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Chronicles of Old San Francisco: Exploring the Historic City by the Bay
Discover one of the world’s most unique and fascinating cities through 28 dramatic true stories spanning the colorful history of <!--? prefix = st1 ns = "" /-->San Francisco. Author Gael Chandler takes readers through more than 250 years of American history with exciting essays on topics such as the city’s origins to the founding of the Presidio of San Francisco and the Mission San Francisco de Asis to its modern role as the progressive and innovative heart of a nation. Along the way you’ll meet characters like the city’s foremother Juana Briones, Gold Rush entrepreneur Levi Strauss, confectioner Domenico Ghirardelli, gangster Al Capone, the rock legends of Haight-Ashbury, activist politician Harvey Milk, the pioneers of today’s techno boom, and many others who changed the face of the city—plus lesser-known tales, like those of the children of Alcatraz and the story of John McLaren, the architect of Golden Gate Park. In addition, guided walking tours of San Francisco’s historic neighborhoods by the bay and beyond, illustrated with color photographs and period maps, take readers to the places where history really happened.
320 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2014
13 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Gael Chandler
7 books3 followersI spent 30 years in Los Angeles working as a film editor in Hollywood, teaching editing software, history, and theory, and creating eLearning and classroom training as instructional designer. My latest book, Chronicles of Old San Francisco, personifies history in 28 chapters - each centering on a colorful character who shaped the city - and provides eight walking tours for readers to roam and discover SF on their own. Currently I am creating book trailers for authors via my company, PictureYourBook, and contemplating my next book. I also wrote three books on editing: Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know and two editions of Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video. For more information visit Joy of Film Editing.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 27, 2015
Cities are complicated creatures best understood by peeling back the layers of time and sifting through the accumulation of secrets, lost artifacts, and earlier incarnations that might otherwise go unnoticed. Chosen well and presented correctly, such exhumed history excites our curiosity and exposes our imaginations to the gamut of a city’s character and mystery. We become incapable of seeing it through the same eyes again because, no matter which direction we turn or where we look, the voices, the faces, and the stories instantly appear.
In the first part of Chronicles of Old San Francisco, Gael Chandler makes an ambitious attempt to squeeze 240 epic years into a modest 208 pages, and is surprisingly successful with her efforts. She has both chosen her material well and presented it in an engaging way. This is neither a guide to tourist hotspots nor an exhaustive history that will remain unread on a coffee table or hotel nightstand. Rather, Chandler offers us a portable, curated collection of tales and images that unveil the people and events that have proved instrumental in shaping San Francisco’s physical, cultural, and political identity.
Juana Briones, Henry Meiggs, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Mary Tape, Harvey Milk: these are just some of the personalities mentioned who not only left indelible marks of their own, but helped a glittering gem rise from the mud and sand and survive one disaster after another. Chandler doesn’t sugarcoat or softpedal the people she presents to us; some play loose with ethics and laws while others defiantly thumb their noses at the established order. As revealed by the stories, it is that defiance and rakishness mixed with an underlying manic energy that compels these men and women to transform sand dunes into gardens, erect palaces on rugged cliffs, and battle overwhelming social injustice. Chandler’s carefree but sassy narrative serves as a fitting backdrop for the stories.
In the second part of the book, Chandler conflates the past and present with a collection of annotated, self-guided walks. By following these step-by-step tours and referencing the excellent collection of images included, we can stand in the center of Portsmouth Square and imagine William Leidesdorff reading the Declaration of Independence or marines raising the Stars and Stripes for the first time. We can pass by the old union hall near Pier 2 and smell burnt powder as police gun down striking dockworkers. We can kick it outside the Grateful Dead’s Ashbury pad, mourn AIDS victims at Memorial Grove, tour the Palace of Fine Arts’ grounds with Maybeck’s ghost, and conclude our journey where it all began, at Mission Dolores.
