Quotable San Francisco

A treasury of quotes from San Franciscans and about San Francisco, from the gold rush to the tech boom.

 

San Francisco is forty-nine square miles surrounded by reality. —Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane


 


San Francisco surged from hamlet to boomtown overnight—the most meteoric "instant city" in history. From the Gold Rush to the Tech Rush, it's been the site of daring innovations, counterculture upheavals, and social rebellions that shaped generations. And over the decades, residents have offered unique perspectives through journals, letters, and newspapers, their words bringing another time to life.


 


Discover San Francisco through the eyes of miners and "ladies of the night." Relive the experiences of robber barons and beatniks who flourished in a tiny corner of the world with fewer than one million souls. With commentary, historical background, and extraordinary images, historians Terry Hamburg and Richard Hansen guide you through these colorful quotes, showing the city as it once was and what it aspired to be.