Spirits of San Francisco: Voyages Through the Unknown City

by Gary Kamiya

The bestselling book from two prizewinning, critically acclaimed contemporary chroniclers of San Francisco—a rich, illustrated, idiosyncratic portrait of this great city.

In Spirits of San Francisco, #1 bestselling Cool Gray City of Love author Gary Kamiya joins forces with celebrated, bestselling artist Paul Madonna to take a fresh look at this one-of-a-kind city. Marrying image and text in a way no book about this city has done before, Kamiya's illuminating narratives accompany Madonna's masterful pen-and-ink drawings, breathing life into San Francisco sites both iconic and obscure.
Paul Madonna's atmospheric images will his wide-angle drawings offer a new perspective on the "crookedest street in the world" and vistas across the city. And Kamiya's engaging prose, accompanying each image, offers striking vignettes of this incredible witness his story of "Dumpville," the bizarre community that sprang up in the 19th century on top of a massive garbage dump.
Handsome and irresistible—much like the city it chronicles—Spirits of San Francisco is both a visual feast and a detailed, personal, loving, informed portrait of a beloved city.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, History, Essays, Graphic Novels, American History, Cities

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 20, 2020

Reviews

[Sheena · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Once you start learning about a city's history, every neighborhood starts to feel like Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. The ritziest part of towns turns out to have been a garbage dump, the worst slum a debutante's backyard."

I lived in San Francisco for a few years so I was quite familiar with all of the locations mentioned throughout this book. I could see myself walking along the streets of San Francisco while reading this and I loved that feeling! This provides a lot of some interesting history about the city and how it came to be how it is now. I really learned a lot from this book. The illustrations are amazing - they are so detailed and look real. I can't wait to be able to return to San Francisco in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy!

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

San Francisco is one of my favorite places, so I was delighted to be able to read about more of its history. There is so much more to the city than earthquakes and the Golden Gate Bridge. Different neighborhoods are examined by the author, and it's fun to learn which posh neighborhood was once a garbage dump, and which now derelict area was formerly an elite enclave. Recommended for anyone who enjoys history, or who wants to know more about the City By The Bay. Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing an ARC.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more I read about this city, the less I find I know. Gary Kamiya's knowledge of her history, the upstarts and rascals, the forces that shaped her, accompanied by Paul Madonna's haunting artwork, brings to life this place of unending fascination.

[Spiros · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ever there was a perfect book for its time, this is that book. I have been pent up between my house, Parkside, and work, in the Inner Richmond, commuting on foot through Golden Gate Park; no cause for complaint, but my horizons have undeniably been restricted, and it's been lovely being taken by Gary Kamiya to some of the more interesting and little known areas of The City, with the bonus of Paul Madonna's Atget-like drawings.

[Lisa]

This was not for me, and I would have preferred way more drawings and less text.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve just recently armchair visited San Francisco. The author ended up there after driving east to west coast and his main observation was a city with a severe homeless situation. Of course, there’s that, it’s the most expensive place to live in the US. But it figures there’s gotta to be more to it. For one thing, what’s the appeal. Why so many flock to the obscenely expensive seemingly perpetually fog covered city that’s always just an earthquake away from total destruction. This merited further research trips. And this book was great for that. Written by a proud San Franciscan, the man who genuinely loves his city and knows so much about it, this is a love sonnet to the city. The author, freshly inspired by the eerie quiet of 2020 lockdown streets, wanders the street and tells you all about their past….that’s essentially how this book reads. And there’s also art, done by another adoring San Franciscan, absolutely lovely art depicting streets and buildings of the city, rendered almost photorealistically lifelike with meticulous pencil (thin brush?) strokes. The book is slim, but very informative, it provides the readers with tons of information about SF’s storied past (of most interest to me ) and some present. It’s essentially like exploring the city with an engaging, very knowledgeable tour guide. I enjoyed it. Learn a lot. Definitely know plenty about the place now, though oddly enough, the art, meant to be sui generis by definition, was at times quite generic. Lovely, but generic. Like those buildings might have belonged to any major city. Maybe it’s just the nature of the thing, the basic lack of variety or more like the same repeated variety in most major cities. But at any rate, it was a lovely trip. And that’s what summers are for. Or used to be in beforeworld, anyway. Also, so refreshing to read about someone who is so in love with their city. I used to be for such a long time and watched that passion sour into the obverse and now can’t wait to leave here, but the author has somehow maintained that love for decades and decades. Admirable, in a way, that sort of constant steady affectionate relationship with a place one lives in. Maybe one day…Until then, I’ll read about other destinations, like San Francisco. I’m not sold on it, to be honest, wouldn’t live there, don’t think it merits the insane cost of living, but it’s a good place to visit. Plenty of historical interest…by a country as young as US’s relative standards, anyway. Recommended. Thanks Negalley.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spirits of San Francisco: Voyages Through the Unknown City [2020] - ★★★★1/2

