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.

Emperor Norton, the Phoenix and the Branding of San Francisco

September 02, 2020 / John Lumea

Photographs of Emperor Norton show that, just as the Emperor had a favorite walking stick, he also had a favorite hat pin — in the shape of a spread-winged bird.

Artists in the Emperor’s day painted and drew him wearing this pin.

It’s not surprising that contemporary San Francisco artists have rendered the bird as a phoenix.

Alas — spoiler alert! — it turns out that Emperor Norton did not wear a phoenix in his hat; the Emperor’s bird was a military American eagle.

But, this particular eagle does trace its heraldic roots to a phoenix — albeit it not a San Francisco one.

The fascinating story of how the phoenix of Scottish heraldry was transformed into the eagle of U.S. government iconography traces through the righteous Scottish cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Continental Army coat buttons of George Washington and the design of the Great Seal of the United States.

One could say that Emperor Norton was wearing an eagle and a phoenix all at once: appropriate for an Emperor of the United States whose Seat was in the cool, grey city of love.

Pull up a chair!

Mother Jones "Link-Checks" Campaign in History of "Frisco"

January 31, 2016 / John Lumea

It stands to reason that The Emperor’s Bridge Campaign* is one of the few organizations or individuals to be actively researching the question of whether Emperor Norton wrote the anti-"Frisco” proclamation so often attributed to him. So it was gratifying, a couple of days ago, to have our efforts acknowledged by the respected San Francisco-based magazine Mother Jones.

* In December 2019, The Emperor's Bridge Campaign adopted a new name: The Emperor Norton Trust.

The Emperor Norton Trust

Filtering by Tag: 2016

Dating the Reburial of Norton I

Emperor Norton, the Phoenix and the Branding of San Francisco

Mother Jones "Link-Checks" Campaign in History of "Frisco"