As the year ends, your support helps fund Guide training, student scholarships, and free public tours. Any tax deductible gift—$50, $75, $100, $500. www.sfcityguides.org/donate Thank you, and happy holidays. Best regards, Demetri Rizos Executive Director San Francisco City Guides

San Francisco, 1865 showing Market Street, Post and Montgomery Streets. Special thanks to Al Schwoerer for allowing us to repost their photo. www.sfcityguides.org

1st Street, San Francisco around 1864. Albumen Silver Print from glass negative Special thanks to Carleton Watkins / Metropolitan Museum of Art. www.sfcityguides.org

Bummer and Lazarus were two stray dogs that roamed the streets of San Francisco between 1861 and 1865. They became famous for their expertise at killing the rats that infested the city in those days, and for their unique bond of friendship. wwwsfcityguides.org

Curious to learn more about CECOT? Hear Juan, Andry, and Wilmer share firsthand how the Trump administration branded them as gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal El Salvadoran prison. This @pbsnews.org documentary is available on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lku5...

Happy Holidays from SF City Guides! Holiday tree central to Union Square. We think the Dewey Monument might be under that tree? Discuss. www.sfcityguides.org

Built in 1907, the Pacific Building stood out for its colors. Whittlesey, also designed the nearby flatiron building at Market & Ellis, likened it to a stylishly dressed woman & rejected plain white, saying it would stand out “like a diamond dropped in the mud.” sfcityguides.org/tour/histori...

Corner of Post and Montgomery Streets at Market Streets after the 1906 Earthquake & Fire The 1906 Earthquake & Fire Free Walking Tour sfcityguides.org/tour/1906-ea...

A year-end donation to City Guides supports our volunteer Guides, education programs, new Guide training, and the Charles Fracchia Price High School Essay Contest. Gifts of $50, $100, $200, or $500 are tax deductible through December 31. Please consider donating at sfcityguides.org/donate

On February 28th, 1935, a runaway vehicle struck the cable car signal tower killing the worker employee inside. Today, there’s a barrier to protect the worker inside. The Cable Cars, Halfway to the Stars shares this history. RSVP: sfcityguides.org/tour/cable-c...

James King of William, an outspoken journalist who wrote about corruption, was killed in 1856 by a city official he had criticized. This banner honored his death. This event brought about SF’s 2nd Committee of Vigilance, which took justice into its own hands. www.sfcityguides.org

Discover the fascinating history of early SFChinese immigrants, from the formation of supportive family associations to the rise of tongs & street gangs. Learn how community, survival, power, & conflict intersected in one of SF’s most iconic neighborhoods. RSVP sfcityguides.org/tour/chinato...

Flood Mansion after the 1906 earthquake & fire. The Nob Hill free walking tour shares this history. sfcityguides.org/tour/nob-hill/

The Haas-Lilienthal House was renovated in 2018 & is the only intact private home of its era regularly open as a museum. Built in 1886, this Queen Anne–style home features open gables & a turreted “witches cap” tower. Pacific Heights Mansions & Alamo Square www.sfcityguides.org

Inside San Francisco’s Ferry Building, a second-floor pedestrian walkway once funneled thousands of daily commuters directly from Market Street transit to waiting ferries—above the noise, rails, & street traffic below. Ferry Building Free Walking Tour sfcityguides.org/tour/ferry-b...

This tiny truck is so cute, AND it’s designed right here in #SanFrancisco! 🚚 sfstandard.com/2025/12/13/t...

The Bay Bridge under construction in 1935. Special thanks to the Oakland Library for allowing us to repost their photo. www.sfcityguides.org

Diving into the weekend. A crowd watching the Far West Diving Championships at Fleishacker Pool. Special thanks to SF Memory for allowing us to repost their photo. www.sfcityguides.org

New to the city? Join the Welcome to San Francisco walking tour - the perfect introduction to our beautiful, iconic City by the Bay! - Starting at the historic Ferry Building - Ending in vibrant North Beach Explore history, culture, over the decades. RSVP sfcityguides.org/tour/welcome...

The City of Paris Christmas Tree stood over 50 feet tall, decorated with 4,000 ornaments & 2,000 lights. A crew of 30 worked 18 hours on scaffolding to ready it for the 1951 unveiling—its 51st tree in the store’s 101st year. Paris of the Pacific walking tour: RSVP: sfcityguides.org/tour/paris-o...

This 1927 Shell gas station was located at Fell and Baker streets decorated for the holidays to attract customers with kids. Special thanks to OpenSFHistory for allowing us to repost their photo. Happy Holidays www.sfcityguides.org

At 853 feet, The Transamerica Pyramid is one of the tallest points in SF (aside from Salesforce tower). The Transamerica Pyramid was originally known as Montgomery Block, a historic building that housed lawyers, financiers, writers, actors and artists from 1853 to 1959. www.SFCityGuides.org

Holiday Tree in from of City Hall www.sfcityguides.org

The Transbay Transit Terminal opened in 1939, with trains crossing the Bay Bridge on its lower deck & cars above. It served 26 million passengers a year. The old building gradually declined, & the last bus rolled out on August 7, 2010. The terminal was demolished soon after. www.sfcityguides.org

Multiple large natural experiments have documented Shingles vaccine is linked with ~20-25% reduced risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. A new report today adds to that and extends the to slowing the progression of dementia @cellcellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Alexander Stirling Calder was Chief of Sculpture of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The model for Star Maiden was Audrey Munson, who was then at the height of her fame; it has been claimed that she posed for as many as three-quarters of the Fair’s statues. www.sfcityguides.org

City Hall under construction in the Civic Center. It was started in 1913 and completed in July 1916. The City Hall & Civic Center free walking tour takes walkers there. sfcityguides.org/tour/city-ha...

