During World War II, the Whitcomb once again shifted to housing governmental offices, this time hosting the Office for Emergency Management. This government agency was responsible for the internment of Japanese Americans throughout World War II, a chapter of American history that serves as a reminder of the discrimination faced by Asian Americans in the 20th century. In 1960, the hotel was the location of the first convention of the pathbreaking lesbian feminist organization Daughters of Bilitis.

Program for the first Daughters of Bilitis convention, held at the Hotel Whitcomb in 1960

San Francisco's former City Hall after the 1906 earthquake

San Francisco Chronicle article detailing the Hotel Whitcomb's construction and use as a temporary City Hall (December 17, 1910)

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Hotel Whitcomb was completed in March of 1912 and while designed to be a hotel, its first use was a temporary location for San Francisco's City Hall, which had been destroyed in the infamous 1906 earthquake and fires that destroyed much of the city. The building served this purpose for four years, and during this period, the city jail operated within the basement. Upon the completion of the new City Hall in 1916, the building fulfilled its original purpose as a hotel.

Hotel Whitcomb

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This short walk is located in a few blocks surrounding San Francisco's City Hall and includes a variety of museums and monuments as well as historic buildings, churches, and homes. 

Market Street cuts right through the center of San Francisco and stretches out for three miles from the hills of Twin Peaks to the waterfront. The road was originally laid out by civil engineer Jasper O'Farrell and was established as the widest street in the city, with 37m (120 feet) between property lines. The first horsecar powered railway line in San Francisco was created by Market Street Railroad Company on July 4, 1860 and ran through the center of Market Street.&nbsp;On April 16, 1906, Northern California was struck by an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8. San Francisco was hit hard, and devastating fires broke out across the city, lasting several days. After days of turmoil, over 3,000 people had died and over 80% of the entire city had been destroyed. This natural disaster wass one of the worst in United States history and still remains as the greatest death toll from a natural disaster in the history of California.The earthquake caused over $400 million of damage, the equivalent to $10 billion today. Initially the extent of the damage was downplayed as politicians and business owners feared losing much needed investment in the city. The governor of California, George Pardee, said, "This is not the first time that San Francisco has been destroyed by fire, I have not the slightest doubt that the City by the Golden Gate will be speedily rebuilt, and will, almost before we know it, resume her former great activity".The governor made true on his promise and reconstruction plans were created immediately. The rebuilding process hit a snag almost straight away&nbsp;as all of the major banks suffered from extensive fires. This meant that the funds could not be accessed for at least a week as the safes had to cool down in order to be opened safely.&nbsp;While there were plans to redesign the street layout of the city, the original grid was ultimately restored. Some changes were implemented however, including the building of the new civic center complex, widening of&nbsp;roads, and the construction of the Market street subway. The reconstruction of the city was celebrated at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, with the majority of the city having been reconstructed.

Joseph, Earle, Harry, and Herbert Miles filmed this footage of Market Street four days before the 1906 earthquake. The film is shot from a streetcar and starts at 8th and Market, travelling Northeast to The Embarcadero along the water. Recently, an anonymous user took the 1906 footage and added sound effects such as trolley bells and street sounds to enhance the video. The first video is that enhanced version (please remember that this footage was recorded in the era of silent films, so the audio you are hearing is a modern reconstruction). The second video includes footage of Market Street and other places throughout the city shortly after the earthquake and fires. Notice the complete destruction along parts of Market Street and the bread lines.  

San Francisco's Market Street Before and After the 1906 Earthquake

Thousands of San
Franciscans celebrated the dedication of an 800-ton monument to white pioneers
in front of their new City Hall in 1894. Donated by eccentric millionaire James
Lick (1796-1876), the $100,000 ($2.8 million in 2015 dollars) monument depicted
early California history from European explorers through the 1849 gold rush.
City Hall was destroyed by the fire that followed San Francisco’s 1906
earthquake, but the Pioneer Monument survived.

Design elements on the
monument depicted white settlement of California from European exploration
through the Spanish mission era, Mexican period and the 1849 gold rush. The
center of the monument features a&nbsp;granite pedestal topped by a bronze
statue depicting "Eureka," the spirit of California.&nbsp; Scenes
from California history and portraits and names of famous Euro-Americans
surround that pedestal. Four statues flanked the central pedestal. Allegorical
female figures represented Commerce and Plenty. "Early Days" depicted
a Native American on his knees in front of a Catholic friar (representing
California’s Spanish mission era, 1769-1821) and a Mexican vaquero swinging a
lasso (representing the vast ranches of the Mexican era, 1821-1848). Another depicted
white American miners during the 1849 gold rush.

Few white residents of
the city perceived these images as offensive for the first half of the 20th
century. However, in the early 1990s, the Library Commission sought to move the
monument to make room for a new library. The proposed move, combined with
increased awareness of the treatment of Native peoples, led residents to
reconsider the monument. Native groups wanted to dump the monument in the San
Francisco Bay. Martina O'Dea of the American Indian Movement Confederation
argued that it "symbolizes the humiliation, degradation, genocide and
sorrow inflicted upon this country's indigenous people by a foreign invader,
through religious persecution and ethnic prejudice."1 But preservationists believed it should remain in its original location to
represent historic views at the time it was erected.

