An Emperor Norton Manicure
Our friend, Katie Haverkamp, did her nails. Click for the fabulous reveal!
Read MoreThe Importance of Being Emperor Norton
In his new review of Emperor Norton's Boozeland for 7x7, Stuart Schuffman a.k.a. Broke-Ass Stuart explains why Emperor Norton matters now more than ever.
Read MoreA Copper Gets His Comeuppance
Our friend, Joseph Amster, discovered this fabulous little Monty Python-esue video that tells the story of what happened when an overzealous local policeman, Armand Barbier, tried to throw Emperor Norton in jail.
Read MoreEmperor Norton's Hunch
Written in 1944 by Lu Watters, "Emperor Norton's Hunch" became a signature song for Watters and his Yerba Buena Jazz Band. In this video, a recording of the song by the band is the musical setting for a quick look at answers to the two questions raised by the song's title: Who was Emperor Norton? and What was his hunch?
Read MoreAlistair Cooke on Emperor Norton
In the opening episode of Alistair Cooke's classic 1973 13-episode television documentary series, America: A Personal History of the United States, Cooke visits San Francisco, where he offers a brief 3-minute reflection on Emperor Norton starting at 8:25.
The episode, titled “First Impact,” originally aired on 12 November 1972, and much of the information now is dated and incorrect. But, Cooke is a charming storyteller, and this may be one of the earliest “documentary” segments on the Emperor to appear on film
Video on the flip.
Read MoreEmperor Norton and Geek Culture
The fact that there seems to be a continuing stream of folk who feel compelled to write — and who write lovingly and well — about Emperor Norton is a testament to the Emperor's ongoing power to fascinate and to inspire.
Read MoreThe Emperor's Bridge Campaign Is Now on Twitter
Please follow >>> @EmperorsBridge. And spread the word!
Read MoreTravel Documentarian Calls for Bay Bridge to Be Named for Emperor
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 MoreFabulous Footage of the Bay Bridge Under Construction
From 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 MoreWe Are Featured in Today's Chronicle
A 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 MoreThis Tuesday Night — Toast the Emperor!
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. Emperor Norton is on the agenda.
Read MoreIf I Were Emperor of the United States
Our friend, Michael Mattis, flags this mini-documentary, made in 2004 by Nick Crummey, Nina Hirten, Anna Kocherovsky and Zach Shiner.
Read MorePatron Saint of Cacophony
Our 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 MoreOn This Day in 1874
A Proclamation, from the Emperor, in the Pacific Appeal, newspaper:
Read MoreEmperor Norton: The Musical
Here 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 MoreEmperor Norton: Living, Breathing Tourist Attraction
A well-written new profile of the Emperor by an Englishman who nurtures a self-professed "love affair" with San Francisco.
Read MoreA View of the Emperor's San Francisco
Joshua 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 More"This, a Madman's Dream, We Shall Attain!"
The 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 MoreSupport from the Emperor's Nieces and Nephews
Some 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 MoreA Song Inspired by the Emperor
Respected 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."
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