archive for September, 2005

monthly archive
Friday, September 30th, 2005

#28: Birth of San Francisco #1

birth of san francisco #1 [ 24:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup

By the time I arrived, San Francisco was already a city — and had been one for the previous century and a half. But what went on before that time? What was San Francisco before it was San Francisco? I’ve decided to look into the story of the pre-city peninsula, and the birth of the […]

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Friday, September 23rd, 2005

#27: Patty Hearst, revolutionary sweetheart

patricia hearst, revolutionary sweetheart [ 22:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup

The cool evening of February 4th, 1974. Nineteen-year-old Patricia Hearst, heiress to the Hearst family fortune, was relaxing in a rented apartment on campus with her fiancee. The front door burst open and three armed people rushed into the house, dragging Patricia away in her nightgown and stuffing her violently into the trunk of their […]

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Friday, September 16th, 2005

#26: Streets of San Francisco #1

streets of san francisco #1 [ 21:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup

As I was riding around town this weekend, I was suddenly struck by a thought: stopped at the intersection of Broadway and Battery Streets, I suddenly wondered to myself: “Broadway? Battery? Where did those names actually come from? Does anyone still remember?” These names must reveal something about the character, history, and essential nature of […]

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Friday, September 9th, 2005

#25: Charles Cora and the 2nd Vigilance Committee

charles cora and the vigilance committee [ 15:25 ] Play Now | Play in Popup

Charles Cora must have been a happy man as he arrived in San Francisco in 1852 with Arabella Ryan on his arm. And why not? He was a professional gambler of the highest reputation, and would have been delighted by the wide open nature of the town in the gold rush years — a perfect […]

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Friday, September 2nd, 2005

#24: Alcatraz

alcatraz [ 17:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup

The very name gives one chills, doesn’t it? On a sunny day it seems almost unbelievable that such a lovely little island could have once been such an menacing symbol of power. It’s just over a mile from the San Francisco shore, and yet according to official records, none of the hundreds of men incarcerated […]

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