When Gamblers and Newspapermen Ruled The Cool Grey City of Love

Ever wondered who really pulled the strings in San Francisco during its post-war golden age? It wasn't the mayor or the board of supervisors.

When the war ended in 1946, San Francisco experienced an unprecedented boom. Servicemen who'd fallen in love with the city returned to stay, nightlife flourished, and business thrived in what appeared to be a model American city. But beneath this picturesque facade, two men – neither elected nor appointed – controlled nearly everything.

On one side was Bill Wren, a powerful newspaperman working for William Randolph Hearst's Examiner, who effectively ran both the city and the state Democratic Party through his influence and connections. His rival, Bones Remmer, was a professional gambler who had previously managed the Cal-Neva Lodge before establishing himself in San Francisco, where he systematically took over various aspects of city business. Their intense rivalry and behind-the-scenes power struggle shaped the city in ways that have remained largely hidden from historical accounts.

My fascination with this era began unexpectedly while working as a copy boy at the Examiner in the 1970s. A chance conversation with an elderly bartender led me to discover phone tap transcripts from 1950 revealing conversations between these power brokers. Most surprisingly, I learned my own grandfather had been "a player" in this shadowy world – creating a personal connection that fueled decades of research into San Francisco's secret history.

Join me as we explore the fascinating web of influence, corruption, and colorful characters that defined San Francisco from 1946-1953. From legendary establishments with their famous Pisco Punch to Hollywood connections and Bay Area criminal enterprises, we'll uncover the stories that shaped the city we know today. Have family stories from this era or research leads? I'd love to hear from you as we resurrect this crucial chapter in San Francisco's past.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to this preview episode of the Frisco

(00:33):
the Secret History podcast.
I'm your host, knox Bronson.
Unlike other episodes to come,I'm just ad one, so bear with me
.
We are going to be covering inthis podcast the post-war years
of San Francisco, 1946 to 1953.

(00:55):
Mostly there will be somebackground from years before
that and years after, but thatwill be the main time frame that
we'll be looking at.
It will be focused on SanFrancisco, but there is a number

(01:16):
of areas where there's overlapwith Hollywood and Southern
California, gangsters and stufflike that.
Also there was other crimeactivity in the outlying areas
in the San Francisco Bay Area.
So from time to time we'll be,you know, over in Martinez,

(01:39):
emeryville down south.
So it was a boom time for SanFrancisco.
The war was over, there wasincredible nightlife industry,
business it was thriving andpeople, a lot of people, had
come here during the war andstayed when the war ended or

(02:04):
when they came back home.
They'd been here during the warlike on leave.
When they came back after thewar to our country, they moved
to San Francisco because it wasso cool and it was the city the
whole world was in love with andthere was a lot going on behind

(02:25):
the scenes.
A newspaper man named bill wrenran the town and the state
democratic party.
He worked for the examiner andtherefore william randolph
hearst.
On the other side was bonesremmer, a gambler who had
previously run the Cal NevaLodge up in North Shore and Lake

(02:46):
Tahoe and came to town and kindof took over everything.
They didn't like each other, sothat's kind of what we're going
to be talking about.
As far as patreon goes, all themain episodes of this podcast

(03:07):
will always be free.
If you want to be a supporter,subscriber, contributor,
whatever you want to call it,there's a $2 tier, a $7 tier and
a $12 tier for now.
If you do $2, you'll get thebonus episodes that we'll be
doing regularly.

(03:27):
$7 will include e-books you candownload that I'll be producing
with some frequency.
As an introductory offer, I'mgiving everybody a sample e-book

(03:47):
.
It was a booklet called theSecrets of Pisco Punch and that
was the legendary drink from thebank exchange, which was a bar
in the financial district fromthe gold rush days until

(04:07):
prohibition, and so you can kindof see what kind of booklets
are going to be coming.
So they're pretty cool.
Naturally, if you subscribe atthe $12 level, I'll send you a
printed copy of the booklet,whether you subscribe or not.
I hope you will go to eitherthe website, which is

(04:29):
thesecrethistoryoffriscocom, orthe Patreon page and download
the free e-book, because it'sreally cool.
You can learn all about DiscoPunch.
The last thing I want to tell isthe story of how I discovered
this era.
I was a.
I'll tell it as quickly as Ican.

(04:51):
I didn't plan on talking thislong.
Back in the 70s I was a copy boyor editorial assistant wire
attendant at the San FranciscoExaminer.
On Sunday evenings I would goover to the bar at the Pickwick
Hotel, which was kitty cornerfrom the paper, and I'd have a

(05:14):
sandwich or something and acouple of beers at the bar.
It was very quiet there, unlikethe M&M, which was always noisy
.
I wanted some peace so I couldread and there was an old guy
working there and he finallyasked me what I you know where I
worked or something and I said,oh, with the paper.

(05:34):
And he asked me to go look fora picture that was taken outside
his bar at Pine and Jonescalled Cooper and Varney's in
about 1950 or thereabouts, ofthese board of supervisors
standing outside his bar withtheir hands cupped around their

(05:55):
ears to see if they could hearmusic coming out of the place,
because they were always tryingto shut him down.
And I knew nothing about thisat the time, of course, but I
was soon to find out, so I wentdown into the lab.
I out, so I went down into thelab, I went down into the

(06:19):
examiner library where they keptall the old clips and the
photographs and stuff, and Ilooked at for Cooper and
Varney's and what I found was anenvelope with a bunch of phone
taps from 1950, where Shell Ididn't know his name yet Shell
was being phone tapped withtalking to Bones Remmer, who's

(06:42):
one of the main characters ofthe pod.
Well, they both are.
And I was blown away.
I, I mean, I had no idea and Ilooked through all these things
and unfortunately I don't havethose phone taps anymore.
I would love to find them, um,but anyway, um, so I reported
back that I couldn't find thepicture.

(07:03):
I don't think it was achronicle, an examiner picture.
I think it was a chroniclepicture, probably.
But um, anyway, you know, hestarted telling me about all
that whole era and uh, I, it wasjust fascinating and um, you
know, I got kind of obsessedabout it and, uh, I started

(07:26):
talking to other guys who werestill alive, that had been
around back then and, you know,got kind of obsessed about it
and I started talking to otherguys who were still alive, that
had been around back then andyou know, heard a few things
that you know I will share.
But finally, one evening hesaid to me what's your name, kid
?
And I said Knox.
And he said Knox what?

(07:46):
And I said Knox Bronson and hestopped and he said Knox what?
And I said Knox Bronson and hestopped and he looked at me and
said are you any relation toKnox Bronson?
And I said yeah, he was mygrandfather.
And he stopped and put hishands on the bar and leaned into
me, looked up and down the barthere was, was no one else there
looked right in my eyes andsaid your grandfather was a

(08:12):
player.
I feel a connection to thatgreat era of San Francisco, the
last years when it was a wide,open city, and that's a story
we're going to tell.
One last thing before I go Ifyou know of any history buffs,

(08:33):
please, that might like thispodcast, please let them know
about it, and if you knowanybody who has stories to tell
from that era, whether thingsthey've heard, you know, from
their parents or grandparents,whatever, I'd love to hear from
them.
And if anybody has any ideaswho can direct me in areas to

(08:57):
research, do more research orstories I should look into, I'd
love to hear about that as well.
Naturally, I've been to theBancroft Library, san Francisco
Public Library, californiaHistorical Society, all over the
place, but I'm always lookingfor new leads and stories from

(09:21):
that time.
So thank you and until nexttime.
This is Knox saying what shouldI say?
I don't even know.
What did they say back then onthe radio?
I'll find out for next time.
Thank you you.