San Francisco’s Homeless History
Those of you who follow me may know about my historical fiction novel based on the events in San Francisco History. I’ve published the first book, which covers from November of 1849 until 1859. I’m in the middle of writing the second book. The Emperor Norton is a central character in these novels, and well he should be — he was here for everything in San Francisco up until 1880. The character of the Emperor and the character of San Francisco are intertwined, with consequences that reach forward into the present day to bite us on the collective ass. These are merely my own observations and I’m pretty sure people will disagree with me, but after studying the period of San Francisco’s formation it seems to me there are lessons to be both learned and unlearned.
The first civil disturbance in San Francisco history was in 1855, at the corner of Stockton and Green. This was a sandlot which took up half the block at the time. It was vacant for a very long time. The gold rush ended a few years earlier, and the homeless miners filled up every available space with tents for a few years. The vast majority of these miners were Mexicans, but all miners were accustomed to much harsher conditions than we have in San Francisco. This is a major reason we have a large population of homeless people, by the way — the weather is survivable year-round.
