Lost San Francisco

Kos and Evanosky’s (East Bay Then and Now) fourth book-length collaboration on the history of San Francisco bills itself as an archive of the city’s forgotten institutions: buildings long demolished in the name of progress or leveled by natural disaster, cemeteries whose dead were exhumed and reburied, amusement parks shuttered for “odors and horrible noises.” Apart from the well-documented earthquake of 1906 (the city’s “single biggest moment of loss”), the book presents a historical topology not only of past curios and tragedies, but the ordinary ebb and flow of architectural development and street life. Detailed anecdotes illustrate the general tenor and partialities of the city—the Overland Monthly describing the postearthquake burning of Chinatown as the “divine wisdom” of “the fire god” or writer Carl Close likening the repair of the Fillmore district to “trying to unscramble an omelet”—and serve to rescue the prose from tedious textbook-style chronologies. Though meticulous in its research and accessibly written and illustrated, to totally enjoy this book demands considerable knowledge of the city’s history and would have better served a general audience with a short introduction. (Apr.)