Timeline San Francisco 1970-1977
Return to home
1970 Jan 1, In SF
Officer Eric Zelms was fatally shot when 2 burglars surprised him and
gained control of his gun. The burglars were later convicted of murder
and sentenced 8 to 10 years.
(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A8)
1970 Feb 16, In SF a homemade bomb
exploded outside the police Park Station on Waller St. Sgt. Brian
McDonnell (44) died 2 days later and 8 other officers were injured.
Black Panthers were suspected, but a later investigation suggested it
was the work of the Weather Underground.
(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A8)(SFC, 2/17/07, p.B1)
1970 May, The government shut off
power and stopped fresh water supplies from the Native American Indians
on Alcatraz Island. When a fire broke out each side blamed the other.
(G, Summer ‘97, p.5)
1970 Jun 19, In SF police officer
Richard Radetich (25) was shot 3 times by a gunman as wrote a ticket in
a parked patrol car. Radetich died 15 hours later leaving behind a wife
and 8-month-old daughter.
(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A1)
1970 Jun, A fire broke out on
Alcatraz and destroyed 3 historical buildings.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W39)
1970 Jul 26, The SF Chronicle
received a letter from the Zodiac killer with an unsubstantiated claim
of killing 13 people.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)
1970 Aug 24, The 1st issue of El
Tecolote (The Owl), a Latino community paper, was produced under
founder Juan Gonzales.
(SFC, 10/13/00, p.WBb1)
1970 Oct 14, San Francisco’s
Golden Gate Park Conservatory was added to the National Register of
Historic Places.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places)
1970 Oct 19, In SF police officer
Harold Hamilton was killed after responding to a bank robbery at the
Wells Fargo branch at Seventh and Clement Street. Later several
officers were wounded when a bomb exploded outside Hamilton’s funeral
at St. Brendan Church.
(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A8)
1970 Nov, Two oil tankers collided
outside the Golden Gate. [see Jan 18, 1971]
(G, Summer ‘97, p.5)
1970 The 580-room SF Holiday Inn
at Fisherman’s Wharf, designed by Clement Chen Jr., a Shanghai native,
was constructed. In 2005 it was renovated and re-flagged as a
Hilton hotel.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.B1)(SFEC, 1/2/00, p.B1)(SFC,
3/17/05, p.C1)
1970 A dragon crested gate was
erected at the Bush and Grant St. entrance to Chinatown.
(SFC, 5/27/05, p.F8)
1970 Albert S. Samuels returned
his 20-foot-tall clock to the jewelry store front at 856 Market St.
where it had marked time since [1941] 1943, except for 1967-1970 when
BART was under construction. [see 1915]
(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)(SFC, 11/18/00, p.A1)
c1970 The SF Chronicle began to
carry the "Doonesbury" cartoon of Garry Trudeau under editor George
Stanleigh Arnold (d.1997 at 78).
(SFC, 5/30/97, p.A26)
1970 Conductor Seiji Ozawa
succeeded Josef Krips to lead the SF Symphony.
(SFEC, 8/10/97, p.B9)
1970 Faith Petric (55) retired and
began a new career as a folk singer. Petric had begun running the SF
Folk Club (b.1948) in 1962 and soon began hosting meetings of the club
at her Clayton street home.
(SFC, 9/30/02, p.A14)
1970 Rev. Sri Swami Satchidananda
(1914-2002) established his Integral Yoga Institute in SF.
(SFC, 8/20/02, p.A22)
1970 Rene Yanez co-founded the
Galerie de la Raza to showcase the work of Latino and Chicano artists.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.E9)
1970 Mayor Joseph Alioto named
Alfred J. Nelder (d.2002 at 87) as police chief. Nelder served for 19
months.
(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A23)
1970 D.B Jones (d.2000 at 66)
began serving as founding executive director of Meals on Wheels.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.A26)
1970 Nadya J. McCann (b.Nadya
Jacobova Moiseeva and d.1997 at 79), a 10 year resident from Hong Kong,
formed McCann Shipping, a freight forwarding company.
(SFC, 12/2/97, p.A22)
1970 The Playland-at-the-Beach
amusement park closed. The 1906 Charles Looff carousel that was there
was moved to a Long Beach shopping center. It was scheduled to return
to SF in Jun 1998 to the Yerba Buena Gardens.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.C4)(SFC, 1/29/98, p.A20)
1970 John Maher and residents at
the apartment called Ellis Island, renamed their organization to
re-integrate ex-cons as the Delancey Street Foundation.
(SFEM, 12/22/96, p.5)
1970 Eight people were arrested in
SF during a protest demanding freedom for Los Siete, six Latino youths
on trial for killing a police officer.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.6)
1970s Artists formed a soapbox
society and were paid $100 apiece to build cars.
(SFC, 5/13/97, p.E1)
1970s Phil Stolz (d.1998 at 76)
founded the Mobile Assistance Patrol, a program dedicated to picking
drunks up off the streets and giving them a place and a chance to get
sober.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A15)(SFC, 3/18/98, p.A19)
1970s Byra Wreden (d.2000) helped
organize the fund-raising for the Helen Crocker Library of Horticulture
at Golden Gate Park Arboretum.
(SFC, 3/11/00, p.A17)
1970-1981 David M. Sachs (1917-1996) produced "The
San Francisco Experience," a multimedia show about the city’s gaudy
past.
(SFC, 7/18/96, p.A22)
1971 Jan 18, Two Standard Oil
tankers collided in the fog a quarter mile west of the Golden Gate
Bridge. The Arizona Standard ripped into the Oregon Standard and caused
the spill of some 1.9 million gallons of heavy bunker oil. 800,000
gallons of oil was dumped into the Bay. The spill spread over 50 miles
along the California coast.
(SFEC, 2/23/96, Z1 p.5)(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W39)(SFEC,
6/27/99, p.A14)
1971 Jan 20, John D. Rockefeller
announced that he would donate his $10 million collection of American
paintings to the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. It included some 175
paintings and 3 sculptures by 106 artists.
(SFC, 1/17/03, p.E8)
1971 Feb 11, In SF Officer Charles
Lagasa was killed in an accidental helicopter crash at Lake Merced.
(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A8)
1971 Mar 3, Levi Strauss &
Co., SF-based jeans maker, went public.
(SFC, 4/29/03, B1)(http://tinyurl.com/5wnfjx)
1971 Apr 29, Bill Graham announced
the close of the Fillmore in SF and the Fillmore East in NYC along with
his retirement from concert promotion. He was angered by his perceived
greed of rock bands and the anger and distrust of his audience. He soon
relented and put on shows with Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, Pink
Floyd, the Who and the Grateful Dead. The final concert at Fillmore
East took place on June 27.
(SFC,12/13/97,
p.A15)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillmore_East)
1971 Jun 10, Federal marshals, FBI
agents and special forces swarmed Alcatraz Island and removed the
Native American occupiers: 5 women, 4 children and 6 unarmed men.
(G, Summer ‘97, p.5)
1971 Jun 11, The last squatters
were removed from Alcatraz.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W39)
1971 Jul 30, In SF Officer Arthur
O’Guinn was fatally shot while making a traffic stop. 2 people were
caught and convicted of 2nd-degree murder. They were paroled in the
late 1970s.
(SFC, 1/27/07, p.A8)
1971 Aug 18, Joel David Kaplan
(44), a NY businessman and Carlos Antonio Contreras Castro, a
Venezuelan counterfeiter, escaped by helicopter from Mexico’s Santa
Maria Acatitla Federal Prison. Vasilios Basil Choulos (d.2003), SF
lawyer, plotted out the helicopter jailbreak. Kaplan was allegedly
framed and serving 28 years for murder in the Mexican prison. The
successful break led to the 1973 book "Ten-Second Jailbreak" and the
1975 film "Breakout."
(SFC, 1/21/02,
p.A21)(www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909935,00.html)
1971 Aug 29, In SF 2 men burst
into the Ingleside Police Station and fired through a hole in a
bullet-proof glass window killing Sgt. John Young (45). A civilian
clerk was wounded. Black Panthers were suspected. 3 men were charged in
1975 but charges were dismissed in 1976. In 2005 a SF judge jailed 4
men for contempt after refusing to answer questions from a grand jury.
In 2007 police charged 9 former members of the Black Liberation Army
with waging a campaign of “chaos and terror” that left at least 3
officers dead from 1968-1973. 8 of the men were charged with murder in
the Ingleside slaying. On June 29, 2009, Herman Bell pleaded guilty to
involuntary manslaughter, as he continued to serve a life sentence in
New York for the murder of 2 police officers. On July 6 Anthony Bottom
pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit voluntary manslaughter.
Bottom was already serving a sentence in NY for the murder of a 2 NYC
police officers in May 1971. Prosecutors dismissed charges against 4
other men. This left just Francisco Torres to stand trial for Young’s
murder.
(SFC, 9/1/05, p.B1)(SFC, 10/8/05, p.B2)(SFC,
1/26/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/30/09, p.B1)(SFC, 7/7/09, p.C1)
1971 Sep 11, The body of a woman
was found in the Delta-Mendota Canal near Westley, Ca. she had been
stabbed 65 times. In 2008 DNA evidence identified her as Mary Alice
Willey (23) of San Francisco. It was suspected that she had played a
role in the Aug 29 black Panther attack at the Ingleside police station
that left one officer dead.
(SFC, 10/7/08, p.B2)(SSFC, 5/24/09, p.A1)
1971 In SF the Vaillancourt
Fountain, sculpted by French-Canadian artist Armand Vaillancourt,
debuted on Justin Herman Plaza.
(SFC, 3/17/04, p.B4)
1971 The SF Opera made the US
premiere of Donizetti’s "Maria Stuarda" with Joan Sutherland.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, DB p.46)
1971 Jim and Artie Mitchell of SF
produced their porn film “Behind the Green Door” starring Marilyn
Chambers for $60,000. This was one of the first porn films with a plot
line and went big after it was learned that Chambers had worked as a
model for ivory soap. It grossed more than $25 million.
(SFC, 10/3/97, p.A15)(SFC, 7/14/07, p.A7)
1971 The film "Dirty Harry" with
Clint Eastwood and Harry Guardino was released. It was directed by Don
Siegel and had been shot in the SF Bay Area.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, DB, p.39)
1971 The SF Opera in the Park
program was begun. It was the inspiration of the Opera General Director
Kurt Herbert Adler.
(SFEM, 9/6/98, p.17)
1971 The Bay Area Reporter
(B.A.R.), a gay community publication, was begun by Bob Ross (d.2003 at
69) and Paul Bentley.
(SFC, 12/12/03, p.A29)
1971 KPOO radio was founded in SF
by Lorenzo Milan. In 1973 Joe Rudolph (d.2001 at 63) took over
operations in the 1st black-owned, non-commercial radio station west of
the Mississippi.
(SFC, 3/14/01, p.A20)
1971 In SF David Allen
(1919-1984), actor, opened the Boarding House nightclub at 960 Bush. He
had formerly performed with a repertory theater at the same site.
(SSFC, 5/24/09, DB p.39)
1971 Stephen Gaskin (b.1935) and
some 300 hundred San Francisco hippies started the Tennessee rural
commune called The Farm. It was located on a 1,750 acre property in
Lewis County and based not on rules but on agreements.
(Wired, 5/97,
p.110)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Gaskin)
1971 In SF the 977-foot
Sutro Tower was built to transmit television signals. Harry Jacobs
(d.1999 at 84) headed the construction of the tower.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A14)(SFC, 5/27/99, p.C6)
1971 In SF St. Mary’s Cathedral,
designed by Italian architect/engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, opened at
Gough and Geary.
(SFEC, 10/7/96, A13)(WSJ, 2/18/09, p.D7)
1971 The San Francisco Bay to
Breakers race sponsors were pressured to add a women’s division. Dr.
Frances Conley won with a time of 54:45.
(SFC, 5/15/09, p.B4)
1971 Dr. Boyd Stephens (1940-1965)
took over the SF coroner’s office as medical examiner.
(SFC, 4/5/05, p.B5)
1971 James Weinstein (1926-2005)
founded Modern Times Bookstore in SF.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, Z1 p.5)
1971 Kimochi Inc. was founded in
SF as a nonprofit service to Japanese seniors.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, p.D3)
1971 Franzo King founded the John
Coltrane African Orthodox Church at 351 Divisadero St. in San
Francisco. King named himself Bishop King and played tenor sax every
Sunday at noon for services. A new owner forced the Church to relocate
in 2000.
(WSJ, 1/26/99, p.A16)(SFC, 3/11/00, p.A13)
1971 San Francisco’s first Gay
Pride parade was held.
(SFC, 6/28/97, p.A15)
1971 In SF Steve Strauss founded
the Blue Bear School of American Music to teach rock instead of Bach.
The school offered courses in rock, blues, folk and jazz. In 1996 they
celebrated a 25 year anniversary.
(SFC, 9/12/96, p.E1)
1971 Bebe, the SF-based women’s
fashion retailer, was founded as a boutique.
(SFEM,11/23/97, p.27)
1971 Charles Schwab started his
brokerage firm in San Francisco. In 1975 he took advantage of new SEC
regulations and turned the company into a discount brokerage.
(SSFC, 5/1/05, p.E1)
1971 Mimi Silbert joined John
Maher (d.1988) at Delancey Street in San Francisco, a foundation to
help ex-cons re-integrate into society.
(SFEM, 10/20/96, p.11,17)(SFEM, 12/22/96, p.5)
1971 In SF Amy Meyer spearheaded a
coalition of community support for the Golden Gate National Recreation
Area.
(SFC, 1/29/98, p.B2)
1971 In SF Richard Sorro
(1935-1996) founded the Mission Hiring Hall through the Model Cities
Program.
(SFC, 12/19/96, p.C10)
1971 The SF 49ers played at Kezar
Stadium in Goldengate Park up to this year, when they moved to
Candlestick Park.
(SFC, 7/29/97,
p.A5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlestick_Park)
1971 The SF Warriors changed their
name to the Golden Gate Warriors.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W29)
1971 SF was ordered to begin
bussing to achieve school desegregation. Judge Stanley Weigel (d.1999
at 93) ordered the desegregation of the SF schools.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.6)(SFC, 9/4/99, p.A25)
1971 San Francisco’s Jackson
Square at Jackson and Montgomery was declared an official historic
district by the Board of Supervisors. 83 of the buildings dated to the
mid-19th century.
(SFC, 6/25/99, p.A18)(SFC, 12/18/01, p.A19)
1971 In SF Joseph Caporale
(1910-1996), part-owner of Capp’s Corner restaurant was identified by
police as the "biggest bookie in North Beach."
(SFC, 12/24/96, p.A16)
1971 The last passenger train from
SF to Monterey was put into retirement. A project to bring it back was
initiated by Monterey in 1997.
(SFC, 5/5/97, p.A20)
1971 San Francisco’s Fleischhacker
Pool closed down.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W38)
1971 Two San Francisco brothers,
aged 7 & 10, confessed to the crucifixion murder of 20-month-old
Noah Alba. They were never charged but were placed in foster care and
given intense therapy.
(SFC, 5/6/96, p.A-1)
1971 Jack Leary, a rebel Jesuit
priest, found New College in San Francisco with the philosophy of
creating a just, sacred and sustainable world.
(SFC, 12/26/05, p.D3)
1971 Ralph K. Davies, an oil
millionaire for whom a SF medical center is named, died. He was an
executive for Standard Oil who went off on his own and bought oil
concessions around the world. He also ran American President Lines and
the Natomas Co.
(SFC, 6/23/98, p.A1,11)
1971 In SF Shunryu Suzuki
(Suzuki-roshi), Japanese Zen missionary and abbot of the SF Zen Center,
died of cancer. Richard Baker (36) was installed as the abbot. Scandals
hit the center in 1983. In 2001 Michael Downing authored "shoes Outside
the Door: Desire, Devotion and Excess at the SF Zen Center."
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.M3)
1971 A SF police helicopter, a
UH-1 Huey, crashed into Lake Merced and co-pilot Charles D. Lagosa (30)
was killed.
(SFC, 1/13/00, p.A15)
1972 May 4, The remains of the
ship Gjøe, a converted herring boat used by Roald Amundsen to
cross the Northwest Passage (1903-1905), departed for Oslo, Norway. A
commemorative sculpture was left next to the Beach Chalet at Ocean
Beach.
(SFC, 4/17/00, p.D8)(WSJ, 4/18/00, p.A16)(Ind,
4/27/02, 5A)
1972 May 11, The SF Giants traded
Willie Mays (b.1931) to the New York Mets.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1
p.5)(www.ultimatemets.com/profile.php?PlayerCode=0201)
1972 Jun 25, A Gay Liberation
Parade in SF attracted some 2000 participants. Mayor Alioto refused to
proclaim "Gay Liberation Day."
(SFEC, 5/23/99, Z1 p.4)
1972 Sep 3, In San Francisco the
Playland-at-the-Beach amusement park was bulldozed on Labor Day
Weekend. Playland shut its gates and some 40 Fascination tables were
transferred to a Market Street arcade. Fascination was invented by John
Gibbs of Los Angeles and combined the skill of bowling with the luck of
Bingo. The head of Laughing Sal was stolen on closure and turned up in
2004.
(SFC, 8/5/00, p.A1)(SSFC, 3/14/04, p.B2)(SSFC,
7/3/05, p.F6)(SFC, 5/31/08, p.B2)
1972 Oct 12, US House Resolution
16444, establishing the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA),
was passed by Congress and was signed by President Richard Nixon 15
days later. The island of Alcatraz was incorporated into this park.
California Congressman Phillip Burton pushed through legislation
preserving thousands of acres of forested hills, valleys and rugged
shoreline. Burton got Congress to agree to transfer the Presidio in San
Francisco to the park service if the army ever pulled out.
(www.sftravel.com/Alcatraz1950on.html)(SFEC,
6/27/99, Z1 p.1,4)(SFCM, 4/25/04, p.18)(SFC, 10/4/96, p.A21)
1972 Dec 18, The clock on the
Ferry Building was replaced with chimes.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.E8)
1972 Dec 22, Diana Sue Sylvester
(22) was raped and killed in the SF Sunset District after walking home
from UCSF. In 2006 John Puckett (72), a retired carpet installer in
Stockton, was arrested for the murder based on DNA evidence. In 2008
Puckett (74) was convicted of first-degree murder.
(SFC, 4/22/06, p.B1)(SFC, 2/22/08, p.B7)
1972 Herb Caen, SF newspaper
columnist, wrote his 8th book "The Cable Car and the Dragons."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, p.A13)
1972 "San Francisco’s Telegraph
Hill," a history of the Telegraph Hill neighborhood, was first
published. It was reissued in 2000.
(SFC, 11/27/00, p.A15)
1972 The film "Play It Again Sam"
with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton was released. It was directed by
Herbert Ross and had been shot in the SF Bay Area.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, DB, p.39)
1972 The film "What’s Up Doc" with
Barbara Streisand and Ryan O’Neal was released. It was directed by
Peter Bogdanovich and had been shot in the SF Bay Area.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, DB, p.39)
1972 In San Francisco the 14-story
Alexis Apartments were built at 380-390 Clementina and Fifth St.
(SSFC, 8/23/09, p.C2)
1972 The $32 million Transamerica
Pyramid building opened in San Francisco. It was designed by William
Pereira.
(SFEC,12/28/97, Z1 p.2)(SFC, 5/29/04, p.C2)
1972 Julian B. Backus (1944-1996)
founded the Bay Area Video Coalition, Optic Nerve.
(SFC, 12/9/96, p.B6)
1972 In SF the Raphael House at
1065 Sutter St. opened as the city’s 1st homeless shelter for families.
(SSFC, 3/18/07, p.F2)
1972 Charles W. "Scott" Hope (d.
1997 at 74) co-founded the SF Network Ministries to serve San
Francisco’s Tenderloin district. The non-denominational Christian
church constructed affordable housing, operates a training center for
residents and the homeless, provides pastoral care to people who are
HIV positive and other works. He wrote for the Network Journal, a
monthly publication of the Ministries.
(SFC, 12/2/97, p.A22)
1972 Steve Nakajo organized the
1st Nihonmachi Street Fair in San Francisco’s Japantown.
(SFEC, 8/6/00, p.C1)
1972 San Francisco Mayor Joseph
Alioto won re-election.
(SFC, 1/30/98, p.A10)
1972 SF accepted an urban design
plan that lowered the maximum heights of downtown buildings to 700 feet.
(SSFC, 4/27/08, p.B3)
1972 San Francisco Mayor Joseph
Alioto promoted Gladys Cox Hansen to city archivist.
(SFC, 4/14/96, p.Z1, p.3)
1972 In San Francisco Paul
Trafficante (d.2001 at 80) won his integration suit for the ParkMerced
complex against Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., where rental practices
had created a "white ghetto."
(SFC, 10/2/01, p.A15)
1972 In San Francisco Sandra
Sakata (d.1997 at 57) opened her boutique Obiko in Pacific Heights. The
shop thrived and she moved to a downtown location and won international
acclaim.
(SFC, 9/24/97, p.C2)
1972 A team under surgeon Harry
Buncke (1922-2008) performed the first toe-to-thumb transplant at San
Francisco’s Franklin Hospital, later called Ralph K. Davies Medical
Center. Buncke came to be called the father of microsurgery.
(SFC, 5/21/08,
p.B7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Buncke)
1972 SF State College was renamed
California State University, SF.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, Z1 p.4)
1972-1974 Some 20,000 gay people moved to San
Francisco during this period.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.A1)
1972-1977 The TV show "Streets of San Francisco"
featured Karl Malden and Michael Douglas.
(SFC, 6/26/02, p.D8)
1973 Jan 28, A preview screening
of "American Graffiti" was held at the Northpoint Theater.
(SFEC, 12/19/99, BR p.1)
1973 Aug 10, The first run of the
transbay BART train occurred. [see Sep 16, 1974]
(SFEC, 5/23/99, Z1 p.4)
1973 Oct 20, The San Francisco
Zebra murders began and lasted for 179 days. 15 people were killed and
8 wounded by a gang of racial extremists. four men were convicted in
1976. Police cracked the case in 1974 after Mayor Alioto personally
grilled an informant. Police used a special radio band, Z for zebra,
during their hunt for the killers.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.E2)(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.C6)(SSFC,
10/12/02, p.AD3)
1973 Oct 30, Frances Rose, a
physical therapist, was shot and killed by Jessie Lee Cooks, one of the
Zebra murderers.
(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.AD3)
1973 Dec 13, Art Agnos, aide to
Assemblyman Leo McCarthy, was shot twice at 23rd and Wisconsin streets
on Potrero Hill. This was the city’s 6th Zebra attack. Marietta
DiGirolamo (31) was shot 3 times and killed in the Western Addition at
Haight and Buchanon.
(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.AD3)
1973 The Glen Park BART station
opened in San Francisco.
(SFC, 5/26/00, Wb p.8)
1973 In SF the revolving bar
opened atop the new Embarcadero Hyatt Regency Hotel.
(SFC, 3/28/01, Food p.5)
1973 Poet Jack Hirschman arrived
in SF from Los Angeles.
(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A15)
1973 Michel Tilson Thomas and Edo
de Waart made their conducting debuts with the SF Symphony.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, DB p.46)
1973 Jose Carreras made his SF
Opera debut in "La Boheme."
(SFEC, 8/17/97, DB p.46)
1973 Michael Smuin became the
associate artistic director of the SF Ballet with Lew Christensen. They
collaborated on a new "Cinderella."
(SFEC, 8/17/97, DB p.46)
1973 The SF Blues Festival began.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, DB p.45)
1973 Mel’s Diner at Mission and
South Van Ness was used in the George Lucas film "American Graffiti"
set in c1962.
(SFC, 5/19/96,Mag, p.27)
1973 Jazz saxophonist Joe
Henderson moved to San Francisco.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, DB p.32)
1973 In SF Freedom West Homes, the
largest private-development of low to moderate income housing, was
begun under Rev. J. Austell Hall. It covered the 4 blocks between
Gough, Laguna, Fulton and Golden Gate Ave.
(SFEC, 6/14/98, p.B3)
1973 In SF the owners of the
Martin Luther King-Marcus Garvey Square housing complex failed to pay
their bills and the complex was taken over by HUD.
(SFC, 12/29/98, p.A11)
1973 In SF the Jewish Vocational
Service was founded to assist recent college graduates of the Jewish
community who could not find jobs. it was soon expanded into a
nonsectarian employment service.
(SFC, 9/15/98, p.A9)
1973 Ed Callan (d.2009 at 88), San
Francisco stockbroker, formed Callan Associates, a
performance-measurement firm for pension funds.
(SFC, 4/2/09, p.B6)
1973 The SF pub Liverpool Lil’s
began operating at 2942 Lyon St.
(SFCM, 9/2/01, p.5)
1973 Solar Light Books began
business in SF.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, Z1 p.5)
1973 In SF the Washington Square
Bar & Grill, aka "The Washbag," opened in North Beach under Sam
Deitch (d.2002 at 73) and Ed Moose. Deitch and Moose sold the operation
in 1990. It closed for new ownership in 2000. Rose Evangelisti (d.1998
at 90) retired from the Pistola Saloon on Powell St. and the place
became the Washington Square Bar and Grill.
(SFC, 9/15/98, p.A22)(SFC, 3/18/00, p.A17)(SFC,
2/5/02, p.A19)
1973 The Haas-Lilienthal family
donated their Haas-Lilienthal House at 2007 Franklin St. to the
Foundation for San Francisco’s Architectural Heritage.
(SFC, 8/30/96, p.D5)(SFC, 10/16/07, p.D9)
1973 The Albion Brewery was
declared a SF historical landmark.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A19)
1973 SF Mayor Alioto appointed
George Chinn to the Board of Supervisors. He was the first Asian
American to serve on the board.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A13)
1973 Alfred J. Nelder (d.2002 at
87), former SF police chief, was elected to the Board of Supervisors
and served 2 terms.
(SFC, 1/4/02, p.A26)
1973 In SF the Pacific Coast Stock
Exchange was renamed the Pacific Stock Exchange.
(SFC, 7/24/98, p.B1)
1973 In SF a group of black police
officers filed a discrimination suit against the city to establish a
truly integrated police force.
(SFC, 10/10/97, p.A17)
1973 The National Park Service
began conducting tours at Alcatraz.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W39)(SFC, 10/18/02, p.E2)
1973 In SF Walter Shorenstein sold
his Int’l. Hotel property to the Four Seas Investment Corp., owned by
Supacit Mahaguna, a Bangkok liquor baron, for $850,000.
(SFC, 6/8/01, WBa p.6)
1973 American President Lines
moved from SF to the port of Oakland. The line became a subsidiary of
Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines in 1997.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, p.B1)
1973 Paul Romberg began serving as
the president of SF State Univ. and continued to 1983.
(SFC, 5/5/00, p.D4)
1973 Albert S. Samuels died. He
owned the SF jewelry store at 856 Market St. where a 20-foot-tall clock
had marked time since 1943, except for 1967-1970 when BART was under
construction. The clock had marked his original store since 1915. The
clock stopped working around 1990 and in 2000 was restored.
(SFC, 11/18/00, p.A1)
1973 Ralph Stackpole, SF sculptor,
died.
(SFC, 12/23/05, p.F2)
1974 Feb 4, Newspaper heiress
Patricia Hearst (19) was kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the
Symbionese Liberation Army. Her boyfriend Steven Weed was beaten. Patty
Hearst ran away to join an underground revolutionary group, the
Symbionese Liberation Front.
(TMC, 1994, p.1974)(SFC, 2/8/97, p.A7)(AP,
2/4/97)(AP, 2/4/97)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb 12, The SLA sent a letter
a tape with the voices of Patty Hearst and "general field marshal
Cinque" to KPFA. They demanded free food to the poor of the Bay Area,
prison reform and social justice. Symbionese Liberation Army asked the
Hearst family for $230 million in food for the poor.
(HN, 2/12/97)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb 16, In California Rev.
Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church received a tape from the SLA
wherein Cinque said a "reasonable" food giveaway would be acceptable as
a condition for the release of Patty Hearst.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb 18, In California
Randolph Hearst was to give $2 million in free food for the poor in
order to open talks for his daughter Patty.
(HN, 2/18/98)
1974 Feb 19, Randolph Hearst
announced a $2 million food program called People in Need.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1974 Feb 22, Cesar Chavez began a
UFW march from Union Square in SF to Gallo headquarters in Modesto.
(SFEM, 4/13/97, p.11)
1974 Apr 3, A tape from the SLA
announced Patty Hearst's decision to "stay and fight" with the SLA.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22,23)
1974 Apr 15, SLA members including
Patty Hearst robbed the Sunset Branch of the Hibernia Bank in SF of
more than $10,000. While fleeing they wounded 2 people passing by.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)
1974 May 16, SLA members William
and Emily Harris were identified with Patty Hearst in LA during a
shoplifting attempt at a sporting good store. They escaped in a stolen
van with an 19-year-old kidnapped victim.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)
1974 May 1, Over 100 San Francisco
police descended on 4 Zebra murders suspects. They acted on a tip from
Cornelius Harris (28), an accomplice turned informant.
(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.AD3)
1974 Jun 7, The Steve Silver show
"Beach Blanket Babylon" premiered at the Savoy Tivoli in San Francisco.
Nancy Bleiweiss was the original star of the show.
(www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/sponsors/beach-blanket-babylon.asp)(SFEC,
8/1/99, DB p.48)
1974 Jul 3, A crowd of 3,774
watched the SF Giants play the San Diego Padres at Candlestick Park.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.5)
1974 Jul 8, The SF Chronicle
received the last verified letter from the Zodiac killer with a
complaint about the columnist Count Marco.
(SFC, 10/2/00, p.A19)
1974 Sep 1, Jack Shelley (b.1905),
former SF mayor (1964-1968), died.
(SFC, 9/1/00,
p.D6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shelley)
1974 Sep 16, The BART transbay
tube opened and was the longest underwater tube of the time. [see Aug
10, 1973]
(SFC, 9/17/99, p.D8)
1974 Dec 13, Art Agnos was shot by
gunmen later identified as four Black Muslims (aged 24-31). They had
killed 14 people and attacked 7 others in a series of killings called
the "zebra murders." Agnos was a consultant to the Legislature’s Joint
Committee on Ageing at the time. [see Dec 13, 1973]
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W21)
1974 Dec, Thieves in San Francisco
stole the “Resting Hermes” statue from its pedestal on Nob Hill. The
University Club had purchased the statue, made by Chiurazzi of Naples,
from Italy in 1915 following the Panama Pacific Expo. In 2004 it was
stolen again.
(SFC, 8/24/04, p.A1)
1974 Architects Doug Michels
(1943-2003) and Chip Lord, founders of the Ant Farm in SF, created
"Cadillac Ranch," a sculpture of 10 planted Cadillacs, in Amarillo,
Texas.
(SSFC, 6/22/03, p.A1)
1974 The film "The Conversation"
with Gene Hackman and Harrison Ford was released. It was directed by
Francis Ford Coppola and had been shot in the SF Bay Area.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, DB, p.39)
1974 In San Francisco the Shanti
project was founded to treat residents suffering from terminal
illnesses. In 1981 the program was expanded to include AIDS.
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.A17)
1974 In SF the American
Conservatory Theater (ACT) purchased the Geary Theater. In 2006 it
renamed it as the American Conservatory Theater.
(SFC, 9/15/06, p.E2)
1974 Curtis E. Green (d.2002) took
over as head of MUNI, the 1st African American to head a major US
transit system. He retired in 1982.
(SFC, 7/31/02, p.A20)
1974 The US Navy abruptly closed
its shipyard at Hunters Point in SF. In 1989 the EPA named it one of
the ten most polluted federal properties.
(SFC, 4/8/05, p.F2)
1974 Nieman Marcus, a Texas-based
retailer, acquired the City of Paris department store on Geary St.
facing Union Square in SF. In 1980 the California Supreme Court denied
an appeal by preservationists to save the building.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.F2)
1974 Norma Wahl acquired the lease
for the Mission Rock Resort at 817 China Basin. They lost the lease
after 22 years of operation. [see Jan 1, 1988]
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A13)
1974 California State College, SF,
was renamed to SF State Univ.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, Z1 p.4)
1974 SF Mayor Joseph Alioto made
another bid for governor of California but the campaign stumbled under
allegations that he paid no income tax from 1970-1972. He lost the
Democratic primary to Jerry Brown. Also the DA held that Alioto was in
conflict of interest in arranging the family purchase of the Pacific
Far East Line, which owned $1.7 million in back rent to the city-owned
port.
(SFC, 1/30/98, p.A10)
1974 Dr. Joachim Burhenne
(1926-1996) developed the Burhenne Technique for removing gallstones
through bile ducts. He practiced in SF from 1959-1977. He performed the
procedure on the Shah of Iran in 1979.
(SFC, 6/5/96, C5)
1975 Apr 11, John Dadian (67), cab
driver, was shot and killed by Brandy Giggey (16) during a robbery
attempt on Ocean Beach, SF.
(SFCM, 11/10/02, p.13)
1975 Jun 2, Ralph J. Gleason
(b.1917), writer and jazz critic for the SF Chronicle (1950-1975),
died. He helped found Rolling Stone Magazine in 1967.
(SFC, 12/23/04, p.E16)
1975 Sep 18, Police and FBI
arrested heiress Patty Hearst (Patricia Campbell Hearst), William and
Emily Harris, and Wendy Yoshimura in SF. Hearst had been kidnapped by
the Symbionese Liberation Army on Feb 4, 1974. She was convicted of
bank robbery and served over 22 months in federal prison. Pres. Carter
commuted her sentence in 1979.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)(AP, 2/4/97)(AP, 9/18/07)
1975 Sep 22, President Gerald R.
Ford dodged a second assassination in less than three weeks. Sara Jane
Moore, an FBI informer and self-proclaimed revolutionary, attempted to
shoot President Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but missed. A
bullet she fired slightly wounded a man in the crowd.
(AP, 9/22/97)(MC, 9/22/01)
1975 Dec 2, George Moscone
(1929-1978) was elected mayor of San Francisco in a runoff election
with electoral support from the neighborhoods rather than downtown
interests. Moscone was elected over John Barbagelata by a margin of
51-49.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.A19)(SFC, 12/15/99, p.A19)
1975 Dec 12, Sara Jane Moore
pleaded guilty to a charge of trying to kill President Ford in San
Francisco the previous September.
(AP, 12/12/97)
1975 Dec 12, A fire at the
Gartland Apartments at Valencia and Mission killed at least 16 people.
(SFC, 9/14/02, p.A15)
1975 SF artists founded their Open
Studios weekend to encourage exposure and sales.
(SFEC, 10/1/00, DB p.44)
1975 The SF Ballet created its own
orchestra under Denis de Coteau.
(SFEC, 8/17/97, DB p.46)
1975 Norma Teagarden (1911-1996),
jazz pianist, played at the Washington Square Bar and Grill in San
Francisco. Her brother Jack was a celebrated trombonist, brother
Charlie a trumpeter, and Cub a drummer. She joined Jack’s big band in
1942 and played in the bands of Ben Pollack and Ada Leonard. In the
late 40s she led her own band and began teaching students. In 1963 the
entire family performed together at the Monterey Jazz Festival. She
played with a strong striding left hand and a softer right hand.
(SFC, 6/8/96, p.A17)
1975 The 40-story Chevron tower at
575 Market opened.
(SFC, 4/25/02, p.A1)
1975 The Best Western Miyako Inn
opened in San Francisco’s Japantown.
(SFC, 2/10/06, p.D1)
1975 The 232-room Ramada Plaza at
Fisherman’s Wharf was constructed.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.B1)
1975 The 524-room Sheraton at
Fisherman’s Wharf was constructed.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.B1)
1975 The 250-room Travel Lodge at
Fisherman’s Wharf was constructed.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.B1)
1975 The SF Museum of Art was
renamed the Museum of Modern Art.
(WSJ, 9/10/96, p.A16)
1975 The Pacific Rod and Gun Club
on Lake Merced began paying the city $300 in rent. In 1998 the parks
committee approved a plan to raise the rent to $3,500.
(SFC, 10/2/98, p.A22)
1975 The Treasure Island Museum
was founded.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, AS p.13)
1975 Jean Jacobs founded Coleman
Advocates for Children and Youth.
(SFC, 10/19/99, p.A23)
1975 Bernard Pechter (d.1999 at
63) helped found Theatre Rhinocerous, a theater group committed to gay
and lesbian plays.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A26)
1975 The SF Korean Center was
established to help Koreans acclimate to the Bay Area.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.C8)
1975 Artist Bonnie Sherk and
musician Jack Wickert created the Farm out of 2 Mission District
warehouse buildings. It was absorbed as a public park after 1980.
(SFC, 3/15/02, p.G8)(SFCM, 5/22/05, p.5)
1975 The UN Plaza and fountain,
designed by architect Lawrence Halprin, was dedicated. In 2003 it was
fenced off.
(SFC, 3/12/03, p.A26)
1975 The SF Police Academy
graduated a class that included 30 men and 30 women. A federal court
order had mandated opening the ranks to women.
(SSFC, 7/11/04, p.A16)
1975 Water to Lotta’s Fountain was
turned off due to the drought.
(SFC, 12/2/98, p.A22)
1975 Eben Gossage struck his
sister Amelia with a hammer and stabbed her to death with a pair of
scissors. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and spent 2
½ years in prison. Gossage later graduated from law school and
passed his bar exam but was denied the right to practice by the state
Supreme Court.
(SFC, 8/15/00, p.A17)
1975 At the close of the Vietnam
War 163 veterans from SF lost their lives.
(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A13)
1975-1987 Dr. Richard LeBlond Jr. (d.2000 at 76)
served as the president of the SF Ballet.
(SFC, 11/30/00, p.C22)
1975-2003 Former US Army General Andrew Lolli
(1907-2006) ran Castagnola’s Restaurant at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s
Wharf.
(SSFC, 6/18/06, p.B3)
1976 Jan 15, Sara Jane Moore was
sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President
Ford in San Francisco.
(AP, 1/15/98)
1976 Jan 17, The Potrero Hill
Health Center opened.
(SFCM, 10/7/01, p.14)
1976 Jan 26, It was reported that
Mother Jones magazine would debut in Feb. 4 of its 6 editors were from
Ramparts magazine.
(SFC, 1/26/01, WBb p.4)
1976 Jan 27, Betty Emma Link, aka
Box Car Betty, died at age 78.
(SFC, 1/26/01, WBb p.4)
1976 Feb 1, Over 1,000 people took
part in the Continental Walk for Peace and Social Justice led by
comedian Dick Gregory and Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy.
(SFC, 1/26/01, WBb p.4)
1976 Feb 5, Snow fell in SF and
accumulated to 1-2 inches downtown.
(SFEM, 12/22/96, p.20)
1976 Mar 2, Bob Lurie (b.1929),
real estate magnate, led a group to acquire ownership of the San
Francisco Giants baseball club. Lurie closed the $8-million transaction
with Arizona cattleman Arthur "Bud" Herseth as his 50-50 partner.
(www.stadiumforrent.com/sfr/sfr-ch23a.html)
1976 Mar 13, A jury convicted 4
Black Muslims for 3 murders and 4 assaults of a total of 23 Bay Area
crimes that included 14 murders. Jessie Lee Cooks, Larry Craig Green,
Manuel Moore and J.C.X. Simon were given life sentences.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W22)
1976 Mar 20, Newspaper heiress
Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her part in a San
Francisco bank holdup.
(AP, 3/20/97)(HN, 3/20/98)
1976 Apr 14, A bomb exploded at 1
California St. on the 17th floor of the Mutual Benefit Life Building.
The Red Guerrilla Family was suspected.
(SFC, 4/13/01, WBb p.3)
1976 Apr 16, The 1st Annual
Conference of Gay Academic Unions of California met at SF State Univ.
Speaker Alan Bell rejected the notion that society is becoming
increasingly tolerant.
(SFC, 4/13/01, WBb p.3)
1976 May 1, The 72 tenants of the
Int’l. Hotel on Kearny St. lost their 4-week court battle to keep from
being evicted by the Four Seas Investment Corp. Demonstrators began
gathering to stop the eviction.
(SFC, 4/27/01, Wba p.8)
1976 May 3, Neighbors celebrated
the 90th birthday of Grace Marchant, the "First Lady of Telegraph
Hill," who transformed the lower Filbert steps into a beautiful flower
garden.
(SFC, 4/27/01, Wba p.8)
1976 May 5, Allied Structural
Steel Co. replaced the 500th and last vertical cable on the Golden Gate
Bridge. The project had begun in Nov. 1972 and cost some $8 mil.