This is a new non-fiction book that tries "to portray San Francisco that is rich, deep, and strange - an unknown city" [2020: xii]. A collaboration between author Gary Kamiya and artist Paul Madonna, it was finished during the quarantine of 2020 and presents the city from many different angles. From old apartments blocks on Joice St. and Waverly Place's dark history to the city's parks, piers and its historic "blue-collar" regions, we are taken on a wondrous journey through little-known history, literature, architecture and social conditions of San Francisco, as the author sheds light on interesting historical trivia of the city, such as how Russian Hill might have gotten its name and the precise circumstances in which the famous Haas-Lilienthal House was built. We learn about many illustrious people who helped "to build" the city, from Andrew Smith Hallidie, whose invention made the cable car possible, and Donaldina Cameron, who is known to save many girls from Chinatown's sex slavery ring, to property owner Carl Henry, who is partly responsible for the creation of "the crookedest street in the world" - Lombard St. Perhaps the author's dropping of literary/film titles is "too on the nose" and the information presented is sometimes debatable (one reference is a Wikipedia article), but the book is still a highly entertaining and insightful journey through San Francisco and its history.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very short book with rather obscure historical details about the origins of some of San Francisco's iconic areas. I love San Francisco, and I learned quite a lot of new things here, so I enjoyed the book overall. Those not familiar with the area may have a hard time getting into it, though. Some of the stories are incredibly fascinating and would interest even a first-time visitor to the area (fun to read, great trivia); other stories are more of a deep dive into scholarly research (dry material, but good details for a history paper).

I am reviewing a pre-publication copy, so it is possible that the book will be edited by release date. I do hope so. The segments about each of the different areas don't necessarily flow together, so there is a bit of "jumping around" from one chapter to the next. The book also ends very abruptly, with just a quick paragraph meant to wrap it all up. It is only in that last paragraph that the idea of "spirits" is ever mentioned to connect the title with the content of the book. It is a good book with solid information, but just needs a little polish to make it a better reading experience!

[Michael Howley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gorgeously illustrated, loving portrait of San Francisco. Specifically the visible remnants of much of its nearly-forgotten past. With a couple of exceptions, the focus of the book is almost exclusively the immediate shore from Mission Bay around to Land's End and the northernmost hills, and largely the periods of the first Spanish arrivals and roughly 1850-1920 (just post gold rush to the World's Fair after the earthquake). I would love to see this sort of attention to detail and history played out over more of the city, in space and time. It would also be interesting to see more variety of illustration, such as depicting how these areas may have looked at the time of the stories being related. As it is, each chapter has one image at the start that then gets re-printed in segments throughout, rather than a whole book of illustrations to accompany each vignette as it may appear at first glance.

[Addy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In Ulysses, that unparalleled exploration of the universe of Dublin on a single day, James Joyce wrote, “Any object, intensely regarded, may be a gate of access to the incorruptible eon of the gods.””

“To transform ominous, sinful old Chinatown into an exotic, family-friendly place, Chinese leaders hired white architects to turn the neighborhood into a phantasmagoric “Oriental City.” They employed traditional Chinese motifs such as pagoda towers, massive curved roofs, multitiered eaves, wrought-iron balconies, brilliant red, green, and yellow colors, a profusion of columns, and curled-up corners, but they were purely decorative: unlike their counterparts in authentic Chinese architecture, they had no structural function.
The illusion proved wildly successful. The new, Disneyland-like Chinatown was far more popular and profitable than the old one. And deeper changes also took place.”

