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How did San Francisco handle one of the biggest natural disaster haymakers in North America's history? How did scientists gauge the strength of the earthquake in these days before the Richter scale? And at the turn of the 20th Century, was the dreamy Mayor of San Francisco more obsessed with pizza or dim sum? Trent Edwards and Steve Fait are joined by Scott Borden for an unavoidably shaky improv set filled with foodies, fitness, and fireworks. Trent and Steve then interview Jamie O'Keefe, curator for the San Francisco Fire Department Museum, about what actually happened. Links To Further Yer Book-Learnin' The California Academy's history of The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. How did Chinatown overcome its destruction and a 1906 San Francisco rebuilding committee's attempt to relocate Chinese-Americans? How does the Richter Scale work? The story behind the phoenix on San Francisco's city and fire department seals. How long did it take San Francisco to improve its fire codes after the Great Fire of 1906? Enrico Caruso (25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921), an Italian operatic tenor, defended his actions during the quake in an article. Eugene “Handsome Gene” Schmitz, was under the thumb of corrupt city boss Abe Ruef. Not baseball hero Babe Ruth. Phew! Dennis Sullivan was the San Francisco Fire Department Chief in 1906. The Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. The collapse of the Old City Hall of San Francisco. The TransAmerica Pyramid is a skyscraper built to survive big earthquakes. The Pacific Ring of Fire. The Palace Hotel.
EPSIODE 91 | Tartaria Sauce : The Great Tartarian Empire and 15-Minute Cities One day, I wondered if there were any conspiracy theories about architecture, which is something I am quite keen on, so I fired up the laptop and did a Google search, and sure enough, there is. One. One that's weird and funny and just a little bit sad. While researching this, a new conspiracy pops up on the interwebs, this time about urban planning, another subject I‘m very interested in. And so, between the Tartarian Empire/Great Mud Flood theory, and the newly minted freak out about 15-minute cities, it felt like this episode of Conspiracy Clearinghouse was sort of writing itself. Like what we do? Then buy us a beer or three via our page on Buy Me a Coffee. #ConspiracyClearinghouse #sharingiscaring #donations #support #buymeacoffee You can also SUBSCRIBE to this podcast. Review us here or on IMDb! SECTIONS 02:08 - Trans-Continental Hustle - Fomenko's New Chronology and Levashov's ramblings 04:51 - This City Never Sleeps - NYC's Singer Building & Penn Station, San Francisco's 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, the White City at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago 10:49 - World in My Eyes - Great Tartaria, the Great Mudflood, YouTube and Reddit 15:29 - They Might Be Giants - Tartarians were giants, mountains are petrified buildings, ancient nukes 18:29 - Bury the Evidence - Zero point energy, Nikola Tesla, we was robbed, a 1957 CIA report is proof (or not) 25:45 - I of the Storm - It's the QAnon of architecture 29:56 - City to City - Gemma O'Doherty discovers the 15-minute city, Carlos Moreno's ideas, Frank Llyod Wright's Broadacre Cities, Build Back Better and Agenda 21/30 35:02 - Deeply Dippy - O'Doherty ramps up her rhetoric, Oxford gets in trouble, Neo-Nazis and Not Our Future make noise 38:46 - Party at Ground Zero - Death threats, climate change deniers get in on the action, Jordan Peterson and other screwheads weigh in, not really a new idea, Jan Gehl's groundbreaking ideas on urban planning, many cities are making plans (like Prague) 45:24 - Bitter Sweet Symphony - 15-minute cities have become a rallying point for alt-right madness and conspiracy theories Music by Fanette Ronjat More Info: Time for Timer: Pseudohistories & Historical Revisions episode Khazar Love Triangle episode Singer Building on Skyscraper.org The Story Behind The Singer Building: NYC's Lost Skyscraper The birth, life, and death of old Penn Station The Panama-Pacific International Exhibition SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES 1915 on America's Best History WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION OF 1893 The World's Columbian Exposition: The White City and fairgrounds on Smart History 5 fun facts about the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson Lost Empire of Tartaria in Never Was Magazine Tartaria and the Mud Flood on the Skeptoid podcast Inside The Empire Of Tartaria, One Of History's Wildest Conspiracies Twitter thread on Tartaria by @cinemashoebox Tartarian Architecture on Reddit Nikola Tesla - The Monster from Venus episode Tartaria Uncovered: AntiquiTech, Tesla, Mud Flood & Beyond! subreddit Inside the wild architecture conspiracy theory gaining traction online John Levi on YouTube Philipp Druzhinin on YouTube Tartaria: an Empire hidden by history, or revealed by ignorance? Question the Narrative | Trees, Titans, or Melted Buildings? History Reset video The Lost Empire of Tartaria on Historical Blindness National Cultural Development Under Communism - 1957 CIA report Inside