The Fourth of February of the San Francisco of 1865
Emperor Norton's biographer, William Drury, maintains that "February 4th" had nothing at all to do with "His Majesty's Birthday." But was Drury right?
Read MoreThe Necropolis (and So Much More) of San Francisco
In 1934, Emperor Norton was (re)buried in Colma, Calif. But the connection of Colma to the life of San Francisco runs much, much deeper than simply providing real estate for burial plots. SF Weekly reporter Joe Eskenazi was up this past week with a really fine historical-observational piece that fleshes out everything that Colma has done for San Francisco, and why this matters.
Read MoreA Good Day With the Clampers
Yesterday, I was honored to be welcomed by Clampers far and wide as a guest at their Emperor Norton Day celebration in Colma, Calif.
Read MoreThe Emperor's 197th Birthday: A Party & Presentation of Recent Findings
John Tenniel's (1820-1914) illustration for the story of the Lion and the Unicorn, from Lewis Carroll's (1832-1898) novel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871).
Was Emperor Norton really born in 1819, as his gravestone says? Or was he born in 1818? At the next event of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign, we'll shed new light on the answer to this old question.
Read MoreIn Gratitude, Respect, Honor & Solidarity
On Emperor Norton Day 2015, the 135th anniversary of the Emperor's passing on 8 January 1880, The Emperor's Bridge Campaign left a flower and a note at the Emperor's grave in Woodlawn Memorial Park, Colma, Calif. Here's a gallery from the day.
Read MoreThe Birth of the Bay Bridge (Proclamation No. 1)
On this day in 1872, the Pacific Appeal newspaper published the first of Emperor Norton's three Proclamations that year setting out the original vision for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Here's how the Proclamation appeared on the front page, 143 years ago today.
Read MoreRemember the Emperor on His Day
Two opportunities to mark the 135th anniversary of Emperor Norton's death on Thursday 8 January 1880.
Read MoreThe Emperor's New Year, 1875
Here's how Emperor Norton wished his subjects a Happy New Year one-hundred forty years ago today — on 2 January 1875.
Read MoreAn Interesting Prospect
Might an elder statesman of San Francisco and California state politics take one more run at Sacramento and use the opportunity to make a bold and elegant gesture?
Hmmmm . . .
Read MoreThe Emperor Norton Moment
According to Google Trends, an identifiable surge in Bay Area interest in Emperor Norton began in late 2011. The surge continues today.
Read MoreA Lovely December Afternoon with the Emperor, the Countess & 50 Friends of the Campaign
A recap of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign's 2nd Annual Tannenbaum Toast, held on Sunday 14 December 2014 at Union Square and The House of Shields, San Francisco.
Read MoreTHIS SUNDAY! Join Us for Our Annual Holiday Toast to the Emperor
THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN UNION SQUARE, SAN FRANCISCO, 1910. Collection of the Oakland Public Library history room.
Join The Emperor's Bridge Campaign for The 2nd Annual Tannenbaum Toast!
Read MoreDid Influential Norton Biographer Robert Ernest Cowan Fudge the Emperor's Birth Date?
Building on Campaign board member Joseph Amster's recent "rediscovery" of am 1865 newspaper item pointing to an 1818 birth date for Emperor Norton, Campaign founder John Lumea examines Robert Ernest Cowan's influential 1923 essay about the Emperor and finds that Cowan manipulated the same news item to make it appear to support his own theory that Emperor Norton was born in 1819.
Read MoreRespected Web Site on "1820 Settlers" Updates the Emperor's Birth Date
In 1820, 2-year-old Joshua Norton emigrated with his parents and older brother from England to South Africa. They and the 4,000 others who participated in this colonization scheme came to be known as the 1820 Settlers. This week, in response to Board member Joseph Amster's recent "rediscovery" of an 1865 newspaper item pointing to an 1818 birth date for Joshua Norton, the leading historical and genealogical Web site documenting the story of the 1820 Settlers movement updated its birth date for Emperor Norton.
Read MoreHoming in on the Emperor's Birth Date?
Combing through microfiche of old San Francisco newspapers at the San Francisco Public Library yesterday, Emperor's Bridge Campaign board member Joseph Amster stumbled across an item on the front page of the 4 February 1865 edition of the Daily Alta California. The item invites us to take a much closer look at a possible birth date for Emperor Norton that was dismissed by earlier biographers.
Read MoreThe Founding Board & Officers of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign
Yesterday afternoon, at Comstock Saloon in San Francisco, six supporters of the Campaign — plus another, who found the nearest highway exit and joined us via cellphone from the road — gathered beneath the watchful gaze of the casting of Peter Macchiarini's sculpture of Emperor Norton that presides over Comstock's historic 1907 bar. In a joyful ceremony lubricated by Sazeracs, Manhattans, Bloody Marys, absinthes and beers — and punctuated by a lot of laughs — here's what we did.
Read MoreThe Emperor and 80 of His Subjects Walk Into a Bar
The First Annual Tannenbaum Toast was a smashing success!
Read MoreWhat's a Boothby?
The official drink for The Tannenbaum Toast is The House of Shields's version of the classic Boothby cocktail — created in 1908 by legendary San Francisco bartender William T. "Cocktail" Boothby, during his tenure at the Palace Hotel, just across the street from The House of Shields.
Read MoreBroke-Ass Stuart Recs Our Tannenbaum Toast: A "Rad Event" and a "New Tradition"
Travel writer and urban explorer Stuart Schuffman, a.k.a. Broke-Ass Stuart — a longtime friend of The Emperor's Bridge Campaign — is up with a new post giving props to our holiday drinks party at The House of Shields this Sunday afternoon.
Read More7x7 Shortlists Our Tannenbaum Toast as One of "Five Places to Sip This Week"
The San Francisco-focused magazine 7x7 featured us yesterday with a generous and well-placed dozen lines of original copy on its Web site.
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