As a Bay area native and SF resident for the past 15 years, history of the city is one of my favorite topics. I read this book in one sitting, not being able to put it down for its rich descriptions of the personalities and events that shaped the SF culture of tolerance we have today. Until I read the book, I only had surface knowledge of some of the events such as Jonestown but had never heard of the Zebra killings or had any idea about the virtual genocide taking place in the Haight in the wake of the Summer of Love. I was aware of Margo St James contribution to championing liberties for sex workers having volunteered at the St. James Infirmary that bears her name. But I had no idea about the lengths some people in power went to in efforts to hold off the progressive changes. I had never heard of the Moby Grape tragedy and the larger ramifications its fate presented to the truth about Janis Joplin. I used to pass by the Jefferson Airplane house on my way home every day but had an idea of Janis Joplin as a run of the mill rock star casualty until reading Talbot's depiction of the waves of insecurities and drug abuse that foreshadowed Kurt Cobain's demise 30 years later. I was fascinated and horrified by Alioto's declaration of war against the hardscrabble youths adrift in the Haight. Similar prejudices are heaped upon modern gay youth in the Castro as bourgeois business owners scapegoat the homeless homo youths as a scourge of the city deserving of eradication. Interests of wealthy land developers are presently trying to rid the mid-Market area of its culture and redo the area as a giant strip mall for tourists. I shudder to imagine the fate of those gorgeous Greek revival and baroque structures as they are razed to make room for miles of retail. Just as Talbot described Justin Hermann's crime against the Fillmore and the thread of urban black family life that was decimated, I predict a similar fate for mid-Market if people don't learn from history. This book is a lovely record of what happened in our city's past but means nothing if people lose sight of the city's integrity to appease corporate construction interests. I struggled through the chapters about the 49ers contribution to saving SF's morale since I am continuously disgusted by the city's behavior in the event of sports celebrations. With the recent barbaric shenanigans that took place when the Giants won the World Series, I was thankful I didn't live here in 1981 after the 49ers beat the Cowboys after reading about the near riot that engulfed downtown. I was disappointed that something as juvenile and primitive as a football game was said to be responsible for saving the SF citizens from a suicidal trajectory. Surely, we are better than that. But based on the brouhaha and blind devotion enlisted by current crazed sports fanatics, it appears we are a Neanderthal city of meatheads, if one were to lend credence to Talbot's claim. That's the main point I take umbrage with.
