Podcast Transcription

WNP291 – Baird Estate

Woody: [00:00:00] It's Outside Lands San Francisco, the podcast of the Western Neighborhoods Project. I'm Woody LaBounty.

David: And I'm David Gallagher.

Nicole: And I'm Nicole Meldahl.

Woody: David!

David: Yes, Woody! Nicole!

Nicole: Yeah, David!

David: We're here. We're all here. I don't know what happens now.

Woody: We're gonna do our podcast.

David: Okay.

Woody: So last week I said we were going to go a bit east of our usual area. But for a good story. We're gonna dip our toes into Haight-Ashbury.

David: We're annexing the Haight-Ashbury, aren't we?

Woody: No, we're not. Angus would be happy, because Angus Macfarlane, who provided some of this information, maybe, to us. He's a big fan of the Haight-Ashbury, and we saw him, I saw him last night, and he was like, "You guys should really expand to the Haight."

David: Yeah. We don't have enough people to do that.

Woody: No, you're right. So, what are we gonna talk about today, Nicole?

Nicole: We're gonna talk about the [00:01:00] infamous Baird family.

David: The Baird family. I know that name. I've, I have heard of it because there's something called the Baird Estate, which is like where the Haight-Ashbury is, right?

Nicole: Yeah. So, the Baird family actually owned most of the Haight-Ashbury before, like the turn of the 20th century. And I stumbled upon this story when I was working at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I was tasked with kind of investigating the old Presidio Army Museum archives, and there was this beautiful scrapbook page that had all these photos of a dashing young soldier from the Spanish American War. And it was one of the Bairds. One of the Baird sons. So, I started to research who these people were, to make sure it was supposed to stay at the GGNRA, and what I found was the most amazing scandal of all time.

Woody: That's…

David: Wow.

Woody: It's the most amazing scandal of all time!

David: And that, I mean, all time, that's a long, bunch of scandals here.

Woody: We are prone to [00:02:00] hyperbole here, but the, okay, so Baird is B-A-I-R-D. Right?

Nicole: Correct

Woody: Okay. And so, the Baird family, this guy is a member of it. They own some land in the Haight-Ashbury, and I think the way I heard about him, David, we have this great panorama that's from, looking north from…

David: Buena Vista Park.

Woody: Buena Vista Park up on the hill.  And you could see these blocks of the Haight-Ashbury around 1903. And they're totally empty.

David: Right.

Woody: And there's houses built around them. And so that's when I had first heard, I think, about the Baird estate being tied up, and that's why there was no building going on in those lots.

David: And we have since seen some lithographs of the big auction that they had for the estate. I mean, it was a color thing. It was a big deal because Golden Gate Park was well-established, and there were streetcar and cable car lines that went to Golden Gate Park through these empty areas that people were very familiar with, but…

Woody: Nobody was building on it.

David: Nobody could build on.

Woody: Okay. So. what's the deal, Nicole? What's the scandal? What's, who are the Bairds? What's going on?

Nicole: Well, okay, so the [00:03:00] Bairds start with John H. Baird and his wife, Veronica. And John's a native of Kentucky, and he comes to California in 1849 on the famed gold rush ship, Niantic.

Woody: Oh, the Niantic is the one that they turn into a store.

David: Right.

Woody: Or saloon down at, okay, okay. So, he's like, he's a real early Californian.

Nicole: He's an OG.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: Yeah. So, he, he opens the California Powder Works. So, during the Civil War it was really hard to get, blasting powder from the East Coast because, you know, war and stuff.

Woody: Right.

Nicole: So. he decides, I'm not gonna pan for gold, I'm gonna open this California Powder Works, and he makes a fortune. And this is, then he starts buying up all this land in the Haight-Ashbury.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: And an outpost, he leases land around Fourth Avenue, kind of, Fourth in between, I guess, Irving and Judah.

Woody: Yeah. So, in the Inner Sunset.

David: Inner Sunset.

Woody: He leases some land.

Nicole: Yeah. That’s the Hercules Powder Works is there for a while until it starts, you know…

Woody: Exploding.

Nicole: Yeah. It explodes.

David: We've done a podcast [00:04:00] on the Powder Works and the different dynamite factories and all that.

Woody: Yeah.

David: That were out in the Sunset District.