the ‘Tartarian Empire,' the QAnon of Architecture Tartaria Explained in Three Minutes video What is the Truth about Tartaria video The Tartarian Meltdown YouTube channel The 15-minute city: how Ireland's conspiracy theorists grew to fear an urban planning concept Introducing the “15-Minute City”: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities 15-Minute City on Deloitte The 15-Minute City: Putting people at the center of urban transformation website Paris' Vision for a ‘15-Minute City' Sparks a Global Movement Paris, the 15-minute city in The New European THE PROMISE OF THE 15-MINUTE CITY on Politico The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs Revisiting Frank Lloyd Wright's Vision for “Broadacre City” Agenda 21 - This Land Is My Land episode How '15-minute cities' turned into an international conspiracy theory What is the '15-minute city' conspiracy theory? Why is the apparently harmless idea of 15-minute cities exercising conspiracy theorists? Oxford, the 15-Minute City, and the Birth of a Lie Why do traffic reduction schemes attract so many conspiracy theories? Oxford hit by wave of protests over '15-minute city' backlash Oxford protest video Oxfordshire and Oxford councillors threatened over traffic filters False climate lockdown claims in Oxford lead to death threats Don't lock me in my neighborhood! 15-minute city hysteria sweeps the UK Walkable Cities Jan Gehl website "The Human Scale" in IMDb Times Square Transformation Times Square: Putting the “square” back in Times Square Citing “Livability and Mobility,” Bloomberg Declares Broadway Plazas a Success on Next City Portland's 20-Minute Neighborhoods after Ten Years: How a Planning Initiative Impacted Accessibility London's Gear Change plan Prague Metropolitan Plan Prague 2050 Plan Prague Institute of Planning and Development plans How can we bring ‘zero auto ownership' out of the shadows? Tackling the 15-minute cities conspiracy means fixing inequality Conspiracy Theorists Are Coming for the 15-Minute City The 15-Minute City Freakout Is a Case Study in Conspiracy Paranoia 15-minute cities: how to separate the reality from the conspiracy theory Follow us on social for extra goodies: Facebook Twitter Other Podcasts by Derek DeWitt DIGITAL SIGNAGE DONE RIGHT - Winner of a 2022 Gold Quill Award, 2022 Gold MarCom Award, 2021 AVA Digital Award Gold, 2021 Silver Davey Award, 2020 Communicator Award of Excellence, and on numerous top 10 podcast lists. PRAGUE TIMES - A city is more than just a location - it's a kaleidoscope of history, places, people and trends. This podcast looks at Prague, in the center of Europe, from a number of perspectives, including what it is now, what is has been and where it's going. It's Prague THEN, Prague NOW, Prague LATER
Support the podcast by tipping via Venmo to @queensofthemines, buying the book on Amazon, or becoming a patron at www.partreon.com/queensofthemines When Agnes Moulton Coolbrith joined the Mormon Church in Boston in 1832, she met and married Prophet Don Carlos Smith, the brother of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There, at the first Mormon settlement, Agnes gave birth to three daughters. The youngest was Josephine Donna Smith, born 1841. Only four months after Josephine Donna Smith's birth, Don Carlos Smith died of malaria. In spite of Don Carlos being a bitter opposer of the ‘spiritual wife' doctrine, Agnes was almost immediately remarried to her late husband's brother, Joseph Smith in 1842, making her his probably seventh wife. Today we will talk about Josephine Donna Smith's, who's life in California spanned the pioneer American occupation, to the first renaissance of the 19thcentury feminist movement. an American poet, writer, librarian, and a legend in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Season 3 features inspiring, gallant, even audacious stories of REAL 19th Century women from the Wild West. Stories that contain adult content, including violence which may be, disturbing to some listeners, or secondhand listeners. So, discretion is advised. I am Andrea Anderson and this is Queens of the Mines, Season Three. They called her Ina. But Sharing your partner with that many people may leave you lonely at times. Not surprisingly, during the marriage, Agnes felt neglected. Two years later, Smith was killed at the hands of an anti-Mormon and anti-polygamy mob. Agnes, scared for her life, moved to Saint Louis, Missouri with Ina and her siblings. Agnes reverted to using her maiden name, Coolbrith, to avoid identification with Mormonism and her former family. She did not speak of their Mormon past. She married again, in Missouri, to William Pickett. Pickett had also converted to Mormonism, and had a second wife. He was an LDS Church member, a printer, a lawyer and an alcoholic. Agnes had twin sons with Pickett. They left the church and headed west, leaving his second wife behind. Ina had never been in a school, but Pickett had brought along a well-worn copy of Byron's poetry, a set of Shakespeare, and the Bible. As they traveled, the family passed time reading. Inspired, Ina made up poetry in her head as she walked alongside her family's wagon. Somewhere in the Nevada sands, the children of the wagon train gathered