San Francisco History Calendar for JANUARY

San Francisco History links

January 3, 1867 Joshua Norton I, "Dei Gratia" Emperor of the United States & Protector of Mexico,
abolishes Congress & calls out the Army to clear out the riff-raff & crooks WHEREAS, a body of men
calling themselves the National Congress are now in session in Washington City, in violation of our
Imperial edict of the 12th of October last, declaring the said Congress abolished; WHEREAS,
it is necessary for the repose of our Empire that the said decree should be strictly complied with;
NOW, THEREFORE, we do hereby Order & Direct Major-General Scott, the Command-in-Chief of
our Armies, immediately upon receipt of this, our Decree, to proceed with a suitable force
& clear the Halls of Congress.

January 3, 1917 - Tom Mooney trial begins in San Francisco.
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmooney.htm

Martin Swanson, a detective with a long involvement in strikes, & various labor confrontations
in Frisco, spent a couple of months trying to frame Mooney for an earlier bombing of PG&E
power lines, offering bribes of $5,000 to several of Mooney's allies. He also maintained constant
surveillance & harassment of Mooney, Billings, & the anarchists Alexander Berkman & Emma
Goldman, who were living at 569 Dolores in the Mission District.

Over the next two years it was gradually revealed that Swanson was primarily responsible for
finding & coaching false witnesses for the District Attorney. In spite of revelations showing all
the evidence against them was faked, & a convincing demolition of the state's case in each of
the trials, Warren Billings & Tom Mooney were both convicted of first degree murder.

America free Tom Mooney
America save the Spanish Loyalists
America Sacco & Vanzetti must not die...
— Allen Ginsberg

February 9, 1917 — American labor agitator Tom Mooney falsely convicted of fatal bombing.
He will be pardoned & released 22 ½ years from now.
January 7, 1939 — Tom Mooney, labor activist, freed after 22 ½ years in jail on false charges.
Convicted of murder in connection with a 1916 San Francisco bomb explosion.

A series of lithographs (1933) by Ben Shahn depicting the Tom Mooney trial aided their cause
& helped establish his reputation as an activist artist.

January 3, 1966
The Psychedelic Shop
Grand Opening
(Haight Street)
Poster
$425
Celebrating Ron & Jay Thelin's opening of the
(first ever) head shop on Haight Street.

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January 4, 1856
New post office law made required that all letters shall bear postage stamps.

January 4, 1968
Vanilla Fudge
The Steve Miller Blues Band
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Fillmore Auditorium
Artist: Lee Conklin ( his first poster for Bill Graham)

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January 5, 1850
California Exchange opened

January 5, 1856
Daniel Lynch was arrested at the Metropolitan Saloon on a charges of disorderly
conduct. He took one shot at police officers and was released on $10,000 bail.

January 5, 1966
San Francisco Mime Troupe
Handbill
Encore Theatre

January 5, 1967
Inaugural message of Ronald Reagan, California's 33rd governor, delivered during ceremonies
in the Rotunda of the State Capitol at midnight. Just before the swearing in, the new governor
turned to U.S. Senator George Murphy -- a former movie song-and-dance man -- and said
"Well George, here we are on the late show again."
The new governor placed his hand on Father Sierra"s bible as he was sworn in by State
Supreme Court Justice Marshall F. McComb.

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Jan 6, 1967 Quicksilver Messenger Service The Steve Miller Blues Band Avalon Ballroom Artist: Victor Moscoso	Jan 6, 1967 - Jan 8, 1967 The Doors Sopwith Camel Young Rascals @ Fillmore Auditorium Artist::Wes Wilson This was the first time L.A. band 'The Doors' played the Fillmore. Love at 1st sight!

January 7, 1848
James Lick arrived in San Francisco and purchased the fifty-vara
lot on the northeast corner of Jackson and Montgomery streets from S.J. Ellis.

January 7, 1968
Show: Benefit for "Stop the Draft" Week
Phil Ochs
The Loading Zone
Blue Cheer
Venue: Fillmore Auditorium
Handbill

January 7, 1980
San Francisco marked the 100th anniversary of the death of America's only monarch,
Dei Gratia Emperor Norton of the United States & Protector of Mexico, with lunch-hour
ceremonies at Market & Montgomery streets. Best ruler America or México ever had!  

Trial of Charles Cora began

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January 8, 1856
First Unitarian Society organized at the Stockton Street Unitarian Church.

