RECENT RESEARCH — A newly unearthed photograph showing the north side of the 600 block of Commercial Street, San Francisco, in the aftermath of the earthquake and fires of 1906 reveals, for the first time, visual evidence of the fate of the building that housed the Eureka Lodgings, where Emperor Norton lived from 1864–65 until his death in 1880. Our analysis of the photo sharpens the focus on the identities and locations of the buildings along this stretch — and exactly what each building suffered in 1906. Includes our highly researched new infographic that can be used as a tool for understanding the history of this location.

The Emperor Norton Trust

TO HONOR THE LIFE + ADVANCE THE LEGACY OF JOSHUA ABRAHAM NORTON

RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY

Filtering by Tag: 1933

Did San Francisco City Government Really Buy Emperor Norton a New Suit?

May 18, 2022  /  John Lumea

For nearly a century, one of the favored “chestnuts” served up in biographical accounts of Emperor Norton has been the claim that, when the Emperor’s uniform became tattered, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors — the City’s elected government — bought him a new one.

It now appears that this undocumented story may have gotten its start in a little book about the Emperor that was published in the late 1920s — nearly 50 years after his death.

But, during the period of Emperor Norton’s reign, 1859–1880, neither San Francisco’s newspapers nor the City’s own Municipal Reports have any record of such official government largesse.

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categories / Research, Original sources
tags / uniform, regalia, regimentals, suit, coat, clothes, clothing, wardrobe, Board of Supervisors, Albert Dressler, Herbert Asbury, Allen Stanley Lane, William Drury, 1863, 1865, 1868, 1869, 1872, 1927, 1933, 1986

Emperor Norton's Un-Final Resting Place

June 02, 2021  /  John Lumea

If you know the Emperor Norton story well enough to know that…

  • When the Emperor died in January 1880, he was buried in the Masonic Cemetery, in San Francisco.

  • As part of the Great San Francisco Cemetery Eviction of the early twentieth century, the Emperor’s remains were moved to new grave, at Woodlawn cemetery, in Colma, Calif.

  • The Emperor’s reburial ceremony took place at Woodlawn on 30 June 1934.

…you may have assumed that the Emperor “remained” at the Masonic Cemetery more or less until the time of the reburial ceremony.

In fact, Emperor Norton was disinterred 20 months earlier.

So, where were Emperor Norton's remains located from the time they were disinterred in San Francisco in October 1932 until the time they were reburied in Colma in June 1934?

Here are a few clues.

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categories / Research, Original sources
tags / burial, reburial, Masonic Cemetery, Woodlawn Cemetery, Pacific Club, Pacific-Union Club, San Mateo County, 1932, 1933, 1934

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