“From 1857 to the early part of the 20th century, the Whaley House became the gathering place for the entire San Diego community. Besides being the Whaley family home, it was also San Diego’s first commercial theater, the second county courthouse, and a bilingual general store.”
–whaleyhousesandiego.com
Thomas Whaley came to California during the famed Gold Rush and embarked on various business ventures. His house has served as a courthouse and general store, replicas of which have been recreated in the museum.
Whaley built the house on the very spot that infamous thief “Yankee Jim” was hanged, flouting fate.
Daughter (& current ghost) Violet Whaley planted this tree by the replica of the wagon yanked from under Yankee Jim to kill him. However, he was tall enough that his legs dragged on the ground and he suffocated to death.
The kitchen
The parlor
Bedrooms
The theater
Many believe that the land has always been cursed, doomed to hold spirits for eternity. Yankee Jim was simply the first to suffer from that curse.
The second was the Whaley’s first son, Thomas Whaley Jr. After moving into the finished house, their first son was stricken with scarlet fever and died at 18 months.
…Some visitors can hear the sound of a baby crying softly, little footfalls, and his innocent giggle when nobody else is around.
[Daughter Violet Whaley’s] is a tale of sorrow. She grew up in a family that was well endowed yet she met a tragic end. A few years after the courtroom records were stolen, Violet and her sister got married in the house. Violet married George Bertolacci and the marriage, despite her best efforts, was doomed from the start. George left her divorced and depressed.
She was so full of grief that she decided that she simply couldn’t live on. In 1885, she shot herself. Now, people claim to see a woman looking very sad wandering around the second floor.
Mrs. Anna Whaley is the most common spirit in the house. People can smell her potent French perfume or see her in the parlor.
Mrs. Whaley grieved of attracting the spirits in the house a lot. Perhaps it’s fitting that in the afterlife she provides a comforting presence rather than a malicious one. More often than not, she appears to young people in an effort to welcome them and interact.
She was not the luckiest of ladies in terms of her adult life. She married a man who watched an execution then decided to build his home on that very land, and she outlived 3 of her children and her husband.
The last ghost with a very specific presence is none other than Thomas Whaley himself. He was a pioneer in his time. Mr. Whaley followed the Gold Rush like many men of the time. He sought to make a name for himself. He just didn’t know he’d be more well known in death than life.
…His specter accompanies his wife Anna in all black. Some visitors have even reported Mr. Whaley blowing smoke right into their faces.”
–sandiegoexplorer.com
Archeological excavations on the site
Outside of the house, other buildings
Bonus:
The Statue of El Cid, recalling a medieval hero of the eleventh century, was created by Anna Hyatt Huntington and is located at the entrance to the Plaza de Panama.
This 23-foot bronze sculpture of El Cid on his horse was dedicated on July 5th, 1930. There are many other copies of this statue throughout the world, including San Francisco, Sevilla and Castile, Spain. The original is located at the Hispanic Society of American in New York City.
~ Rose Garden ~
26-year-old Stephen King, with just 1 book out, stayed in room 217 in 1974. He quickly got the idea for The Shining during his stay; it was his 3rd book published.
During his stay, King reportedly heard party music down the hall and went to investigate, but found no one there.
Women weren’t allowed to play billiards with the men but the rebel “unsinkable” Molly Brown (of Titanic fame) would heckle them from the benches, get kicked out, and come back to do it again.
Bartender Lloyd Grady, who told Stephen King “your money’s no good here” as the hotel was closing for the season, made it into The Shining book and movie.
A small version of the infamous maze from the book was later added at the Stanley Hotel due to popular demand.
Shoshone Spring has the highest mineral content of all the springs in the Manitou Springs area in Colorado, near Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods.
Next up: Stratton Springs feat. this lovely statue.
The Bank of Manitou has been turned into a cute shop.
Harry Snyder introduces California’s first drive-thruhamburger stand in a space barely 100 square feet at Francisquito and Garvey in Baldwin Park. Every day before dawn, Harry visits the meat and produce markets to pick out fresh ingredients, which he prepares by hand. Meanwhile, his wife Esther diligently takes care of all the accounting for the new restaurant at their home right around the corner.
in-n-out.com/history
Coit Tower, a slender white concrete column rising from the top of Telegraph Hill, has been an emblem of San Francisco’s skyline since its completion in 1933, a welcoming beacon to visitors and residents alike.
The simple fluted tower is named for Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a wealthy eccentric and patron of the city’s firefighters. Coit died in 1929, leaving a substantial bequest “for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city I have always loved.” The funds were used to build both the tower and a monument to Coit’s beloved volunteer firefighters, in nearby Washington Square. The tower was designed by the firm of Arthur Brown, Jr., architect of San Francisco’s City Hall. Contrary to popular belief, Coit Tower was not designed to resemble a firehose nozzle.
The murals inside the tower’s base were painted in 1934 by a group of artists employed by the Public Works of Art Project, a precursor to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and depict life in California during the Depression. When violence broke out during the 1934 longshoremen’s strike, controversy over the radical content in some of the panels became quite heated. Some of the most controversial elements were painted over, and the tower was padlocked for several months before the frescoes were finally opened to the public in the fall of 1934.
– San Francisco Recreation & Parks
Didn’t opt to climb the 234 steps to the top 😝 but the San Francisco city views were stunning!
United States Penitentiary Alcatraz (1934-1963) represents the federal government’s response to post-Prohibition, post-Depression America. Both the institution and the men confined within its walls reflect our society during this era.
– NPS.gov
The ferry trip over is lovely 🌊
The Park Rangers make really great tour guides.
“Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz.”
The infamous escape attempt of 1962 + more inmate info.
From November, 1969 to June, 1971, a group called Indians of All Tribes, Inc., occupied Alcatraz Island. This group, made up of Indigenous people, relocated to the Bay Area, to protest against the United States government’s policies that took aboriginal land away from American Indians and aimed to destroy their cultures. The Alcatraz occupation is recognized today as one of the most important events in contemporary Native American history.
– NPS.gov
At first the Occupation was wildly popular, attracting thousands of Native Americans on a pilgrimage to the cold, windy island in San Francisco Bay. It was widely supported in the Bay Area. Celebrities arrived and donations poured in. The press came from all over the country, and even Europe and Japan. The Occupiers wrote messages of peace and freedom around the former prison island and discussed plans to build a cultural and education center for Native Americans.
Public support for the Occupation waned in June 1970 when fires claimed four structures on the island. Most of the occupiers left as donations dried up and living on the Rock grew more difficult. Federal Marshals arrived on June 11, 1971 to remove the final fifteen.
When hearing of the removal, one of the original occupiers, Richard Oakes stated to the press, “Alcatraz is not an island. It is an idea.” That idea sparked a Red Power movement that continues on today.
This monument and museum on the North Carolina coast is a cool tribute to the Wright Brothers, First in Flight.
From the Pages of History 