An Emperor Norton Essay with Legs
You're not likely to encounter a more thoughtful or potent meditation on Emperor Norton and what he means than this.
Read MoreAngels in the Architecture
A hotel driveway entrance is not the sort of thing to which one generally pays much, if any, attention. It's a hotel driveway entrance. How exciting can it be? But, in the case of the Parc 55 Hilton, in San Francisco, that assumption would be a big mistake. Emperor Norton, it seems, can appear in the most unexpected of places.
Read MoreThe Emperor & His Widow
On 15 February 2015, a number of us from The Emperor's Bridge Campaign attended the 40th anniversary of the International Court's annual pilgrimage to the graves of Emperor Norton and José Sarria, the Widow Norton. Rev. Lyle Beckman of San Francisco Night Ministry offered especially touching keynote remarks drawing parallels between the Emperor and his widow.
Read MoreFIELD TALK #1 | The Street Where He Lived: An Illustrated History of Emperor Norton's Commercial Street
The block of Commercial Street, in San Francisco, where Emperor Norton lived from 1863 until his death in 1880. This 1888 photograph captures the view looking east from Kearny Street. Source: California Views: The Pat Hathaway Photo Collection.
Join The Emperor's Bridge Campaign as we kick off our occasional series of Field Talks with a visit to the block of Commercial Street, between Montgomery and Kearny Streets, in San Francisco, where we'll explore the histories of the site (and its surroundings) where Emperor Norton lived from 1863 until he died in 1880.
Read MoreZpub, Emperor Norton Records & the Emperor's Birth Date
How two of the Emperor's most loyal subjects sought to celebrate him but — despite their best intentions — wound up leading a generation to get one of the most basic facts about him wrong.
Read MoreJoshua Abraham Norton, b. 4 February 1818
The following illustrated remarks were presented by Emperor's Bridge Campaign founder and president John Lumea at The Emperor's 197th Birthday, the Campaign's "party and presentation of recent findings" held on 3 February 2015 at the Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics in San Francisco.
Read MoreDoggies and Pyromaniacs for Emperor Norton!
This past Tuesday evening (3 February) was a "school night." So, The Emperor's Bridge Campaign was delighted to welcome some 55-60 guests — including many new faces! — to the Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics at 518 Valencia Street in San Francisco, for The Emperor's 197th Birthday, a "party and presentation of recent findings" in support of the Campaign.
Read MoreThe 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.
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