Bernal Heights Branch Library
500 Cortland Avenue
This event has passed.
-
Courtesy Wood LaBounty
- When
-
Wednesday July 21, 2010 (7pm)
- Where
-
- Price
“Until the 1890s, the Sunset District was believed to be uninhabitable and called the Outside Lands on maps of San Francisco. When the foggy sand dunes were first colonized, it was by people living in disused street cars. The advent of electric cable cars made horsecars obsolete and railway companies sold them cheap to the public. Some were towed to the dunes along the Great Highway to create Carville-by-the-Sea. Trolleys were recycled into café saloons, artist studios, and stacked to create duplex homes. Jack London partied there and members of La Bohème, a musicians' clubhouse, were famous for their boozy skinny dipping. The 1906 earthquake spelled the end for Carville, when displaced SF citizens flocked to the area. By 1913, the street cars were regarded as an eyesore, and many were torched in a beach bonfire. There is only one known survivor. Tonight, historian and author Woody LaBounty tells tales of this quirky community.”
Joey Stevenson, Flavorpill
Bernal History Project says:
Woody LaBounty of the Western Neighborhoods Project will discuss Carville-by-the-Sea, his recent book about the quirky Sunset District community built out of former streetcars and cable cars.
