Signs of the season are popping up in and around our neighborhood on wonderfully decorated homes. Email us some of your favorite homes and the best will be featured in next month’s
newsletter!
Corbett Heights in 1911
1911 Map, a Portion from the Chavalier Commercial, Pictorial and Tourist Map of San Francisco, US Government and Official Surveys, 66” x 74”
Note:
There is no Ord Court.
Ord Street was a dead-end.
Douglass went through to States.
Merritt Street is not yet Market Street.
Small portion of
18th Street is now Deming.
Mono is now Al’s Park.
Saturn Street, not yet Saturn Stairway.,
Jupiter, now Vulcan Stairway.
A portion of 16th Street became Museum Way.
More Neighborhood History
Twin Peaks Tavern—A Murder and an FBI Prohibition Raid
The Twin Peak Tavern has a well-documented history as San Francisco Landmark 264, the report expertly written by Moses Corrette
(2012): Article 10 Landmark Case Report.
The building at 3999 17th (401 Castro), according to the Landmark Report, was originally built in 1883 and became a saloon and cigar store in the 1890s. In 1915, Victorian trim and a
second story were added. In 1923, the owner modified the exterior as you see today—Mediterranean revival style. The backbar at the Twin Peaks Tavern is not original, but from a bar in the Mission.
In addition to the above fascinating history, which most of us have some knowledge, we have uncovered two notable incidents at 3999 17th Street. The first involves a shootout in 1900 between a grocer (in the 19th century grocers and saloon keepers
were frequently one and the same) and a retired policeman over payment of drinks; the second, a 1921 FBI Prohibition raid of the tavern, and the subsequent bribery attempt and arrest of the saloon keeper.
Murder
On January 16, 1900, the San Francisco Examiner reported that a Thomas H. Dillon, formerly a policeman, shot and killed grocer Charles Joyce at 3999 17th Street at 4 PM on January 15. 1900. Joyce shot Dillon in the
nose; Joyce was shot below the heart and in the abdomen. The men had quarreled of Dillon’s failure to pay for a round of drinks. Dillon said, “I can get up my Irish,” and followed Joyce around a pool table and began firing about the same time Joyce got his revolver from behind the bar. Dillon was booked on the charge of murder of Joyce. Dillon’s murder charge, however, was dismissed six weeks later (San Francisco Call & Post, 22 February 1900) by Judge
Charles T. Conlan of the Police Court, as witnesses testified that Joyce fired first, twice. It was determined to be a case of self-defense. The San Francisco Call and Post (January 16, 1900) in “Duel to the Death for a Round of Drinks” also reports this incident at Joyce’s Saloon, but includes more details—“Joyce went down after the first shot.” See more details at Incident at 3999 17th.
San Francisco Examiner, January 16, 1900, p. 2
FBI Raid
The
bar at 3999 17th Street was raided by the FBI on September 12, 1921 during Prohibition (1920-1933). “40 Valley [Sacramento] and S.F. Bootleg Joints Raided” (San Francisco Examiner, September 13, 1921, p. 13). At 3999 17th Street, a J. L. Leonard was placed under arrest for attempting to destroy his liquor supply by releasing with a foot switch, a trap door, which in turn caused a container of liquor to drop onto a pile of bricks in the cellar. The
crash was heard by the agents, forty gallons of alcohol were retrieved as evidence, and Leonard attempted to bribe the FBI agents with $65. Apparently, this arrest did not stop J. L. Leonard from serving liquor as he was once again arrested for pouring $500 of alcohol down a drain, but evidence was retained by the raiders stopping up the sink (San Francisco Bulletin, January 13, 1922.)
The Hanson
Monument A CHN member brings to our attention a fascinating article about the
Hanson Monument that was published in the Chronicle. Read it here:
“In 1920, Martin Hanson lost a big fight against San Francisco. But in his resentment and disillusionment, he succeeded in
leaving a 7-foot-tall message in the middle of the city [Upper Market] that stood for 31 years — with a mysterious letter hidden inside for a 6-year-old girl.”
How to get rid of waste—Instead of leaving it at our parks
Visit SF Environment's Zero Waste Toolkit to find out how to get rid of just about anything.
If you have run out of space in your trash can, you will need to increase your
service levels. Recology customers are entitled to free bulky item pickups each year. For residential customers, two complimentary curbside Bulky Item Recycling collections are available annually for buildings with up to 5 units. In multi-family buildings with
6 units or more, each unit is entitled to one no-cost curbside collection. Once scheduled, place your items adjacent to the curb in front of your residence, ensuring they do not obstruct the sidewalk, and affix a sign reading "RECOLOGY." You must contact Recology to schedule your bulky
item appointment.
