Jim and I have returned after more than two weeks in France at sites tied to history (William the Conqueror, King Henry II) and literature (Chrétien de Troyes, Proust). It underscored for me the way that story and context can transform the meaning of places - a lesson for my work in San Francisco.

Today at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral I met with Michael Lampen, the Cathedral archivist, to discuss the Bourn window. It commemorates my relative William Bourn Sr., who made a fortune during the Gold Rush. I never saw a penny of that fortune, but I'm lucky to enjoy the beautiful rose window.

Last night Tom Ammiano, Lincoln Mitchell, and Romalyn Schmaltz (L-R) gave great overviews of the political history of San Francisco at a packed event organized by Shaping San Francisco.

San Francisco glamour shot: Macondray Lane on Russian Hill. This was the inspiration for the fictional Barbary Lane in Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City." In the distance: Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill.

Artemis II pilot Victor Glover. He was on the International Space Station in 2020 when George Floyd's killers were being tried. Black astronauts contacted him from Earth: "[It was] so supportive and powerful for me. And I needed that. I needed an outlet. And they were that for me."

I've just finished Guy de Maupassant's 1885 novel "Bel-Ami." Cynicism in the Paris of the Belle Époque!

Yesterday I addressed the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission again to expand landmarking that recognizes the city's important history of transgender activism. I was joined by fellow historians Susan Stryker, Shayne Watson, and Gerard Koskovich.

San Francisco turned out for No Kings Day! La gente di San Francisco è scesa in piazza per la No Kings Day!

If you're in San Francisco, here are some useful logistics for today's No Kings event: indivisiblesf.org/no-kings-3/k...

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...

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

My husband Jim and I just finished re-reading the final volume of Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" as part of the Proust seminar led by Mark Calkins at the Mechanics' Institute Library in San Francisco.

Home turf.

I just signed a book contract to write a history of San Francisco's South of Market for Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series! Look for it in 2027!

"To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour." - "Auguries of Innocence" by William Blake, born November 28, 1757.

Yesterday I visited Lachryma Montis in Sonoma. It was the home of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807-1890), a general and politician whose life spanned California's Spanish, Mexican, and American periods. Vallejo wrote his "Recuerdos," a massive five-volume history of California, here in the 1870s.

The Sunol Water Temple, built in 1910. William Bourn of the Spring Valley Water Company commissioned it - possibly to entice San Franciscans to buy his company as a municipal water source. Although the temple is currently closed to the public, I managed to take this picture through the gate.

Filipino histories of San Francisco. On November 13 Nancy Hom, former Executive Director of Kearny Street Workshop, spoke with me about the mandala she created about the history of the I-Hotel. It is currently on display at the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, former site of the I-Hotel.

San Francisco's Castro Street is named for José Castro (1808-1860), a military officer during California's Mexican period. Yesterday I returned to Castro's 1830s adobe home in San Juan Bautista (about 90 miles south of San Francisco); the building also appears in Hitchcock's 1958 film "Vertigo."

The article on the history of The Stud that I wrote for San Francisco Heritage: www.sfheritage.org/community/th...

The article on the history of Folsom Street Fair that I wrote for San Francisco Heritage: www.sfheritage.org/community/th...

The article on the history of the Eagle that I wrote for San Francisco Heritage: www.sfheritage.org/community/th...

Good news regarding Dr. Hayden, our former Librarian of Congress. apnews.com/article/carl...

Recently I rewatched the 1936 film "After the Thin Man," which opens as the train of Nick and Nora Charles pulls into San Francisco's Southern Pacific station. These days it's the same location from which I take my daily commute by Caltrain down to Stanford.

San Francisco writer WC Morrow crafted gothic tales while living at 1871 Sacramento Street. His macabre short story "Over an Absinthe Bottle," published in 1897, is set in San Francisco and is available for free online: americanliterature.com/author/wc-mo...

Yesterday's Trans March in San Francisco. Thousands of people took over Market Street. www.transmarch.org/trans-march-...

Well, this is utterly bizarre. The National Archives in College Park (outside DC) will no longer be open to the public as of July 7, and security guards will be posted. These are the records of our federal government, and should always be accessible to everyone. www.archives.gov/college-park

"The Serpent Queen" reminds me of Alexandre Dumas' story of Catherine de' Medici killing her son King Charles IX with a poisoned book. That, in turn, has reminded me of other stories of poisoned books such as Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" and Milorad Pavić's "The Dictionary of the Khazars."

Black Union soldiers were among the many Black Americans instrumental in the Union victory of the Civil War - a victory that secured liberties for all Black Americans and is celebrated on Juneteenth. (Photo from the Library of Congress: www.loc.gov/pictures/ite...)

Happy Bloomsday! When Jim and I have spent time in Dublin we've sought out locations that appear in "Ulysses" - James Joyce's modern retelling of Homer's "Odyssey," set in Dublin on June 16, 1904. This is from our trip in 2023. I was enjoying a pint at Davy Byrne's pub on Duke Street.

Here's a bit of Greek. Happy Father's Day to all the Fathers, Father figures, and Daddies.