January 8 1880
Emperor Norton drops dead on California St. Between 10,000 and 30,000 people were
reported to have attended his funeral.Le RoiEstMort 1980 USA: San Francisco marked the
100th anniversary of the death of America's only monarch, Norton I,  Dei Gratia Emperor
of the United States and Protector of Mexico, with lunch-hour ceremonies at Market and
Montgomery streets. Best ruler the country ever had.

January 8. 1966
KYA Super Harlow A Go-Go dance & show at Longshoremen's Hall in San Francisco,
with the Vejtables & the Baytovens.
"Happy" Harlow was Russ "The Moose" Syracuse's KYA radio engineer.

January 8, 1967
Police bust the second Digger Free Store at 520 Frederick Street, San Francisco, California.

January 8, 1972
Kenneth Patchen — poet, novelist, painter, graphic designer, pacifist, early anarchist
participant
in the San Francisco Libertarian Circle — dies, Palo Alto, California.

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January 9, 1847
Yerba Buena's first newspaper, "The California Star," published its first
issue on the press Sam Brannan brought with him from New York.
Brannan was the publisher and Dr. E.B. Jones, editor.

January 9, 1849
Henry M. Naglee and Richard H. Sinton formed a bank called the Exchange and Deposit Office
on Kearny St. facing Portsmouth Plaza. Sinton was acting paymaster aboard the " Ohio" and
came to San Francisco with Commodore Jones.

January 9, 1854
Meeting of mechanics, merchants, traders, bankers, convened at the
Merchants' Exchange to oppose the licensing law.

Jan 9, 1968
Notes From the Underground
Allmen Joy
@ Straight Theatre
Artist: Terre
Handbill

The First & Last Emperor of the United States, who better to set an example for self-improving Anarchists everywhere ~

Emperor Norton (1819-1880) proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States & Protector of México in 1859.
Although a pauper, he was fed free in San Francisco's best restaurants. Although a madman, he had all his state
proclamations published in San Francisco's newspapers. While rational reformers elsewhere failed to crack the
national bank monopoly with alternate currency plans, Norton the First had his own private currency accepted
throughout San Francisco. Norton was so beloved that 30,000 people turned out for his funeral in 1880.

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January 10, 1847
Gen. Kearny and Commodore Stockton recaptured Los Angeles from California rebels.

January 10, 1856
A petition was presented to the Board of Education by the residents of Pacific street, near the Toll Gate,
praying for the establishment of a school in that vicinity.

Auction at the Music Hall of Capt. Folsom's properties in San Francisco conducted by Selover, Sinton & Co.
Included were lots in the city of San Francisco and in the town of Folsom, also, the Leidestorff Rancho de
los Americanos, embracing about 36,000 acres [14,500 hectares]of some of the finest land in California.

January 10, 1967
Show: Neon Rose #2
The Steve Miller Blues Band
@ Matrix (San Francisco)
Artist: Victor Moscoso

January 10, 1967
Charles Lloyd Quartet
Denny Zeitlin Trio
@ BothAnd in San Francisco

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January 11, 1848
Town Council attempted to ban gambling in San Francisco.

January 11, 1850
Volunteer Mezeppa Engine Company organized. It may have been named
for a ship that sailed from Sydney on June 8, 1849.

January 11, 1856
Some dastardly scoundrel destroyed several hundred feet of new hose belonging to
the Monumental Engine Co. that had been spread out upon the Plaza railings to dry.
A knife or hatchet was used to hack the hose in many places.

January 11 -13, 1968
The Chambers Brothers
The Sunshine Company
Siegel-Schwall Band
Holy See
@Fillmore Auditorium
Artist: Bonnie MacLean

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January 12, 1851
William Walker, editor of the "Herald," dueled on Mission Road with
W.H. Graham. Graham was upset with article in newspaper. Walker
was shot twice in the leg but survived.

January 12, 1852
Ex-Governor McDougal and A.C. Russell, editor of the "Picayune,"engaged in a duel today.
Russell was hit in the hand and slightly wounded.

January 12, 1967
Human Be-In Press Conference
Jerry Rubin
Gary Snyder
Allen Cohen
@ 1542 Haight Street
photographer: Gene Anthony

January 12, 1967
Beat poets hold a free benefit for the Diggers. Held at Gino & Carlo's Tavern, this is billed as
"the first San Francisco Poets 'Thank You' to the Diggers."

