65-67 Ramona Street

65/67 Ramona StreetA Household History

Compiled for Liz Goodman and Mike Kuniavskyby Stacy Kozakavich

Before Ramona StreetThe Mission Dolores Neighborhood 1850-1906

From Louis Nagel’s “Mission Dolores, San Francisco, [California] 1860, from the Potrero Nuevo.” Collection of The Bancroft Library

65/67 Ramona - Page 4

The Mission District, Before 1850

In the centuries before Spanish, Mexican, and American settlement in San Francisco, Miwok-Ohlonean speakers built villages and harvested acorns and shellfish for the base of their varied diet.

The Mission San Francisco de Asís was the first Euro-American anchor of what later became San Francisco’s Mission District. It was established near the Laguna de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores in 1776. In the first two decades of the 19th century the mission stretched from at least Church Street to Guerrero Street and 15th Street to 18th Street. Fields and orchards surrounded this central core to the east and west and a neophyte village, with as many as 100 cabins for Native American residents, was set apart from the residences of the Fathers and guards. By the end of the 1820s, the mission population had dropped drastically and its buildings were falling into ruin.

An 1850 sketch of Mission Dolores (above), viewing to the northeast in the direction of San Francisco, shows the area of the future Ramona Street to be mostly undeveloped and scrubby-looking, with fenced pasture on the level areas. A trail connecting the Mission to the growing settlement of San Francisco appears to have gone through what later became the 67 Ramona lot.

“Mission Dolores, Looking Toward San Francisco”, by William H. Dougal, 1850

16th St.

Guerrero St.Dolores St.

Approximate location of 65/67 Ramona St.


The Mission District, 1853

1853 U.S. Coast Survey Map

As San Francisco grew following the 1848 American annexation of California and the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, the Mission Dolores area gradually transformed from the autonomous village it had been in previous decades to an outlying neighborhood of the growing city. This 1853 U.S. Coast Survey map shows that the location of 67-65 Ramona was north of the main Mission compound, near the base of a large undeveloped hill extending to the northwest.


1869 U.S. Coast Survey Map

Market street later bisected the hill north of the Mission, and developers cut and filled slopes on neighborhood blocks to achieve more level surfaces. By 1869, the trails leading between the Mission and San Francisco became a planned grid of blocks and roads - at least in the imagination of city planners and residents. Much of the area surrounding the former mission was still relatively open space occupied by small agricultural holdings.



By the 1870s, residential and industrial buildings were filling in the old fields and gardens. However, vestiges of the neighborhood’s agricultural history lingered amidst the working class housing, lumber yards, and commercial buildings until the end of the 19th century.

1874 City Map of San Francisco



Mission Block 28, 1889

In 1889, only a few houses faced onto the streets surrounding the block which is now Ramona Street. The lot later occupied by 65/67 was in the middle of a large patch of “Vegetable Garden.”

Peculiar in the Mission neighborhood to this block and the ones directly to the east and south, these large gardens were likely tended by Chinese growers who sold to local merchants and households.

Through the mid-late 19th century, these vegetable growers were among those most active supporters for construction of a plank road between the agricultural areas surrounding the old Mission to markets in the growing city of San Francisco (San Francisco Planning Department 2007:25, 45)

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map - San Francisco Sheet 70, 1889

Photo in collection of California Historical Society



The earliest available land ownership document for the block containing today’s Ramona Street is the property map from an 1894 assessor’s block book for San Francisco. At this time, the block was divided primarily into large north-south strips, appropriate in size for industrial use, with only a few smaller residential parcels in the southeast corner. The parcel that was later subdivided to become the east side of Ramona Street belonged to capitalist Frederick Hagemann, and the parcel that would become the street to Hagemann and the estate of Claus Mangels. Hagemann and Mangels were broadly involved in San Francisco’s industrial development. Among other ventures, they were early trustees with Claus and Peter Spreckels in The California Sugar Refinery.

Hicks-Judd 1894 Handy Block Book for San Francisco, page 374


By September of 1909, ownership of the parcel owned by F. Hagemann (see page 5) had transferred to Adolph and Amelia F. Hagemann, the son and widow of the deceased millionaire. At the time of its residential subdivision in 1911, the legal owners of the parcel were Adolph Hagemann and his new wife, the actress Maud Odell, whom he had married in Denver, Colorado in 1909 to the great interest of San Francisco Call readers (see article at left). Maude Odell returned to the stage soon after her marriage, and continued acting until her death in New York City in 1937.

The Hagemann family met with considerable tragedy in the following decade, as Adolph died in a hunting accident in Monterey in 1914, and his mother, Amelia, committed suicide in her own Hotel Waldo in Santa Cruz in March, 1915 (San Francisco Chronicle, March 31, 1915)

San Francisco Call, February 19, 1909

San Francisco Chronicle, March 31, 1915

Mission Block 28, The Hagemann Family



From 1897 - 1900, Hagemann’s parcel was occupied by the stables and grading camp of the Buckman Contracting Co., with utility buildings and a lodging house clustered at the northern edge of the parcel near a large stable (the building with the “X” over the roof). The contracting company used this location to store and repair equipment, stable draft animals, and feed and house temporary laborers.

