Hidden San Francisco: A Guide to Lost Landscapes, Unsung Heroes and Radical Histories

by Chris Carlsson

“Carlsson brings his unique combination of erudition, curiosity and passionate progressivism to a remarkably wide range of subjects—from the city's profaned natural glories, to little-known episodes in its labor history, to a Homeric list of people, organizations and movements”—Gary Kamiya, Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle Hidden San Francisco is a guidebook like no other. It's a radical, alternative guidebook and history of San Francisco, complete with maps detailing walking and bike routes around the city. San Francisco is an iconic and symbolic city. But only when you look beyond the picture-postcards of the Golden Gate Bridge and the quaint cable cars do you realize that the city's most interesting stories are not the Summer of Love, the Beats or even the latest gold rush in Silicon Valley. Carlsson delves into the Bay Area's long prehistory, examining the region's geography and the lives of its inhabitants before the 1849 Gold Rush changed everything, setting in motion the clash between capital and labor that shaped the modern city. Structured around the four major themes of ecology, labor, transit and dissent, Chris Carlsson's book peels back the layers of San Francisco's history to reveal a storied behind old walls and gleaming glass facades lurk former industries, secret music and poetry venues, forgotten terrorist bombings, and much more. From the perspective of the students and secretaries, hippies and beatniks, longshoremen and waitresses, Hidden San Francisco uncovers dozens of overlooked, forgotten and buried histories that pulse through the streets and hills even today, inviting the reader to see themselves in the middle of the ongoing, everyday process of making history together.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

304 pages, Hardcover

Published February 20, 2020

About the author

Chris Carlsson, executive director of the multimedia history project "Shaping San Francisco" (foundsf.org), is a writer, publisher, editor and community organizer. He was a founder of the ground-breaking magazine Processed World, and helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass that have spread to five continents and over 300 cities. Carlsson has edited and authored numerous books, including Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok technically dnf but i gave like 6 weeks to this and can’t go down without something to show for it. in the present day i have a hard time reading these types of history books, where there’s no real narrative or argument it’s just “here are some things that happened in the same place arranged by theme”. i started actively rejecting reading it when i would open it so i am taking it as a sign to let it go. and plus there are gonna be way more compelling books through which i can learn more about the bay

[Cora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has so much important SF history packed into one book - I definitely need to do some of the walking tours around the city. It's clear there is so much I don't know about SF history, but this was beyond illuminating.

[Sheehan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique storytelling perspective on local SF history, having read other histories there was not much new scholarship, but the organization around actual bike/walking tours made the accessibility feel more palpable than straight ahead histories of the region. Also this book was thematically organized in a way that made tactical reading possible and front to back equally enjoyable.

[David Matesanz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great SF history but so politically biased that it was difficult to get through. I would have enjoyed it more without so much of the author’s agenda.