Woody: Yeah, with Angus. Angus Macfarlane. And they kept putting up new powder works, new dynamite factories, in the Sunset, and they kept exploding. And this is like in the 1870s.

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: I'm thinking.

David: Right.

Woody: So, you're saying that one of the Baird guys is, is a backer or a mover and a shaker in one of those dynamite factories or powder works?

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: And he owns tons of the land around there. And Angus has done so much good research about how that land developed and the Bairds. And we discovered that we were both doing separate research on this family. So, Angus gave me a lot of great leads.

Woody: Great.

Nicole: That helped me.

Woody: Okay, so he makes his money in explosives?

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: Yeah, which is ironic because he has quite the explosive family.

Woody: Ooh, nice tie in there.

Nicole: Thank you. So, John dies in 1880, and his estate goes into a restricted trust, which means that property can't be sold until his youngest son, David Jennings, turns 21, and this is why we see other parts of the Outside Lands start to develop, but the [00:05:00] Haight sort of stays static for a while. And to make money off of this property that she can't sell, Veronica leases property to the Chutes, which is why we have the Chutes there.

Woody: Okay. So, they, they have the property, but because it's tied up in an estate waiting for this youngest kid to mature, they can rent it, but they can't sell it.

Nicole: Correct.

Woody: So, and nobody wants to rent a bunch of land that's great for houses.

David: Yeah. They're not gonna build a house on it because they can't keep it.

Woody: Right. But the Chutes' amusement zone with the water ride and everything that was in the Haight, they rented from the Baird estate.

Nicole: Yeah. In like the late 1890s.

Woody: Okay. I'm on board. I'm with you now,

David: So, it's like almost 15 years later.

Woody: Yeah. Okay. So that makes sense. All right. I'm on board with the whole Baird family now. So how young is this "David," the youngest heir? How long do they have to wait before they could start selling land?

Nicole: So, in 1902, David turns 21.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: And the property starts to move, you know, things start getting sold.

David: I have to say that those [00:06:00] numbers don't add up. If the, if the dad died in 1880 and the kid turned 21, 22 years later, that's confusing.

Nicole: You're correct.

Woody: Something is amiss.

David: I didn't mean, I didn't mean to stick you with that one, but…

Nicole: Ish. We're gonna add "ish" to the dates of him turning…

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: Legal age.

David: Okay.

Woody: All right. So he, so somewhere he, he turns in the early 1900s, he turns 21. Okay.

Nicole: Yeah. And then when this happens, the family like totally implodes with crazy.

Woody: That they're exploding.

Nicole: They explode, they explode with crazy. Veronica is the undisputed matriarch, and things feel very, like, no more wire hangers, you know.

Woody: That's a reference to Mommy Dearest. Is that what that's from?

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: Very Mommy Dearest. She marries…

David: They've suddenly come into money, right? Yeah. Now they can liquidate all this.

Woody: Now everybody's got money.

David: All this money. Although they probably had a certain amount of money.

Woody: Yeah.

David: To start with, but now it's just gonna be this huge windfall. So wait, [00:07:00] before we get into the, the craziness and the windfall, so how many people are we talking about here? We got the mother who is the widow, right? And she's been running things this whole time. And then the youngest son, David, is now 21-ish in the early 1900s. And in between, are there more kids?

Nicole: Oh yeah, there's four kids total. There's John, Marie, and Miles, in addition to David. And Marie is the only girl and she takes after her mother.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: It's kind of like the women against the men here in the family. And the men are all, you know, bless them, pretty much worthless playboys.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: The women really like hold down the family fortune. But I should also say that like everybody sues everybody. Veronica marries her brother-in-law probably to like keep the money in the family. But he, Benjamin, turns out to be like a terrible alcoholic. And so, they get divorced within two years and he, she accused him of terrorizing her, which is terrible. And one of the headlines said she [00:08:00] claimed he was addicted to throwing beef steaks at the servants.

Woody: So, he'd go into a tirade and be throwing steaks at the servants.

Nicole: Apparently, Ben had some issues.

David: I, I mean, if it's overcooked, I can understand that.

Woody: Maybe, maybe, maybe it's a euphemism for something else or something.

David: You know, it's funny that there's all this. You got a lot of this from the, from the newspapers, right? I mean, newspapers back then just ate up any kind of scandal, and it would just go from a little capsule to a giant front-page news.