The enormous statue was
moved about 2 city blocks in July 1993. Rather than alter the statue, city
leaders responded to growing concerns about the monument by adding an
additional plaque in 1996 that discussed the often disturbing nature of
conquest. The plaque informs readers that over half of the Native population
perished as a result of the arrival of Europeans. Even that language was
controversial. The Roman Catholic church and Spanish government both opposed
proposed language describing the mistreatment of American Indians.

In 2017, as Americans
debated the removal of Confederate monuments across the country,&nbsp;San
Francisco's Art Commission voted to remove the controversial "Early
Days" bronze grouping from the Pioneer Monument. A legal challenge to its
removal was filed in early 2018.

Pioneer Monument by sculptor Frank Happersberger erected on this site in 1894 in front of San Francisco's new City Hall. It was moved in 1993 to make space for the new public library building. That move was protested by preservationists who wanted to keep it in its original location and by groups that opposed its depiction of Native Californians.

Original Site of San Francisco's Pioneer Monument

Built for vaudeville shows in the 1920s, the Orpheum Theater, San Francisco, remains one of the city's major performance venues. Together with the Curran Theater and Golden Gate Theater, the Orpheum presents SHN's&nbsp;Best of Broadway&nbsp;series, bringing world premieres, hit musicals and award-winning plays to San Francisco each season.The Orpheum Theater has hosted everything from vaudeville acts to motion pictures to musical comedy. Today, it serves as a flagship&nbsp;theater&nbsp;for Shorenstein Hays Nederlander (SHN) and regularly debuts West Coast premieres by national touring companies. A few past productions that have called the Orpheum "home" include&nbsp;The Lion King,&nbsp;Phantom of the Opera, and as of January 2009, the welcomed return of&nbsp;Wicked. The&nbsp;theater's ornate design reflects the city's Spanish colonial heritage. Built by impresario Alexander Pantages (1867-1936), the&nbsp;theater&nbsp;was inspired by a real 12th-century Spanish cathedral. Gold and red dominate the auditorium's plush interior, which also features a number of artworks of Spanish folklore. Once seated you'll want to look up at the ceiling and its&nbsp;centerpiece, a magnificent ring of full-bodied lions. As for the amber tint, the soft light that illuminates the&nbsp;theater&nbsp;before each showing only enhances the evocative&nbsp;ambiance.No matter where you sit in the Orpheum, you should see and hear a good show. The&nbsp;theater's renovations (in 1981 and 1998) have made it a better fit for Broadway productions, in particular musicals, by improving the acoustics throughout. That said, tickets are generally the same price for Orchestra, Loge and Mezzanine, while Balcony seats are available at about half the price.Typically, shows are scheduled for two- to six-week engagements. However, there are exceptions, such as when&nbsp;The Lion King&nbsp;first premiered or when&nbsp;Wicked&nbsp;returned to S.F. in early 2009.&nbsp;

Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca for theater-circuit owner Alexander Pantages, the Orpheum first opened in 1926. The interior features a vaulted ceiling, while the facade was patterned after a 12th-century French cathedral. It can seat up to 2,203 guests. In 1998, $20 million was invested in renovating the theater to make it more suitable for Broadway shows. The theater has hosted a number of Broadway shows, and from April 30 to May 4, 2007, hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco 

Prior to 1840, the first “city hall” of San Francisco was more of an abstract concept, moving back and forth between the back room of a hotel and a private room in a house, suffering constant displacement due to fires and political corruption. By 1869, those eager to settle and promote the city realized that San Francisco needed a spectacular metropolitan city hall to showcase the city's progress and promise. The site chosen was a triangular plot that had formerly housed a cemetery. The state appropriated the land and auctioned off parcels of the property to various interests in order to raise the $1.5 million necessary to&nbsp;cover the construction costs, with the intent to finish the grand hall in three years.

Construction began in 1870 and wasn’t completed until 27 years later at a total cost of $6 million. The project suffered from tremendous ineptitude and corruption from the outset. A succession of seven chief architects saw a building which was&nbsp;architecturally unsound, had&nbsp;major sewage problems, chimneys that wouldn’t draw smoke, and uneven floor surfaces that didn’t match up from section to section.&nbsp; The colossal mess came tumbling down in the great earthquake of 1906, and what was left burned in the “Ham and Egg” fire that ravaged the city during the quake’s aftermath.

Surrounding the old city hall were empty sandlots. The lots had been sold for development, but renovation plans were abandoned as the city hall project continued to drag out. It was in these sandlots that San Francisco’s tradition of protest demonstrations was born. Constitutional rights notwithstanding, American settlers in the West had a poor understanding of civic space and how to properly demonstrate for a cause. Because these were empty tracts near City Hall, the sandlots became an impromptu public square for the city’s many groups and associations.

The first congregants in the sand lots were the city’s impoverished, unemployed, and dispossessed -&nbsp;people suffering the brunt of “The Long Depression,” America’s first major economic downturn, lasting from 1873 -1880. The failure of the Bank of California only worsened an already terrible situation in the city. Many on the&nbsp;east coast flocked west to the coast’s only metropolis, San Francisco, in search of a better life. The completion of the trans-continental railroad in 1875 threw thousands of jobless Chinese into the San Francisco labor market, and directly into competition with the Eastern transplants seeking better fortunes.

