Storied: San Francisco

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Alemany Farm, Part 1 (S5E4) Nov 01, 2022

Show notes

Christopher Renfro moved to San Francisco 16 years ago and ran into a lot of what some might call luck.

In this episode, we talk about Christopher's work with Alemany Farm. The largest agricultural site in The City, volunteers grow, harvest, and distribute vegetables and fruit from the 3.5-acre plot just below Bernal Hill. He also tells us about the work he and Haley Garabato began with the Feed the People Collective, which operates out of Alemany Farm and feeds unhoused folks around town.

Check back next week for Part 2, when we'll learn all about Christopher's work with the 280 Project. We'll also take a walk through Alemany Farm.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

San Francisco Cemeteries, Part 4 (S5E3) Oct 25, 2022

Show notes

In Part 4, we meet Rob Thompson, federal preservation officer at the Presidio Trust. Rob shares the history of San Francisco's pet cemetery, which dates back to 1952.

The pet cemetery sits in a part of the Presidio known as Cavalry Bowl, which for a century was dedicated to animal management when the Presidio was home to the U.S. Army. The cemetery was established by Army families during that time, until they left in the 1990s. Since then, the only burials there are what we decided to call "illicit" burials.

We end the episode with a walk-through, where we encounter the colorful names and epitaphs of a wide variety of around 420 animals.

This episode concludes our series on San Francisco cemeteries. Thank you for listening.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

San Francisco Cemeteries, Part 3 (S5E3) Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

In Part 3, Courtney tells us all about Alma deBretteville Spreckels, the San Francisco sugar baroness who built the Legion of Honor at Lincoln Park, the cemetery-turned-golf course in the northwest corner of The City. From there, we recount the history of the "Big Four" cemeteries, which were located in and around the intersection of Geary and Masonic.

Then we hand things over to Kathy McCall, director at the Presidio's San Francisco National Cemetery, one of two graveyards that remain in San Francisco today. Among notable burials there:

38 Medal of Honor recipients
450 Buffalo Soldiers
Maj. Dana Crissy
Lieut. John David Miley
Pauline Cushman Fryer
Phillip Burton
Maj. Gen. Robert Tryon Frederick
Maj. Gen. Frederick Funston

Check back next week for Part 4, the final podcast in this series. It will be all about the rich history of the pet cemetery, also located in the Presidio.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

San Francisco Cemeteries, Part 2 (S5E3) Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

In Part 2 of our four-part series, we first hear from Courtney Minick of Here Lies a Story about the parking lot just outside of Mission Dolores.

Then we meet Andy Galvan, the Mission's curator. He tells us all about his work and his Ohlone/Bay Miwok ancestral connection to the place, including the graveyard. We end this episode with a walking tour of the graveyard, which Andy guided us on. Among others, we encountered the graves of:

Francisco Sánchez
Charles Cora and Belle Ryan
Bernals
Tanforans
De Haros
Arguellos
Mary Church Ellis

We wanted to let you know that, tomorrow afternoon (Oct. 12) at 12:30, there will be an online discussion of the history of City Cemetery at Lincoln Park and its recent city landmark designation. Register here.

Also, on the evenings of Oct. 28 and 29 and again on Nov. 4 and 5, Andy will lead flashlight tours of the Mission Cemetery.

Check back next week to hear the history of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco's Big Four cemeteries, and the National Cemetery in the Presidio, which still exists.

San Francisco Cemeteries, Part 1 (S5E3) Oct 04, 2022

Show notes

San Francisco's cemetery history is rich, to say the least. It goes something like this:

Mission Dolores cemetery
Yerba Buena cemetery
San Francisco National Cemetery (in the Presidio)
City Cemetery/Golden Gate Cemetery
The Big 4—Calvary, Odd Fellows (including the Columbarium), Masonic, Laurel Hill

In Part 1 of the four-part series we're doing on San Francisco Cemeteries, we'll meet Courtney Minick of Here Lies a Story. Courtney will serve as our guide through this history. Along the way, we'll meet folks who work with the cemeteries that are left over here in The City—the one at Mission Dolores and San Francisco National Cemetery. We'll take walking tours of the Mission and the pet cemetery in the Presidio. Interestingly, as we were putting these episodes together, the Board of Supervisors' Land Use Committee voted unanimously in favor of granting City Cemetery landmark status. Now the matter goes before the full board sometime this month. The timing! Look for the remaining episodes in this series over the next several weeks.

