Timecapsule: November 15, 1856 We ran across this little item while looking for something else altogether, and couldn't resist passing along such an amazing and (almost) ready-for-Hollywood story. It was the era of the tall-masted clipper ship, an era of speed, adventure and danger, with every trip around the Horn a race against time, other ships, and the odds. In late June of 1856, three clippers cleared New York Harbour and set off for the......

Timecapsule: October 31, 1963 On Halloween night, the "Black Cat Cafe" -- that notorious, flamboyant and most historically significant of San Francisco's gay nightspots, held a final celebration before closing down for good. Though Prohibition had shuttered the venerable North Beach establishment in the '20s, the Black Cat proudly reopened in 1933. Number 710 Montgomery Street quickly became a magnet for artists, writers, and beatniks. Steinbeck, Saroyan, and Ginsberg all patronized the joint, and in......

Timecapsule: October 9, 1776 Two hundred and thirty-two years ago this week (!), the original "Mission San Francisco de Asis" -- better known as Mission Dolores -- was officially dedicated on the banks of Dolores Lagoon, in today's aptly named Mission District. We're not talking about the graceful white-washed adobe that stands at 16th and Dolores streets today -- it would be some 15 years before the good padres, in an early chapter of the......

Timecapsule: October 1, 1938 On a foggy Saturday in 1938, a swaybacked, 12-year-old horse named Blackie swam - dog-paddled, really - completely across the choppy waters of the Golden Gate. The horse not only made aquatic history with that trip, but he soundly defeated two human challengers from the Olympic Club, and won a $1000 bet for his trainer Shorty Roberts too. It took the horse only 23 minutes, 15 seconds to make the nearly......

Timecapsule: September 24, 1855 The preserved head of Joaquin Murieta and the hand of Three-Fingered Jack were sold at auction today to settle their owner's legal problems. Joaquin Murieta was a notorious and romantic figure in the early history of California. With Jack, his right-hand man, Murieta led a gang of Mexican bandits through the countryside on a three-year rampage, brutally "liberating" more than $100,000 in gold, killing 22 people (including three lawmen), and outrunning......