Rampant unemployment and destitution from 1876-1877 strained the resources of the city’s benevolent associations and churches to the breaking point, as they were feeding thousands of people daily. The depression had migrated west, causing San Francisco’s unemployment rate to skyrocket. The city had no central labor authority and there was no government provision for the unemployed, worsening desperation and discontent.Beginning on July 16, 1877, a strike on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad incited increasingly bloody riots that swept through Pittsburgh, Albany, Chicago, and St. Louis, reaching San Francisco on July 21. With&nbsp;strife running at an all-time high, labor agitator, anti-Chinese organizer, and Workingmen’s Party of California founder Dennis Kearney (himself an immigrant from Ireland) led an anti-Chinese procession among the congregation and incited the crowds into what would become a bloody riot against&nbsp;San Francisco’s Chinese community. Kearney’s primary political gambit was scapegoating the current labor and financial conditions on the presence Chinese immigrants in the city. His words encouraged the rioters to seize upon and kill a Chinese man who was passing by. Emboldened by this murder,&nbsp;the crowd marched on Chinatown.

The Chinatown pogrom began on July 23rd and lasted until late July 24th. It claimed the lives of four Chinese residents and cost over $100,000 in property damage to Chinatown. Twenty laundries were destroyed by the rioters, who smashed the windows of the Chinese Methodist Mission by pelting it with rocks. The mob also attacked the wharves of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, because this shipping line was the primary mode of transportation for America-bound Chinese immigrants headed to California. Although the steamships were not burned, the wharves were partially wrecked. Rioters also burned the lumber and hay yards adjacent to the Pacific Mail wharves. The violence was finally halted late in the evening of July 24. It took the combined efforts of the police, the state militia, and more than 1,000 members of the citizen’s vigilance committee-each armed with a hickory pickaxe handle-to subdue the rioting

Currently occupied by the civic buildings and the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library, this site was the home of the original San Francisco City Hall, which was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake. It is also the site where the Riot of 1877 started, igniting a 2-day pogrom against the city’s Chinese immigrant population. The new library was built between 1993 and 1996 and replaced the previous main library that had been damaged by the 1989 earthquake. 

San Francisco Public Library (Original City Hall)

Eccentric millionaire James
Lick (1796-1876) included $100,000 ($2.8 million in 2015 dollars) in his will
to build a monument that would depict early California history. After selecting
the design and erecting&nbsp;the monument in 1894, thousands of San Franciscans
celebrated the monument's dedication in front of their new City Hall. City Hall
was destroyed by the fire that followed San Francisco’s enormous 1906
earthquake, but the 800-ton monument survived.

Design elements on the
monument depict white settlement of California from European exploration
through the Spanish mission era, Mexican period and the 1849 gold rush. The
center of the monument features a&nbsp;granite pedestal topped by a bronze
statue depicting "Eureka," the spirit of California.&nbsp; Scenes
from California history and portraits and names of famous Euro-Americans surround
that pedestal. These include: explorers Sir Francis Drake and Juan Rodriguez
Cabrillo; missionary Junipero Serra; military leaders John C. Frémont, Mariano
Guadalupe Vallejo, John D. Sloat, and Robert F. Stockton; trader Thomas O.
Larkin; and donor James Lick. James Marshall, who is credited with sparking the
California gold rush, appears along with John Sutter, on whose land he
discovered it.

Four statues originally flanked the
central pedestal. Allegorical female figures represent Commerce and Plenty. "Early
Days" depicts a Native American seated&nbsp;in front of a Catholic friar (representing
California’s Spanish mission era, 1769-1821) and a Mexican vaquero swinging a
lasso (representing the vast ranches of the Mexican era, 1821-1848). Another
depicts white American miners during the 1849 gold rush.

Few white residents of
the city perceived these images as offensive for the first half of the 20th
century. However, in the early 1990s, the Library Commission sought to move the
monument to make room for a new library. The proposed move, combined with
increased awareness of the treatment of Native peoples, led residents to
reconsider the monument. As leaders discussed the effort to move the monument
from its original location at the intersection of&nbsp;Grove, Hyde and Market
streets, they also addressed the nature of the monument.&nbsp; 
 
Rather than alter the statue, city leaders
responded to growing concerns about the monument by adding an additional plaque
in 1996 that discussed the often disturbing nature of conquest. The plaque
informs readers that over half of the Native population perished as a result of
the arrival of Europeans. Since that time, landscaping surrounding the statue
has made it increasingly difficult to see that plaque. 
 
In 2017, as Americans debated the removal of
Confederate monuments across the country,&nbsp;San Francisco's Art Commission
voted to remove the controversial "Early Days" bronze grouping.&nbsp; "Early Days" was seen as demeaning to Native peoples&nbsp;because it depicted a Spanish missionary and Mexican vaquero towering over a submissive American Indian man.&nbsp; After a year of public debate and legal wrangling, the "Early Days" statue was removed before dawn on September 14, 2018.