Included were "Gary Snyder, Lenore Kandel, George Stanley, Ron Lowensohn, Lew Welch,
Richard Brautigan, David Meltzer and William Fritchey." The Diggers, true to form, refuse
to accept cash donations collected at the event. Emmett Grogan describes this event and
how the Diggers turned down the offers of money, and gave back all the money that had
been accidentally collected.

In a followup article, Gleason noted, "The Diggers, the Haight-Ashbury informal group which
provides free food each afternoon at 4 in the Panhandle at Oak and Ashbury, won't accept
benefits from any group.

'If you want to give the Diggers a benefit,' a spokesman says,
'give a party to which everybody can come free.'

January 12, 1986
Bob Kaufman, Beat poet, died in San Francisco at 60.(emphysema)
He was born in New Orleans and had been called the "black American Rimbaud."
Bob Kaufman took a vow of silence after the assassination of John F. Kennedy
and began speaking again after the Viet Nam war ended.
 Bob Kaufman Final Portraits

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January 13, 1847
"Capitulation of Cahuenga" ended all organized resistance to American rule in California.
All rebels were pardoned by Gen. Kearny.

January 13, 1850
52 men enrolled in the volunteer San Francisco Fire Company.
Most were from Baltimore, and met at the offices of William
McLane at the corner of Clay and Montgomery.

January 13, 1967
Grateful Dead
&his Chicago Blues Band
The Doors
@ Fillmore Auditorium
Artist: Wes Wilson

January 13, 1980
The Grateful Dead, Beach Boys and Jefferson Starship are the featured acts at a benefit concert for
the people of Kampuchea, held at the Oakland Coliseum

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January 14, 1850
Peter Paul Francis Degrand and others petitioned the U.S. Senate Committee on Roads and Canals
praying a charter for the purpose of constructing a railroad and establishing telegraph line from
St. Louis to San Francisco.

January 14, 1856
At least 5,000 people attended the trial of skill between the Monumental
and Vigilant fire companies today at 2 o'clock .

January 14, 1939
All commercial ferry service to the San Francisco East Bay ends.

January 14, 1967
Tour/Show: Human Be-In
Allen Ginsberg
Richard Alpert
Dick Gregory
Jack Weinberg
Timothy Leary
Jerry Rubin
Gary Snyder
Polo Fields, Golden Gate Park
Artist: Stanley Mouse

'The Gathering of the Tribes' in a "union of love and activism" was an overwhelming success.
Over twenty thousand people came to the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park.
Allen Ginsberg, Richard Alpert, Dick Gregory, Allen Cohen and thousands of
others, myself included were there with flowers in our hair to celebrate what
we envisioned as the beginning of a New Era dedicated to Peace and Love.

The psychedelic bands played: Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead,
and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Poets Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder,
Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Lew Welch, and Lenore Kandel
read, chanted and sang.

Tim Leary told everyone to "Turn on, Tune in and Drop out"; the Diggers gave out free food; the Hell's Angels
guarded the generator cables that someone had cut; Owsley Stanley gave out free acid; a parachutist dropped
like an angel from the sky and the whole world watched on the evening news.
Soon there would be Be-Ins and Love-Ins from Texas to Paris, and the psychedelic and political aspects of
the youth culture would continue to grow hand in hand everywhere.

January 14 - 18, 1978
The Sex Pistols' final concert (Winterland, Frisco, California).
At the end of the last show, Johnny Rotten sneers at his audience,
"How does it feel to be swindled?"
The next morning he announces the group is history, blaming manager Malcolm McLaren for "sensationalizing"
everything about the band. That afternoon Sid Vicious is taken unconscious off their London bound plane in
New York & rushed to a hospital. He is treated for an overdose of barbiturates & alcohol.

January 14,1998
Fannie Mae Barnes, 51, became the first woman to operate a cable car in revenue service. No other woman
had made it beyond the first day of training in the 125 year history of cable cars because of the great upper
body strength required to operate the grip and the brakes. Ms Barnes had previously worked as a bus driver
and later as a cable car conductor for six years..

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January 15, 1939 -
Municipal Railway and Market Street Railroad begin service to the Transbay Transit (East Bay) Terminal.

January 15, 1954
Joe DiMaggio marries Marilyn Monroe
in San Francisco at City Hall.

January 15,1997
The Cannabis Cultivators Club staged a gala reopening.

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January 16, 1850
First dramatic entertainment in San Francisco when "The Wife" was presented at
Washington Hall, Washington St., between Kearny and Dupont.

