San Francisco Uncovered (Uncovered Series City Guides) [Paperback]

Larenda Lyles Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 1996 | Series: Uncovered Series City Guides

Behind the bay windows of Victorian houses angled along steep streets, beyond flowering lawns of Pacific Heights mansions, beneath the streets of the Tenderloin District, there exists a place known as "San Francisco," a city where Ding Dong Daddies clang out their unique rhythm on cable car bells and where citizens live with the constant threat of the next killer earthquake. 
    Roll away the fog and layers of time and you will uncover such colorful characters as the "King of Pain" and "Pet of the Prostitutes" who frequented San Francisco's notorious Barbary Coast. Find out where all the flower children have gone, which museums are the snobbiest and which are the friendliest. Learn what you should never do in San Francisco. Discover the truth about Chinatown, and visit the favorite haunts of Dashiell Hammit-Sam Spade's town. You will believe you are in San Francisco on April 18, 1906 when you read eyewitness accounts of the devastating earthquake and fire. Read about the rich and famous San Franciscans, the unusual, the weird, and the wacky. Learn San Francisco's best kept secrets-the good, the bad, and the embarrassing.
    San Francisco Uncovered is full of history, rare and vintage photographs, high-profile crime, and revelations, but most of all, it is fun to read. You will be entertained, shocked, and amazed, but when you finish San Francisco Uncovered you will have discovered the "City by the Bay."
LARENDA LYLES ROBERTS is a freelance journalist currently living in the Bay Area. Author of DALLAS UNCOVERED, EXPLORING NEW ORLEANS, and NIGHT TERRORS, she is a regular contributor to numerous magazines and newspapers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Foreward

When I first stepped off the plank of the clipper-or maybe it was the jetway at San Francisco International Airport-and felt the cool air, I knew there was something mystical about San Francisco, and I wanted to be part of that magic. Little did I know that I would soon be a permanent Bay Area resident. There IS something intangible, almost spooky, about San Francisco-the fog, the mystery, the unrivaled beauty.
   Then someone asks you to write a book about it, and you have to attempt to define what makes San Francisco unique. Many people helped in this challenge of distilling the infinite stories and rich culture of San Francisco into something readable and, it is hoped, entertaining.
   Among those who cheerfully offered their services were Lynn Ludlow of the San Francisco Examiner, whose tips and pointers proved invaluable to me; tour guides such as Ranger Lori Thomsen, U.S. Department of the Interior, Alcatraz Island, and Joan Loeffler of Cable Car Charters-two women who really love their work and are eager to share it. Of course, I must not leave out the nice young man who offered me a personalized tour of crack houses in the Tenderloin. Sorry I couldn't make that one, but I did want to live to complete the book.
   Also deserving of thanks are those who helped me see the forest through the fog: Bob and CeCe Lyles, Steve and Roberta Turner, and Ronda Balthasar. Special thanks go to Clint Roberts for his sports expertise and to Allyson Roberts for all the popcorn and Junior Mints to celebrate claims of completion.
   It is my hope that any readers of San Francisco Uncovered will feel the magic and excitement of San Francisco as they read this book and come away with a greater appreciation for the mystical City by the Bay.

From the Inside Flap

Forward
Introduction
Test Your Knowledge

• Ten Tourist Traps (and why you should not avoid them)
• San Francisco No-No's-Ten Things You Should Never do in San Francisco
• San Francisco Trivia-Twenty Amazing Little-Known Facts About San Francisco
• Uniquely San Francisco
• San Francisco Speak
• Colorful San Franciscans
• Famous San Franciscans
• Infamous San Franciscans
• San Francisco Remembers
• San Francisco Places
• The Sports Page
• Why is That?-Answers to Ten Petty Questions about San Francisco
• San Francisco Lists
• San Francisco Secrets

Bibliography
Index

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (June 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556223951
• ISBN-13: 978-1556223952
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,331,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

See blog at larendaroberts.com

E-published novel Night Terrors (Kindle Direct Publishing, 2011); published three nonfiction books: Exploring New Orleans (Seaside Press, div. Wordware Publishing, 1998); San Francisco Uncovered (Wordware, 1996); and Dallas Uncovered (Wordware, 1994; 2nd edition 1998). Short fiction published in the New Delta Review, Lake Effect Magazine, and Christian Woman (5). Short fiction, "Swamp Man," won first place in the Palo Alto Weekly Annual Short Fiction Contest (1989).

Published in Pepperdine Voice, Christian Chronicle, Gospel Advocate, San Francisco Examiner, Palo Alto Daily News, Baton Rouge Advocate, Plano Star Courier (weekly humor column for one year); regular freelance contributor to Menlo Park Almanac, Palo Alto Daily News, Palo Alto Weekly (4 feature articles), Christian Woman (10 feature articles; 4 short fiction) and Power for Today.

First novel, Night Terrors, a literary novel, is the story of a New Yorker who marries into a prominent, mysterious coffee family in southern Louisiana. Second novel, The Outlaw's Song, to be e-published in 2012.

Currently serves as Advancement Writer at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA.