The Emperor Norton Trust

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

RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY

Filtering by Category: Tributes

Mr. Cowan's Opportunity

June 30, 2025  /  John Lumea

More than a decade ago, in February 2015, The Emperor Norton Trust issued its first research on Emperor Norton's birth date. In a talk that we published online the same month, I argued for a birth date of 4 February 1818.

In that talk, I outlined the role of the Emperor Norton Memorial Association in securing a new burial plot and headstone for the Emperor in 1934 — after his remains were exhumed from San Francisco’s Masonic Cemetery as part of the city’s great “cemetery eviction” of that period — and I laid at the feet of Robert Ernest Cowan (1862–1942) much of the blame for the incorrect "1819" birth date that the Association inscribed on the headstone that they placed at the Emperor’s new grave in Woodlawn Memorial Park, Colma, Calif.  

In 1923, Cowan had published an essay on Emperor Norton in the new California Historical Society (CHS) Quarterly — of which he was the inaugural editor. In the essay, Cowan faked an 1819 birth date for the Emperor by falsifying an 1865 item in the Daily Alta newspaper.

Apparently no one caught this at the time — and probably wouldn’t have said anything if they had. Indeed, in 1934 Cowan remained deeply influential and respected in California history circles. His account of Emperor Norton still was regarded as a reference standard. And there had been no challenge to Cowan’s 1923 claim of an 1819 birth date for the Emperor. So, the Association just went with their friend Cowan — regarding the question of the Emperor’s birth date as having been settled years earlier.

We thought it was no more complicated than that.

Comes new evidence — which we publish here on the 91st anniversary of the dedication of Emperor Norton's 1934 headstone:

Cowan revived and even ramped up his decade-old birth date fakery in early 1934, and did so while he was president of the board of the California Historical Society — a board that included 2 of the 4 officers of the new Emperor Norton Memorial Association — one of whom was the Association’s president.

It seems that — more than we knew: In 1934, the fix was in for a falsified 1819 birth date on the Emperor's headstone.

Read More
categories / Research, Original sources, Tributes
tags / Emperor Norton's birth date, Robert Ernest Cowan, Emperor Norton Memorial Association, Woodlawn Memorial Park, Woodlawn Cemetery, headstone, Forgotten Characters of San Francisco, talk, speech, presentation, book, Ward Ritchie, Ward Ritchie Press, Historical Society of Southern California, California Historical Society, 1818, 1819, 1923, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1964

"Harbor Emperor" Switcheroo?

June 26, 2025  /  John Lumea

In 1968, Crowley Maritime built a new 500-passenger sightseeing vessel for its Red & White fleet based at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Having decided to name its new vessel the Harbor Emperor, Crowley commissioned Elwin Millerick, a folk sculptor in Santa Rosa, Calif., to hand-carve a 5-foot-tall wooden figurehead of Emperor Norton for the bow.

The Emperor Norton figurehead has been photographed thousands of times over the decades and has become a fond feature of the modern Norton pop culture of San Francisco.

Pull up a chair for my theory that — at a minimum — the head and the hat of today’s Harbor Emperor figurehead are not original to 1968 and that — whether because of an accident, vandalism, or rot — they were substantially modified or switched out entirely sometime in the 1970s.

Read More
categories / Research, Original sources, Tributes, ARENA
tags / sculpture, statue, figurehead, wood, hand-carved, Harbor Emperor, vessel, sightseeing, Crowley, Red & White, Blue & Gold, Elwin Millerick, Santa Rosa, 1968, 1970s, 1979, 1985, 1997, 2005, 2012

Dating the Reburial of Norton I

April 02, 2025  /  John Lumea

In fall 1932 — in connection with San Francisco's mandated "eviction" of cemeteries within the city limits — the remains of Emperor Norton were exhumed from their original resting place in the city’s Masonic Cemetery.

In 1934, the Emperor was reburied, with a new headstone, at his current resting place: Woodlawn Memorial Park, in Colma, Calif.

A public ceremony dedicating the new gravesite was held at Woodlawn on 30 June 1934. This is the date that received headlines around the country — and it is the date that those who follow the Emperor's story associate with his reburial.

But the reburial itself took place nearly 3 months earlier, on 2 April 1934 — 91 years ago today.

Click below to learn more — and for our suggestion about how to provide for more thoughtful and intentional preservation and care of Emperor Norton's headstone and gravesite.

Read More
categories / Research, Places, Tributes, Original sources
tags / burial, reburial, Masonic Cemetery, Woodlawn Memorial Park, Woodlawn Cemetery, Emperor Norton Memorial Association, Pacific Club, Pacific-Union Club, interment record, interment card, headstone, gravesite, Joel GAzis-SAx, 1880, 1932, 1934, 2016, 2021

Emperor Norton in the Happy Valley Room

March 04, 2025  /  John Lumea

The beloved Emperor Norton mural at the Palace Hotel, in San Francisco, had its public debut at the Palace 90 years ago today — on 4 March 1935. 

The mural is one of two that were painted at the time by Antonio Sotomayor. The other features Lotta Crabtree and George Washington II.

Today, both murals are in the "lounge" room of the Pied Piper Bar & Lounge. 

But, this is not where they started out. In fact, the murals have been in their current location for only the last 34 years of their 90-year history. 

Did you know that Maxfield Parrish's famous 1909 painting "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" originally was in a different room — and that the room the painting now presides over originally was a barber shop? 

Have you ever heard of the Happy Valley cocktail lounge — and do you know what made the Happy Valley distinctive?  

Pull up a chair for a deep-dive into the forgotten story of these Sotomayor murals — including the Norton mural, which has kept the Emperor’s benevolent spirit alive among Palace Hotel drinkers and diners for 90 years.

Read More
categories / Research, Original sources, Tributes, Places, ARENA
tags / Art, painting, mural, Palace Hotel, Antonio Sotomayor, Happy Valley Room, Happy Valley, cocktail lounge, bar, Pied Piper, Maxfield Parrish, barber shop, Bernard Bernhard, George Bernhard, Alma Spreckels, Art Digest, floor plan, menu, postcard, matchbook, 1877, 1882, 1886, 1909, 1935, 1989, 1991

The "Emperor Norton" Trees of Mariposa and Calaveras

April 24, 2024  /  John Lumea

Some years ago, I happened upon a lengthy newspaper article — from the 1890s, if memory serves — with a list of honorarily named California redwoods. One of the trees carried the name “Emperor Norton” — so, I made a mental note and resolved to return to this “detective ground” in the future.

Recently, I was delighted to find photographic evidence of an “Emperor Norton” tree: an apparently unpublished stereocard by Eadweard Muybridge, dated 1868, showing a man in a deep bow before a redwood with an "Emperor Norton" sign affixed to it. 

The Bancroft Library, which has the card, identifies the site of Muybridge's scene as "Probably in the Mariposa Grove, near Yosemite Valley."

In my effort to confirm this detail, I found multiple references — from the period between 1867 and 1910 — to "Emperor Norton" trees in both of the noted redwood sections of Yosemite: the one in Mariposa County and another in Calaveras County.

The evidence strongly suggests that the tree in Muybridge's stereograph is in Calaveras.

High-resolution image included. 

Read More
categories / Research, Places, Tributes, Original sources
tags / tree, redwood, sequoia, name, "Emperor Norton" tree, Calaveras County, Big Trees, Mariposa County, Mariposa Grove, photograph, stereograph, stereocard, Eadweard Muybridge, Yosemite, Edward Jump, 1867, 1868, 1870, 1872

The Ferry Building Clock Tower from Emperor Norton's Street

July 20, 2023  /  John Lumea

The best-known vista of the 245-foot-tall clock tower of the San Francisco Ferry Building is from along Market Street, looking northeast.

The best-known street vista — but not the only one.

The clock tower also rises as the eastern visual terminus of Commercial Street.

On today’s Commercial Street, the tower is most readily seen from the 2-block stretch between Montgomery Street to the east and Grant Avenue to the west. This is the stretch adjacent to, and near, the former site of 624 Commercial between Montgomery and Kearny Streets — where Emperor Norton lived from 1864/65 until his death in 1880.