as Ina buried her doll after it took a tumble and split its head. Ina's life in California started at her arrival in front of the wagon train through Beckwourth Pass in 1851. Her sister and her riding bareback on the horse of famous mountain man, explorer and scout Jim Beckwourth. He had guided the caravan and called Ina his “Little Princess.” In Virgina, Beckwourth was born as a slave. His father, who was his owner, later freed him. As the wagon train crossed into California, he said, “Here, little girls, is your kingdom.” The trail would later be known as Beckwourth Pass. Ina was the first white child to cross through the Sierra Nevadas on Beckwourth Pass. The family settled in San Bernardino and then in Los Angeles which still had largely a Mormon and Mexican population. Flat adobe homes with courtyards filled with pepper trees, vineyards, and peach and pomegranate orchards. In Los Angeles, Agnes's new husband Pickett established a law practice. Lawyers became the greatest beneficiaries, after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, acquiring Mexican land in exchange for representation in court contests. Pickett was one of those lawyers. Ina began writing poetry at age 11 and started school for the first time at 14. Attending Los Angeles's first public school on Street and Second. She published her poetry in the local newspaper and she was published in The Los Angeles Star/Estrella when she was just fifteen years old. At 17, she met Robert Bruce Carsley, a part-time actor and a full time iron-worker for Salamander Ironworks. Salamander Ironworks.built jails, iron doors, and balconies. Ina and Robert married in a doctor's home near the San Gabriel Mission. They lived behind the iron works and had a son. But Robert Carsley revealed himself to be an abusive man. Returning from a minstrel show in San Francisco, Carsley became obsessed with the idea that his new wife had been unfaithful to him. Carsley arrived at Pickett's adobe, where Ina was for the evening, screaming that Ina was a whore in that very tiny quiet pueblo. Pickett gathered up his rifle and shot his son in law's hand off. The next few months proved to be rough for Ina. She got an uncontested divorce within three months in a sensational public trial, but then, tragically, her infant son died. And although divorce was legal, her former friends crossed the street to avoid meeting her. Ina fell into a deep depression. She legally took her mothers maiden name Coolbrith and moved to San Francisco with her mother, stepfather and their twins. In San Francisco, Ina continued to write and publish her poetry and found work as an English teacher. Her poems were published in the literary newspaperThe Californian. The editor of The Californian was author Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Also known as, Mark Twain. Ina made friends with Mark Twain, John Muir, Bret Harte and Charles Warren Stoddard, Twain's queer drinking companion. Coolbrith, renowned for her beauty, was called a “dark-eyed Sapphic divinity” and the "sweetest note in California literature” by Bret Harte. John Muir attempted to introduce her to eligible men. Coolbrith, Harte and Stoddard formed what became known as the Golden Gate Trinity. The Golden Gate Trinity was closely associated with the literary journal, Overland Monthly, which published short stories written by the 28-year old Mark Twain. Ina became the editorial assistant and for a decade, she supplied one poem for each new issue. Her poems also appeared in Harper's, Scribner's, and other popular national magazines. At her home on Russian Hill, Ina hosted literary gatherings where writers and publishers rubbed shoulders and shared their vision of a new way of writing – writing that was different from East Coast writing. There were readings of poetry and topical discussions, in the tradition of European salons and Ina danced the fandango and played the guitar, singing American and Spanish songs. Actress and poet Adah Menken was a frequent visitor to her parties. We know Adah Menken from earlier episodes and the Queens of the Mines episode and she is in the book, as she was a past fling of the famous Lotta Crabtree. The friendship between Coolbrith and Menken gave Menken credibility as an intellectual although Ina was never able to impress Harte of Menken's worth at the gatherings. Another friend of Ina's was the eccentric poet Cincinnatus H. Miller. Ina introduced Miller to the San Francisco literary circle and when she learned of his adoration of the heroic, tragic life of Joaquin Murrieta, Ina suggested that he take the name Joaquin Miller as his pen name. She insisted he dress the part with longer hair and a more pronounced mountain man style. Coolbrith and Miller planned a tour of the East Coast and Europe, but when Ina's mother Agnes and Ina's sister both became seriously ill, Ina decided to stay in San Francisco and take care of them and her nieces and nephews. Ina agreed to raise Miller's daughter, Calla Shasta, a beautiful half indigenous girl, as he traveled around Europe brandishing himself a poet. Coolbrith and Miller had shared an admiration for the poet Lord Byron, and they decided Miller should lay a wreath on his tomb in England. They collected