January 16, 1865 - San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle started
(now the San Francisco Chronicle.)

January 16, 1887 - San Francisco's Cliff House badly damaged when a cargo of gunpowder
on the schooner "Parallel" explodes nearby.

January 16, 1966
Joan Baez is jailed for 10 days for Vietnam antiwar protest during a demonstration, Oakland, California.

January 16, 1968
Youth International Party (Y.I.P.) founded — Country Joe & Fish, Fugs (includes Tuli Kupferberg, "
one of the leading Anarchist theorists of our time" & Ed Sanders, poet, editor, owner of the fabled
Peace Eye Book Store), Allen Ginsberg, Arlo Guthrie, Abbie Hoffman, Paul Krassner, Phil Ochs,
Jerry Rubin (25 artists, writers & revolutionaries). No anarchist Yuppies allowed

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January 17, 1967
Show: Neon Rose #3
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Matrix
Artist: Victor Moscoso
Lisa Bachelis

January 17, 1967
Ike & Tina Turner Revue with the Ike-Ettes at California Hall in San Francisco.

January 17, 1968
Police attack a crowd of 600 protesting an appearance by US Secretary of State Dean Rusk in San Francisco.

January 17, 2001
Gregory Corso (70), Beat poet, died in Robbinsdale, Minn after long battle with Cancer.
Tributes to Corso

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January 18, 1968
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Charles Lloyd Quartet
@ Fillmore Auditorium
Artists: Jack Hatfield
Louis Sozzi

January 18, 2001
SF sued 13 energy providers for collusion to fix prices and restrict the energy supply.

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January 19, 1851
First Presbyterian Church moved into an imported prefabricated building
on Stockton between Broadway and Pacific.

January 19, 1966
Ken Kesey is arrested in San Francisco a second time for the possession
of marijuana. He subsequently jumps bail and flees to Mexico, trying
to mislead law enforcement authorities with a faked suicide note.


January 19, 1968
Genesis (60's)
Siegel-Schwall Band
Mother Earth
The Diogenes Lantern Works
@Avalon Ballroom San Francisco
Artist: Bob Fried

January 18,2003
In the US tens of thousands rallied in Washington DC in an emphatic dissent against preparations
for war in Iraq. As many as 500,000 rallied outside the Capitol. In SF the rally drew at least
100,000. A small band of anarchists vandalized the Financial District in “black bloc” protests.

January 20,2001
Some 15,000 protesters gathered in SF against the inauguration of
Pres. Bush in Washington DC.

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January 21, 1850
French newspaper "Le Californien" established.

January 21, 1867
A foolish & overzealous Patrol Special Officer, Armand Barbier, arrests His Majesty Norton I,
Emperor of the United States & Protector of Mexico, for involuntary treatment of a mental
disorder & thereby creates a major civic uproar.
San Francisco Police Chief Patrick Crowley apologizes to His Majesty & orders him released.
Several scathing newspaper editorials follow the arrest.
All police officers begin to salute His Majesty when he passed them on the street.

Jan 21, 1966 Stewart Brand Fine Art Print	Jan 21, 1966 Ken BabbsHandbill Auction

January 21-23, 1966,
Three-day Trips Festival at Longshoremen's Hall, 400 North Point St. featured the Grateful Dead,
Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Loading Zone, Chinese New Years' Lion Dancers and
Drum and Bugle Corps, Stroboscopic Trampoline, and Ken Kesey and His Merry Pranksters.
This was also the occasion of the first Light Show and 10,000 people attended the Festival

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January 22, 1849
President Polk appointed John White Geary as Postmaster, with the power to expand postal
service through the new territory.

The "Alta California " became the first daily newspaper in California.


January 22, 1850
Musical entertainment given at the California Exchange.

January 22, 1856
M. Derbec began publication of the "Eco delPacifico," a daily Spanish paper.

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January 23, 1847
"California Star" printed Alcalde Bartlett's letter to Commander Joseph B. Hull of the Northern
California Naval District asking for an investigation of allegations against him by the paper
which said he had misappropriated funds. Also printed was Hull's reply which exonerated Bartlett.

January 23, 1850
San Francisco's second daily journal, "The Journal of Commerce," established by Washington Bartlett.

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January 24, 1847
Beginning today, all stray hogs in Yerba Buena must be securely penned
or the hogs will be confiscated. The owner would also be fined $5.