Ferry Building plaza around 1900. Electric streetcars picking up passengers. www.sfcityguides.org

By the 1930s, four different streetcar tracks ran along Market. Dubbed the “Roar of the Four,” due to the noise of hundreds of cars rolling through the urban canyon of Market Street, streetcars were certainly king of the road. www.sfcityguides.org

Lotta’s Fountain after the 1906 Earthquake & Fire. It was a meeting spot after the catastrophic event. www.sfcityguides.org

Meet Milkshake, 8 years old, full of love and smiles! Let's find her a home! muttville.org/mutt/milksha...

Once a jewel of late-19th-century San Francisco, the Baldwin Hotel stood at Market & Powell. Built by mining magnate Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin, it embodied the city’s bold, booming spirit. On Nov 23, 1898, The Baldwin Hotel burned to the ground. www.sfcityguides.org

San Francisco’s first major department store & renamed The White House in 1870. The White House stood out for its progressive workplace practices: closing at 6 pm, honoring holidays, offering paid vacations & sick time, plus commissions on sales. sfcityguides.org/tour/paris-o...

Corner of Post and Montgomery Streets at Market Streets after the 1906 Earthquake & Fire The 1906 Earthquake & Fire Free Walking Tour sfcityguides.org/tour/1906-ea...

Powell Cable Car turnaround in 1958. The Cable Cars, Halfway to the Stars free walking tour shares cable car history. sfcityguides.org/tour/cable-c...

Old City Hall before the 1906 earthquake and fire. The 1906 Earthquake & Fire shares many stories about this catastrophic event. sfcityguides.org/tour/1906-ea...

From sand-swept dunes to Playland & the quirky streetcar homes of Carville, Ocean Beach has seen centuries of stories roll in with the tide. Surfers, daredevils, streetcar-dwellers, & sunset-chasers have called this shoreline home. Today, the rides & pavilions are gone. www.sfcityguides.org

Portsmouth Square was once the town of Yerba Buena (later renamed to San Francisco). SF was mostly dirt and sand as you can see in this daguerreotype of SF early days. RSVP 1850s SF: Paris of the Pacific walking tour. RSVP here: sfcityguides.org/tour/paris-o...

San Francisco 1934. You can see the Golden Gate Bridge in process of being built. SF City guides has stories to tell on our 80+ free walking tours. www.sfcityguides.org 501 C 3 non profit

Construction on the Stockton Tunnel began in 1913 and opened in 1914. “The open door to North Beach” was the slogan for the Stockton Street Tunnel & completed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Special Thanks Photo courtesy of A. Mendoza. SF City Guides www.sfcityguides.org

Have you seen the elephant? It was a popular 19th-century phrase that puzzled many. People used it to describe the hardships of getting from point A to point B—especially gold seekers traveling to the San Francisco Bay Area in search of fortune. Gold Rush City www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?to...

Feb. 24, 1966: SF citizens rallying against the proposed Panhandle Freeway sit in the front row at a Board of Supervisors meeting. Photo credit - Bill Young / Chronicle Plans accelerated on May 12, 1951, when a proposal included a web of highways through San Francisco. www.sfcityguides.org

Special thanks to Mary Evans Picture Library for allowing us to repost their photo of a sightseeing Cliff House bus. www.SFCityGuides.org

Emperor Norton astride a velocipede in 1869. By Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) www.sfcityguides.org

One of the early photographs of the Mission Dolores in SF before the other additions were built. It is indeed the oldest building in San Francisco. Named after Saint Francis of Assisi, the mission was nicknamed Mission Dolores after the nearby creek. RSVP: sfcityguides.org/tour/mission...

This weekends free walking tours. sfcityguides.org/find-your-to...

Cable Car turnaround at 26th & Castro. The Cable Cars, Halfway to the Stars free walking tours shares SF cable car history. sfcityguides.org/tour/cable-c... #cablecars

Murals And The Multi‑Ethnic Mission District - four story mural on the exterior of the Women’s Building - An eight-story mural at the Bethany Center - Layers of history—from Catholic missionaries, orthodox Jews, German Lutherans to Palestinian refugees RSVP: sfcityguides.org/tour/murals-...

There was a special section at Kezar Stadium where the 49ers originally played that had free seating for kids sponsored by Christopher Milk (a local dairy and George Christopher who was elected Mayor in 1956). The 49ers played at Kezar from 1946 to 1970. www.sfcityguides.org

The Ingleside Terraces Sundial on Entrada Court was built at the at the time of the original development of Ingleside Terraces. As evidenced by the plaque at its base, it was dedicated on October 10, 1913, the same day as the “meeting of the waters” in the Panama Canal. www.sfcityguides.org