I love this blog, if for no other reason than the jawdropping diversity of the email that slips over the digital transom. Thi...

I read a lot of books on San Francisco and California history. And though these posts are labeled “book reviews”, the only bo...

File this — again — under “there’s ALWAYS a San Francisco connection”. A reader recently alerted me to the fact that Charlie ...

When last we encountered this goddess-behemoth, she was being blown up by the Navy at the end of the ‘39 Pan-Pacific Expositi...

Web 2.0 here we come … there’s a brand new Sparkletack group on Facebook. You can post photos and video, add links, start a d...

I love San Francisco, I love history, and I love walking. Luckily for me, there are a billion walking tours out there. Every ...

I ran across an old and beautiful (not to mention HUGE) coffee urn in front of a Portland antique store today. Just like a ma...

Sparkletack is featured in this month’s “Guidelines”, the newsletter of the non-profit San Francisco City Guides. You know ab...

It’s my favourite thing, finding physical evidence of times past in the landscape of contemporary San Francisco. That’s why I...

The latest from my little column over at the SFist: Whiskerless Waiters at the Palace Hotel In the middle part of the 19th ce...