RECENT RESEARCH — A newly unearthed photograph showing the north side of the 600 block of Commercial Street, San Francisco, in the aftermath of the earthquake and fires of 1906 reveals, for the first time, visual evidence of the fate of the building that housed the Eureka Lodgings, where Emperor Norton lived from 1864–65 until his death in 1880. Our analysis of the photo sharpens the focus on the identities and locations of the buildings along this stretch — and exactly what each building suffered in 1906. Includes our highly researched new infographic that can be used as a tool for understanding the history of this location.

The Emperor Norton Trust

TO HONOR THE LIFE + ADVANCE THE LEGACY OF JOSHUA ABRAHAM NORTON

RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY

This Tuesday Night — Toast the Emperor!

And get a crash course in some of San Francisco's most fascinating secret histories.

Even in death, Emperor Norton played a leading role in one of the most legendary stories about San Francisco — the eviction and subsequent relocation outside the city of most of the remains buried in the city's cemeteries.

It all started with a 1912 city ordinance. Eventually, in 1934, the Emperor was transferred to Colma, his current resting place — and the most famous necropolis resulting from the ordinance.

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On Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., the San Francisco Obscura Society — "the real world exploration arm of Atlas Obscura" — holds its latest monthly salon evening at DNA Lounge.

This month's topic: San Francisco Cemetery Stories.

From the announcement:

Join us over a cocktail for talks about our city’s remaining cemeteries (The Presidio, Mission Dolores, and the beautiful and almost hidden San Francisco Columbarium), places to discover hidden Gold Rush era tombstones, and the extraordinary story of the moving of the dead and founding of Colma’s vast necropolis.

To this special evening of remembering, we also invite the ghosts of our illustrious and notorious dead. Prepare to raise your glass and toast the Emperor, to Mr. Gage, to Hearst and Strauss and de Young and Coit, and many more long gone San Franciscans in whose footsteps we are honored to walk.


For more details and ticket information, click here.

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