laurel branches in Sausalito, Ina made the wreath. A stir came across the English clergy when Miller placed the wreath on the tomb at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Hucknall. They did not understand the connection between the late lord and a couple of California poets. Not to be outdone, the clergy sent to the King of Greece for another laurel wreath from the country of Byron's heroic death. The two wreaths were hung side by side over Byron's tomb. After this, Miller was nicknamed "The Byron of the West." Coolbrith wrote of the excursion in her poem "With a Wreath of Laurel". Coolbrith was the primary earner for her extended family and they needed a bigger home. So, while Miller was in Europe, she moved her family to Oakland, where she was elected honorary member of the Bohemian Club. When her mother and sister soon died and she became the guardian of her orphaned niece and nephew, The Bohemian Club members discreetly assisted Ina in her finances. Ina soon took a full-time job as Oakland's first public librarian. She worked 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, earning $80 per month. Much less than a man would have received in that position at the time. Her poetry suffered as a result of the long work hours and for nearly twenty years, Ina only published sporadically. Instead, Ina became a mentor for a generation of young readers. She hand chose books for her patrons based on their interests. In 1886, Ina mentored the 10-year-old Jack London. She guided his reading and London called her his "literary mother". London grew up to be an American novelist, journalist and social activist. Twenty years later, London wrote to Coolbrith to thank her he said “I named you Noble. That is what you were to me, noble. That was the feeling I got from you. Oh, yes, I got, also, the feeling of sorrow and suffering, but dominating them, always riding above all, was noble. No woman has so affected me to the extent you did. I was only a little lad. I knew absolutely nothing about you. Yet in all the years that have passed I have met no woman so noble as you." One young reader was another woman featured in a previous Queens of the Mines episode, Isadora Duncan, “the creator of modern dance”. Duncan described Coolbrith as "a very wonderful" woman, with beautiful eyes that glowed with burning fire and passion. Isadora was the daughter of a man that Ina had dazzled, enough to cause the breakup of his marriage. The library patrons of Oakland called for reorganization in 1892 and after 18 years of service, a vindictive board of directors fired Ina, giving her three days' notice to clear her desk. One library trustee was quoted as saying "we need a librarian not a poet." She was replaced by her nephew Henry Frank Peterson. Coolbrith's literary friends were outraged, and worried that Ina would move away, becoming alien to California. They published a lengthy opinion piece to that effect in the San Francisco Examiner. John Muir, who often sent letters and the occasional box of freshly picked fruit, also preferred to keep her in the area, and in one package, a letter suggested that she fill the newly opened position of the librarian of San Francisco. In Coolbrith's response to Muir, she thanked him for "the fruit of your land, and the fruit of your brain" but said, "No, I cannot have Mr. Cheney's place. I am disqualified by sex." San Francisco required that their librarian be a man. Ina returned to her beloved Russian Hill. In 1899, the artist William Keith and poet Charles Keeler offered Coolbrith the position as the Bohemian Club's part-time librarian. Her first assignment was to edit Songs from Bohemia, a book of poems by journalist and the Bohemian Club co-founder, Daniel O'Connell. Her salary in Oakland was $50 each month. The equivalent of $1740 in 2022. She then signed on as staff of Charles Fletcher Lummis's magazine, The Land of Sunshine. Her duties were light enough that she was able to devote a greater proportion of her time to writing. Coolbrith was often sick in bed with rheumatism. Even as her health began to show signs of deterioration, she did not stop her work at the Bohemian Club. She began to work on a history of California literature as a personal project. Songs from the Golden Gate, was published in 1895; it contained "The Captive of the White City" which detailed the cruelty dealt to Native Americans in the late 19th century. Coolbrith kept in touch with her first cousin Joseph F. Smith to whom and for whom she frequently expressed her love and regard. In 1916, she sent copies of her poetry collections to him. He publicized them, identifying as a niece of Joseph Smith. This greatly upset Coolbrith. She told him that "To be crucified for a faith in which you believe is to be blessed. To be crucified for one in which you do not believe is to be crucified indeed." Coolbrith fled from her home at Broadway and Taylor with her Angora cats, her student boarder Robert Norman and her friend Josephine Zeller when the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake hit. Her friends took a few small bundles of letters from colleagues and Coolbrith's scrapbook filled with press clippings about her and her poems. Across the bay, Joaquin Miller spotted heavy smoke and took a ferry from Oakland to San Francisco to help Coolbrith in saving her valuables from encroaching fire. Miller was prevented from doing so by soldiers who had orders to use deadly force against looters. Coolbrith's home burned to the ground. Soldiers evacuated Russian Hill, leaving Ina and Josie, two refugees, among many, wandering San Francisco's tangled streets. Coolbrith lost 3,000 books, row upon row of priceless signed first editions, rare original artwork, and many personal letters in the disaster. Above all, her nearly complete manuscript Part memoir, part history of California's early literary scene, including personal stories about her friends Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and John Muir, were lost. Coolbrith spent a few years in temporary residences after the blaze and her friends rallied to raise money to build her a house. Mark Twain sent three autographed photographs of himself from New York that sold for $10 a piece. He then sat for 17 more studio photographs to further the fund. She received a discreet grant from her Bohemian friends and a trust fund from a colleague in 1910. She set up again in a new house at 1067 Broadway on Russian Hill. Coolbrith got back to business writing and holding literary salons. Coolbrith traveled by train to New York City several times for several years, greatly increasing her poetry output. In those years she produced more than she had produced in the preceding 25 years. Her style was more than the usual themes expected of women. Her sensuous descriptions of natural scenes advanced the art of Victorian poetry to incorporate greater accuracy without trite sentiment, foreshadowing the Imagist school and the work of Robert Frost. Coolbrith was named President of the Congress of Authors and Journalists in preparation for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. That year, Coolbrith was also named California's first poet , and the first poet laureate of any American state on June 30, 1915. A poet laureate composed poems for special events and occasions. Then, it was a position for the state that was held for life. The Overland Monthly reported that eyes were wet throughout the large audience when Coolbrith was crowned with a laurel wreath by Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the University of California, who called her the "loved, laurel-crowned poet of California." After several more speeches were made in her honor, and bouquets brought in abundance to the podium, 74-year old Coolbrith accepted the honor, wearing a black robe with a sash bearing a garland of bright orange California poppies, saying: "There is one woman here with whom I want to share these honors: Josephine Clifford McCracken. For we are linked together, the last two living members of Bret Harte's staff of Overland writers. In a life of unremitting labor, time and opportunity have been denied. So my meager output of verse is the result of odd moments, and only done at all because so wholly a labor of love.” Coolbrith continued to write and work to support herself until her final publication in 1917. Six years later, in May of 1923, Coolbrith's friend Edwin Markham found her at the Hotel Latham in New York very old, disabled, ill and broke. Markham asked Lotta Crabtree to gather help for her. Coolbrith was brought back to California where she settled in Berkeley to be cared for by her niece. The next year, Mills College conferred upon her an honorary Master of Arts degree. In spring of 1926, she received visitors such as her old friend, art patron Albert M. Bender, who brought young Ansel Adams to meet her. Adams made a photographic portrait of Coolbrith seated near one of her white Persian cats and wearing a large white mantilla on her head. A group of writers began meeting at the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco, naming their group the Ina Coolbrith Circle. When Ina returned to Berkeley she never missed a Sunday meeting until her death at 87-years-old. Ina Coolbrith died on Leap Day, February 29, 1928. The New York Times wrote, “Miss Coolbrith is one of the real poets among the many poetic masqueraders in the volume.” She is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. My fave. Her grave was unmarked until 1986 when the literary society The Ina Coolbrith Circle placed a headstone. It was only upon Coolbrith's death that her literary friends discovered she had ever been a mother. Her poem, "The Mother's Grief", was a eulogy to a lost son, but she never publicly explained its meaning. Most people didn't even know that she was a divorced woman. She didn't talk about her marriage except through her poetry. Ina Coolbrith Park was established in 1947 near her Russian Hill home, by the San Francisco parlors of the Native Daughters of the Golden Westmas. The park is known for its "meditative setting and spectacular bay views". The house she had built near Chinatown is still there, as is the house on Wheeler in Berkeley where she died. Byways in the Berkeley hills were named after Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Mark Twain, and other literati in her circle but women were not initially included. In 2016, the name of a stairway