Articles by Woody LaBounty

Administration Building at the 1894 Midwinter Fair

One of five main halls at the California Midwinter International Exposition in Golden Gate Park. ( May 16, 2019)

Horticultural and Agricultural Building at the 1894 Midwinter Fair

One of five main halls at the California Midwinter International Exposition in Golden Gate Park. ( Apr 20, 2019)

Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building at the 1894 Midwinter Fair

One of five main halls at the California Midwinter International Exposition in Golden Gate Park. ( Mar 15, 2019)

Merced Heights

The OMI ridgeline neighborhood that started as San Miguel City, Columbia Heights, and Poppy Hill. ( Mar 8, 2019)

Mechanical Arts Building at the 1894 Midwinter Fair

One of five main halls at the California Midwinter International Exposition in Golden Gate Park. ( Feb 23, 2019)

Fine Arts Building at the 1894 Midwinter Fair

One of five main halls at the California Midwinter International Exposition in Golden Gate Park. ( Feb 11, 2019)

San Francisco's Lake Merced: Spring Valley Water

The history of San Francisco's Lake Merced from 1870s to 1930 ( Jan 28, 2019)

Opening the Midwinter Fair

With the press of a button on January 27, 1894, the California Midwinter International Exposition officially opened. ( Jan 26, 2019)

San Francisco’s Lake Merced: Rancho Days

The history of San Francisco’s Lake Merced from 1830-1870. ( Dec 5, 2017)

The Lake Merced Fair that Could Have Been

The plan to have the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 at Lake Merced. ( Sep 18, 2017)

San Francisco’s Lake Merced: Native Wetland

Early history of San Francisco’s largest lake and wetland, Lake Merced. ( May 25, 2017)

The Safest Driver in the State of California

The story of Nell A. Leavitt ( Jan 30, 2017)

The Birth of Westwood Park, Part II

More on the creation of San Francisco's first residence park for the middle class. ( Dec 19, 2016)

Bicycles West

The ways the bicycle madness of the 1890s reached the west side. ( Dec 7, 2016)

Park-Presidio Improvement Association of San Francisco‘s Richmond District

A report on a twentieth-century neighborhood group. ( Nov 7, 2016)

Barney Farley, a Character Study

Boxing coach, roadhouse operator, saloon keeper, and Ingleside character for over fifty years. ( Dec 29, 2015)

The Jets of Larsen Park

Remembering the Navy jets used as play structures in a park on 19th Avenue. ( Oct 21, 2015)

Ocean Beach’s Tornado House

How one Sunset District house got turned around in 1930. ( Sep 22, 2015)

Aviation in the Ingleside

When land along Ocean Avenue acted as airstrips for early planes and flying machines. ( May 21, 2015)

Chicken at the Sea

The history of two distinctive Great Highway buildings, both residences that were once restaurants. ( May 14, 2015)

Mr. Hot Dog Rancho

Memories of a western-themed hot dog and hamburger joint on Geary Boulevard. ( Dec 11, 2014)

Storyland in the San Francisco Zoo

Remembering the 1950s nursery-rhyme-inspired Storyland at the San Francisco Zoo. ( May 8, 2013)

Birth of Westwood Park, Part 1

The creation of San Francisco's first residence park for the middle class. ( May 2, 2013)

Surf Theatre Memories

The Surf Theatre brought a wave of art films to San Francisco's Sunset District. ( Feb 21, 2013)

The Frozen Sea: 1536 La Playa's Hidden Past

Elaborate decorative reliefs from a roadhouse past are discovered in a plain apartment building. ( Jan 23, 2013)

The Gjoa in Golden Gate Park

A historic sloop that came through the Northwest Passage before going on display in Golden Gate Park. ( Jan 16, 2013)

St. Emydius Catholic Church

San Francisco's Ingleside parish birthed by the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. ( Jan 6, 2013)

Sutro Baths Segregation

An 1890s bid for civil rights at Sutro Baths ( Aug 20, 2012)

The Original Balboa Theater, the Westwood

Ocean Avenue's first movie theater wasn't the El Rey. ( Aug 6, 2012)

Roberts-at-the-Beach

The tale of a storied roadhouse at San Francisco's Ocean Beach ( Aug 4, 2012)

Farms? In San Francisco?

