Podcast Transcription

307R: Snow in San Francisco (Repodcast)

Nicole: [00:00:00] The following is a classic episode of Outside Lands San Francisco. Dates mentioned in this week's podcast, pertain to past events only.

Woody: It's Outside Lands San Francisco, the podcast of the Western Neighborhoods Project. I’m Woody LaBounty.

David: And I'm David Gallagher.

Nicole: And I'm Nicole Meldahl.

Woody: Okay, let's just get right into it. Last week, I…

Nicole: Wait, I don't like this.

David: We don't get to say hello anymore?

Nicole: I don't like it.

David: This is, this is tyranny.

Nicole: I don't like that he made this executive decision. We didn't even have a, Hey David.

David: Oh, Woody's here too.

Nicole: Hi Woody.

Woody: So last week I said the weather outside is frightful, which is from a Christmas carol. And it's all about let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,

David: Right.

Woody: So, let's talk about snow in San Francisco, which is incredibly rare. [00:01:00] It's crazy. And as a guy who grew up here, it's like rarer than an earthquake. It feels to me.

David: I would say that's accurate.

Woody: Yeah. But now with the winter, we are in winter now. I started thinking about it with Christmas and everything, and I thought it'd be kind of fun to go through the major snowfalls that happened in the city since…

David: Oh yeah,

Woody: Since the middle, since Twin Peaks and the west side actually usually get the snow.

David: Right.

Woody: Compared to the rest of the city. So, it kind of is a west side thing. Has anybody here seen it snow in San Francisco?

Nicole: I have.

David: I have.

Woody: Really? You have?

Nicole: I don't know if snow is the right word, but…

Woody: Have you seen snow at all ever in your life?

Nicole: I did. I didn't until I was like 15 and I was very underwhelmed, to be honest. But, yeah,

Woody: That’s it?

Nicole: No, in like 2000 and, I don’t know, 4, maybe? Maybe 6? I'm not good with years.

Woody: That can't wait till we get to Pearl of the Podcast? We have our one fact.

Nicole: I'm not good with years, but, it's snow, cause I was living down in Park Merced and I was over at Stonestown where my boyfriend worked and we, like, there was snow all jammed into the handicap entrance to the [00:02:00] mall.

Woody: Hmm. Are you wonder it wasn't like hail?

Nicole: Maybe it was really big hail, but

David: There was a huge hailstorm that I remember that…

Woody: Do you remember?

David: So thick.

Woody: It was about that time that hail storm hit.

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: I bet you're, I bet what you're thinking of is hail. It came down our chimney. I remember it was coming like flying out of our chimney even.

Nicole: Well, the football players down the street definitely made hail balls.

Woody: Hail balls

Nicole: And were throwing them at each other.

David: I remember it snowing. I wasn't in San Francisco at the time, but I remember in 1976 I was. I was like in fourth grade or something and I remember it snowing and it, and there was snow that stuck on like Skyline Boulevard and everything.

Woody: Right.

David: I wasn't in San Francisco. I grew up in the on the peninsula. So…

Woody: Yeah, I remember that snowfall too. In ‘76. It was a big deal, of course. And we were all like incredibly excited. But like Nicole, I didn't really see real snow until I went to Lake Tahoe. Maybe after that sometime, and I went, oh, this is real snow. Because the ‘76 snow kind of came down and melted pretty [00:03:00] quick. It wasn't like we could go sledding or anything.

David: Yeah,

Woody: But let's talk about the major snowfalls, because I think, you know, when I did a little research on this, we, cause we know there’s these kind of prime years when it snowed because in the OpenSFHistory photo collection, there are…

David: There's always pictures of snow.

Woody: Right.

David: I mean, people took pictures of it when it happened cause it's so rare,

Woody: Right. And so, when it happened, it's like everybody gets their camera out and we've got some crazy pictures like in the Park, Conservatory of Flowers all covered with snow. Lone Mountain with the cemetery. All like just a winter wonderland.

David:  Right.

Woody: And downtown people throwing snowballs at each other. So, let's talk about it. It snowed a little bit in the 1850s and 1860s. There were a couple little snowfalls, but the real big one, the first big one was in New Year's Eve 19, 1882.

