Starting sometime between summer 1864 and summer 1865, Emperor Norton occupied a sparsely furnished 9-by-6-foot room on the top floor of a 50-cent-per-night three-story boarding house known as the Eureka Lodgings. A little more than a decade earlier, the pre-imperial Joshua Norton enjoyed accommodation in one of the best hotels in San Francisco. What's surprising is that the difference between the daily rates of the two places appears to have been only about 50 cents.
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You're not likely to encounter a more thoughtful or potent meditation on Emperor Norton and what he means than this.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Yesterday, I was honored to be welcomed by Clampers far and wide as a guest at their Emperor Norton Day celebration in Colma, Calif.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Two opportunities to mark the 135th anniversary of Emperor Norton's death on Thursday 8 January 1880.
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Here's how Emperor Norton wished his subjects a Happy New Year one-hundred forty years ago today — on 2 January 1875.
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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 . . .
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According to Google Trends, an identifiable surge in Bay Area interest in Emperor Norton began in late 2011. The surge continues today.
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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.
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Join The Emperor's Bridge Campaign for The 2nd Annual Tannenbaum Toast!
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