This monument was created in 1894 by Frank Happersberger and is one of the landmarks of the Civic Center Plaza area. At the time of its creation, few residents were concerned about the way the monument depicted Native Americans as subservient to European Americans. In recognition of the monument's biased interpretation of history, residents petitioned for an additional plaque that would provide historical context related to the creation of the monument. In September 2018, that portion of the monument was removed, leaving its pedestal empty.

San Francisco's Pioneer Monument

The Asian Art Museum is a monumental building located in the San Francisco Civic Center Historic District and is recognized as one of the most notable examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States. The building was designed in 1915 by the architect George W. Kelham and structural engineer H. J. Brunnier to compliment the new City Hall Building which was under construction. The ultimate goal of city planners was to establish a Civic Center District with government, judicial, library and arts components. With a new library commissioned and constructed within the District in the late 1990’s, the renovation of the library to become a world-class museum finally completed the founding planner’s goal.The building was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, resulting in the need for repair and seismic strengthening. Due to pounding damage in the structural shell surrounding the book storage stacks, the library was no longer functional. Access to damaged regions of the building was restricted to library staff. In 1998, the library relocated to the new facility and the City searched for a new building tenant.The Asian Art Museum was chosen as the likely candidate to occupy the Old Main Library. The Museum was previously housed in a leased space adjacent the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park. Money was&nbsp;raised through a bond initiative and private donations to relocate the Museum in order&nbsp;to seismically retrofit and renovate the Old Main Library.The New Asian Art Museum has several distinct historic elements which could not be compromised including historic facades, ceilings and walls. The transformation from library space to museum required significant infrastructure modifications which included alterations to the existing lateral load resisting system. The architects desire to open up the interior space to additional light led to long unobstructed gallery spaces and innovative interior skylights. Base isolation was the only solution which facilitated these goals and still accomplished the primary objective of art protection.The initial Asian Art Museum collection was donated by Avery Brundage. The current collection now totals some 18,000 pieces which include bronze figurines, jade objects, stone statues, lacquerware, ceramics, swords, armor, textiles, netsuke, stone and wood wall panels and textiles. Approximately 10% of the Museum collection is on display at one time.&nbsp;

Constructed in 1916 as the city’s main public library, the beautiful beaux arts building was transformed into the New Asian Art Museum and opened to the public on March 20, 2003. The Asian Art Museum is one of San Francisco’s premier arts institutions and home to a world-renowned collection of more than 18,000 Asian art treasures spanning 6,000 years of history. Through rich art experiences, centered on historic and contemporary artworks, the Asian Art Museum unlocks the past for visitors, bringing it to life, while serving as a catalyst for new art, creativity and thinking. As you explore the museum, you’ll be greeted by the Loggia with its barrel-vaulted ceiling and stately columnns overlooking the grand staircase, which leads you to the stunning Beaux-Arts architecture of Samsung Hall. From there you can wander through the many galleries that will give you a window into ancient India, a trek through the Himalayas, a tour of traditional China, and all the cultures in between. 

San Francisco Asian Art Museum

After the destruction of San Francisco’s original City Hall during the 1906 earthquakes, the government and people of San Francisco were determined to have a new building completed in time for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Therefore in 1912, Mayor James “Sunny Jim” Rolph lobbied heavily to get an $8 million bond approved for the land purchase and construction costs of a new City Hall building. The bond was authorized on March 28th of that year. The Mayor then held a competition for the building’s design. The winning design, done by little-known local architect Arthur Brown Jr., was a Beaux-Arts style “palace” which corresponded with the “City Beautiful” movement of the larger architectural American Renaissance during the time period. Ground was broken for the new project on April 5, 1913. On October 25th, the building’s cornerstone was laid. Mayor Rolph and other members of San Francisco’s government moved into offices in the building two years later, and on July 28, 1916, the last pieces of scaffolding were removed.  City Hall quickly became the center for civic life that San Francisco had hoped for. On September 16, 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed his famous plane “Spirit of St. Louis” in a field in San Francisco. He was subsequently treated to a parade accompanied by thousands of people down Market Street, ending at City Hall where he addressed the city in a speech. This parade marked the beginning of a San Francisco tradition of ending every parade at the steps of the Hall.  City Hall also became a spot known for its demonstrations. Most notably, from May 12-14, 1960, when the notorious House on Un-American Activities Committee (also known as HUAC) held hearings in San Francisco’s City Hall to investigate alleged “communist subversion” in the city, a large group mainly consisting of students from local universities gathered outside of the City Hall to protest the committee’s presence. On the second day of the protests, San Francisco Police used fire hoses to spray down hundreds of demonstrators on the staircase. The next day, police were met with a crowd of over 5,000 protestors. This event paved the way for the more well-known Free Speech Movement at UC-Berkeley’s campus four years later.  It was also in the offices of City Hall that, on November 27, 1978, Former Supervisor Dan White- furious at Mayor George Moscone for not giving him his job back after he had resigned- shot and killed both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Milk, who had been elected earlier that year, was the first gay man to hold public office in the state of California. Dianne Feinstein (who would later become San Francisco’s Mayor and then a prominent United States Senator) made the famous announcement of the assassinations on live television. An impromptu candelight march was organized in the Castro District- the largely gay neighborhood where Milk lived- and stretched all the way down to the steps of the City Hall building. Dan White’s eventual conviction of the lowest charge possible for the crime- voluntary manslaughter- led to the “White Night” riots outside of City Hall. White later committed suicide in 1985, a year after his release from prison. The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 damaged the building and rotated the rotunda eight inches out of alignment. After extensive repairs and restoration, City Hall was reopened in 1990. Over the course of its existence, City Hall has been billed as one of the top event venues in San Francisco thanks to its grandeur and ample space. The building has also been featured in multiple blockbuster films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1977), Dirty Harry, A View to Kill, and Harvey Milk biopic, Milk. It has also hosted many wedding ceremonies- perhaps the most notable of which occurred in 1954 when actress Marilyn Monroe was married to baseball star Joe DiMaggio by a judge there. Another historic wedding at City Hall happened fifty years later when, on February 10, 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered San Francisco county clerks to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Two days later, lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who had been a couple for over 51 years, were the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in the state of California. In 2016, LED lights were added to the exterior of the rotunda. They are lit specific colors on nights that correspond with a national holiday or event. Most notably, it is lit the colors of the rainbow flag during Pride, and red, white, and blue on Election Day.