“Once you really focus in on San Francisco’s ubiquitous rocks, they completely alter the way you see the city. Its apparent permanence and solidity is revealed to be a false front, a thin veneer stretched over something much bigger and more unknowable. There’s something delicious about this, like an unexpected key change in a familiar tune. You may be strolling like a flaneur through downtown, deep in the human hive. But once you know about the rocks, one part of you is hiking in the mountains.”

[Colby Manuel Imperial · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Spirits of San Francisco” provides a refreshing and insightful take on a wonderfully beloved city, all from the perspective of a true local.

Divorced from colossally famous landmarks and run down tourist traps, Kamiya takes on a much more personal and endearing approach to his hometown.

Not only do you discover a mine of hidden gems in a city so greatly exposed, you learn about them in a way that is easily consumed. I never felt overwhelmed, bored or lectured, even when the text was at its most instructive.

My only key issue with this guide was the insensitive remarks made on behalf of the non white citizens mentioned within the text.

On several occasions, when discussing the colonization of indigenous peoples, Kamiya insists that perhaps the native populations would have had better luck in their survival had they “been willing to assimilate into American culture”. I found this in very poor taste.

Other than those ill suited remarks, ‘Spirits of San Francisco, Voyages Through The Unknown City’ is a must read for any lover of the bay who wishes to acquaint themselves on a deeper level with the Gray City of Love.

[K.J. Haakenson]

I picked this book up to help me understand the geography and neighborhoods of San Francisco for the 2nd draft of my novel. The art was beautiful and the author did a wonderful job breaking down the history and importance of each piece of the city. Although I was specifically looking for information about 1960s/1970s San Francisco, this book covered history spanning the city's settlement to modern times. After I finished reading, I felt like I better understood San Francisco and the people who existed within its borders for hundreds of years. I don't read enough non-fiction to know how to rate this book, but thumbs up for the helpful information!

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love San Francisco, little threads of history, and Cool Gray City of Love, so it wouldn’t have taken much for me to enjoy this book. But it felt like each page was written without reading anything before it—facts repeated verbatim, characters reintroduced, and stories shuffled randomly. And there wasn’t a single map despite feeling like half of the text was describing streets and their locations relative to one another. The acknowledgements mention it started as a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle, which definitely tracks…

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mom got me this for Christmas....been plugging through it slowly. I liked reading about the history of SF via different sections / neighborhoods. Floors me how much history is in 7x7 miles; has the general effect of me appreciating everything more and seeing things around with me new eyes, and the specific benefit of giving me cool things to look for in the city and point out to friends once I know them. I don't usually read stuff like this but I know it's a whole world out there. 3.5 stars

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fine. Like for a dentist office coffee table fine. You read a couple of chapters to take your mind off the water pick hitting that one sensitive nerve while you hope your baby tooth can hang in there for another year.

It needed real pictures and some maps and the writing style sometimes got ornate for no real reason.

I think this SF historic walk book did a better job with some of these stories.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Not as fun as Cool Grey City of Love, but I'm always up to learn about my city.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful look at my hometown. Interesting, sometimes humorous and full of surprises even for native San Franciscans. Thanks Gary.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, really good. Perfect length, both the titled sections, and the book as a whole. The drawings and the writing are perfect accompaniment to each other. For me, anyway, the sections on the Palace of Fine Arts and Land's End were the best. He's a little harsh on the Music Concourse for me. As a band kid growing up I always thought it would be amazing to play there. He's fair though. It's great to get the history of that and the de Young, in what was "Concert Valley." Only wonder why the Academy of Sciences didn't get a mention there (I don't remember one, anyway), but there was probably good reason. Overall, great, readable San Francisco history, at just the right scale.

[BooksRgood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A present from my son incomparable Paul Madonna drawings and oodles of S.F. history. Providing some guidance and inspiration for my pandemic era walks around SF - cool grey city of love indeed. Joice steps, Ina Coolbrith Park, the Rock House, etc etc. very enjoyable.