Woody: Yeah.

David: Depending on how juicy it was, right?

Woody: Yeah. It's a soap opera. It's a total soap opera. Okay. So, the mother marries the brother-in-law. He's troubled. They get divorced. He likes to throw beef steaks at the servants. All right. What about Marie, the, the, the daughter? Has she got any scandal on her family or is she like, great?

Nicole: Oh yeah. No. Everyone's touched by scandal in his family.

Woody: So, what's her, what's her scandal?

Nicole: So, Marie marries a man named Barry Baldwin. He's the son of like a state marshal or a fancy lawman. And they [00:09:00] elope because, well, I have a feeling that's because Veronica was very dominant. But the official story in the newspaper said that, you know, one family was Protestant and the other one was Catholic, and so they couldn't marry across…

Woody: Yeah. Religious lines.

Nicole: Religious lines.

Woody: That they eloped.

Nicole: Barry doesn't make it long. Barry asphyxiates suspiciously in the living room.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: While Marie's upstairs. She said she came down and was like, "Oh my gosh, we were just talking last night!"

Woody: Like a gas leak or something?

Nicole: Yeah, it was a gas leak. Newspaper reports are conflicting. Some say, I think, to be kind to the family, that he accidentally asphyxiated. Others were like, he definitely committed suicide.

David: He took the pipe.

Woody: Or maybe she murdered him.

Nicole: Or maybe she murdered him.

Woody: I guess we shouldn't just make baseless accusations, but maybe.

Nicole: She remarried very well to a Southern Pacific Railroad guy named William Sproul.

Woody: Okay, so she's a little touched by scandal. What about the playboy sons then?

Nicole: The playboy sons. So, Miles, [00:10:00] Miles starts it off strong. He sets fire to his grammar school as a kid.

David: Awesome.

Nicole: He's well known as a frequent patron of the Tenderloin. You know, he's like shooting up cigar stores accidentally. Well, not accidentally.

Woody: With like pistols?

Nicole: Well, he got real drunk and went to buy some cigars. And then the cigar store clerk was like, "I bet you don't know how to shoot a pistol." And he was like, "Oh yeah?" And he just shot out the front door and, they came to arrest him and he was like, “I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I, this is, I get it. Like, I'm just, I was just, I'm drunk.”

Woody: Okay. So, he's a, he's a wild, Tenderloin, loose with a canned pistol guy. Okay.

David: We all have things like that happen in Tenderloin.

Woody: I was going to say, is that unusual?

David: I did things that I, well, the police talked to me about the Tenderloin. Come on.

Woody: And you said the same thing. I know, I know. I was a little outta line, a little drunk. Okay. All right. So, Miles is, is a kind of wild guy.

Nicole: Yeah. He gets married for like a very brief time, [00:11:00] but he has so many episodes in the Tenderloin that his mother has him declared incompetent. And takes over his shares of the Baird estate. So, he's eventually restored to competent, competent, comp…

David: Competency.

Nicole: Got it! Ugh. English. But then, he ends up suing his mom and Marie claiming that they had taken, they like kept his money safe from him, they had just taken it, and they claimed that actually it was a repayment. So, like they, the whole family, they all just sue each other back and forth.

Woody: Over money.

Nicole: Over money.

Woody: Okay. So, any other playboy sons?

David: We got two more sons to go.

Nicole: Two more to go.

Woody: Oh man.

Nicole: Whew!

Woody: And we're gonna have some sort of Western neighborhoods tie-in, right?

Nicole: We're getting to the West side now.

Woody: Okay. All right.

Nicole: So, John Rush, he's not big on social proprieties. He's a man of his own in times when there are very clear codes of conduct that he wishes to not abide by. He dates actresses.

Woody: Oh my gosh!

Nicole: Which was like scandalous at the time. He's engaged a [00:12:00] couple times, but like never goes through with it. And in 1905, he's out joyriding with a woman named Ruby Brown. Although she’s, it came to light afterwards she had numerous names.

Woody: Oh, Ruby Brown's a good one though.

David: Oh yeah, it is.

Woody: Yeah. Okay, fine.

Nicole: And they're with two others, and they're like going down to San Mateo because there's lots of roadhouses there.

Woody: Yep.

Nicole: And then they're going to the casino in Golden Gate Park.

Woody: Also a roadhouse.