Built as a replacement for the original City Hall building that was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, construction on San Francisco's City Hall began in 1913 and was completed on July 28, 1916. The 500,000 square foot space is notable for its architectural grandeur- drawn from the Beaux-Arts style popularized during the American Renaissance period of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Over the years, City Hall has been the location of many historic events ranging from the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978 to San Francisco's first same-sex marriages in 2004. 

San Francisco City Hall

After WWI, Major Charles H. Kendrick conceived the idea of combining the new performing hall with the growing demand throughout the nation for memorials commemorating the heroes of the war. In October 1922, an&nbsp;Architectural Advisory Committee was appointed created, chaired by Bernard Maybeck, it included Willias Polk and many other prominent architects. &nbsp;In January 1923, they decided to erect an Opera House, American Legion Building, and Art Museum.&nbsp;Foundation work commenced on January 28, 1931. The cornerstones were laid on Armistice Day, 1931. The complex was dedicated on Admission Day, September 9, 1932. The Opera House opened on Saturday evening, October 15, 1932, with a performance of Puccini's&nbsp;La Tosca, with Maestro Merola conducting and the great Claudia Muzio in the title role. When it opened, it was the first municipally owned opera house in the world.In April, May and June of 1945, towards the end of WWII, the two buildings of the War Memorial served as the birthplace of the United Nations. Most of the meetings and ceremonies of the Conference took place in the Veterans Building, but it was on the great stage of the Opera House that President Truman and other heads of state and dignitaries signed the United Nations Charter at a plenary session on June 26, 1945.

The San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center (SFWMPAC) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Comprised of the War Memorial Opera House, the War Memorial Veterans Building, and the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, it covers 7.5 acres and totals 7,500 seats among its venues. The Opera House and Veterans Building were built in 1932; the Davies Symphony Hall was built in 1980. The "War Memorial" name commemorates all who served in the First World War, which had ended seven years earlier. Architect Arthur Brown Jr. designed the Opera House and Veterans building and were one of the last Beaux-Arts style structures erected in the United States. 

San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

Little is known about the original owner of this historic home, Frederick D. Stadtmuller, beyond his fortune which was made in the Nevada mining industry before he moved to San Francisco around 1879. Stadtmuller didn't mine for precious metal, his fortune came from selling goods and equipment to the miners. This home was constructed shortly after his arrival in the city and was designed by architect P. R. Schmidt. The house stayed in the family until the mid-1900s when it was converted into a boarding house. After a decade or so the property was converted back into a family residence and remains a private home to this day.

Stadtmuller House 

The 1950s and early 60s saw a serious of legal battles over gay bars and nightclubs that led to increased visibility for the LGBT community in San Francisco. At the same time, homophile organizations, such as the Mattachine society also grew, often promoting a more moderate approach to the issues facing the LGBT population that can roughly be summarized as an “assimilationist” ideology. For a time, this ran counter in many ways to the goals and actions of the more activist and radical bar culture (which in the 1950s took a serious hit, as previous entries on The Black Cat and the raid at Tommy’s Place attempt to highlight). However, by the late 50s and early 60s, the interests of San Francisco’ homophile organizations and bar-based gay queer communities began to converge. New homophile organizations, such as the CRH began to grow in membership, and began to cooperate more with each other and become more involved in the protection of gay “public territory” in bars and nightclubs. Six such organizations came together to organize a costume ball on New Year’s 1965. Several ministers and lawyers involved with the CRH met with police prior to the event, under the impression that the police would not interfere. Yet, the police blocked off much of the area and attempted to photograph everyone entering the event, discouraging many from attending. When police attempted to enter the event, CRH-affiliated lawyers asked for a search warrant and were arrested for obstruction, along with the ticket taker. News coverage and public opinion seemed to turn decisively against the police. Several ministers with the CRH held a press conference denouncing the police’s conduct, which increased public support. It was, according to Larry Littlejohn, an activist “probably the most dramatic, large scale exhibition of the police trying to show that they were going to force their morality on the city, and they looked so foolish doing it that the editorial comment in the papers was all very negative and most people . . . realized that Gay people were in fact being oppressed by the police department” (Boyd, 234). In the subsequent trail, the judge went so far as to ask the jury to return a verdict of not guilty, so weak as the state’s case was that police were merely there to “inspect the premises.” Marshall Krause, a well-known ACLU attorney, agreed to defend the four arrested. Following the event, the CRH became more involved in police harassment of the LGBT community. Though the New Year’s Ball raid was not regularly commemorated and did not garner national coverage as the Stonewall riots did, the event proved pivotal in uniting, energizing, and mobilizing the queer community in San Francisco. Indeed, some have referred to it as “San Francisco’s Stonewall” (Armstrong and Crage 732). It spurred on the creation of a united political movement for LGBT rights in San Francisco that was recognized and in contact with the city government as never before, and the emergence of The Castro as a gay neighborhood and site of a more open and celebrated LGBT culture, going into the 1970s.