"The Excelsior's main stem, Mission Street, is a bit shabby, which might sound like a put-down anywhere other than 2020 San Francisco , when indifferently prepared food, dingy storefronts, and nonexistent marketing plans feel like a desperately needed oasis of mediocrity in a nightmarish desert of unrelentingly excellent $5 coffee."

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who loves San Francisco!

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredibly thorough examination and history of several areas of San Francisco, a city I have visited on multiple occasions and love very much. That said: the book is too much for someone like me. It is so in-depth about so many places that I found myself skimming/slipping parts of the book about the areas I’m wholly unfamiliar with…but I’ll happily revisit the book before my next trip. I loved Paul Madonna’s accompanying artwork.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book enough! As someone who has read dozens of books on SF history, it’s rare to read new historical details, and this book is full of them. I came to it on account of Madonna’s art, but the writing is so good!!!! I just wish there was more.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exploration, in writing and art, of 16 corners of San Francisco, and the lesser-known histories that they contain. The focus is mostly on the period from about 1850 to 1940, telling how a modern American city emerged from a sandy, swampy, hilly, foggy—and sublime—landscape. Gary Kamiya and Paul Madonna especially love our city’s bohemian dreamers and romantic ruined follies, whether originally designed that way (the Palace of Fine Arts) or not (the Sutro Baths). Kamiya seems to have read every book ever written about San Francisco and doesn’t stint on the historical fun facts, but best of all is when he puts the research aside and lets loose with his own impressions of the City from four decades living here as a taxi driver, journalist, and urban wanderer. For example:

Because of the city’s complicated terrain, parks in San Francisco tend to have distinct atmospheres. […] McLaren Park, that sprawling, shaggy open space that spills over the big east–west ridge separating Visitacion Valley from the neighborhoods to the north, has a motley, forgotten natural sublimity. Washington Square was called Il Giardino by the old Italians of North Beach, and its location, in the hinge of a geologic syncline that separates Nob and Telegraph hills, does make it feel like an urban garden. With its raised sides, Alta Plaza is faintly reminiscent of a very elegant sacrificial Aztec mound or that London park where the murder takes place in Blow-Up […]

I realize, of course, that much of that passage will be incomprehensible to people who are not very familiar with San Francisco’s landscapes. This is very much a book for people who are “on the ground” here in S.F.—not least because it will make you want to visit some of these locations, especially the less famous or touristy ones, for yourself!

Spirits of San Francisco also has the distinction of being the first book I’ve read that references the COVID-19 pandemic: it went to press in May 2020, allowing Kamiya to write a preface about how “everyone in a suddenly empty city sees it with fresh eyes.”

Or, he could have said, quarantine let us see the city the way Paul Madonna sees it. Madonna’s pen-and-ink drawings render landscapes and architectural details with great precision—and never include a single human being. The effect is lovely but melancholy, maybe with a bit of the sunlit sadness of Edward Hopper, and reminds us of why writers and artists have always romanticized this city, no matter how cruelly cutthroat the gold rush gets (and there’s always another gold rush).

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

San Francisco is by far my favorite American city in the lower 48. (Honolulu takes #1 if I add all 50). That being said, I jumped at the chance to read this book by life long resident, long time author, and San Francisco expert, Gary Kamiya.

In the into, Mr. Kamiya describes walking around the city at the beginning of this pandemic-the empty streets, the ghostly nothingness that is both eerie and comforting, and I could imagine how wonderfully intoxicating it must have been to be able to experience that beautiful city without all the traffic, and tourists, and pollution.

Mr. Kamiya takes us on a journey through some of San Francisco’s most famous, or infamous, neighborhoods, revealing their sordid histories. From the Spanish priests to the ‘49ers, to the wealthy businessmen and the immigrants just looking to make a quick buck and return home, San Francisco’s history is rich and colorful and unlike any other American city. San Francisco’s neighborhoods have been transformed by earthquakes, booms, and busts. Some have gone from elite to down on their luck, back to elite through the years. All with their own unique styles.

This book is for people who love San Fran, it’s back allies, it’s dirty secrets. People who love to look up at the tiles on the roofs, at the gargoyles, and look down at the cobblestones, the Tran lines, and the sidewalks.

And the pen and ink drawing by Paul Madonna are fantastic! They really add charm to the stories and are so realistic.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for ARC in exchange for a fair review.

