28—A Playlist From Hal Smith To Accompany His Interview On Lu Watters’ Yerba Buena Jazz Band
Yesterday, I published wherein I interviewed drummer and jazz historian Hal Smith. We discussed the music scene in San Francisco in the 30s and 40s and how one man, Lu Watters and his band The Yerba Buena Jazz Band, saved traditional jazz after the emergence of swing...
27—Lu Watters and his Yerba Buena Jazz Band Save Trad Jazz, An Interview With Hal Smith
In this episode, I interview drummer and jazz historian Hal Smith. We discuss the music scene in San Francisco in the 30s and 40s and how one man, Lu Watters and his band The Yerba Buena Jazz Band, saved traditional jazz after the emergence of swing music. The...
26: The Ding Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line
We are going to look at the life and times of little Francis Van Wie, the Diminutive Dutchman known also as the Ding Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line, the Car Barn Casanova, and the Trolley Toreador, and other nicknames. Francis managed to get hitched eighteen times over...
25: Bones Remmer Bribe Attempt Refused! Freddie Says No To Gambler’s Cash
In this episode, I talk about the time well-known grifter, Charles Auberguy, he of the Frisco netherworld and serial inheritance scams, contacted San Francisco Examiner columnist Freddie Francisco, ex-con and brilliant chronicler of high society foibles and underworld...
24 – Wren vs. Francisco: Does The Word “Poontang” Belong In A Family Newspaper?
In this episode, I’m diving into one of my favorite San Francisco stories—the kind that lives right at the intersection of journalism, mischief, and outright audacity. It centers on two unforgettable characters from the San Francisco Examiner: the hard-driving,...
23: Frisco Noir with Rachel Walther; “Sudden Fear” (1952) & “House On Telegraph Hill” (1951)
In this episode of Frisco: The Secret History, Knox Bronson welcomes back film writer Rachel Walther to explore two classic film noir movies set in San Francisco: Sudden Fear (1952) starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, and House on Telegraph Hill (1951) starring...
22: Dolly Fine Pt. 4: Dolly Comes In From The Cold & Waltzes Out Into The Night
In Part Four of the Dolly Fine story, I bring the Dolly Fine story to a close. Where we last left off, Dolly had been arrested and charged on eight felony counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The DA had her dead to rights and such was the political...
21: Dolly Fine Pt. 3: The Lady In Red Vanishes
In this episode, I let Jake Ehrlich do a lot of the talking, because frankly, no one skewered San Francisco’s hypocrisy quite like he did. Dolly wasn’t just fighting a criminal charge—she was being fed to the wolves in a city that had tolerated, taxed, and quietly...
20: Dolly Fine Pt. 2: The Lady In Red—Collateral Damage
In this episode, I continue the story of Dolly Fine as San Francisco’s long-standing system of tolerated vice begins to unravel in the wake of the Atherton Report of 1937. Police shakeups, grand jury investigations, and rising public pressure tightened the noose the...