David: All right.

Woody: And I think that's the one we have Isaiah Tabor photos of.

David: Okay.

Woody: Of the guys. So [00:04:00] you guys looked at the newspapers. What was the scene in San Francisco in New Year's Eve when it snowed?

David: Pandemonium.

Nicole: I think what you meant to say was the weather outside is terrifying.

Woody: Terrifying.

Nicole: It's, yeah, I mean, both in the 1882 and then the one kind of later on that decade, it kind of starts out with like, oh, people are excited, they're making snowmen, and then it, and they're sledding down the street. Yay. It's so fun. And they're like, and then people just started throwing snowballs at each other and beating each other up and breaking windows.

Woody: Yeah. You're not far from the truth. It's like madness. It overcomes the city not used to snowfall. So, but let's get the pleasant stuff first in 1882. Three inches of snow fall in five hours.

David: Yeah.

Woody: In the morning. And people are sledding. They're going down Pine Street on Nob Hill. They get some horses. People do…

David: That's steep.

Woody: Yeah, they do. And, and it's women going down the hill, by the way, in those sleds.

Nicole: Yeah it is,

Woody: Yeah. It's kind of interesting.

David: Why did they have any [00:05:00] sleds, that my question,

Woody: I was curious about that too. I wonder if they just, sleds were just things they improvised

David: Some old piece of wood.

Nicole: It's trashcan lids.

Woody: Yeah, but then they made a giant snowman. One that looks like a Milesian, they said with a clay pipe on California near Kearney.

David: I don't know. What's a Milesian?

Nicole: What's a…

Woody: Somebody from Milan? From Milan?

Nicole: Aren't those Milanese?

Woody: I don't know. That's what the paper said. Somebody with a clay pipe. Another one that was like a goddess of Liberty, Liberty. Eight feet tall.

Nicole: Ooh.

David: Wow.

Woody: But then, yeah, back to the, the kind of chaos, this is the era of the hoodlum quote, “hoodlum.”

David: Right.

Woody: In San Francisco.

David: So, people just started making snowballs and started playfully throwing them at each other.

Nicole: I don't think it was playful all the time.

Woody: No, it's true. The Olympic Club even, those guys are like ho, ho, ho, when they're making snowballs and throwing at people. Passing…

Nicole: Adult men.

Woody: Adult men. Yes. And, and even in [00:06:00] like, is this the one where in City Hall they, they're start throwing snowballs at each other and the mayor gets hit with a snowball and it's all very fun. But then the hoodlums they just start attacking anybody on the street.

David: Right.

Woody: And they're putting rocks in the snowballs and pieces of stone. And especially in Chinatown, it's really bad.

David: Yeah, and, and I mean, throwing them at moving objects, like the cable cars that are going by. They didn't have electric street cars at this time, but there were cable cars and horse cars.

Woody: Yeah.

David: That sort of thing. Throwing, yeah, just like I said, pandemonium.

Woody: So, it gets worse in 1887. On February 5th, 1887. Much bigger snowfall.

David: Yeah.

Woody: I mean, like awnings, store awnings are collapsing,

David: Trees are falling and branches, losing branches and things.

Woody: Yes.

Nicole: I…

David: The, the possibly the largest amount of snow that's fallen in San Francisco.

Nicole: I…

Woody: Yeah, almost four inches.

Nicole: I love the way the [00:07:00] Chronicle framed this entire snow story. They did this whole comparison where they called it prose versus poetry, and so they started with the poetry, right? They led with the good stuff. The poetry, and I'm gonna use a quote here. “There was a good deal of poetry in the seasonal sentiment that came upon everybody. People from the older countries saw again the Christmas of their youth, and the little ones went wild to find that their experience of snow was not to be confined to storybooks.”

David: Aaah.

Woody: That's like page one.

David: Where we have a lot of beautiful pictures.

Woody: Yeah.

David: One notable one is probably the most famous picture of snow in San Francisco is on, it's on like Shotwell Street.

Woody: It is Shotwell.

David: It shows a bunch of mansions and thick snow and ladies in Victorian clothes all bundled up, walking down Shotwell Street.