Given its economy of space and breadth of subject matter, it’s hard to fault the Chronicles for any omissions. I would have liked to see a more thorough treatment of the original Yerba Buena settlement and the inclusion of William Richardson, its founder. The material covering the city’s western end was rather skimpy and could have benefitted from including such things as Fort Winfield Scott, Carville in the Sunset, Playland-at-the-Beach, and the Beach Chalet’s itinerant and checkered past. I contacted the author directly (full disclosure: I first met her at a local writer’s salon) and she informed me that she has continued to augment the material in the book on a dedicated website: http://thesfstory.com.
Chronicles of Old San Francisco can serve as an excellent resource for the newly arrived and sourdough alike. As someone who has lived in or near San Francisco for 37 years, I was surprised to find photos I hadn’t seen and uncover things about the city that I didn’t know. If you want to stroll through Sutro Forest, along the Presidio Promenade, or among the alleyways of Chinatown and hear voices of the past, watch tall ships sail through the Golden Gate, dance with flower children on Hippie Hill, or party in the Castro with LGBT brothers and sisters past and present, the Chronicles of Old San Francisco offers a tantalizing portal through which to pass.
In the first part of Chronicles of Old San Francisco, Gael Chandler makes an ambitious attempt to squeeze 240 epic years into a modest 208 pages, and is surprisingly successful with her efforts. She has both chosen her material well and presented it in an engaging way. This is neither a guide to tourist hotspots nor an exhaustive history that will remain unread on a coffee table or hotel nightstand. Rather, Chandler offers us a portable, curated collection of tales and images that unveil the people and events that have proved instrumental in shaping San Francisco’s physical, cultural, and political identity.
Juana Briones, Henry Meiggs, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Mary Tape, Harvey Milk: these are just some of the personalities mentioned who not only left indelible marks of their own, but helped a glittering gem rise from the mud and sand and survive one disaster after another. Chandler doesn’t sugarcoat or softpedal the people she presents to us; some play loose with ethics and laws while others defiantly thumb their noses at the established order. As revealed by the stories, it is that defiance and rakishness mixed with an underlying manic energy that compels these men and women to transform sand dunes into gardens, erect palaces on rugged cliffs, and battle overwhelming social injustice. Chandler’s carefree but sassy narrative serves as a fitting backdrop for the stories.
In the second part of the book, Chandler conflates the past and present with a collection of annotated, self-guided walks. By following these step-by-step tours and referencing the excellent collection of images included, we can stand in the center of Portsmouth Square and imagine William Leidesdorff reading the Declaration of Independence or marines raising the Stars and Stripes for the first time. We can pass by the old union hall near Pier 2 and smell burnt powder as police gun down striking dockworkers. We can kick it outside the Grateful Dead’s Ashbury pad, mourn AIDS victims at Memorial Grove, tour the Palace of Fine Arts’ grounds with Maybeck’s ghost, and conclude our journey where it all began, at Mission Dolores.
Given its economy of space and breadth of subject matter, it’s hard to fault the Chronicles for any omissions. I would have liked to see a more thorough treatment of the original Yerba Buena settlement and the inclusion of William Richardson, its founder. The material covering the city’s western end was rather skimpy and could have benefitted from including such things as Fort Winfield Scott, Carville in the Sunset, Playland-at-the-Beach, and the Beach Chalet’s itinerant and checkered past. I contacted the author directly (full disclosure: I first met her at a local writer’s salon) and she informed me that she has continued to augment the material in the book on a dedicated website: http://thesfstory.com.
Chronicles of Old San Francisco can serve as an excellent resource for the newly arrived and sourdough alike. As someone who has lived in or near San Francisco for 37 years, I was surprised to find photos I hadn’t seen and uncover things about the city that I didn’t know. If you want to stroll through Sutro Forest, along the Presidio Promenade, or among the alleyways of Chinatown and hear voices of the past, watch tall ships sail through the Golden Gate, dance with flower children on Hippie Hill, or party in the Castro with LGBT brothers and sisters past and present, the Chronicles of Old San Francisco offers a tantalizing portal through which to pass.
July 16, 2019
A great read about SF! Fascinating history and inspiring stories.
January 4, 2016
quick read but good stories and thoughts to investigate other books
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews