Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History

This episode is an interview with author Terry Hamburg, who wrote a very interesting book on all things dying, death, and burial in San Francisco history. We cover the earliest history of Colma and specifically discuss one cemetery, Cypress Lawn. 

This subject matter might not be for everyone, but please know I approach the discussion about the history of death and burials in San Francisco with respect and genuine curiosity.  I thin...

The history I’ve read regarding July 9th, 1846, states that the USS Portsmouth pulled up to the shoreline at Montgomery and Clay Street, marines disembarked from the ship and onto land, then marched up Clay Street to raise the American flag in Portsmouth Square. It’s stated as if the soldiers stepped off the ship and directly onto land. But, is that accurate? 

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Have you ever felt like some stories should feel more connected than they do in your brain but instead they feel like untethered facts that are somehow connected? This episode is about just that. 

I want to understand how my past few episodes fit together, since they feel stand alone. I revisit some of my recently covered sources which might point me in the right direction. 

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By January 30, 1847, the Pueblo de Yerba Buena was officially renamed the Town of San Francisco. 

Mexican laws weren't very well written, if written at all, which left the US military in charge of creating order in a land (Alta California), that wasn't used to having rules. 

This episode is a discussion between Girlina and architectural historian, Jonathon Lammers, regarding the Laws of the Town of San F...

In the last episode I discussed the lead up to the Battle of Santa Clara. I chased this rabbit hole of a topic to figure out why Washington Allon Bartlett, Yerba Buena's first American alcalde, was missing for a period of time during his very short term in office. 

How are these two items connected? Listen and find out. 

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Today’s episode is about the changing landscape of Yerba Buena from July 1846 - 1847, just after the US takeover and the early broken promises to Californios. 

In the middle of all the changes, Yerba Buena's first American appointed Alcalde, Washington Allon Bartlett, goes missing, and it has everything to do with ... cows. 

Were the Spaniards really hiding in the brush? Listen and find out. 

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Listen to me fan girl Richard Miller, the host of Sparkletack. The original podcast on San Francisco history, 2006 - 2009. 

I modeled my podcast after Sparkletack so getting to interview him was a huge honor. 

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Today, we do not cover Edwin Bryant's best 1848-selling book but I do have a friendly conversation, with Mr. Bryant. Please sit back and enjoy the rest of my talk with Edwin Bryant. 

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Today, I virtually interview Edwin Bryant, the author of the 1848 best seller, “What I Saw in California, Journal of a Tour, 1846- 1847”. Through the magic of AI generated voices, I simulate a virtual conversation with Edwin Bryant; a journalist, turned overland traveler, turned the second American Alcalde of Yerba Buena, and then finally, a bestselling author. 

About 95% of the words our guest speaks, are taken directly from his bo...

Today’s episode is an interview with a new listener and accidental friend of Monkey Block’s Facebook Page that led to IMs on Facebook, a rabbit hole on Juana Briones, and then to an online interview. 

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The story of the Hudson Bay Company, in Yerba Buena, has been reduced to a few sentences that are very Hudson Bay Company-centric. “That place was miserable, and we didn’t make any money, so we left.” It always felt like the guy who says, “Yeah, well, I didn’t want that job, anyway.” 

Today’s episode is peripherally about the English Hudson Bay Company’s short-lived post in Yerba Buena. But, it’s mostly about the people in...

I have found myself drawn to a specific piece of land that figuratively and literally became central to the Pueblo de Yerba Buena. Why was it left empty? And, considering it shows up on every Yerba Buena and early San Francisco map, why is it hard to find early information on it? 

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If the Battle of Yerba Buena doesn’t sound familiar, there’s a good reason for that. The events, just before and after ‘The Battle of Yerba Buena’, tell the story. There are two events, in my opinion, that make up the ‘Battle of Yerba Buena’.

If you enjoyed this episode, and my original research, you can make a one-time donation at www.buymeacoffee.com/monkeyblocksf.      

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Today we are celebrating our second year in review. If you’ve been on this journey with me the two years, thank you for making it to this milestone.  And, a journey is exactly what this has been.  

Last year, we traveled from 1837, and we got stuck in 1846. 

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Letters from California

Three letters, were anonymously mailed from the Pueblo de Yerba Buena, dated between June 10th and June 29th 1846. The letters were, and probably still are, quite the mystery, not only because no one definitively knows who wrote them, but for the depth of military knowledge the writer had about the happenings in Alta California.
 

Another point of personal interest, the letters were written from our own ba...

In this episode, we continue with the Bear Flag Revolt, with lots of perspectives and parallel subplots. In this episode, we re-live one part of a bigger story, that starts the revolt. 

Out of context, this is sheer comedy. In context, the aftermath, which I won’t have time to get into, today, lacks humor, and leaves people in both the Mexican and American governments unhappy.

  If you enjoyed this episode, and my original...

Today’s episode is on ‘The Pathfinder’ John Charles Fre’mont and a conflict he found himself in, four months before the start of the Bear Flag Revolt. The differing takes, and spun storylines made today’s topic especially hard to ‘eliminate legend or call it out’, so it is a longer than usual episode.

 If you enjoyed this episode, and my original research, you can make a one-time donation at www.buymeacoffee.com/monkeyblo...

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 The Bear Flag Revolt is a pivotal point in California’s history, and the events that led up to the actual revolt are … just as complex as the actual event. Today we take a look at a few preceding storylines leading to the Bear Flag Revolt, give some backstory, some subplots, describe a few main characters, in not enough time to tell them all. There’s too much to know, so I’ll never know all there is to know about this event.
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