David: Sure.

Nicole: And then they decide it's getting late, we should probably head home. And they're heading up to Twin Peaks and there's an area where the Spring Valley Water Company is building a new access road to their assets. And he decides this might be a private road, but we're going on through it because it's a shortcut. So, he gets out of the car. He goes and unlocks and while they've stopped, the car stalls. And so, he asks Ruby to get out and to crank the wheels a little bit, and the car just like takes off down this embankment and rolls over on him.

Woody: Maybe she murdered him.

Nicole: Well, two other [00:13:00] people in the car just bounced.

Woody: They just took off.

Nicole: They just took off.

Woody: These all sound like Perry Mason episodes.

Nicole: I know. It's awesome.

Woody: So, he dies, he, the, the car turns over and he dies?

Nicole: He dies. He tells her go get help. She does. When they come back, he's already died, unfortunately.

Woody: And the people there in the car with them are gone.

Nicole: Yeah. So, Ruby's there and she, at one point, claims that she's his fiancé and then she's like, "oh no, we were thinking about it, but we're not really engaged." And when the police, you know, when they took the body down to the morgue, they found that John was wearing a full, wearing pajamas underneath his suit.

David: Huh?

Nicole: Gotta be ready,

Woody: I guess you're ready.

Nicole: Got ready for any occasion. So…

David: What year was that? Do you know?

Nicole: 1905. It was December 1905. And he leaves his entire estate to his mother, Veronica.

David: Very convenient.

Woody: Very suspicious. Yeah. You know, I guess I'm just curious how you ended up in this rabbit hole when you were basically looking at how many pictures of scrapbook of some, some soldier in the [00:14:00] Spanish-American War?

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: And suddenly you're in “playboys wearing pajamas when they're dead under a car” sort of stories.

Nicole: It's just, I mean, you know, if anyone listening does any kind of research, like the Internet is a vast and wooly place. And like, you can just keep going forever and forever, which is what I did to the detriment of a lot of other things I do.

David: Interesting. In your research, did you happen to look at the coroner's reports at San Francisco Public Library?

Nicole: No, I didn’t.

David: Because around that time, they, they, they have these log books of all the coroner's reports. A coroner would write a report on anybody who died without a doctor. So, it sounds like a lot of the Bairds would be in there.

Woody: Yeah, they all died without a doctor. Okay.

Nicole: Yeah, true.

Woody: So, all right. So how is this all gonna wrap up? What's gonna happen here?

Nicole: So, this brings us back to David Jennings.

Woody: The youngest kid again. Yeah.

Nicole: Yeah. I like to lovingly refer to him as DJ.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: We're that close now.

Woody: DJ.

David: Okay.

Woody: Yeah.

Nicole: He spends a lot of time with his brother Miles in the Tenderloin and is cited frequently for public drunkenness. And through [00:15:00] Miles, he meets a woman named Lydia Margarita Valencia.

Woody: Oh, that's a good name too.

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: Lydia Margarita Valencia.

Nicole: They call her Dodie. That's what she's most known by. And she's kind of infamous. A lot of these articles treat her really poorly. They call her a notorious woman and a succubus and like, all this stuff. But I actually found, just so we don't think she's totally terrible, in the 1906 fire when Gumps, you know, the department store?

Woody: Which is closing, by the way.

Nicole: Oh, I thought it was just moving.

Woody: No, it's closing. Anyway. Yeah.

David: 140 years old or something.

Woody: It's closing. Anyway, so back then it was there.

Nicole: It needs a Dodie Valencia. Because they were, you know, they were concerned about, they'd lost all their stock and everything, and she gave them tons and tons of money to get back up on, she bought a painting that they had, like something that miraculously got saved by the fire or from the fire, and she bought it from them for like an exorbitant price to help them restock their inventory.

David: So Dodie was not a gold digger. She had her money, had her own, huh? She had her own money.

Nicole: Well, who knows where that money came from.

Woody: [00:16:00] Okay.

Nicole: At the time. But anyways, David, DJ, falls madly in love with Dodie. And they have a son called David Jennings Baird, Jr. And she's like, okay, now we probably need, let's get married.

Woody: Married? Oh, they're not married?

Nicole: Married. They're not married.

Woody: Okay. Yeah.

Nicole: Very, you know, bohemian.

Woody: Yeah.