In late 1964, several homophile organizations collaborated to organize a fundraising ball for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH), an organization of LGBT activists, lawyers, and, progressive church leaders, which took place in the California Hall Building on New Year’s Day 1965. Despite a seeming agreement that the ball would go on undisturbed, a large police task force showed up to raid the event and harass the attendees. The event is noteworthy for the unprecedented cooperation among LGBT rights groups, and the public attention it brought to police mistreatment of LGBT people in San Francisco. It was a turning point in San Francisco's gay history, leading to several concrete changes in policing, a coming together of various organizations, and greater public awareness of police treatment of the LGBT community in the city.

California Hall/New Year's Ball Raid (1964)

In 2009, the Tenderloin Museum was founded under the name Uptown Tenderloin, Inc. Run by Randy Shaw, a longtime area resident, the organization was dedicated to preserving and teaching much of the unknown history that resides within the Tenderloin District- one of San Francisco's most well-known (as well as most infamous) neighborhoods. Through archival work and investigation, Uptown Tenderloin began uncovering the area's history as a diverse hub for artists, sex workers, racial minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community. Over the course of its existence, the organization pushed local government to install over 100 plaques on historic buildings in the Tenderloin, as well as nine sidewalk plaques for buildings that have since been demolished, and murals honoring the neighborhood's cultural heritage. They also sponsored the creation of the Uptown Tenderloin District on the National Registry of Historic Places, which includes 409 buildings. Uptown Tenderloin opened the 3,200-square-foot, $3.5 million Tenderloin Museum in June of 2015 to display local history in interactive exhibits that feature memorabilia, artifacts, documents, photographs, art pieces, and other items. One of its prized collections is that of the Tenderloin District business matchbooks. From the 1940's to the 1960's, matchbooks were commonly designed and sold by businesses as a way of advertising since most people smoked. In less documented areas such as the Tenderloin District, matchbooks give insight into what businesses were operating in the storefronts back then as well as what they may have been like. The Museum also operates a wide variety of walking tours through the historic locations of the neighborhood. Among these are places such as The Blackhawk Jazz Club, where famous live performances from music legends Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis were recorded. Also included are the hotels and brothels where the district's notorious sex industry thrived, as well as Compton's Cafeteria- where queer history was made when a group of trans women and drag queens rioted against police brutality in 1966, three years before the Stonewall Riots. Tenderloin Museum frequently hosts art exhibitions made by neighborhood artists. It also produces interactive reenactment events of unique and significant moments in Tenderloin history. The Compton's Cafeteria Riot Interactive Play and a 100th anniversary reenactment of the first sex workers' march in United States history in 1917 are two of such events.

Opened in 2015 by Uptown Tenderloin, Inc.- an organization dedicated to local historical preservation and education- the Tenderloin Museum unravels 100 years of the vibrant, hidden history behind one of San Francisco's most infamous districts. Interactive exhibits at the museum feature a wide variety of art, memorabilia, artifacts, documents, and photographs which all pay tribute to the unique neighborhood where the Grateful Dead recorded an album and one of the first LGBTQ riots in United States history took place.

