Reddit mentions of The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld

My favorite is that back around goldrush times, there was a community of Australians who lived in a part of town dubbed Sydneytown. They were all criminals. Every few years, the rest of the city would complain enough to the police that it would warrant them having to do something about it (ie: raid and bust some heads). Whenever this was about to happen, it would get leaked to them and they would wait for a night where the wind wasn't blowing in the direction of their neighborhood and they'd set most of the city on fire. This happened 5 times.

You can read more about things like this here - https://www.amazon.com/Barbary-Coast-Informal-Francisco-Underworld/dp/1560254084

Would highly recommend this book to those interested in this sort of SF history. VERY entertaining and quick read—written by the same guy who wrote the book Gangs of New York was based on.

S/he gave a quickie citation in the initial post, but it's this book.

If you want to do some reading, I have a few recommendations:

FoundSF and their links page

Outside Lands — focuses on the western neighborhoods

Cool Gray City of Love by Gary Kamiya

The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld by Herbert Asbury

City for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco by Chester Hartman — fairly dry political history, but it provides a lot of valuable context for the ongoing fights over housing and development.

Looks like it's replacing the Rainforest Cafe.


I hope they take stories from books like[ The Barbary Coast] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Barbary-Coast-Francisco-Underworld/dp/1560254084). History here.