Musée Mécanique, Part 2 (S5E2) Sep 27, 2022

Show notes

Funny thing: Do a podcast like ours long enough, and the most random and randomly awesome tidbits will pop in and make the cut. Last episode, it was the Doc Ellis "LSD" perfect game that MLB doesn't like to talk about. In Part 2 of this episode, it's New Orleans and P.T. Barnum. Musée Mécanique owner Dan Zelinsky shares the story of how his dad, Ed, bought the collection of the original San Francisco owner, George Whitney, and ran the Cliff House location until around 2002. Ed Zelinsky found the spot at Pier 45 just before he passed away, in 2004. Whitney inherited a collection that showman P.T. Barnum brought to San Francisco from New Orleans. Much of it lived at Playland at the Beach before moving to the Cliff House, where it remained until around the turn of the century. Condemned building, fires, and pandemics later, Musée Mécanique thrives today at Pier 45 in Fisherman's Wharf. Part 2 concludes the history of the place and our episode all about it. Hear more from Dan as well as visitors Brian and Michael, from New Jersey and New York state, respectively. Join us next week as we kick off a series on San Francisco cemeteries!

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

Musée Mécanique, Part 1 (S5E2) Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

It can get really loud inside Musée Méchanique. Walk in the place and you're immediately transformed, in both time and space, to another world, another era. The magic almost slaps you in the face, hitting all five senses at the same time. And you can't help but feel the nostalgia coursing through your veins. In Part 1 of this episode, meet the arcade's roller-skating owner, Dan Zelinsky. Dan traces the history of the place back to his dad, Ed Zelinsky. Ed started his penny-arcade machine collection in 1933, but the story is complicated, filled with twists and turns that involve New Orleans and P.T. Barnum. We talk with a couple of tourist visitors to Musée Méchanique who found the place thanks to some cameos in The Princess Diaries. Then Dan shares the story of how he acquired the infamous "Laffing Sal."

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

McCovey Cove, Part 2 (S5E1) Sep 13, 2022

Show notes

Bear with us a moment. We're gonna go stats nerd on you. As of the publication of this episode, the San Francisco Giants have played a total of 1,892 games at the stadium known these days as Oracle Park. Each of those games sees a minimum of 27 at-bats for Giants players. That leaves us with at least 51,057 chances for a hitter to send a home run ball into the waters of McCovey Cove. And it's happened a mere 97 times. That's something like a 0.19 percent chance that any batter will accomplish the feat. And on the very day this July when we boarded the Canoecycle, lo and behold, we got a splash hit. Hear all about it from the human in a kayak who got that Lamont Wade, Jr.'s, home run ball and more, as we present the second part of our podcast on McCovey Cove.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

McCovey Cove, Part 1 (S5E1) Sep 06, 2022

Show notes

Here we go. Our first episode of Season 5 was recorded out on the water. McCovey Cove is familiar to Giants fans, whether you've been in the water or not. It's that tiny waterway nestled between the ballpark (PacBell Park, SBC Park, AT&T Park, Oracle Park ...) and the strip of human-engineered land across the way. Baseball players sometimes hit baseballs out of the ballpark and into the water. Balls can land in the cove "on the fly" (directly from the air) or on a bounce. When this happens, much like a group of koi racing for crumbs, humans in kayaks paddle and vie for the floating sports balls. It's a thing. A whole thing. In this podcast, we first meet our captain on the water that day, Jay Broemmel. Jay introduces us to McCovey Cove Dave, perhaps the most famous of those vying for souvenirs six months a year. In Part 2 next week, we'll meet some more people out in kayaks on the cove that day. And there will be a surprise ... something that doesn't happen at just every Giants home game. Thanks for listening.

Podcast transcript here. We recorded this podcast in McCovey Cove in July 2022.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

Welcome to Season 5! (S5E0) Aug 30, 2022

Show notes

Folks, we made it.

Welcome to the fifth season of Storied: San Francisco. For five years, we've highlighted humans—artists, doctors, teachers, small business owners—who make this place what it is. Now we turn our attention to places around The City that do exactly the same—help create the mystique around this complicated, beautiful, wondrous place we all call home.

In this prequel episode of sorts, Jeff will reminds everyone why we do this crazy show in the first place. He'll talk about the pivot from people to places, the updates we've made to our website, and let everyone in on why we chose to include an acknowlegement of the first humans in this area in every episode, including this one.

Check back next week when we present Episode 1: McCovey Cove.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

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