Nicole: Also, I'm pretty sure DJ was terrified of what his mother would say.

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: Because she wasn't well thought of. But anyways, so they decide, "okay, we're gonna go out and get married. We're gonna get married in San Mateo with this other couple friend." And they, they head down to wherever they were going to get married. And along the way they hit a few too many roadhouses. David got too drunk to stand up for a marriage.  And so, they caught a cab all the way back to San Francisco. And the whole time they're living, and here's where it really gets on the West side, they're living at 230 "I" street, which is Irving Street today. Ironically, where the powder works used to be. [00:17:00]

Woody: Right. Right near the old dynamite factory.

David: Where, where is 230 Irving Street about?

Nicole: It's on, it’s on Irving, like around 3rd or 4th, and it's still there. The house is still there.

David: What year are we talking about?

Nicole: This is like 1908-ish.

David: Oh, that's right when my grandfather lived on 4th Avenue and Irving. Yeah.

Woody: Yeah. We've got, that's the other podcast.

David: Yeah.

Woody: About your grandfather's house on 4th Avenue. Okay, so he can't get married. He's too drunk. They're on Irving Street. What happens?

Nicole: So…

Woody: It's gonna end great, right?

Nicole: Oh yeah. It's gonna end great.

Woody: They have a kid. They already have a kid.

Nicole: So, in November, David has a drunken night down on Ocean Beach. And the next morning he dies tragically at his home.

Woody: Of what? Asphyxiation?

Nicole: No, he had a heart condition. So, having a wild life, like he had put a lot of stress on his heart.

Woody: Are you sure?

David: It sounds like we can find every Baird in the, in the coroner's report.

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: And there's a woman that's mysteriously nearby who, who has nothing to do with, I think she murdered him.

Nicole: [00:18:00] Well, this Baird in particular, he was kept at the coroner's office for some time because Veronica was living in Europe, and so she was like, "everybody just hold on until I get home." And then, a mysterious tip came through that they should check the body for poison.

Woody: See, that's exactly what I was thinking.

Nicole: And so, they’re like, Veronica consented to having the contents of his stomach examined. They didn't find any poison. He wasn't poisoned.

Woody: Oh, okay.

Nicole: I mean, unless you count taking the drink too heavy.

Woody: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Poisoning himself.

Nicole: Yeah. And…

Woody: Wait, so I can imagine what's gonna happen next. Veronica comes back; the heir is dead. This “illegitimate” child is there, and Dodie wants the money, and Veronica's gonna fight it. And there's gonna be more lawsuits.

Nicole: Yeah. A lawsuit that, you know, the next month, Dodie starts this lawsuit that basically asks for formal recognition that DJ, Jr. is the legitimate heir.

Woody: Right.

Nicole: And this lawsuit goes on, it gets really, really ugly. I mean, it goes on for the next two decades, [00:19:00] basically.

Woody: Oh my gosh. So eventually what happens? Veronica dies, I'm gonna guess at some point, right?

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: That's gonna like be the end of this. Is that right?

Nicole: Yeah. Well, kind of. Veronica dies in 1929. Leaves a will in which she leaves David Jennings Baird, Jr. $1.

David: Oh, ouch.

Nicole: I know! This woman, like she does that, I assume, to acknowledge, yes, that kid is my son's kid, but you will never have my money.

Woody: Yeah. But they often do that. Like they give a dollar to say like, it wasn't like, I forgot. So, don't try to sue the estate to say, oh, I was an oversight or something. It was like, no, I remembered and I gave you a dollar.

Nicole: Yeah. And then, so in June of that year, in June of 1929, DJ, Jr. tragically dies in a plane crash at Alameda Airport.

Woody: (laughing) I'm sorry.

Nicole: It's like everyone is cursed. And then in April 1930, [00:20:00] Dodie drops her lawsuit and says, "It wasn't money that I wanted for my boy. It was a name."

Woody: Okay.

Nicole: And like I found a couple photographs, like she was involved in another lawsuit, because she tried to marry some other millionaire who claimed he was too drunk. It's convoluted, but like this photograph of her during this lawsuit, like this isn't a woman who's blood-thirsty for the, you know…

Woody: She's not infamous and all that stuff.

Nicole: Yeah, yeah.

Woody: She was early.