[Tom Gase · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but I guess not what I was looking for. I love books about SF, where I live, but I found this too similar to Cool Gray City of Love, his previous book that was fantastic. This book is very short and at some points I asked, "Okay, what's the overall point of this book?" Some of the places he talks about are kind of just repeats from the previous book, although some were new and I enjoyed those. However, too often I think he strays too far from the original focus of the start of a chapter or "neighborhood" and goes all over the place. Sometimes I wasn't sure if a chapter was about downtown, south of market or the outer richmond. The art is outstanding once again by Paul Madonna and readers will love his drawings. I don't know, I guess I wanted something a little more out of this book. If you haven't read Cool Gray City of Love, you'll probably like this book a little more but I found it to be just okay.

[Kate Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spirits of San Francisco by Gary Kamiya and Paul Madonna
Rating 4/ 5 Stars
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing
Published on 20th October 2020

Thank you to Netgalley, Bloomsbury, and of course Gary Kamiya and Paul Madonna for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

San Francisco is such a lovely place and I love reading about it - especially the city history. This book made me feel like I was walking along with the authors through the streets. I felt as if I was exploring a town with two of my friends! This is one of the reasons I love travel writing as a genre - it is so immersive and necessary for the world we have lived in the past 18 months. I love to travel, and not being able to - I’ve turned to books to feed that hunger. I highly recommend this book - even if you haven’t been to San Francisco yet, you will really enjoy learning about the city through the eyes of the authors.

[Alison C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived in San Francisco between 1980 and 1996, and in the East Bay for 14 years before that, so I think I have a good grasp of The City and its history. This beautifully illustrated book, however, delves into neighborhoods and historical incidents that I knew nothing about. Of course there are a lot of places and artifacts and events here that I *do* know and that I have my own stories about, but there are far more stories here that were new to me. I won’t go into specifics, since people who live or used to live in SF will have their own memories and those who have not lived there are likely to have no idea at all about its history (other than the Gold Rush, the 1906 Earthquake, perhaps the 1989 Big Enough One). For either group of people, however, this is a very well-written and, as stated above, beautifully illustrated short volume to read and cherish; recommended.

[Glen U · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing book that is a more in depth look at some of the history and places in the city of San Francisco than its predecessor, "Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco". While Kamiya took us on a walking tour of existing venues in San Francisco in "Cool Gray City...", "Spirits of San Francisco..." focuses more on some now, non-existent locations that may or may not still present themselves in one form or another. Along with the excellent illustrations by Paul Madonna. Kamiya once again shows us the hidden and historically significant sites that were created in the formation of San Francisco. A superb treat for those of us who love urban history and especially for those who love the City by the Bay. An excellent read.

[Robert Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Madonna's art, but there isn't enough of it to bring up the book from the quirky text, which hits interesting things from time to time but usually leaves you wanting far more history and context. In particular, the book takes a kind of "where were they then" approach without talking about where they are now, leaving anyone interested in physically exploring SF hanging. It's kind of like a book that tells you everything about Madison Bumgarner's hot seasons but doesn't follow up with what he's doing now and how he and the Giants moved from where they were to where they are. Or a book about San Francisco geology that doesn't show you where the rock formations actually are and what they look like now versus 100,000 years ago and why. Nice in its way but not practical.

[Cozy Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for anyone that appreciates San Francisco and its history . This is a very unique view of the architecture of all the historic areas of San Francisco and a great cultural view of this beautiful city. The narrative with the extraordinary drawings bring together the history and magic of San Francisco. This is a book to buy and keep on your coffee table as well as give for gifts.

Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

With quotes like "The Excelsior's main stem, Mission Street, is a bit shabby, which might sound like a put-down anywhere other than 2020 San Francisco , when indifferently prepared food, dingy storefronts, and nonexistent marketing plans feel like a desperately needed oasis of mediocrity in a night nightmarish desert of unrelentingly excellent $5 coffee.", Spirits of San Francisco is a lovely pandemic travel-guide through this city. Bolstered by Paul Madonna's wistful drawings of a deserted city, I enjoyed traveling vicariously to this city that has managed to capture my heart after one visit.