Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History
Girlina
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About This Podcast
Retelling forgotten stories from San Francisco's golden past, 1776 - 1906, based on newspapers, books, and personal accounts, of the time. San Francisco enthusiasts, California gold rush fans, and garden variety history geeks can discover this boom and bust city, built on the discovery of gold. *I do my best to accurately reflect the facts, and sources, in my episodes.*
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Recent Episodes
S5E2 S5 E2 February 1847 Yerba Buena
It’s February 1847, and this is Girlina reporting to you from Yerba Buena, in Upper California. Where the population is small, the gossip is plentiful, and the mud is ankle deep. February’s headlines…
S5E1 S5 Ep1 January 1847 Yerba Buena
Over the past five years, I’ve shared fragments of the sometimes-comedic stories of 1847 Yerba Buena. But 1847 deserves more than scattered stories. It was a transformative year for the Pueblo de…
S4E11 S4 Ep11 Five Year Anniversary, Girlina Interview - Announcement at the End
Architectural historian, Jonathon Lammers interviews me in this episode. Stay until the end to hear about a change coming to the podcast. [email protected] (email me…
S4E10 S4 Ep10 Part 3 Larkin Arrives in California
Larkin’s decision to move to Monterey, in Mexico’s California, was to work with his very successful half-brother, Bostonian John Rogers Cooper, who made his fortune in the sea otter trade that was…
S4E9 S4 EP9 Part 2 Thomas Larkin Has Three Options
Larkin came to a critical juncture in life and had to make a drastic change. He has three options to choose from and he knows in which order he wants the options to work out in. Did his first choice…
S4E8 S4 Ep8 Part 1 Thomas Larkin, Early Boston Years
Thomas Larkin is one of my favorite people from the early California story, and I’ve mentioned him in past episodes. Thomas Larkin inevitably comes up when discussing Yerba Buena’s history, which is…
S4E8 S4 Ep8 Marnie's Story of Henry Fortmann
This episode is a memorial to a Civil War Veteran and locally famous (in his time), San Francisco/Bay Area resident, Henry Fortmann. This story is special to me because it honors my listener's…
S4E7 S4 Ep7 Part 2 Interview with author Terry Hamburg "Land of the Dead, How the West Changed Death in America"
This is Part 2 of my interview with author Terry Hamburg, author of "Land of the Dead, How the West Changed Death in America". In this episode Terry tells us how the four main cemeteries dealt with…
S4E6 S4 Ep6 Part 1 Interview with author Terry Hamburg "Land of the Dead, How the West Changed Death in America"
This episode is an interview with author Terry Hamburg, who wrote a very interesting book on all things dying, death, and burial in San Francisco history. We cover the earliest history of Colma and…
S4E5 S4 Ep5 Was Montgomery's Landing "near this spot"?
The history I’ve read regarding July 9th, 1846, states that the USS Portsmouth pulled up to the shoreline at Montgomery and Clay Street, marines disembarked from the ship and onto land, then marched…
S4E4 S4 Ep4 Drinking in Yerba Buena 1847 - Seven Rules and Regulations at Public Houses
Have you ever felt like some stories should feel more connected than they do in your brain but instead they feel like untethered facts that are somehow connected? This episode is about just that. I…
S4E2 S4 Ep3 The Laws of the Town of San Francisco 1847 "Your Water Has a Strange After Taste"
By January 30, 1847, the Pueblo de Yerba Buena was officially renamed the Town of San Francisco. Mexican laws weren't very well written, if written at all, which left the US military in charge of…
S4E2 S4 Ep2 Give Me Back My Horse, Charles Weber, Part 2 of the Battle of Santa Clara
In the last episode I discussed the lead up to the Battle of Santa Clara. I chased this rabbit hole of a topic to figure out why Washington Allon Bartlett, Yerba Buena's first American alcalde, was…
S4E1 S4 Ep1 The Spaniards Are in the Brush Part 1 Prelude to the Battle of Santa Clara
Today’s episode is about the changing landscape of Yerba Buena from July 1846 - 1847, just after the US takeover and the early broken promises to Californios. In the middle of all the changes, Yerba…
S3 Ep7 3rd Yr in Review, Sparkletack Interview Host Richard Miller
Listen to me fan girl Richard Miller, the host of Sparkletack. The original podcast on San Francisco history, 2006 - 2009. I modeled my podcast after Sparkletack so getting to interview him was a…
S3E6 S3 Ep6 Part 2 of Interview with Edwin Bryant
Today, we do not cover Edwin Bryant's best 1848-selling book but I do have a friendly conversation, with Mr. Bryant. Please sit back and enjoy the rest of my talk with Edwin…
S3 Ep5 Interview With Edwin Bryant, 1848 Best Selling Author
Today, I virtually interview Edwin Bryant, the author of the 1848 best seller, “What I Saw in California, Journal of a Tour, 1846- 1847”. Through the magic of AI generated voices, I simulate a…
S3E4 S3 Ep4 Where Juana Lived - Jonathan Lammers Interview
Today’s episode is an interview with a new listener and accidental friend of Monkey Block’s Facebook Page that led to IMs on Facebook, a rabbit hole on Juana Briones, and then to an online…
S3E3 S3 Ep3 Hudson Bay Co. in Yerba Buena and William Glen Rae 1845
The story of the Hudson Bay Company, in Yerba Buena, has been reduced to a few sentences that are very Hudson Bay Company-centric. “That place was miserable, and we didn’t make any money, so we…
S3E2 S3 Ep2 La Plaza Yerba Buena 1835-1846
I have found myself drawn to a specific piece of land that figuratively and literally became central to the Pueblo de Yerba Buena. Why was it left empty? And, considering it shows up on every Yerba…
Frequently Asked Questions
Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History has published 43 episodes since January 2021, covering topics in Documentary, History.
Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 months. Average episode length is 30m.
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