Agricultural enterprises in western San Francisco in 1903. ( May 22, 2012)

Making Merry on Merrie Way

A long-time parking lot above the Sutro Baths site was once home to "pleasure grounds." ( Dec 15, 2011)

Pioneer Markets of the Outer Sunset

Early groceries nourished a new neighborhood. ( Nov 28, 2011)

Ingleside Coursing Park

Hounds once raced near today's City College of San Francisco. ( May 2, 2011)

Edgewood Center

Formerly the San Francisco Protestant Orphanage ( Apr 21, 2011)

Naming Kelly's Cove

Was it a swimmer or a tire company that named the beach below the Cliff House? ( Apr 4, 2011)

Naming the Ingleside

How San Francisco's Ingleside District got it name. ( Feb 22, 2011)

The Death of Ben Butler

In 1895, a famous San Francisco sea lion died. ( Jan 21, 2011)

Naming the Richmond District

George Turner Marsh and the Birth of a Neighborhood ( Apr 2, 2010)

Lakeshore Park

South of Sloat Boulevard, built by the Gellert Brothers in the 1940s and 1950s. ( Oct 7, 2009)

Inside the Outside Lands

The official WNP blog on current events with west side history in mind. ( May 1, 2009)

Castles in the Sand

Sand artist James J. Taylor's signature creations came to Ocean Beach in 1909. ( Dec 28, 2008)

Ten Years of Outside Lands

One of the founders remembers how WNP got started. ( Dec 19, 2008)

Balboa Terrace

Lang Realty Company and Hueter Homes developed this residential park in the 1920s. ( Dec 11, 2008)

Harold Lloyd on the 6-line.

The first talkie by the silent film star was shown on a moving 6-line streetcar in 1929. ( Nov 4, 2008)

Sweeny Observatory

Built with a donation by Thomas U. Sweeny on Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park in 1891. ( May 4, 2008)

The Circle of History

Chance meetings make for good history ( Apr 26, 2007)

Camp Merritt

The Richmond District hosted the Army in 1898. ( Nov 24, 2006)

Parkmerced

A City in a City of apartment life built by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York. ( Jun 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Forest Hill

Architect David Coleman designed the first completed home in Forest Hill at 266 Pacheco Street. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Abbey Patio

12th century church in Golden Gate Park ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: A Boxer's Death

Alex Gdovin died from a punch to the chest that stopped his heart in a boxing match. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: The Burned Cross

Patti Poole was six years old at the time, and stayed home from school while her parents talked to reporters and defended the people of Ingleside Terraces. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Guns and Golf

The 1859 duel between Broderick and Terry at Lake Merced. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: The Great Race

On November 15, 1873, just north of Lake Merced, four horses ran in the "Great International Running Race". ( Jan 1, 2006)

Niantic Street Shacks

Niantic Street is a tiny dead-end road trapped between Alemany Boulevard and the 280 freeway. ( Jan 1, 2006)

A Short History of OMI Neighborhoods

Ocean View, Merced Heights, Ingleside, and Ingleside Terraces neighborhoods. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Ocean View Redux

Ninety years ago, J.W. Wright & Co., had high hopes that hoards of people would move to Ocean View Park. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Brooks Park

A hillside home's rough ride to parkland ( Jan 1, 2006)

Gunslinger in the Avenues

Wyatt Earp lived in the Richmond District in the 1890's ( Jan 1, 2006)

A Short History of the Richmond District

Between the Presidio and Golden Gate Park, from Lone Mountain to Ocean Beach. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Dearly Departed

At the turn of the twentieth century most of San Francisco's dead were interred to the northwestern part of the city. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Twenty-Five Cents of Heaven

Moving the Musee Mecanique away from Ocean Beach. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: The Richmond Recovery

How the Richmond District fared after the 1906 earthquake and fire. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Palaces of the Past

Lamenting the loss of the great (and small) movie palaces. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Mountain Lake

Juan Bautista de Anza camped at a lake "of very fine water near the mouth of the port of San Francisco." ( Jan 1, 2006)

A Short History of West of Twin Peaks

Residence parks and other neighborhoods in San Francisco's West of Twin Peaks area. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Tait’s

The long-gone beach resort that began life as the Oceanside House. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Six Million Gallons

Fleishhacker Pool, the "world's largest swimming tank" officially opened April 23, 1925. ( Jan 1, 2006)

Streetwise: Parkside and the Graft Trials

Downtown politics helped build the Parkside ( Jan 1, 2006)

Parkside District

The Parkside Realty Company made a neighborhood in terra incognita. ( Jan 1, 2005)

Streetwise: Urbano's Racetrack

Urbano Drive is an oval laid exactly along the lines of the old Ingleside Racetrack, the last venue for horse racing in San Francisco. ( Jan 1, 2005)

Streetwise: Windmill Walk

Designed to pump 40,000 gallons of water an hour for the park's irrigation needs, the Murphy Windmill was a gift from banker Samuel G. Murphy back in 1905. ( Jan 1, 2005)