Episode 1: Vice Defined San Francisco's DNA At Its Inception

Welcome to The Secret History of Frisco, a podcast peeling back the layers of San Francisco's vibrant and often illicit past during its last wide-open era, 1934 to 1953. Join host Knox Bronson as we journey through the city's smoky backrooms, bustling waterfronts, and glittering nightlife, where fortunes were made and lost, and a unique live-and-let-live ethos reigned supreme, naturally contingent on the right palms being greased. From the early days of Gold Rush outlaws like The Hounds and the Sydney Ducks, who set the stage for a city steeped in vice, to the looming figures of Mafia boss Frank Lanza and the corrupting influence of the McDonough brothers, we'll explore the intricate dance between crime, politics, and the burgeoning cultural landscape that captured the world's imagination, as immortalized in Tony Bennett's iconic ode to the "cool grey city of love."

In this inaugural episode, we set the stage for our exploration of Frisco, a term embraced for its outlaw swagger and the swirling mix of cultures, dreams, and darkness that defined San Francisco. We'll encounter the legendary defense attorney Jake Ehrlich, a true embodiment of the city's spirit, and glimpse the powerful forces that shaped its underworld, including the entrenched Mafia and the deeply compromised San Francisco Police Department, whose lucrative take from vice painted a picture of a city operating by its own set of rules. From the Barbary Coast's den of iniquity to the nascent jazz clubs and the shadow of the impending crackdown, prepare to delve into the secret history of a Frisco on the cusp of transformation, a city as seductive and dangerous as the fog that rolls through the Golden Gate.