Tenderloin Museum

The “Compton's Cafeteria Riot” is sometimes referred to as the “Gene Compton's Cafeteria Riot” because Gene Compton was the owner of the chain of cafeterias. This specific cafeteria, the location of the 1966 riot, was open from 1954 to 1972, in what was referred to as the "Tenderloin District," where prostitution and other “vice” was rampant, but also one of the few places trans people could live relatively openly. On the corner of San Francisco’s Taylor and Kurt, the cafeteria was a haven for queer people, especially transgender and transsexual people. At a time of great change in America, this riot marked this riot marked a key moment in the LGBTQ rights movement in San Francisco, prior to the Stonewall Riots in New York, 1969. The transsexual and transgender population in San Francisco faced a long history of discrimination and harassment by police and the public. The period from roughly 1954 to the time of the riot at Compton’s saw particular harsh policing of the gay community, with changes in policing and laws that equated homosexuality with prostitution and other “vice.” The 1951 CA Supreme Court case surrounding the Black Cat, a popular gay bar, established that gay people could gather and assemble. The Alcoholic Beverage Commission, though, worked to expand the definition of “illegal acts” to include perceived homosexual behavior, and the police often sent undercover agents into establishments. At Compton’s, many workers and the management were not keen on having drag queens, gays, and the like late at night, and they frequently called the police. Nevertheless, queer San Franciscans long had found tenuous acceptance in the growing culture of gay bars and nightclubs in areas like the Tenderloin, and continued to do so through this period.  On the night of the riot in August, 1966, at a high point of tension in the queer community, as well as anti-war and civil rights activism in the Bay Area, things went differently. The police came to the cafeteria with the intent to close the establishment down by midnight. When the police attempted to close the cafeteria, patrons became aggressive, and one of the queens responded by throwing a cup of coffee at the officer. Patrons began to throw sugar shakers and dishes, and swing their purses at the police. The windows of the establishment were broken, a police car was vandalized, and a nearby newsstand was burned. The riot continued the next day, with picketing led by a radical queer group called Vanguard. Unlike the response to prior raids and incidents of police violence against LGBTQ San Franciscans in the 30s – 60s, such as the 1965 New Year’s Ball raid, the riot at Compton’s has been called “the first known incidence of collective, militant, queer resistance to police harassment in United States history.” It was the product of years of solidification of the queer community in San Francisco, thanks to the growth of queer nightclubs and establishments and the growth of homophile organizations. Yet, the Compton’s Cafeteria riot did not become a watershed event like the Stonewall Riots. Homophile activists and organizations in San Francisco, building on the community created in the city’s gay bars and clubs, took up the mantle of LGBT activism during the period 1955-1964, the worst period of police crackdowns. Yet, these organizations tended to consist of predominantly white, relatively affluent or middle-class, older, cisgender gay men, who largely opposed rioting and excluded trans women in their activism. Thus, without their efforts and support, the event did not garner much attention in the local gay press, never mind the mainstream press. Furthermore, these organizations fought for and were able to negotiate and secure many of the freedoms that activists in New York were fighting by the time of Stonewall, making a moment like the Compton’s riot less of a key event. Decades later, historian Susan Stryker began researching the event and talking to surviving people who were involved, creating the documentary Screaming Queens (see link in additional info). The tension between bar-based queer society and resistance, and homophile organizations in 1950s-60s San Francisco, in many ways paralleled tensions between different corners of other movements for civil rights in the United States. When visiting San Francisco, be sure to view the 40th anniversary marker that commemorates the event at the site of the Compton's Cafeteria Riot.

In August 1966, The Compton's Cafeteria Riot marked an important date in the civil rights movement in the United States. The conflict erupted into violence during an aggressive police effort to close the establishment of Compton’s Cafeteria, a popular, 24-hour spot frequented by LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) patrons. Though largely forgotten, and not holding the same place in queer history as events like the Stonewall Riots in New York a few years later, it was nevertheless an important moment in San Francisco gay history because of the patrons’ violent response. It can be seen as a flashpoint, an eruption after years of conflict, resentment, and community. Compton’s Cafeteria no longer exists. The building remains on-site and at one time housed the Oshun Center - a women’s clinic that offered free care.

Gene Compton's Cafeteria Riot 1966

In 1929, Lizzie Glide, a devout Methodist and philanthropist, established the Glide Foundation in honor of her late millionaire husband, Joseph L. Glide. Using the money from her many successful business ventures, she purchased a plot of land in San Francisco’s downtown Tenderloin district in order to construct a church and philanthropic center that would operate alongside the Foundation. She also purchased the Hotel Californian, located a few blocks away, which began operating as a temperance hotel (discouraging alcohol consumption) for the years following. Construction of Glide Memorial Methodist Church started that year and was completed two years later on January 11, 1931. The church was instantly recognizable and popular due to its rotating neon crucifix which sat on top of its steeple. Another was hung on the wall behind the pulpit and choir, and was used to give a “mellow glow” during the evening services. These light-up crosses are thought to have been one of the only ones in existence at the time in the United States. Records show that Glide Memorial Methodist had initial success with growing its congregation during the 1930’s and early 1940’s. However, by 1950 the church had begun experiencing difficulties. Shifting demographics in the downtown area led to a decline in attendance and tithing, as many members of the church’s original leadership began passing away. Slowly, younger members of the Glide Foundation took up these open positions and gradual shifts in vision occurred in response to the church’s lack of presence in the community. The most radical of these shifts came in 1962 with the appointments of young Methodist pastors Lewis E. Durham and Ted McIlvenna to leadership positions at Glide. The two men shared many of the same beliefs about the modern church and how it ought to function. They believed that churches had lost credibility in the eyes of their communities and that the answer was to listen wholeheartedly to every member of a community in order to find out how the church can be of service to them. With the support of the pastor, they began creating outreach programs that spoke directly to the Tenderloin District’s diverse population. In particular, this included reaching out to the many members of the LGBTQ community who had moved into the Tenderloin during the late 1950’s. As a result of this, Glide became one of the earliest dissenting churches in the country that supported LGBTQ individuals- despite the doctrine of the Methodist denomination at the time. Extensive programs were also established for women, racial minorities, the elderly, the homeless, recovering addicts, troubled youth, and various other disenfranchised groups. Glide Memorial Methodist Church’s new brand of social justice community activism was cemented upon the arrival of Reverend Cecil Williams, who took over as the main pastor in 1963. Working with Durham. McIlvenna, and LGBTQ community leaders, Williams spearheaded the creation of Council on Religion and the Homosexual in December of 1964- making it the first organization to have the word “homosexual” in its name. The organization was heavily involved in the fight for LGBTQ civil rights in San Francisco in the 1960’s. Also in 1964, Glide member Janice Mirikitani- a survivor of a World War II Japanese-American internment camp- founded Citizens Alert, one of the first citywide programs aimed at documenting police brutality against racial and sexual minorities. Citizen Alert’s advocacy work eventually led to the first FBI investigation of the San Francisco Police Department in 1968. During both the HIV/AIDS and crack cocaine epidemics of the 1980’s and 1990’s, Glide was at the forefront of San Francisco’s response to the crises. Famously, Reverend Williams organized multiple events where he visited known crack dens and used a megaphone to call the addicts and dealers out of the building so they could receive any help that they needed. In recent years, Glide was formerly known as the largest Methodist church in the state of California, with a whopping 13,000 members. However, its legacy public support for social justice causes have made the church a lightning rod of controversy and in 2019- after a lengthy legal battle over alleged “moral corruption” in Glide’s leadership- Glide Memorial Church declared independence from its denominational parent church, the United Methodist Church. It continues to serve the San Francisco community as a non-profit spiritual organization with over 86 programs and weekly Sunday morning services featuring the church’s famous, jazzy 100-member Gospel Choir.