Woody: Yeah.

David: And that's this snowfall.

Woody: Yeah. 1887. And it is, it's beautiful. But then, like Nicole said, or hinted, it quickly turns. [00:08:00] A quote, I think from that same article when it gets to the prose part. “Brutal attacks on old men, on unprotected women, and on Chinese by bands of hoodlums who looked upon a snowstorm as a cover for every class of violence.”

David: Yeah. And I see where I reading that same, those same articles, it's like they just lined up on Kearney Street in front of the old City Hall.

Woody: The Hall of Justice.

David: The Hall of Justice, and waited for anyone, any, any Chinese person to cross Kearney Street. And then they would pelt them with, with, with snowballs until they retreated. So, it's like nobody, no, no Chinese people left Chinatown to go to work that day.

Woody: Right. And all the, you talked about the cable cars and the street car horse cars.

David: Yeah.

Woody: It was even worse this time. So, the Sutter Street cable cars, there used to be a cable car on Sutter Street, they had, a dozen of them had their windows broken. Just in the route. And all [00:09:00] the, the workers, the grip men and the conductors were just hit by snowballs all day long.

David: Yeah. And it goes both ways in Chinatown. Any, any Caucasian who walked down DuPont got, got nailed with snowballs from the rooftops.

Woody: Yeah. They started fighting back.

David: Everybody’s, yeah. The Chinese people started fighting back.

Woody: But I like this quote, “at the junction of Haight and Market streets, at an early hour, a mob of about 20 men located themselves and proceeded to pelt every passing thing. Several had shovels and, in a wholesale manner, proceeded to shovel the snow on the packed cable cars that were passing.”

David: Yeah.

Woody: “The police were telephoned for and succeeded in driving them away. Several of the conductors and grip men received bruises and black eyes. The only serious affair, however,” it goes on. So, the bruises in black eyes are minor.

Nicole: Nah.

Woody: Right. Is that they talk about this giant fight between these boys and this conductor [00:10:00] in which the grip man comes off with the little iron bar.

David: Yeah.

Woody: That helps switch the cables.

David: Right.

Woody: And starts swinging it in this mob of 20 teenagers.

David: What? Why? What is this?

Woody: Because of snow.

Nicole: We, Californians, it freaks us out.

David: I also read other ones where two guys were, they seemed to be having fun throwing snow at each other, and then they got mad and they started fighting and they got, they both got arrested.

Woody: Yeah, but I mean, they talked about, they had a whole column in that same article about racial strife and they're talking about, you know, in Chinatown they have, they're fighting with bamboo poles and there's like a giant, like Jets versus the whatever, rumble going on in Chinatown. It's all because it's snowing.

David: It's a riot.

Woody: It's a riot. It's a bunch of rioting.

Nicole: Do you know what this reminds me of? When I was reading the article, it reminded me of, have you seen Jumanji with Robin Williams?

Woody: Yeah.

Nicole: There's that scene where like all hell breaks loose and they're in the toy store and everyone's just like pillaging and like people are like grabbing stuff and running [00:11:00] around. It just, I, it's like that was snow. I don't know why it reminded me of that.

Woody: It feels like the Planet of the Apes to me.

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: Like that kind of random, chaotic music's going on.

Nicole: But up on Nob Hill. Nothing's happening. I was like, is it all just happening downtown? And I kept reading and it was the only bad thing that happened in Nob Hill was that a couple eucalyptus branches fell from the weight of the snow. And Mrs. Hopkins, many-gabled house looked so serene and beautiful that they drew a little picture of it.

Woody: That's the Mark Hopkins house.

Nicole: They also drew a picture of a, an unfortunate Chinese man getting pelted with snowballs, really good graphics in this article.

Woody: Yeah, so it was a chaotic day and it's, and I guess all I can say is, it does get better as the snow falls in later decades.

David: Was there any news on the west side, like at the Cliff House or anything like that?

Woody: They talked about the Park being very beautiful with the snow and there was this very funny, you know, the way newspaper writers you were saying.

Nicole: Oh yeah.