January 24, 1848
James Wilson Marshall and Peter L. Wimmer discovered gold at the new
lumber mill under construction on the American River.

January 24,1988
San Francisco, California approves renaming 12 streets for local writers & artists.
Includes Jack Kerouac alley.

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January 25, 1915
Alexander Bell in New York calls Thomas Watson in San Francisco.

January 26,1942
West Coast Hearst newspapers engage in a vilifying attack on Japanese-Americans
& begin the public outcry
for mass exclusion. Hearst's papers have never been celebrated for their fine reporting

Jan 26, 1968
Show: Heavy
Country Joe & the Fish
The Charlatans
Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
@ Avalon Ballroom
Artist: Stanley Mouse
Alton Kelley

January 26,1991
200,000 in San Francisco march against Gulf War, 200,000 march in New York City
& ; also 200,000 in Bonn, Germany.

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January 28, 1850
Town Council elected Frederick D. Kohler as the first Chief Engineer
of the San Francisco Volunteer Fire Department. David C. Broderick
was on the committee that recommended Kohler.

January 28, 1856
Mayor Van Ness signed an ordinance for suppression of houses of ill-fame in this city.
The law will go into effect on the 15th of February.

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January 29, 1856
Light earthquake felt at the Mission Dolores.

January 29, 1966
The eighth (?)Acid Test was held at the Sound City Studios in San Francisco.

January 29,2004
Mayor Newsom cut $25,000 from his salary and requested that city officials
earning over $125,000 accept 15% pay cuts.

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January 30, 1847
Town of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco by order of Alcalde Bartlett.
The order was
published in the "California Star."

January 31, 1848
Court-martial of Lt. Col. Frémont attended. He was found guilty, but President Polk
offered a full pardon and restoration of Fremont to the Army. Frémont refused,
saying acceptance would be an admission of guilt.

January 31, 1851
First orphanage in California, the San Francisco Orphan Asylum, founded
by the Protestants at Second and Folsom streets.

Capt. Charles A. Falkinburg, of the bark "Jane A. Falkinburg," and his lady, were
riding in a carriage near Folsom street on Fulton. The horse became unruly and
backed the carriage off the wharf. The Captain died of severe injuries in a few minutes.
Fortunately the injuries to the lady were very slight.

On Thursday morning about 2 o'clock, Police Officer James Lang fell through a cellar way
of A. Guy's store on Merchant Street. He suffered injuries to his left side and arm. There
are no lamps in the neighborhood. There are several other cellarways which should be
covered over at night.

January 31, 1871
Birds fly over the western part of San Francisco in such large numbers that they
actually darken the sky.

January 31,1909
Emma Goldman speaks to a crowd of over 2,000 people in San Francisco on
"Why I Am an Anarchist."

January 31,1911
Congress passes resolution naming San Francisco as the site of the celebration
of the opening of the Panama Canal.

January 31, 2003
A federal jury in SF found Ed Rosenthal (58), a marijuana advocate,
guilty of felony conspiracy and cultivation charges. Judge Charles Breyer
did not allow testimony citing 1996 California state voter approval of
medical marijuana. On Feb. 4 jurors claimed they were duped and
called for a new trial.

In 2006 the 9th Circuit Appeals Court subsequently overturned
Rosenthal's conviction. Months later the U.S. Attorney's office
re-indicted him. Although, the judge has promised to sentence
Rosenthal to no additional prison time, a new trial commenced on 14 May 2007.

On May 31, 2007, it was announced that Rosenthal had been convicted again on three
of the five charges against him: one conspiracy count; one count of cultivation, intending
to distribute and distributing marijuana; and one count of using a commercial building as
a site for growing and distributing marijuana. He was acquitted of growing and distributing
marijuana at the Harm Reduction Center medical-marijuana club in San Francisco. The jury
deadlocked on whether he had conspired to grow and distribute marijuana at the Harm
Reduction Center. Judge Breyer once again prohibited Rosenthal's lawyers from arguing
before the jury that his work was sanctioned by Oakland government officials, a main point
of contention for the jurors of the previous trial. Ed Rosenthal did not receive any additiona
l jail time and planned to appeal.



The Calendar of San Francisco History each month contains many facts about San Francisco
found and shared freely online by Virtual San Francisco Museum, The Daily Bleed, and The Diggers Archive,
and local archived newspapers. Included on the calendar are also facts and fancies from my own experiences
and research into all things San Francisco
over the many years I have lived and loved here. ~ nicole, sfheart.com

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