In 1929, the Glide Foundation was created by Methodist philanthropist Lizzie Glide in memory of her late millionaire cattleman husband, H.L. Glide. Construction of Glide Memorial Church began that year and was completed on January 11, 1931. Beginning in the 1960's, the church became heavily involved in grassroots community outreach and activism- particularly centered around women's rights, LGBTQ rights, addiction, homelessness, and racial equality. Due to their progressive theology and wide array of social programs, Glide Memorial Church has been a lightning rod for controversy over the years. After years of contentious debate- much of which surrounded the issue of gay marriage- Glide Memorial Church issued a declaration of independence from its former parent church, the United Methodist Church. As an independent non-profit, Glide continues to operate in the same capacity as it always has, offering both lively church services and as many as 87 social services to the community today.

Glide Memorial Church

The Admission Day Monument was commissioned by San Francisco
Mayor James D. Phelan for $12,000. Like the Mechanics Monument located nearby,
it was sculpted by Californian Douglas Tilden. It was unveiled on California
Admission Day (September 9) in 1897.&nbsp; 

The monument stood at the intersection of Mason, Turk and
Market Streets, near the Native Sons of the Golden West in San Francisco’s
Tenderloin District, from 1897-1948. It was moved from that location to expedite traffic in 1948. It was relocated to Golden Gate Park, home of many other public monuments.&nbsp;But lobbying from the Native Sons moved it back
to the Tenderloin District at Market, Post &amp; Montgomery streets in 1977.

Original site of the Admission Day Monument, also known as the Native Sons Monument and the Phelan Fountain.  Erected in 1897 to celebrate California statehood. It was moved to Golden Gate Park in 1948. But lobbying from the Native Sons led to it being moved again to Market, Post & Montgomery streets in 1977.

Original Site of Admission Day Monument

Located in the uptown Tenderloin District, the Ambassador Hotel has a long and moving history in San Francisco. It was constructed in 1911 as the Ferris Harriman Hotel and Theater. An addition to the hotel was completed in 1922 and in 1923 it was renamed the Hotel Ambassador. Eventually the theater was converted into a garage.&nbsp; &nbsp;From 1978 to 1996, Hank Wilson owned the Ambassador, but by that time, the hotel had fallen into a state of decline and disrepair. The city of San Francisco cited the hotel on numerous occasions for various code violations, most of which went unaddressed.&nbsp; At the time, Wilson was running the hotel essentially as a home for a AIDS patients, many of whom lacked the resources to care for themselves and had no support systems. At the height of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, most of the hotel's residents had AIDS. Under the leadership of Wilson, already an activist in a number of LGBT causes, the hotel became a haven for the poor and the sick, and Wilson never turned anyone away. Even before the illness was named or understood, Wilson made a point of providing care for AIDS patients.&nbsp; Wilson took in hundreds of AIDS patients with no public funding. He relied on volunteers who donated their time and as best he could, paid for repairs to the building out of pocket. Wilson only abandoned running the Ambassador in 1996 when he left to care for his elderly parents.&nbsp; The building was acquired by the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation in 2000, and underwent a full renovation which was completed in 2003. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.&nbsp;

Built in 1911, the building that is now the Ambassador Hotel was, for its first several years of existence, known as the Ferris Harriman Hotel and Theater. The hotel gained fame, however, from the 1970s until 1996, when the owner, Hank Wilson, opened the hotel to patients with AIDS and cared for them without any public assistance.

Heart of San Francisco Walking Tour

Hotel Whitcomb

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information