The view of the Ferry Building clock tower from here is one reason why The Emperor Norton Trust has proposal that the tower be named Emperor Norton Tower. You can read our proposal and commentaries by clicking the Learn More button at EmperorNortonTower.org.

Click through for a series of seven views of the clock tower photographed from the 7-block stretch of Commercial Street between Drumm Street and Grant Avenue during the first half of the tower’s 125-year life-so-far — the period between c.1900 and 1960.

Read More
categories / Research, Places, Projects, Tributes
tags / San Francisco Ferry Building, Ferry Building, clock tower, Commercial Street, photograph, photo, 1898, 1900, 1935, 1959, 1960, Emperor Norton Tower

The Pantheonic Statuette of Norton I

May 30, 2023  /  John Lumea

It’s well known that souvenir photographs and lithographs of Emperor Norton were sold in San Francisco shops during the Emperor’s lifetime.

Norton biographer William Drury takes it considerably further to claim that, by the early 1870s, there was a whole cottage industry of “Emperor Norton statuettes, Emperor Norton dolls, Emperor Norton mugs and jugs, Emperor Norton Imperial Cigars” — and even that there were peddlers hawking Emperor Norton merch at his funeral.

I find no evidence to support much of what Drury asserts — but…

In 1877 — a couple of years before Emperor Norton died in 1880 — a German immigrant jeweler and sculptor in San Francisco created a highly accomplished statuette of the Emperor that deserves a much closer look than it has received.

Although there is no ready evidence that this nearly-two-foot-tall statuette was sold in shops, there is evidence to suggest that it was a fixture in San Francisco saloons — and even that the Emperor himself had a copy in his apartment.

Among other things, I document here the three known copies of the statuette and offer a glimpse into the life and work of the sculptor.

There even are cameo appearances from historians of Ancient Rome and the Oxford English Dictionary.

It’s a fascinating story, previously untold.

Read More
categories / Research, Original sources, Tributes, ARENA
tags / Art, sculpture, statue, statuette, figurine, Herman J. Brand, Jonas Brand, jeweler, sculptor, plaster, medallion, token, charm, gold, saloon, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Society of California Pioneers, Wells Fargo History Museum, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Allen Stanley Lane, William Drury, photograph, cabinet card, painting, lithograph, terra cotta, Pantheon, pantheonic, Rome, Oxford English Dictionary, 1862, 1865, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1872, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1883, 1906, 1921, 1930, 1935, 1939, 1986, 2021

Emperor Norton as an Artist’s Model

April 26, 2023  /  John Lumea

Addie Ballou is best known now — where she is known at all — as a women’s suffrage crusader, a rather bad poet, and a (probably overconfident) lecturer on any of the subjects she was game to talk about for an hour to any group who asked, provided they had a room and a podium.

But, Ballou also had a brief career as a minimally trained portrait artist.

A certain conventional wisdom holds that, in 1877, Emperor Norton sat for a portrait painted by Ballou — and that this is the only such portrait the Emperor ever sat for during his lifetime.

As ever with Emperor Norton, though, a look under the hood reveals that things probably are not quite as we’ve been led to believe.

Read on for some newly uncovered details about old art associations.

Read More
categories / Research, Tributes, Original sources
tags / Art, portrait, painting, sitting, Addie Ballou, Oscar Kunath, Virgil Williams, Alice Brown Chittenden, San Francisco Call, Ward Ritchie Press, San Francisco Art Association, California School of Design, Mechanics' Fair, Mechanics' Pavilion, Bradley & Rulofson, Society of California Pioneers, 1873, 1874, 1877, 1878, 1879

The Time Emperor Norton Was a "Pepper" Too

April 18, 2023  /  John Lumea

On Christmas Eve 1862, at the Royal Polytechnic Institute, in London, the Institute’s director, John Henry Pepper, debuted his theatrical refinement of a reflection illusion that came to be known as “Pepper’s ghost.”

The sensation had made it to the United States by the early 1870s — probably initially being performed as a sideshow attraction.

But, on the evening of 26 December 1879, the resident company of the Metropolitan Theater in Sacramento, Calif., used what they called “the Pepper Mystery” to dramatize the Emperor Norton.

