collective willpower.

But long before it popped onto the national stage, the Castro was just dairy farms and dirt roads. Follow its journey through Scandinavian, and Irish hands, immigrants who started businesses, social organizations and political groups to create a community of their own.

You’ll learn about the evolution of the Castro’s architecture, historic businesses and the people and places that played a role in making the Castro one of the epicenters of the gay rights movement — a tradition that continues today.

This free event was staged in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. Visit the San Francisco City Guides website to sign up for future tours. 

3:00PM – (Virtual) Ask an Author with Amy Trueblood

Join us for an informal “Ask an Author” Q&A session with Amy Trueblood, author of “Across a Broken Shore.”

Amy Trueblood grew up in Southern California only ten minutes from Disneyland which sparked an early interest in storytelling. Her debut, Nothing But Sky was a Spring 2018 Junior Library Guild selection. Her second novel, Across a Broken Shore, also a JLG selection, was recently selected by ALA as a 2020 Best Feminist Book in Children’s Literature and won the Gold Medal for Historical Fiction in the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. 

3:00PM – (Virtual) Film Screening: “Jane’s Declaration of Independence”with the Presidio Historical Association

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Presidio Historical Association’s San Francisco History Days exhibitor page to view the film. 

3:00PM – (Virtual) Timothy Pflueger: Architect of Pacific Unity with the Treasure Island Museum

Among the architects in charge of creating the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939-1940, Timothy Pflueger was one of the most influential, and his Federal Building was seen as one of the few modernist designs at a fair that was mostly the last gasp of the Art Deco style. He also designed the California Building, the San Francisco Building, and the Court of Pacifica.

In all of these works, he hired many of his artist friends, such as Ralph Stackpole, who created the iconic sculpture of Pacifica. In 1940, when the fair was reborn for a second year, Pflueger hired the famed Mexian muralist, Diego Rivera, to create a massive mural that would eventually find a home in San Francisco. Rivera was a key attraction at the dynamic Art in Action exhibition, where fair goers could watch art work in progress.

Speaker: Therese Poletti, author of Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger, and Preservation Director of the Art Deco Society.

This talk in Treasure Island Museum’s “Little Island – Big Ideas” Lecture Series is co-sponsored by the Art Deco Society of California.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Upcoming Lectures page on their website or join their Email List to learn about future programs. 

4:00PM – (Virtual) Monuments and Markers: Uncovering the Philippine American War in San Francisco with SOMA Pilipinas

Uncover the connections between the US and the Philippines through relics and monuments in San Francisco highlighting pivotal moments at the turn of the 20th century. Presented by SOMA Pilipinas – Historian, MC Canlas with Q & A moderated by Arts and Culture Administrator, Rachel Lastimosa.

This free event was held during San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Events Page on the SOMA Pilipinas website for future programs. 

5:00PM – (Virtual) Home Movie Screening with Home Movie Day Bay Area

6:30PM – (Virtual) Brilliant Storefronts with San Francisco Neon and the Tenderloin Museum

San Francisco’s signs and storefronts represent the intersection of architecture, aesthetics, and advertising. From the radioactive-green cocktail outside Martuni’s piano bar to the crimson glow of a Mission Street drug store, the city has an abundance of hand-crafted neon signs and classic storefronts. Join us for an online tour via photos, footage, and ephemera of San Francisco’s historic and brilliant storefronts. Hosted by Martin Treu, author of Streets, Signs and Storefronts, along with Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon.

This free event was presented in partnership with San Francisco History Days 2020 and is now over. See the Tenderloin Museum’s Public Programs Page and San Francisco Neon’s Events Page for future programs.