Nicole: She probably "worked" for it. But you, she's just totally beat down. Like, this isn't a woman who's taking any glee in this. And it really speaks to what lack of choices women had at that time. You know, unless you came from money or you had a good name, or…

Woody: Married well, or…

Nicole: Or you became a teacher.

Woody: Yeah.

Nicole: You know, you really kind of depended on men for a lot of income.

Woody: Right.

Nicole: And I think that's one of the reasons why I love this story so much. Well, I like scandal in general because it's, you know, entertaining.

Woody: Yeah.

Nicole: But I love that this story about John H. Baird and his estate turned into a story about [00:21:00] three super strong women who fought to the last to get what they thought they were owed. And Veronica, while she may have died first, is kind of the only one left standing. And I say that because if you go down to like 3rd and Mission Street…

Woody: Yeah.

Nicole: Right across the street from where the California Historical Society is, there's a, about a three or four story brick building, and if you look up, it'll say Veronica on it. That was built by the Baird children before all hell broke loose.

Woody: And they named it after their mom?

David: Awww.

Woody: Oh, I, I don't, again, I feel like we're, we're trying to pitch a Netflix series. You know, it was exactly like the Dockery, the milk inspector, the scandal. All right. Well, I think Angus is gonna write in about this, because I think he's got some extra stories about the Baird family to share, but…

David: Right.

Woody: But this feels to me like it should be written out also. Has anybody written an article about this?

Nicole: Angus has.

Woody: Angus has.

Nicole: But more, he doesn't [00:22:00] go full, you know, hog on the scandal.

Woody: Scandal parts of it.

Nicole: I thought at one point I would write a book about this.

Woody: Yeah. So, so only thing we have really left of this whole Baird estate and all these things are the Veronica building. I mean, that's like the only tangible thing left, really?

Nicole: I think so. Well, we still have the home at 230 Irving Street,

Woody: Right.

Nicole: Where they lived under an assumed name.

Woody: Nice.

David: Ooh.

Nicole: The Taylors. So…

Woody: The Taylors, okay.

Nicole: Anybody's checking on these property records and you see the Taylors there, that was DJ and Dodie.

David: And what happened to the Baird Estate when Veronica...

Woody: All the money? Yeah. What happened to all the money?

David: It went to Marie or something, or ...

Nicole: Marie got it all.

Woody: The daughter, yeah.

Nicole: She got it all. And she actually owned, she kept a lot, she like rented a lot of property or she like built out a lot of property in the Haight and leased it. So, you know, where the Haight Street Theater was?

Woody: Yeah. On Cole.

Nicole: She, she had that for a long time. She leased it out to various people.

Woody: That makes sense. Same area. All right. That is cool. Thanks, Nicole. And I've got something else to say, which is: it's time for listener [00:23:00] mail! Nicole?

Nicole: Yeah.

Woody: Do we have any listener mail?

Nicole: We do! Susan wrote, "Love, love, love your podcast and your website. I listen every morning to at least two to get my day going. I'm not native to San Francisco, but to the Bay Area. So, the history of the neighborhoods and how they came about resonates." And she has a friend in his eighties that grew up in the City, and she turned him onto the podcast too, and he loves it and knows all the places we talk about. So, she says, "Keep up the good work, and thank you for the history lesson!"

David: Wow. Thank you, Susan.

Woody: That's nice. How can people send us mail like that, David?

David: Well, people can send us mail by sending an email to podcast@outsidelands.org. That's the simplest way.

Woody: And I hope they review us on iTunes because it just feeds our ego.

David: Yeah.

Woody: Yeah. That's basically it.

David: You can also, I think you can use other listening platforms like Stitcher.

Woody: Yeah. Cool. Well, thank you, [00:24:00] Susan. And now I have something to say, which is, it's time for events! David?

David: Yes, Woody.

Woody: Do we have any events coming up?

David: Woody, do we.

Woody: Do we?

David: Do we?

Woody: Do we?

David: I don't mean to give away your secret nom de plume.

Woody: Yeah.

David: This Thursday, September 6th at 7:00 PM, we are at our Balboa location doing Kezar Stadium memories. Do you have any Kezar Stadium memories?

Woody: I do, and it won't just be mine. We're gonna have some old timers.

David: I see.

Woody: That I don't think would be upset to be called old timers.

David: No.