Woody: Write with this poetic manner. There was a good quote about fathers [00:12:00] bringing their sons to the park so that they could expound upon their memories of East Coast snowfalls. And then it kind of concludes with, and the boys suffered through it.  It’s like having to listen to dad talk about the old days and Christmas.

David: Much like you listener, are suffering through it right now.

Woody: Although they don't have to worry. Some of the older people are gonna remember the snowfalls we're gonna get to, but not this one so much. 1932. Now…

David: Wow.

Woody: It, it snowed a bunch of times in 1932. I don't know why from the beginning of the year, January, February, and then at the end of the year and just November, December.

David: Huh.

Woody: It snowed a lot.

David: And not much between in that ensuing 45 or 55 years.

Woody: No, you don't see it. In fact, when it snowed in ‘32, the papers were like, it hasn't snowed like this since 1887.

David: Oh.

Woody: And they actually had old timers who were going, this isn't snow. You should have been there in 1887 when…

David: When I threw that snowball as an eight-year-old.

Woody: That's right. [00:13:00] And hit that poor streetcar conductor.

Nicole: On Kearney Street.

Woody: But, some great photos from that one. You remember the picture up in Twin Peaks with the cows?

Nicole: The bewildered cows?

David: Yeah.

Woody: Yeah. That's from the ‘32 snow, one of the ‘32 snowfalls in December. Where you have these cows that are grazing on the side of Twin Peaks and it's looking down to like Miraloma Park on the opposite side. That's from ‘32.

Nicole: They also mentioned that. So, we have a bunch of these animals in the Fleishhacker Zoo that are not acclimatized to snow because they're used to living in San Francisco. And so, they took them all into the hospital where they kept a temperature at 70 degrees, except, they left the polar bear out, who was very much enjoying himself.

Woody: The polar bear.

Nicole: So.

Woody: Right. So, okay, so ‘32 is a big year and we do have some like family photos. Like old family photos.

David: Yeah. People standing in their backyards in the marina district and a whole lot like that. That's good cause we can narrow those down. Although it snowed so many times.

Woody: It [00:14:00] did. ‘32 is hard. We have a whole bunch. Remember the people up front of the Presidio branch of the library, they're all…

David: Oh, yeah.

Woody: Throwing snowballs. That's in 1932. Okay, next. Now this is getting closer to like what people might remember in ‘51 in March, well, late February, early March, 1951. It snowed a couple of days. And the headline above the pic, a picture of Twin Peaks, above the masthead. “The snow on Twin Peaks.”

David: Wow.

Woody: Giant letters. And then another page. So, the day it snowed, it was like a giant thing.

David: Huh.

Woody: In the Chronicle. But it's the same sort of stuff, you know. Well, here, here, here's some more poetry for you, Nicole. “Fluffy dollars-sized snowflakes fell on San Francisco's highland yesterday.”

David: That's big. Like, I mean, I guess those are silver dollars.

Woody: Well, the way snow-starved San Franciscans greeted them, they might have been fluffy, dollar-size dollars. [00:15:00]

Nicole: Just like running around trying to catch ‘em.

David: So excited.

Woody: Again, they talk about old timers remembering 1887.

David: Yeah.

Woody: And this would've been 60-something, 70 years before.

David: Yeah.

Woody: And people took skis up to Twin Peaks.

David: Right. I saw some pictures of that. And it said, oh, the snow wasn't as thick as the mud.

Woody: But you're still skiing.

David: But he was still, but he said he had fun.

Nicole: They, I always crack up, because we are just not good with weather here cause we don't really get it. And so, for the ‘51 snowfall, I saw in the corner, they were like yesterday's temperatures, hour by hour from Civic Center, 1:00 AM 44 degrees, 2:00 AM 44 degrees, 3:00 AM 44 degrees, 4:00 AM 43 degrees.

Woody: They tracked it all the way down to freezing, huh?

Nicole: It never really went there. And the lowest it got was 38 degrees, and then it went right back to 44.

Woody: Aaahh, that [00:16:00] was after it snowed I guess.

Nicole: Hour by hour because we are all terrorized by the snow.

Woody: Well, if you ever lived any place else in the country, you know, they, the, all the local news stations just live for weather, right? It's like weather alert. Weather alert. And here they like weather alert. Same as yesterday, right? So, whenever it snowed, it was the most exciting thing for everybody. Another quote from ‘51, “the happiest people anywhere yesterday were the Sunset District’s youngsters.”

David: Do schools close?

Woody: Well, no, I don't think so. “Who poured out of such confines as Columbus school,” which is Alice Fong Yu school today, “to wrangle over the use of a sled,” again, I don't know where they got a sled, “on a slushy sidewalk. The district's first snowman in many years was rapidly run up in the garden at 147 Dorchester Street.”

David: Oh, West Portal.

Woody: Yeah. Kind of over in West Portal. But they have, they interviewed a couple from Denver who were like, what are you talking about? This is…

David: Right.

Woody: What do you mean? Is [00:17:00] this a big deal?

David: This is not snow.

Woody: And then the Seattle Chamber of Commerce telegrammed and said the sun is shining in Seattle as some sort of, I don't know…

Nicole: Suck it San Francisco.

Woody: Some sort of dig from the northwest. Anyway, that was ‘51. Anybody else have any memories of ‘51? No, we're not born yet. But again, it's like the same thing where it's like everybody's freaking out. I mean, they had, they showed a picture of a kid crying who the mother brought him out and he was like, what is this?

Nicole: I don't like it.

Woody: It's cold.

Nicole: Which was totally my reaction when I first saw snow.

Woody: You?

Nicole: Yeah. I was like, we were driving up to the snow. I was like, oh gosh, it’s beautiful. And we got outside and I was like, it's cold and wet. I don't want it.

Woody: Southern California girl.

Nicole: Yeah, exactly.

Woody: Okay. 1962, January 21st. This was the biggest snowfall since that 1887 quote “blizzard.” But it mostly was on the west side of town and on the [00:18:00] hilltops.

David: Huh.

Woody: It didn't snow in a lot of other places in the city. But a…

David: Just kind of a line in the hills.

Woody: Yeah, and kind of uneven. It’s kind of, just was some places it came down and some places it didn't, but we have pic, we have pictures of Frank Dunnigan as a boy, our columnist from Outside Lands, throwing a snowball in the backyard of the Parkside District. Another funny thing from the papers in that snowfall is they instructed drivers how to use antifreeze in case this was a problem in the future. that all this snow and cold, cause they didn't know how to use it here.

David: Right.

Woody: All right. And then the one, I think the last one that I think is big enough that we counted.

David: Yeah.

Woody: Which is the one you and I remember Dave, the one in 1976.

David: The day of the big snow.

Woody: That's what they called it, right? It was, it wasn't as big as these other ones, but there was snow on the hilltops and, and Marin Headlands.

David: Yeah. We have a really great [00:19:00] picture by, I guess by Dennis O'Rorke with the snow on the, on the Marin headlands with the Cliff House in the foreground.

Woody: You know, what else is in the foreground?

David: Who?

Woody: A surfer with a surfboard about to go into Ocean Beach.

David: Oh, that's right.

Woody: And then the background is snow. It's a very interesting shot.

David: Well, I mean, you know, Kellys Cove is always 58 degrees or whatever, so…

Woody: Yeah. Doesn't matter.

Nicole: I love how postmodern and blasé the, the headline is in the, that Chronicle, it just said it was fun before it melted.

Woody: Again.

Nicole: Over it.

Woody: Even though. Reporters don't know how to write about this here.

David: I remember somebody telling me that they were, that they skied downtown during that snowstorm,

Woody: During the ‘76 one.

David: Yeah, I mean, it must have, they must have lived on Nob Hill and had their skis right by the front door, I guess.

Woody: Yeah, we get very excited. So, this particular snowstorm or snowfall also had a line in the article that I [00:20:00] think was kind of more familiar to us today. Which is a meteorologist or somebody from Sacramento saying the current storm, although welcome, isn't enough to end the drought.

David: Right. We were in the middle of a drought back then.

Woody: Right. Which we thought was the drought. Now we live in perpetual drought. Right? Every…

David: Right. Well, I mean, I think as a, as an impressionable young, young boy, I think that that really set the stage for me for understanding water conservation around the house. Maybe for you too.