(SFC, 5/4/01, WBb p.3)
1976 May 8, City craft workers
agreed to end their 38-day strike. City supervisors agreed to take
Propositions E and K off the June ballot.
(SFC, 5/4/01, WBb p.3)
1976 May 18, The Bay View Federal
Savings and Loan agreed to yield to the demands of the New world
Liberation Front that it remove 4 dilapidated buildings it owned on
Capp St. in exchange for removal from a bombing list.
(SFC, 5/18/01, p.WBb5)
1976 May 19, In San Francisco
Jenny Read (b.1945), an Episcopal sculptor, was raped and murdered
while working on a sculpture of St. John of the Cross in Potrero Hill.
In 2009 police using DNA evidence arrested and charged James Lee
Mayfield (63), a registered sex offender with her murder.
(SFC, 6/18/04, p.F4)(SFC, 8/11/09, p.C1)
1976 May 21, BART unveiled the $30
million Embarcadero station one week before the official opening.
(SFC, 5/18/01, p.WBb5)
1976 May 24, The SF Chronicle
published the 1st installment of "Tales of the City" by Armistead
Maupin.
(SFC, 5/1/01,
p.A1)(www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/27/sunday/main3756171.shtml)
1976 May 25, The new Embarcadero
Bart station opened. 10,000 free tickets were used up within 25 minutes.
(SFC, 5/25/01, WBb p.2)
1976 Jun 3, Jimmy Carter
campaigned for the state presidential primary at rally at Post and
Montgomery.
(SFC, 6/1/01, WBb p.3)
1976 Jun 10, Art Agnos defeated
Harvey Milk in the 16th Assembly district Democratic Primary race.
(SFC, 6/8/01, WBa p.2)
1976 Jun 15, Paul McCartney and
Wings played to a sold-out crowd at the Cow Palace.
(SFC, 6/15/01, WBb p.3)
1976 Jun 24, Supervisor Quentin
Kopp appeared in court as an attorney for former black Panther leader
Eldridge Cleaver to lift a parole hold.
(SFC, 6/22/01, WBb p.8)
1976 Jun 25, Imogen Cunningham,
photographer, died at age 93.
(SFC, 6/22/01, WBb p.8)
1976 Jun, The California Bluegrass
Assoc. held its 1st annual Father’s day Festival.
(SSFC, 6/10/01, p.D3)
1976 Jul 5, In SF the body of
Wanda Baun (19), a prostitute, was found dead. She had been stabbed
over 50 times. In 2007 Darrell Sweigart was convicted of 2nd degree
murder after DNA evidence linked to the murder. He was already serving
a 25 year to life sentence for rape and robbery.
(SFC, 7/4/07, p.B3)
1976 Aug 17, FBI agents in SF
searched for Susan Murphy and Diane Ellis. The 2 Charles Manson
cultists had escaped from Terminal Island federal prison near Long
Beach.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.WB3)
1976 Aug 22, EPA scientists
reported that they had discovered plutonium in the ocean sediment off
the SF coast and radioactive cesium leaking from containers 120 miles
east of Ocean City, Md. Some 62,000 steel drums of nuclear waste were
dumped into the oceans from 1946-1970.
(SFC, 8/17/01, p.WB6)
1976 Sep 1, The remodeled Castro
Theatre re-opened with a gala premiere.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.E3)
1976 Sep 5, On Labor Day Bess
Bair, better known as Rosie Radiator, tap danced across the Golden Gate
Bridge while carrying an American flag and her dog Lulu.
(SFEC, 9/26/99, DB p.35)(SFC, 9/5/03, p.E9)
1976 Sep 16, Workmen began laying
the foundation for a new $400,000 Boys Club headquarters at 1970
Stanyan Street.
(SFC, 9/14/01, WB p.6)
1976 Sep 21, Investigators sifted
through wreckage of the Pacific Heights home of South African Consul
General Anthony Drake. The New world Liberation Front claimed
responsibility for the bomb that caused $20,000 in damage.
(SFC, 9/21/01, WB p.5)
1976 Sep 24, US District Judge
William Orrick sentenced newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was
sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery.
Pres Carter released her after 22 months.
(AP, 9/24/97)(SFC, 9/21/01, WB p.5)(MC, 9/24/01)
1976 Oct 2, Beverly Sills became
the 1st opera star to leave her autograph in cement in front of Odyssey
Records in SF.
(SFC, 9/28/01, WB p.6)
1976 Oct 6, The Board of
Supervisors approved a record 12.2% increase in property taxes to
$12.90 per $100 of assessed valuation.
(SFC, 10/5/01, WB p.6)
1976 Oct 6, In his second debate
with Jimmy Carter, President Ford asserted in SF that there was "no
Soviet domination of eastern Europe." Ford later conceded he'd
misspoken. Carter charged the Ford administration with excessive
secrecy, immorality and weakness in dealing with the Soviet Union and
Arab nations. Some 3,000 people protested outside the Palace of Fine
Arts.
(AP, 10/6/97)(SFC, 10/5/01, WB p.6)
1976 Oct 19, Mayor George Moscone
nominated clergymen Jim Jones (44) and A.C. Ubalde Jr. to seats on the
Housing Authority.
(SFC, 10/19/01, WB p.6)
1976 Oct 28, Women Organized for
Employment celebrated the Commercial Club’s decision to change a
125-year policy against women as guests.
(SFC, 10/26/01, WB p.7)
1976 Oct 29, Father Louis Masoero
blessed the Washington Square marble fountain given to SF by its sister
city of Assisi, Italy.
(SFC, 10/26/01, WB p.7)
1976 Nov 9, Guards at San Quentin
caught 3 convicts digging a tunnel under the main prison wall. They had
dug down 10 feet and 67 out with 55 to go before reaching the shore of
the bay.
(SFC, 11/9/01, p.G3)
1976 Nov 19, Patty Hearst was
freed on $1.5 million bail. She returned to her family’s home at 1001
California St.
(HN, 11/19/98)(SFC, 11/16/01, WB p.G4)
1976 Nov 24, Margery Levy, SF
School District Integration Director, reported that most of the city
schools remained segregated despite a federal court order.
(SFC, 11/23/01, WB p.G8)
1976 Nov 28, In San Francisco Bill
Graham presented the Band and guests in "The Last Waltz" at Winterland
plus a turkey dinner for the capacity crowd. The last concert of The
Band took place at Winterland and was made into a film by Martin
Scorsese that included Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and Muddy Waters.
(SFC,12/13/97, p.A15)(SFEC, 6/28/98, DB p.52)
1976 Dec 15, A bomb misfired in a
window box at the Lyon Street house of Supv. Diane Feinstein. There was
no damage and the New World Liberation Front claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 12/14/01, WB p.G8)
1976 Dec 21, A Christmas tree
burst into flames during a party at the St. Francis Yacht club and at
least one person was killed.
(SFC, 12/21/01, WB p.G16)
1976 Dec 24, The SF Housing
authority voted to condemn the Int’l. Hotel building and resell it to a
tenant’s nonprofit corp.
(SFC, 12/21/01, WB p.G16)
1976 S.I. Hayakawa, former
president of SF State College, was elected to the US Senate.
(SFC, 2/2/98, p.A20)
1976 A statue of Spain’s King
Carlos III, who ordered Juan Bautista de Anza to explore California in
1775, was given to SF from the Spain’s King Juan Carlos as a
bicentennial gift.
(SFC, 7/18/01, p.A21)
1976 In San Francisco City Lights
published a collection of poetry by Jack Hirschman: "Lyripol."
(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A1)
1976 In San Francisco Herb Caen
published his 9th and last collection of original columns "One Man’s
San Francisco."
(SFEC, 2/2/97, p.A12)
1976 In San Francisco the SF
Conservatory of Music opened the Hellman Hall concert auditorium at
19th and Ortega.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C16)
1976 In San Francisco Mount St.
Joseph Orphanage merged with St. Elizabeth’s Infant Hospital for Unwed
Mothers.
(SFC, 9/15/98, p.A9)
1976 The Mexican Museum in San
Francisco, the first in the US to feature Mexican and Chicano art, was
founded by Peter Rodriguez in a storefront on Folsom St. In 2001 ground
was broken for a new building near Yerba Buena Gardens.
(SFC, 5/26/96, DB p.27)(SFC, 10/27/01, p.F1)
1976 In San Francisco Mel
Novikoff’s Surf Theaters purchased the run-down Castro Theatre.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.E3)
1976 In San Francisco Margery
Livingston Magnani (d.1997 at 77) co-founded the SF Tapestry Workshop.
(SFC, 5/27/97, p.A22)
1976 In San Francisco Gene Farb
(d.2001 at 55) and his wife joined Stan Politi to create the "First New
Earth Exposition." In 1978 he helped found the Whole Earth Access
store, which grew to 8 Bay Area stores and then went bankrupt in 1999.
(SFC, 6/21/01, p.C2)
1976 In San Francisco Jean and
Jane Ford founded their Face Place cosmetic shop in the Mission
District. In 2004 their Benefit Cosmetics operation had expanded to an
entire floor on Market St.
(SSFC, 1/11/04, p.E8)
1976 The Univ. of SF founded the
Institution for Catholic Educational Leadership to train teachers for
Catholic schools.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W14)
1976 Winemaker Alfred Fromm
(d.1998 at 93) founded the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning at the
Univ. of SF.
(SFC, 7/7/98, p.A20)
1976 The SF Giants baseball team,
owned by the Horace Stoneham family, was sold for $8 million to a local
group led by Bob Lurie, a member of the board of directors since the
team moved to California. A Toronto syndicate had attempted to buy the
team for $13.35 million and move it to Canada but the deal fell failed.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.5)
1976 In San Francisco Japantown
Bowl opened. It closed in 2000.
(SFC, 9/21/00, p.A17)
1976 California’s Gov. Brown
appointed Yoritada "Yori" Wada (d.1997 at 80), director of the Buchanan
YMCA in SF, to the UC Board of Regents. Mr. Wada was the first Asian
American regent in the history of UC.
(SFC, 12/4/97, p.C8)
1976 In San Francisco US District
Judge Sam Conti sentenced Nicholas Sand to 15 years in federal prison
for distributing LSD through the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. He was an
associate of Timothy Leary and LSD guru Stanley Owsley. Sand went
underground after being released on bail and was picked up in 1996 in
Vancouver, BC, under the name David Roy Shepard. He was sentenced to an
additional 5 years in 1999 for fleeing the country.
(SFC, 1/23/99,
p.A17)(www.serendipity.li/dmt/nsand/sfchron.htm)
1976 In San Francisco Options
trading began on the Pacific Stock Exchange.
(SFC, 7/24/98, p.B1)
1976 SF passed an ordnance against
skating on public streets.
(SFC, 4/16/97, p.A15)
1976 In San Francisco The trial
for the 14 Zebra murders (1973-1974) ended in SF. Manuel Moore, J.C.
Simon, Larry C. Green and Jessie Lee Cooks received life in prison
under Superior Court Judge Karesh.
(SFC, 6/21/96, p.E2)(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.AD3)
1976 In San Francisco drivers from
several cab companies went on strike against an increase in their
working fees.
(SFC, 8/21/96, p.A20)
1976 In San Francisco craft
workers went on strike and Muni workers honored the picket lines in a
38-day strike.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.A4)
1976 Dykes on Bikes started with
Ali Marrerro and a friend carrying purple balloons with the Gay Latino
Alliance in the annual San Francisco’s Gay Pride.
(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.B1)
1976 A ferry designed by naval
architect Philip Spaulding (1912-2004) began running between SF and
Larkspur, Ca.
(SFC, 5/18/05, p.B7)
1976 In San Francisco Charles
Boles agreed to pay $7,000 over 2 years for a pair of Italian
gelato-making machines. By 1979 he was running 2 gelato stores.
(SFC, 3/3/99, p.B1,3)
1976 Ray Dolby brought his audio
technology firm to San Francisco from London.
(SFC, 3/29/04, p.D1)
1976 In San Francisco the Tassara
Zen Center purchased the Gallo Pastry Co. at 1000 Cole and began
selling its own bread to the public.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.D2)
1976 Harry Flamburis, president of
the SF chapter of the Hell’s Angels, was found shot to death in his
Daly City house along with roommate Dannette Barrett.
(SFC, 1/11/02, p.G4)
1976 Joseph "The Animal" Barboza
was shotgunned in SF by the New England Mafia.
(SSFC, 7/28/02, p.A5)
1977 Jan 13, Over 2,500 supporters
of the I-Hotel gathered to protest a potential eviction.
(SFC, 1/11/02, p.G4)
1977 Jan 18, Judge Ira A. Brown
stayed his own orders for the eviction of the 70 residents of the
I-Hotel.
(SFC, 1/18/02, p.G8)
1977 Jan 26, Supervisor John
Barbagelata received a death threat from the New World Liberation
Front. His West Portal real estate office took 3 shots from a pellet or
BB gun.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.G6)
1977 Feb 8, City Hall imposed
strict security measures with metal detectors and personal searches for
the 1st time following a series of violent attacks.
(SFC, 2/8/02, p.G2)
1977 Mar 18, In SF Paul Gaer
transformed Al’s Transbay Tavern on Fourth St. into the Hotel Utah
Saloon. The structure dated back to 1908 and in 2007 marked its 30th
anniversary.
(SFC, 3/15/07, 96H p.4)
1977 Mar 20, The St. Patrick’s Day
parade returned to Market St. and drew some 64,000 spectators.
(SFC, 3/15/02, p.G8)
1977 Mar 30, The PUC approved a
43% rate increase for water to compensate for reduced sales caused by
the drought.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.AG4)
1977 Mar, Joani Blank opened her
Good Vibrations shop opened on 22nd near Guererro, next to the new (not
yet opened) Café Babar.
(SFC, 2/14/03, p.E1)
1977 Apr 5, Police Capt. Agustius
Bruneman rescinded his order for patrol units to issue at least one
traffic ticket per shift.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.G2)
1977 Apr 5, City crews cleared
sand drifts that had blocked the Great Highway between Lincoln and
Sloat for 8 days.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.G2)
1977 Apr 11, The Cafe Babar opened
at 994 Guererro, corner of 22nd, under Alvin Stillman and partner Cort
Strandberg. They used Graffeo coffee brought in by stand-up comic Whiz
Glanting.
(AR, 11/29/98)
1977 Apr 14, Computer enthusiasts
gathered for the 1st West Coast Computer Faire at the Civic Auditorium.
An estimated 20-30 thousand American homes had computers.
(SFC, 4/12/02, p.G6)
1977 Apr 28, US regulations
implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act were signed.
Americans with physical disabilities had begun staging protests at
federal buildings in San Francisco, LA and Washington DC. The SF
protest grew to 150 people and lasted 25 days.
(SFC, 5/1/97, p.A20)(http://tinyurl.com/3xje8f)
1977 Apr 30, SF County Sheriff
Richard Hongisto entered the San Mateo County Jail for a 5 day sentence
for failure to evict the tenants of the Int’l. Hotel.
(SFC, 4/26/02, p.G8)
1977 May 10, Patti Hearst was
sentenced to 5 years’ probation for her role in the SLA crime spree May
16-17, 1974. She still faced a 7-year sentence for armed robbery.
(SFC, 5/10/02, p.G7)
1977 May 26, Mayor George Moscone
declared this day as "Isadora Duncan Centenary Day." Duncan, pioneer of
modern dance, lived from 1878-1927.
(SFC, 9/22/99, p.A24)(WUD, 1994, p.442)
1977 Jun 8, Some 5,000 marched
through downtown to protests an anti-gay rights vote in Miami. Voters
in Dade County had repealed a gay-rights ordnance.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.G8)
1977 Jun 11, The last group of 6th
grade students graduated from the 49-year-old Geary School at 20 Cook
St. It was closed due to declining enrollment and seismic conditions.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.G8)
1977 Jun 17, The Int’l. Hotel was
placed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its
connection with the immigration history of the Filipino community.
(SFC, 6/14/02, p.G7)
1977 Jun 23, Roger Boas,
administrative officer, presented an $85 million plan for an
underground convention hall. Groundbreaking was scheduled for Jan 1978
and completion by Jun 1980.
(SFC, 6/21/02, p.G2)
1977 Jun 26, An estimated 200,000
took part in the 5th annual Gay Freedom parade.