Recology, the private refuse hauler, services these public trash cans under an agreement with the City, emptying each one on a daily basis. Public trash cans are for public trash only. Placing household or business trash in or around these cans violates Municipal Police Code 35A and offenders face fines of up to
$1,000.
Items that are not for the trash cans (electrical equipment, furniture, etc.) will NOT be picked up by DPW without a separate 311 call. Please refer to Bulky Item Recycling. We would appreciate not having to call as often as we do. This trash can was just emptied, yet the discarded lamp remains. For the period between January 1, 2024 to the present, there have been 41 311 calls at this trash can alone. If you have
suggestions regarding this issue, please let us know.
December Book Review by Richie Partington
Richie Partington has recently moved to Corbett Avenue. He taught children’s library services classes in the San Jose State MLIS program. Richie has served on numerous American Library Association award and selection committees, including the Caldecott Medal committee.
This
month Richie’s Picks reviews: BEGIN AGAIN by Oliver Jeffers, Penguin Random House/Philomel, October 2023, 112p., ISBN: 978-0-593-62155-4.
“In all likelihood, in the next 25 years, we’ll find evidence of life on another planet. I’m willing to say this because I’m not a scientist and I don’t work in media relations for NASA. But all evidence points to us getting closer, every year, to identifying moons in our solar system, or exoplanets beyond it, that
can sustain life. And if we don’t find conditions for life on the moons near us, we’ll find it on exoplanets — that is, planets outside our solar system. Within the next few decades, we’ll likely find an exoplanet that has an atmosphere, that has water, that has carbon and methane and oxygen. Or some combination of those things. And thus, the conditions for life.”
– Dave Eggers, Washington Post (9/17/24)
“We’re up on Mars, lookin’ round
Searching for signs of
life
Down here the atmosphere
is full of trouble, war, and strife
Earth keeps turning
Sun keeps burning
They say there’s a grand design
Don’t know, ain’t got no plan
I’m here looking for vital signs
I said Life on Earth
I said Life on Earth
I said Life on Earth
Life on Earth
Is there really any life down here at all?”
– Artie Traum (1977)
I was watching a news interview with
Bill Nye, the Science Guy, who was explaining how a certain candidate’s conspiracy theories/talking points about the government using machines to control the weather was total looney tunes fiction. During that interview, Nye also mentioned something about there being one-third of a billion people living in America. Wrestling with that number, which kept rolling around my head, made me feel like an ant. It once again brought up my long-standing fears about my grandkids’ futures. It’s election
season, and the results will change their world one way or the other.
These thoughts brought me back to BEGIN AGAIN, a powerful picture book for all ages that all the grandkids and numerous adults have recently heard me reading aloud.
“Somewhere along that line it has ALL started to speed up
The future shortened to the limitations of our own
This life in which we alone are cast
in the starring role
So…where does that bring
us?
SO where are we all going again?
Well…
We don’t know where
But it’s a race how to get there
Feet running
One in front of the other
towards Easier, Faster, Newer, Cheaper
And as we race,
We use these same hands
(that built space rockets)
to hold each other back
and pull each other down…
Choosing
time and again
that it’s
more important
to be right
over wrong
than to
be
better
over worse”
I am so blown away by this book! Here’s what the author writes about his creating it:
“So, why did I create this book?
And why am I writing an essay at the back of it?
To answer the second part first, I suppose in realizing that the book itself has been difficult to define, it has prompted me to speak about the reasons why I made it in the first place.
What is this book exactly? I think
it is a visual history, current review, and suggested trajectory for the human story. But what gives me the authority to confront such broad themes?
Nothing.
Except this: I believe there’s no such thing as a foolish question. Asking someone to explain something I genuinely don’t understand has never resulted in anyone thinking I’m a fool. Instead, it has enlightened me and others who were too sheepish to ask themselves.
Over the last few
years, I’ve started to wonder if my role in life is to ask the ‘foolish’ questions loudly and fearlessly enough that we might clarify assumptions for the benefit of everyone. To attempt to distill things down to a simple enough point where they can be accessed, and be agreed upon, by anyone. To get to the centre of the spokes of the wheels of our interconnected lives, as it were.
I believe that in BEGIN AGAIN, Oliver Jeffers has succeeded in bringing us there. I find BEGIN
AGAIN to be absolutely brilliant and mind-blowing. I am in love with this philosophical, illustrated, critical-but-hopeful look at human life on Earth.
