Happy Birthday, San Francisco!
On January 30th, 1847, the name of the settlement Yerba Buena, which was started on June 25th, 1835, by the first inhabitant, Englishman William Richardson, changed. The process started on July 9th, 1846, when Captain John Montgomery raised the American Flag on the hill which was later named after his ship – Portsmouth. Even before Mexico relinquished its hold on this area, Americans claimed it. Montgomery appointed one of his lieutenants, Washington A. Bartlett, to be Yerba Buena’s first American alcalde (mayor). One of his first orders of business was to change the name “Yerba Buena” to “San Francisco”. The rest is history. And a very colorful history. The history of the last three years has been quite challenging for the city because of the Coronavirus. Unfortunately the negative writings in the press, contributed to it.
This is why, at the spur of the moment, I decided to produce my next photo-book, “San Franciscans. Looking Forward Through Looking Back”. The text is going to be short essays about the pioneers, people who arrived here in the early days and laid the foundation of what San Francisco is today. If they could overcome challenges, which we even could not dream about, we will too. At that time, women had a limited role in society. Nevertheless one hundred seventy-five years brought a lot of changes. One of them is position of women in our lives.
Therefore, I want to share with you images of three females I encountered in our remarkable city. It will take me 3 months to finish the book. Meanwhile, “42 Encounters with Love” is going to be available next week. Please pre-order here.
Enjoy and Share!