Woody: Yeah, me too.

David: Yeah.

Woody: But now, you know, we live through these great droughts that have been happening the last 10, 15 years.

David: Yeah.

Woody: And I wonder will it ever snow in San Francisco again? With all this climate change and all this going on?

David: It will snow again.

Woody: It will, you think so?

David: Yeah.

Woody: It's been a long time now.

David: I do.

Woody: Well, one thing is for sure when it does, we will all freak.

Nicole: And I'll think it's hail.

Woody: And you'll think it's hail.

David: You'll [00:21:00] know when it's snow.

Woody: But you know, I wanna put out a call to our listeners. Do you have a picture of yourself in San Francisco in the snow?

David: Yeah.

Woody: And I bet a lot of them do.

David: Let us know.

Woody: So to…

David: Let’s see some of those.

Woody: Let's get to the Pearl of the Podcast. We always try to make sure there's at least one fact in the podcast, a real fact, no matter how tangential and odd, David, what's the fact of this one?

David: I’m just reading the notes, the, the fact of this, the Pearl of Podcast is that it has snowed in San Francisco.

Woody: No way.

David: Period.

Woody: Really?

David: That's the end. That's the whole fact, so if somebody says it never snows in San Francisco, we could say, yes, it has. And I can give you, I can give you a whole handful of dates.

Woody: Yeah.

Nicole: Yes it has. And the polar bear liked it.

David: More than a handful.

Woody: And the polar bear liked it.

David: Yeah.

Woody: And Nicole thought it was hail. Yeah, I guess we didn't really have one this week. Okay, time for Listener Mail. Nicole, how can people contact us for listener [00:22:00] mail?

Nicole: Well, we'd love to hear you from the emails. You can go to podcasts@outsideland.org and we will probably answer your email.

Woody: Yeah. Or at least read it on the air maybe.

Nicole: Yeah.

David: There's also a button if you're listening to it on the, on our website, there's a button with a form you can send that into.

Woody: Maybe you know, David, maybe you should read this letter we got from Scott Fairgrieve, because it's kind of about Nicole and maybe it's better if you read it.

Nicole: Uh oh.

David: All right. So, yeah, Scott wrote in, he says, hello, Woody, David, and Nicole. I am a very long-term listener, in that he downloaded podcast number one within a few days of its release. Wow. Scott.

Woody: And he downloaded podcast two, which is what's surprising.

David: Some great original listener stuff there. He says, I've thoroughly enjoyed all of them, and I think Nicole brings a youthful enthusiasm to the podcast. Well, so do I. I generally roll my [00:23:00] eyes when people chide you on pronunciation, but I feel compelled to come to Nicole's defense and her pronunciation of the word Mather. I'm gonna say it May-ther here. He says, my family's been tending Camp Mather for many years. And although most San Franciscans say May-ther, I have found that most employees at the camp say Ma-ther. Including a park ranger who gave a presentation on the camp's history. Most of my born and raised in the city friends who go into the camp every summer say Mather. So, Nicole, don't tag yourself as a non-native by your pronunciation of that name. But do, but you do by saying the before the freeway names.

Nicole: Yeah. Busted.

David: I didn't say anything about that. What you said. We let it, that one go. He says he also loved the Pub, West Portal Pub Crawl, which he went on. And what was a great, great event and [00:24:00] everybody, if you get a chance to go on a pub crawl with Nicole, you should do it. I was on it too.

Woody: Yeah,

David: By the way.

Nicole: Thanks Scott. That's super nice.

David: Yeah. Anyway, thanks Scott. Yep, that's it. That's good. Nicole's off the hook.

Woody: Well, I, you know, when it happened, I was a little, I was like, I've heard people say Ma-ther, and it still seemed an open question to me.

Nicole: Take that Tim Van Ram.

Woody: Yeah. Take that. Tim Van Ram.

David: I've never been there, so I didn't, I always thought it was Ma-ther too.

Woody: I will say also that San Franciscans mispronounce certain things and it just become, what we do and it doesn't mean we're right. Right? May-ther might be one of those things.

David: So, if you listener want to join in the, uh, join in the…

Woody: Argument.