Woody: And sharing their memories about back when the 49ers used to play in the stadium.

David: Right.

Woody: There were giant football games, high school football games, May Day parades, rock concerts.

David: It's not just football that we're talking about on Thursday.

Woody: No, we're gonna have, maybe we'll show some demolition derby films that happen there.

Nicole: Ooh.

Woody: Yeah, that'll be good. So, if you wanna come, we still have seats. It's [00:25:00] $10 to come and buy a ticket. And you can do that on our website, outsidelands.org.

David: I'd say you better do it right now because events at our Balboa place…

Woody: Fill up.

David: Sellout.

Woody: And then on the 8th, Saturday, we're going to be at the Richmond District Autumn Moon Festival from 11 to 3. It's a free street fair, and we're gonna be there sharing history. So come by, say hi. Get somebody's autograph. Are you gonna be there?

David: I might be there. September 8th? Maybe.

Woody: Yeah. Are you gonna be there?

Nicole: I'll be there.

Woody: Oh, get all our autographs.

Nicole: Are you gonna bring your head shots?

Woody: Oh.

David: Of course.

Woody: Maybe we should bring our head shots, David.

David: Bring our headshots.

Woody: What else are we doing? Oh, on September 15th, which I said it's actually a Saturday, I'm doing the Ocean Avenue history and bar crawl so you can have a beer with me. And it supports art projects in the neighborhood.

David: I would jump at that chance.

Woody: Yeah.

David: Because I never get that.

Woody: You buy a little beer stein for 20 bucks. You get like $1 beers after that. And you get to hear about [00:26:00] history from that famed West side raconteur, Woody LaBounty.

David: Yes.

Woody: So go to the events page and sign up.

David: And that's a benefit for…

Woody: The Ocean Avenue Association.

David: Yeah.

Woody: And the arts projects over there.

David: Right.

Woody: And Nicole, the next Saturday we're supposed to be doing a pub crawl, but that's sold out.

Nicole: It is, but don't worry.

Woody: I'm not worried.

Nicole: I rescheduled a second one for October 27th. So, we don't say this as a marketing tactic, you should go buy it now because those tickets are gonna sell out really fast.

Woody: So, if you go to the events page, you can sign up for the October 27th redo of the West Portal pub crawl and history.

David: You'll be awake by then, right?

Nicole: Should be.

Woody: She has a month to recover.

Nicole: Yeah. And to be clear, it's not just street drinking, like it's more of a history walk. And we also stop along the way to have a friendly pint.

Woody: Yeah. And then, in between, we're gonna have, on October 20th, we're going to celebrate, well commemorate, the anniversary, the 150th anniversary of the, quote, "big one".

David: The [00:27:00] other big one.

Woody: Yeah, it was the earthquake in 1868 that happened on October 20th, and they called it the big one for decades.

Nicole: Whoops.

Woody: Yeah.

David: Until they got eclipsed.

Woody: By 1906. So, we're gonna look at old photos and kind of talk about what the city was like before the earthquake. Look at pictures of the earthquake and its legacy after that. So, it's a rare, interesting event. People don't talk about this earthquake and we, we're going to, so that'll be neat.

David: That'll be fun.

Woody: Yeah. Go to the events page. You can buy a ticket. We'd love to see you there. And David?

David: Yes, Woody.

Woody: What else can somebody do on that website?

David: Well, they can become a member of the Western Neighborhoods Project, Woody, by clicking the "Become a Member" link at the top of any page. Send in your name and address and email address and a little bit of money, and we will…

Nicole: Just a little bit.

David: You will have our undying thank you and gratitude for one year.

Woody: Yeah. And you'll support our nonprofit organization.

David: Yes. It's [00:28:00] likely tax deductible. And you'll get our, get our quarterly magazine. You get to go on special member events. That sort of thing.

Woody: Yeah, it sounds good. So, I have a preview for next week. We're going to talk modern art, old San Francisco, a World's Fair and the delicate art of dusting.

David: Ooh!

Nicole: Ooh!

Woody: Dusting. All in one podcast. So, I'll see you guys then.

David: See you then.

Nicole: Bye-bye.

Ian: Outside Lands San Francisco is recorded by Ian Hadley. Content creation and media production at ihadley.com.

Woody: To learn more about the Western Neighborhoods Project and more about San Francisco history, go to outsidelands.org.