in the hills that connects Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Miller Avenue in Berkeley was changed from Bret Harte Lane to Ina Coolbrith Path. At the bottom of the stairway, there is a plaque to commemorate Coolbrith. Her name is also commemorated at the 7,900 foot peak near Beckwourth Pass on Mount Ina Coolbrith in the Sierra Nevada mountains near State Route 70. In 2003, the City of Berkeley installed the Addison Street Poetry Walk, a series of 120 poem imprinted cast-iron plates flanking one block of a downtown street. A 55-pound plate bearing Coolbrith's poem "Copa De Oro (The California Poppy)" is raised porcelain enamel text, set into the sidewalk at the high-traffic northwest corner of Addison and Shattuck Avenues Her life in California spanned the pioneer American occupation, the end of the Gold Rush, the end of the Rancho Era in Southern California, the arrival of the intercontinental train, and the first renaissance of the 19th century feminist movement. The American Civil War played no evident part in her consciousness but her life and her writing revealed acceptance of everyone from all classes and all races. Everyone whose life she touched wrote about her kindness. She wrote by hand, a hand painfully crippled by arthritis after she moved to the wetter climate of San Francisco. Her handwriting was crabbed as a result — full of strikeouts. She earned her own living and supported three children and her mother. She was the Sweet Singer of California, an American poet, writer, librarian, and a legend in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community, known as the pearl of our tribe. Now this all leads me to wonder, what will your legacy be? Queens of the Mines was created and produced by me, Andrea Anderson. You can support Queens of the Mines on Patreon or by purchasing the paperback Queens of the Mines. Available on Amazon. This season's Theme Song is by This Lonesome Paradise. Find their music anywhere but you can Support the band by buying their music and merch at thislonesomeparadise@bandcamp.com
Jim Argo's family has deep San Francisco roots. In this podcast, we get to know Jim, a born-and-raised San Francisco mortgage broker. His grandparents on his mom's side met in the Marina, each a member of an immigrant family from Italy. Jim's grandfather played saxophone and met his grandmother at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. His great-grandfather on his dad's side took his children and left his wife in Tennessee after learning of her affair. His paternal grandmother's parents were immigrants from Italy and Bulgaria. Jim's dad's dad was a railroad clerk, eventually working out of San Francisco. The family lived off of Waller Street in the Lower Fillmore area. Jim's mom grew up in the Outer Richmond (near where Jim lives today). Her dad was a grocer in the then-new neighborhood, and he did pretty well. His parents met when Jim's dad and a buddy, both students at Poly High, went on a double date with girls from a Catholic school in another part of town. His parents weren't paired with each other that night, but they met and the rest is history. It was the mid-1930s, well into the Depression but before the US's involvement in World War II. Jim's dad worked for SFFD as a firefighter. It was a stable job, and, coming out of the Depression, that was a big deal. The young, newly married couple rented a place not far from her parents in the Outer Richmond. They lived there with their three daughters. And then Jim, their only son, was born. This meant it was time to move. The family bought a house on 29th Avenue and Fulton, near Golden Gate Park. This is the house where Jim did most of his growing up. He went to Catholic schools and, eventually, around the time of the Jonestown Massacre and Milk/Moscone murders, SF State. (We'll get more into that in Part 2.) Early in his childhood, looking to his maternal grandfather and his own dad, both of whom played, Jim picked up the saxophone. Playing sax is something he does to this day. We end Part 1 with the story of how, at Sacred Heart high school, Jim ended up being the de-facto student director of the band. This was necessitated by the fact that many of the music teachers were professionals who played out a lot and might've had a hard time making it to school the next morning at 8 a.m. Check back Thursday for Part 2 and the conclusion of Jim Argo's life story. We recorded this podcast at San Francisco Elk's Lodge #3 in January 2022. Photography by Michelle Kilfeather