David: Arguments and…

Woody: Correct the call or defend her.

David: Send a message to podcasts@outsidelands.org. Also review us on iTunes or on…

Nicole: Spotify?

David: Spotify or on Stitcher, any of those places. And, we be very appreciative.

Woody: We be [00:25:00] happy. Thank you, David. All right, it's time for events. Nicole. We're gonna start up with events in the new year. What do we got coming up?

Nicole: Well, we have a, a, a talk and photo pony show, about a…

Woody: Talk and photo pony show? I think you're okay.

Nicole: About the opening of the Midwinter Fair. So, for those of you who don't know, in 1894, there was an exposition that pretty much set the footprint of that entire area of the park where the de Young and the Cal Academy and the Music Concourse is. It's actually one of my favorite events in the city because I think, and I mentioned this before, that if it happened today, hipsters would pay like 50 bucks to get into this thing at least.

Woody: Yeah.

Nicole: Myself included. So anyways, come on down to our office at 1617 Balboa, buy your ticket first, and see some really, really cool photos cause we have awesome images from these glass negatives that show all kinds of cool things. The buildings, the people, [00:26:00] including my favorite, the Gum Girls.

Woody: Yeah, the Gum Girls. What are Gum Girls?

David: And Parnell.

Woody: Parnell, the lion. So, this is kind of an overview of the Midwinter Fair. We're gonna do a number of events on it cause it's the 125th anniversary. But that's right. Get your ticket ahead of time cause it may sell out. Don't just walk up cause it may not have room for you. What else?

Nicole: Oh, then John Martini, who you heard last week on the podcast, is giving…

David: He's not here now.

Nicole: He's not right here right now. He's giving a great walking tour about the Midwinter Fair, and this is a WNP member event. So, if you really, really wanna go on this event, which you do, trust me, you're gonna wanna sign up and become a member.

Woody: Yeah. If you're not already. February 16th, Saturday morning, 11:00 AM he's gonna show us some stuff that's still there. From the Midwinter Fair.

Nicole: And John's done a lot of work, like pinpointing exactly where all these buildings were. So, you don't wanna miss this.

David: And then we have a special [00:27:00] announcement for February 21st, Thursday, which is a new look at City Cemetery. And that one is gonna be John Martini too.

Woody: And Alex Ryder.

David: And…

Woody: You remember Alex last year, he did the, the, the cemetery talk on the Oddfellows Cemetery and the casket they found. Remember that?

David: Yes.

Woody: That was Alex. We sold out. It was a very popular event. Now, John Martini and Alex Ryder. Together for the first time. It'll just be crazy madness to look at the old City Cemetery, which is where Lincoln Park is today.

David: That's gonna be great.

Woody: We've already sold 10 seats and I haven't really announced it.

David: Uh oh. Well you, if you want to go to that, you should definitely buy a ticket. It's cheaper for Western Neighborhoods Project members. So please join. Yeah, cause that thing's gonna sell out.

Woody: So that's February 21st. Go to the events page, outsidelands.org/events [00:28:00] and you'll see all the other things we're doing, including the library talks on the,

David: We're gonna be appearing in a whole bunch of the branch libraries. In fact, there's gonna be events all over the city at the branch libraries highlighting this 1938 model.

Woody: Yeah.

David: That some of us helped to clean.

Woody: Yep. So that's outsidelands.org/events. And what else can someone do on outsidelands.org/events? Anybody, anybody?

Nicole: Clickity, clickity, clack.

David: You can become a member of the Western Neighborhoods Project by clicking the Become a Member link at the top of every page. Pretty much every page I've heard.

Woody: And this is your last chance to do your year-end giving. So don't forget us. Now, preview for next week, we're going to go ride the winds, which kinda sounds like a late 60s, early 70s rock and roll song. There's like gonna ride the winds.

Nicole: Get out on the, no, I'm not gonna do it.

Woody: [00:29:00] See you later.

David: All right, we'll see you.

Nicole: Take care.

Ian: Outside Lands San Francisco is recorded by Ian Hadley. Content Creation and Media production at ihadley.com.

Woody: To learn more about the Western Neighborhoods Project and more about San Francisco history, go to outsidelands.org.