It was a commonplace in the 1860s and ‘70s for theater troupes in San Francisco and elsewhere in California to burlesque the Emperor for laughs. But, it seems as though this performance might have been a little different.

Did members of the audience at the Metropolitan all slap their knees at the sight of an ethereal Emperor Norton on the stage? Or did some shed a quiet tear for the passing of an era that too quickly was slipping through their fingers?

Read More
categories / Research, Original sources, Places, Tributes
tags / Pepper's ghost, Pepper's Mystery, Pepper Mystery, illusion, reflection, effect, John Henry Pepper, London, Theater, theatrical, Metropolitan Theater (Sacramento), Sacramento, George Stevens, Eureka, Josh Ellingson, experiment, 1862, 1870s, 1877, 1879

How to Make the "Emperor Norton Place" Street-Naming Proposal Better

April 07, 2023  /  John Lumea

If one wished to honor Emperor Norton with a street name in San Francisco, the 600 block of Commercial Street would not necessarily be the most fruitful option — notwithstanding the fact that the 600 block of Commercial is where the Emperor laid his head for the last 14 or 15 years of his life.

But, the 600 block of Commercial is what the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has put on the table. Indeed, on Tuesday 11 April, the Supes are set to vote on a resolution to add “Emperor Norton Place” as a commemorative name for this block.

Comes a couple of questions:

  • At the level of both poetry and design, is “Emperor Norton Place” really the best name? What about “Emperor Norton Way”?

  • How about adding to the Commercial Street resolution a clause (not currently included) that explicitly requests signage — as the Supervisors’ resolution for “Tony Bennett Way” did in 2017?

Here are some suggestions for how to make a good proposal much better.

Details for submitting public comment in advance of the April 11th meeting are at the bottom of this commentary.

Read More
categories / Commentary, Tributes, Places
tags / name, naming, civic, commemorative, street, Commercial Street, Montgomery Street, Kearny Street, Eureka Lodgings, 624 Commercial, 650 Commercial, 652 Commercial, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, resolution, Aaron Peskin, 2023

Bankrolling the Baker of the Emperor Norton Sourdough Snacks

July 10, 2022  /  John Lumea

Many crunchy-snack lovers who bought and enjoyed the Emperor Norton Original San Francisco Sourdough Snacks between 1982 and 2012 will have known little of the Emperor Norton story.

But, Norton initiates and non-initiates alike will know even less about who really made the Emperor Norton Sourdough Snacks possible — specifically: Who was the lead venture-capital investor in the product?

As it happens, the partners in the VC firm that led on the Emperor Norton snacks were fresh from having created and developed one of the best–known consumer products and brands in the United States.

Read on for a glimpse into the origin story of the Emperor Norton Sourdough Snacks.

Read More
categories / Research, Legacy, Tributes
tags / Emperor Norton Original San Francisco Sourdough Snacks, Emperor Norton Sourdough Snacks, Michael G. Berzolheimer, Bill Lanphear, Early Stages Co., Homestead Provisions, Colombo Baking Company, San Francisco French Bread Company, California Cedar Products Company, Cal Cedar, Duraflame, Inc. magazine, 1982, 1984, 2012, Oakland

Historians of San Francisco Urge Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to Back "Emperor Norton Bridge"

June 02, 2022  /  John Lumea

At the end of May 2022, eight historians of San Francisco sent a letter to former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown urging the Mayor to publicly support The Emperor Norton Trust’s proposal that the California state legislature pass a joint resolution that simply would add “Emperor Norton Bridge” as an honorary name for the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge — leaving in place all existing names and signage for the bridge and its parts, including the “Willie L. Brown, Jr., Bridge” honorific for the West Crossing of the bridge.

The historians joined the Trust’s call that state lawmakers authorize the “Emperor Norton Bridge” naming in 2022 — the 150th anniversary of Emperor Norton’s three newspaper Proclamations setting out the vision for the Bay Bridge in 1872.

Read on for a link to the letter.

Read More
Comment
categories / News, Bay Bridge, Tributes
tags / Emperor Norton Bridge, naming, name, California state legislature, Willie Brown

© 2025 The Emperor Norton Trust  |  Site design: Alisha Lumea  |  Background: Original image courtesy of Erica Fischer