In September 1915, four suffragists set off from the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California, in a brand-new Overland 6 convertible to make the 3,000-mile drive across the country to deliver a petition for women's suffrage to President Woodrow Wilson on the opening day of Congress in December. Along the way they faced illness, terrible driving conditions, and opposition to women's suffrage. Joining me to help us learn more about the road trip, and especially the unsung Swedish immigrant heroines, driver Maria Kindberg and mechanic Ingeborg Kindstedt, is historian and activist, Anne Gass, author of the 2021 book, We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip. Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Suffrage envoy Sara Bard Field left and her driver, Maria Kindberg center, and machinist Ingeborg Kindstedt right during their cross-country journey to present suffrage petitions to Congress, September-December. United States Washington D.C, 1915,” Public Domain, Located at the Library of Congress. The audio recording clip is: “Fall in Line (Suffrage March),” Written by Zena S. Hawn, and Performed by the Victor Military Band on July 15, 1914, Public Domain, Internet Archive. Selected Additional Sources: “Rhode Island's Two Unheralded Suffragists,” Small State Big History, by Russell DeSimone, January 11, 2020 “Historical Timeline of the National Womans Party,” Library of Congress “Traveling for Suffrage Part 1: Two women, a cat, a car, and a mission,” by Patri O'Gan, National Museum of American HIstory, March 5, 2014 “Maria Kindberg,” Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame “Ingeborg Kindstedt,” Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame “Sara Bard Field (1882-1974),” by Tim Barnes, Oregon Encyclopedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Though not as well known today as her husband George or her son William Randolph, Phoebe Apperson Hearst was a woman who rose beyond the gender norms of her age to exert considerable influence both within her community and nationally. In Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics (Bison Books, 2018) (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), Alexandra M. Nickliss shows how Hearst came to exercise such power and the ways she uses it to advance the causes in which she believed. As Nickliss explains, Phoebe Apperson’s parents sought an education for their daughter in accordance with the reform principles of their faith. Marriage and her relocation to California did little to change Phoebe Hearst’s views, and with her husband often absent on business she took advantage of the couple’s wealth to travel and engage in voluntary associations. With George Hearst’s death Phoebe Hearst came into her own, soon moving beyond her involvement in the kindergarten movement to help develop the University of California and from there to assume prominent roles in both the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Though not as well known today as her husband George or her son William Randolph, Phoebe Apperson Hearst was a woman who rose beyond the gender norms of her age to exert considerable influence both within her community and nationally. In Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics (Bison Books, 2018) (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), Alexandra M. Nickliss shows how Hearst came to exercise such power and the ways she uses it to advance the causes in which she believed. As Nickliss explains, Phoebe Apperson’s parents sought an education for their daughter in accordance with the reform principles of their faith. Marriage and her relocation to California did little to change Phoebe Hearst’s views, and with her husband often absent on business she took advantage of the couple’s wealth to travel and engage in voluntary associations. With George Hearst’s death Phoebe Hearst came into her own, soon moving beyond her involvement in the kindergarten movement to help develop the University of California and from there to assume prominent roles in both the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Though not as well known today as her husband George or her son William Randolph, Phoebe Apperson Hearst was a woman who rose beyond the gender norms of her age to exert considerable influence both within her community and nationally. In Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics (Bison Books, 2018) (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), Alexandra M. Nickliss shows how Hearst came to exercise such power and the ways she uses it to advance the causes in which she believed. As Nickliss explains, Phoebe Apperson’s parents sought an education for their daughter in accordance with the reform principles of their faith. Marriage and her relocation to California did little to change Phoebe Hearst’s views, and with her husband often absent on business she took advantage of the couple’s wealth to travel and engage in voluntary associations. With George Hearst’s death Phoebe Hearst came into her own, soon moving beyond her involvement in the kindergarten movement to help develop the University of California and from there to assume prominent roles in both the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Though not as well known today as her husband George or her son William Randolph, Phoebe Apperson Hearst was a woman who rose beyond the gender norms of her age to exert considerable influence both within her community and nationally. In Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics (Bison Books, 2018) (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), Alexandra M. Nickliss shows how Hearst came to exercise such power and the ways she uses it to advance the causes in which she believed. As Nickliss explains, Phoebe Apperson’s parents sought an education for their daughter in accordance with the reform principles of their faith. Marriage and her