TO HONOR THE LIFE + ADVANCE THE LEGACY OF JOSHUA ABRAHAM NORTON
RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY
The first episode of Up to Speed, Timothy "Speed" Levitch's brilliantly offbeat 2012 travel series on Hulu, is about San Francisco. The episode includes a fabulous segment on Emperor Norton that concludes with Levitch calling for the whole Bay Bridge to be named for him.
Read MoreFrom the collection of the California Historical Society comes this wonderful silent film from 1933. The film, by Charles G. Kirk, features views of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge under construction, as well as some great scenes of downtown San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf.
Read MoreA San Francisco Chronicle article about different ways that advocacy groups are using the Change.org platform features Emperor's Bridge Campaign founder John Lumea's reflections on how the 2013 Change.org petition to name the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for Emperor Norton became a powerful movement-building tool and a springboard for the launch of the Campaign.
Read MoreOn 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. Emperor Norton is on the agenda.
Read MoreOur friend, Michael Mattis, flags this mini-documentary, made in 2004 by Nick Crummey, Nina Hirten, Anna Kocherovsky and Zach Shiner.
Read MoreOur friend, Kristian Akseth, passes along an item from the new book, Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society, by Kevin Evans, Carrie Galbraith and John Law.
Read MoreA Proclamation, from the Emperor, in the Pacific Appeal, newspaper:
Read MoreHere are a couple of fabulous flyers from the 2009 productions of a theatrical tribute to the Emperor that had its debut run in San Francisco from December 2005 to February 2006.
Read MoreA well-written new profile of the Emperor by an Englishman who nurtures a self-professed "love affair" with San Francisco.
Read MoreJoshua Norton arrived in San Francisco in 1849 and "reigned" from there as Emperor Norton from 1859 to 1880.
In 1864 — fifteen years after the Emperor's initial arrival and five years into his reign — Carleton Watkins took this photograph of the city, looking out toward Goat Island.
Read MoreThe San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened in November 1936.
In late 1934 or early 1935, Peter Mourer, Jr. — a junior construction engineer on the project — wrote "The Bay Bridge Poem."
Read MoreSome 15 members of the Emperor's family — including several of his 4x-great nieces and nephews — are signatories of the Change.org petition to name the Bay Bridge for Emperor Norton and followers of the Campaign on Facebook. Wonderful that, more than 130 years after his death, the Emperor's relatives still are stepping up to champion his legacy.
Read MoreRespected San Francisco singer-songwriter and guitarist Chuck Prophet has been a public champion of the effort to name the Bay Bridge for Emperor Norton. Here's a video of an aptly titled song from Prophet's 2012 album, "Temple Beautiful."
Read MoreWilliam Drury's 1986 biography "Norton I: Emperor of the United States" remains the authoritative book-length historical treatment of the Emperor.
Read MoreMany thanks to the 40 or so excellent Bay Area souls who made their way to Emperor Norton's Boozeland last night and added their energy, their ideas and their absinthe-quenched thirsts to the soft-launch party for The Emperor's Bridge Campaign.
Read MoreAt tomorrow evening's inaugural tweetup of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, our host watering hole — Emperor Norton's Boozeland (what else?) — will be mixing up its signature Emperor Norton cocktail — normally $14 — for a ten-spot. Just for us.
Read MoreA well-crafted new biographical summary of Emperor Norton appeared today. The concluding three paragraphs are especially worth pondering.
Read MoreThe original invitation to the launch party for The Emperor's Bridge Campaign.
Read More