The shot is not entirely unlike an album cover. It is perhaps left to the viewer to speculate as to the genre of music.
13.03.2026 16:53
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The shot is not entirely unlike an album cover. It is perhaps left to the viewer to speculate as to the genre of music.
Happy Birthday!
In "Sister Act 2," Sister Mary Clarence (Whoopi Goldberg) uses Rainer Maria Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" to tell her student Rita (Lauryn Hill of the Fugees) to follow her passion. That scene was shot at the corner of Clay Street and Joice in San Francisco Chinatown.
When Jim and I lived in Massachusetts, I used to love spending time in Salem - not least for the Peabody Essex Museum. Now the PEM is doing a solo exhibit on Edmonia Lewis, the pioneering Black and Native 19th-century sculptor who worked in Boston and Rome. www.wbur.org/news/2026/03...
Lots of northern California location shoots, including Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
I very much enjoyed Dorothy Berry's new book on Black archives.
This weekend I will be in Santa Barbara for a conference celebrating the historian Cathy Albanese. Cathy is a legend in the field of the history of American religions, and I was very fortunate that she agreed to chair my dissertation committee when I was getting my PhD many years ago.
How to check to make sure you're registered to vote (and deadlines for registration) for the 2026 primaries, for every state and territory in the US: apps.npr.org/voter-regist...
Historian Jorell Meléndez-Badillo has been the consultant for Bad Bunny on the history of Puerto Rico. Meléndez-Badillo currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
One of the best final episodes of any series I've ever seen.
I very much enjoyed William Carter's (810-page!) biography of Marcel Proust.
In 1853 Black San Franciscans founded the Athenaeum - a Black social club, saloon, and library that hosted lectures and debates. Within a year the library boasted 800 books. Here's an announcement from the "Daily Alta California," April 7, 1854.
At this year's Art of the African Diaspora exhibit in Richmond, California, community organizer and artist Kin Folkz was one of three artists to receive special recognition among the 150 Black artists whose work was on display. Congratulations, Kin Folkz! richmondartcenter.org/.../art-of-t...
The next No Kings Day will be Saturday, March 28. In the meantime, here are some tools and training from Indivisible: linktr.ee/indivisiblet....
This week at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) I was lucky to hear renowned artist Lava Thomas discuss her career within the context of the history of Black artists in the Bay Area. www.moadsf.org/event/artist...
On Wednesday I addressed the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission to expand the historic landmark designation of the site of the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot. Other historians, including Dr. Susan Stryker, Gerard Koskovich, and Shayne Watson, also spoke. Full story here: shorturl.at/MCzIL
I love Anthony Hurd's queer art. Also, this design is available as a t-shirt. store.anthonyhurd.com/category/clo...
San Francisco was raising hell yesterday.
Here's the new mural of James Baldwin on Harrison at 9th Street in San Francisco's South of Market. Created by artist Timothy B, it is part of Baldwin Place (formerly the Civic Center Motor Inn at 364 9th Street), a transitional housing program for San Franciscans who are homeless.
At present, plans for the park are on hold. missionlocal.org/2025/09/sf-p...
What to do when ICE agents demand entry. www.patreon.com/posts/147921...
San Francisco history: Valerie Solanas (1936-1988), feminist critic and would-be assassin of Andy Warhol, author of "The S.C.U.M. Manifesto" ("Society for Cutting Up Men"), spent her last years here at the Bristol Hotel at 56 Mason in San Francisco's Tenderloin district.
Also home to the first iteration of the San Francisco public library, opened in 18791
What a great shot of you, Ed!
How wonderful! Congratulations, Ian!
Recently I stopped by the Pulgas Water Temple, located about 25 miles south of San Francisco. Built in 1934, it marks the terminus of an aqueduct that brings Hetch Hetchy water from the Sierra Nevada mountains to a reservoir that serves San Francisco.
Happy New Year! Today Dashiell Hammett's novel "The Maltese Falcon" enters the public domain, along with many other creative works. Here's a piece I wrote long ago about the "Falcon" in San Francisco history: usingsfhistory.com/2012/01/22/t...
Yesterday I visited the site of the Battle of Santa Clara - the only battle of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) that was fought in Northern California. A former alcalde (mayor) of San Francisco, Francisco Sánchez, captured the then-current alcalde of San Francisco, Washington Bartlett.
It was a fun show!
Last night San Francisco Heritage and the San Francisco Opera recreated soprano Luisa Tetrazzini's performance on Christmas Eve 1910 at Lotta's Fountain, at which hundreds of thousands attended the open-air concert on San Francisco's Market Street.