(SFC, 6/21/02, p.G2)
1977 Jul 5, The SF Board of
Directors voted to give "Landmark" status to the Castro theatre.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.E3)
1977 Jul 14, The federal
government acquired the Cliff House for $3.79 million. The building and
3.66 acres will be included in the Goldengate National Recreation Area.
(SFC, 7/12/02, p.E9)
1977 Jul 20, The Big Top marijuana
supermarket at 715 Castro St. was raided and Dennis Peron (31) received
a bullet wound.
(SFC, 9/6/02, p.E3)
1977 Aug 4, In San Francisco some
50 elderly tenants of the International Hotel in Chinatown were
forcefully evicted by police as thousands of protestors filled the
streets. The structure was demolished in 1979 and a hole occupied the
site. In 2004 city officials declared a 2-block corridor on Kearny as
“Manilatown” as construction rose on 14-story Int’l. Hotel Senior
Residences. In 2007 Estella Habal authored “San Francisco’s
International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American Community in the
Anti-Eviction Movement.”
(SFC, 12/13/96, p.A30)(SFC, 8/1/97,
p.A25)(eyewitness)(SFC, 6/8/01, WBa p.6)(SFC, 7/24/02, p.A17)(SFC,
7/28/04, p.B1)(SSFC, 8/19/07, p.M1)
1977 Aug 4, Jim Jones, pastor of
the People’s Temple at 1859 Geary, resigned from the SF Housing
Authority.
(SFC, 8/2/02, p.E4)
1977 Aug 12, Over 100 members of
the People’s Temple were reported to have left SF for a new outpost in
Guyana.
(SFC, 8/9/02, p.E2)
1977 Sep 9, A terrorist bomb
shattered 4 doors and 28 windows at the War Memorial Opera House. The
opera season opened the next night.
(SFC, 9/6/02, p.E3)
1977 Sep 20, The first wave of
Southeast Asian "boat people" arrived in San Francisco under a new U.S.
resettlement program.
(AP, 9/20/97)
1977 Oct 4, The Board of
Supervisors voted to make taxi permits non-transferable.
(SFC, 10/4/02, p.E4)
1977 Oct 5-16, The 21st annual SF
Film Festival was held.
(SFC, 9/20/02, p.E6)
1977 Oct 28, It was reported that
SF had bought 6 highland areas to add to its park and recreation area.
They included Tank Hill above Clayton St. and Clarendon, Kite Hill,
Billy Goat Hill, Martha Hill, Grandview Hill, and the sloping hillside
on Berkeley Way in Diamond Heights.
(SFC, 10/25/02, p.E6)
1977 Oct 29, The 4th annual
Hooker’s Ball was held in Civic Auditorium. Revelers raised $93,000 for
Coyote, the Margo St. James prostitute’s rights group.
(SFC, 10/25/02, p.E8)
1977 Nov 1, Tolls on the Golden
Gate Bridge rose 25 cents to $1.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.E7)
1977 Nov 6, San Francisco
marijuana smokers held "A Day on the Grass" smoke-in at the Civic
Center as the 59th Veterans Day Parade took place.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.E7)
1977 Nov 8, Voters elected all 6
incumbent Board of Supervisors: Robert Gonzales, Gordon Lau, Dianne
Feinstein, John Molinari, Quentin Kopp and Ronald Pelosi; newcomers
included Harvey Milk, Carol Ruth Silver, Dan White, Lee Dolson and Ella
Hill Hutch. Dan White, former police officer, was forced to resign from
his job as a firefighter the next month.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.A25)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W23)(SFC,
11/7/02, p.E2)
1977 Nov 29, SF designated the
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House on De Haro Street as its 86th official
landmark. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan.
(SFC, 11/29/02, p.E9)
1977 Nov, The entire 11-seat Board
of Supervisors was forced to run for re-election in newly drawn
districts.
(SFEC, 11/7/99, Z1 p.4)
1977 Dec 6, The SF city attorney
ruled that Dan White could not serve as both supervisor and as a member
of the Fire Department due to possible conflict of interest.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.E16)
1977 Dec 6, SF FBI agents arrested
James "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno (64), a reportedly leading West
Coast Mafia figure.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.E16)
1977 Dec 14, Sheriff Richard
Hongisto left SF to become police chief in Cleveland, Ohio.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.E8)
1977 Dec 17, The new Chinatown
Kong Chow Temple was dedicated at 520 Pine. It was designed by Ed Sue
and was the 4th in 120 years.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.E8)
1977 Dec, The film "Word Is Out,"
the first major documentary by and about lesbians and gays, opened at
the Castro Theatre.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.E3)
1977 Albert Morse (1939-2006), SF
intellectual property lawyer and representative of cartoonist R. Crumb,
published “The Tattooists.”
(SSFC, 1/29/06, p.B7)
1977 Montserrat Caballe made her
SF Opera debut in "Turandot."
(SFEC, 8/17/97, DB p.46,47)
1977 The first SF Lesbian &
Gay International Film Fest was held.
(SFC, 5/29/96, p.E1)
1977 The Dutch ex-oboist Edo de
Waart succeeded Seiji Ozawa to lead the SF Symphony. Mr. Ozawa left to
lead the Boston Symphony.
(SFEC, 8/10/97, p.B9)
1977 The Congregation Sha’ar
Zahav, a synagogue for gay and lesbian Jews, was founded.
(SFC, 12/12/98, p.A20)
1977 John Quinn succeeded
Archbishop McGucken as Archbishop of SF and served until 1995. Quinn
was the city's 6th Catholic archbishop.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1977 Pablo Heising (1945-2006)
helped found the Haight Street Fair in San Francisco in an effort to
recall the 1967 Summer of Love. He then ran the fair for 29 years and
came to be called the mayor of Haight Street.
(SFC, 1/16/07, p.B5)
1977 The Jane Goodall Institute
for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation was founded.
(SFEC, 12/15/96, zone 1 p.3)
1977 The Cliff House became part
of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
(SFC, 1/7/97, p.B1)
1977 John Frantz took over as head
of the city’s library system.
(SFC, 2/19/96, p.A20)
1977 Poly High, across from Kezar
Stadium, closed and was replaced by affordable condos.
(SFCM, 8/10/03, p.7)
1977 Pastor Marilynn Gazowsky
purchased the 2000-seat theater building on Ocean Blvd. and turned it
into a church for the Voice of Pentecost.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A19)
1977 Mayor Moscone survived a
recall attempt.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.A19)
1977 Gordon Lau (d.1998 at 56) was
appointed by Mayor Moscone to the Board of Supervisors and won the seat
in the election. He was the first Asian American to be elected on the
board.
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A13)
1977 SF toughened its fire code.
State deadlines gave the city’s high-rises until July 1980 to
comply.
(SFC, 11/18/05, p.F2)
1977 Jimmy Herman (1924-1998),
labor leader, took the helm of ILWU.
(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.C3)
1977 Rudy Tham (d.1998), union
leader, was investigated by the Organized Crime Strike Force for
allegedly demanding kickbacks from hotels where his members worked. He
was indicted in 1979 for felony embezzlement of union funds. He was
sentenced to 6 months in jail and fined $50,000.
(SFC, 10/7/98, p.C2)
1977 Rolling Stone Magazine left
San Francisco and moved to Manhattan.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.12)
1977 Leon McHenry (d.1999) opened
Leon's BAR-B-Q in the upper Fillmore.
(SFC, 3/24/99, p.C4)
1977 Charles Thieriot died and his
son Richard became the editor and publisher for the SF Chronicle.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A8)
1977 In Chinatown the Golden
Dragon Massacre occurred. 5 people were killed and 11 wounded, none of
them gang members, during a shootout between the rival Wah Ching and
Joe Boys. Four men were convicted. In 1999 Bill Lee, a former gang
member, published "Chinese Playground," a memoir of his experiences in
the 60s and 70s.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.A18)(SFEC, 5/2/99, BR p.6)
1977 SF reported 146 killings for
the year.
(SFC,12/9/97, p.A18)
1977-1980 Kathleen Rawlings (d.1997 at 76), founder
of KQED-TV, owned the Lazzari Fuel Co. in Brisbane.
(SFC,12/897, p.D8)
1977-1982 The Suicide Club in SF started out as a
class at Communiversity, a free alternative university created by SF
State in the 1969.
(SSFC, 3/6/05, p.M5)
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