relocation to California did little to change Phoebe Hearst’s views, and with her husband often absent on business she took advantage of the couple’s wealth to travel and engage in voluntary associations. With George Hearst’s death Phoebe Hearst came into her own, soon moving beyond her involvement in the kindergarten movement to help develop the University of California and from there to assume prominent roles in both the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Though not as well known today as her husband George or her son William Randolph, Phoebe Apperson Hearst was a woman who rose beyond the gender norms of her age to exert considerable influence both within her community and nationally. In Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics (Bison Books, 2018) (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), Alexandra M. Nickliss shows how Hearst came to exercise such power and the ways she uses it to advance the causes in which she believed. As Nickliss explains, Phoebe Apperson’s parents sought an education for their daughter in accordance with the reform principles of their faith. Marriage and her relocation to California did little to change Phoebe Hearst’s views, and with her husband often absent on business she took advantage of the couple’s wealth to travel and engage in voluntary associations. With George Hearst’s death Phoebe Hearst came into her own, soon moving beyond her involvement in the kindergarten movement to help develop the University of California and from there to assume prominent roles in both the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Though not as well known today as her husband George or her son William Randolph, Phoebe Apperson Hearst was a woman who rose beyond the gender norms of her age to exert considerable influence both within her community and nationally. In Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics (Bison Books, 2018) (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), Alexandra M. Nickliss shows how Hearst came to exercise such power and the ways she uses it to advance the causes in which she believed. As Nickliss explains, Phoebe Apperson’s parents sought an education for their daughter in accordance with the reform principles of their faith. Marriage and her relocation to California did little to change Phoebe Hearst’s views, and with her husband often absent on business she took advantage of the couple’s wealth to travel and engage in voluntary associations. With George Hearst’s death Phoebe Hearst came into her own, soon moving beyond her involvement in the kindergarten movement to help develop the University of California and from there to assume prominent roles in both the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Though not as well known today as her husband George or her son William Randolph, Phoebe Apperson Hearst was a woman who rose beyond the gender norms of her age to exert considerable influence both within her community and nationally. In Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics (Bison Books, 2018) (University of Nebraska Press, 2018), Alexandra M. Nickliss shows how Hearst came to exercise such power and the ways she uses it to advance the causes in which she believed. As Nickliss explains, Phoebe Apperson's parents sought an education for their daughter in accordance with the reform principles of their faith. Marriage and her relocation to California did little to change Phoebe Hearst's views, and with her husband often absent on business she took advantage of the couple's wealth to travel and engage in voluntary associations. With George Hearst's death Phoebe Hearst came into her own, soon moving beyond her involvement in the kindergarten movement to help develop the University of California and from there to assume prominent roles in both the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
THIS WEEK'S PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:America's "Master Birdman" makes his final flight March 15, 1915: "The Man Who Owns the Sky" It was the year of the legendary Panama-Pacific International Exposition. San Francisco had once again earned that phoenix on her flag by rising from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake and fire -- and just nine years later, the city celebrated its rebirth by winning the right to host the World's Fair. Visitors from every point on the compass swarmed towards California to visit the resurgent city. You probably know that the site of the Fair was the neighborhood now called the Marina, that acres of shoreline mudflats were filled in to create space for a grand and temporary city, and that the mournfully elegant Palace of Fine Arts is its lone survivor. The exhibits and attractions on offer were endless and famously enchanting, but one of the most spectacular events took place in the air above the Fair. On March 15, a quarter of a million people gathered in the fairgrounds and on the hills above them to see a man in an ultra-modern experimental airplane perform unparalleled feats of aeronautical acrobatics. That man was Lincoln Beachey, and in 1915 he was the most famous aviator in the country -- known from coast to coast as "The Man Who Owns the Sky". read on ...