Buckman’s camp relocated here after their previous camp at Waller and Steiner was deemed unsanitary and was ordered to move by the San Francisco Health Officer (San Francisco Call, August 23, 1896). Buckman’s workers may not have cleaned up their camp in this new location - they just had fewer middle-class residential neighbors to complain about the noise and smell.

The Market Street Planing Mill and Lumber Yard to the northwest across Dolores and 14th, the Chinese camp and vegetable gardens across Guerrero to the east, bocce ball courts on this and neighboring blocks, and rental houses interspersed with “vacant,” “ruined” or “dilapidated” buildings on neighboring blocks lent a mixed industrial and working-class residential character to the neighborhood.

San Francisco Crocker-Langley City Directory, 1899Page 342.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map - San Francisco Sheet 201, 1899


The Devastation of 1906

Much of the northern part of the Mission Dolores neighborhood was destroyed by the April 1906 earthquake and fire, with the blocks between Valencia and Dolores Streets as far south as 20th Street devastated by the flames.

In photos taken soon after the disaster, few buildings remain on the blocks east of Dolores Street. Piles of rubble and scattered temporary shacks pictured in these photos are now part of the fill beneath today’s homes and businesses of Ramona and neighboring streets.

View south down Dolores Street from Market Street , 1906, California State Library

Dol

ores

St.

Guerrero St.

Clinton Park

14th St.


Arrows on map above show the approximate camera location and direction of the photos at right.

Map: “Map of part of San Francisco, California, April 18, 1908: showing buildings constructed and buildings under construction

during two years after fire of April 18, 1906,” UCLA Library

Photos: View northwest from 14th Street and Guerrero Street toward Clinton Park and view northwest from 15th Street and Guerrero Street across Ramona St. block 1906. California Historical Society

Guerre

ro St.

14th St.

15th St.

The Devastation of 1906

14th St.

15th St.

Guerre

ro St.

From “North on Guerrero St. between 15th and 16th Sts. Feb. 1928.” Collection of The Bancroft Library

Ramona in the 20th CenturyThe Neighborhood 1911-1996


A massive effort to provide new housing and services in the Mission District following the 1906 earthquake and fire led to a boom in construction. By 1914, as shown in the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map at right, most of the lots on Ramona Street were occupied by 2-family homes.

Ramona Street itself was formed from lands owned together by the Hagemann and Mangels families. The Hagemann family and their agents subdivided their own parcel on the eastern side of Ramona Street, and sold the land to individual owners prior to building. The Mangels family agents subivided the western side of Ramona Street and built homes before selling the properties, as seen in their October 1, 1911 San Francisco Call advertisement above. The ad’s emphasis on short hallways and adjoined living and dining room spaces is in direct contrast to the older narrow flat style exemplified by 65/67 Ramona. By 1914, the west side of the street was almost fully developed with only 2 lots still vacant. Five vacant lots on the east side of the street may indicate the slower progress of a less intensive property selling and building campaign undertaken by the Hagemann family’s agents.

Though Ramona Street was fully residential in 1914, in contrast to the horticultural and industrial uses of the block before the earthquake and fire, the surrounding neighborhood was still mixed in character. The Leonard Lumber Co. sheds and office were directly across 15th to the south of Ramona Street, and the Matt C. McElerham and Spencer St. planing mills were in the same block to the south of the lumber yard. A contractor’s storage yard and stable was just across 14th Street to the north. When residents of Ramona Street stepped outside their front doors and looked up and down the street, they would see and hear the booming construction industry just beyond their residential enclave.

According to 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census data, most households on Ramona Street consisted of a nuclear family in each unit of the 2-6-unit buildings on the street. A few families also had extended family members or non-family lodgers in their households. The homes along Ramona Street represent an eclectic mixture of architectural styles, but the predominance of two-family residential units with integrated, ground-floor garages built between 1911 and 1923 constitute a potentially National Register eligible historic district (San Francisco Planning Department 2005, page 45). Exterior alterations to most buildings since the initial period of construction have been minimal, and as such the integrity of Ramona Street’s historic character is good.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, San Francisco Sheet 665, 1914

New Flats on Ramona Street

San Francisco Call, October 11, 1911


The Neighborhood Reconstructed

The dramatically increased residential density in the neighborhood created a need for new services for local residents. A few of these built in the vicinity of Ramona Street by 1911 included health care facilities, a child care center, and a baseball park.

The Mary’s Help Hospital at the corner of Guerrero and Clinton Park offered care at reduced fees to the poor, and included a large maternity ward. As seen in the article below, however, some women in the neighborhood still sought care from private, and potentially dangerous sources.

Baseball fans could watch the San Francisco Seals play at Recreation Park at 15th and Valencia between 1907 and 1930.

The Holy Family Day Home, which still operates at the northeast corner of Dolores Street and 16th Street, served the needs of working mothers of pre-school aged children.

San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 28, 1915Map from “The Chevalier Commercial Pictorial and Tourist Map” of San Francisco, 1911


Many working class San Franciscans whose South of Market homes had been destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire relocated to new developments in the Mission Dolores neighborhood through the subsequent years of neighborhood reconstruction. The neighborhood character was then, and for decades remained, predominantly working class until the influx of technology professionals in the early 1990s.

Most Ramona Street men worked as skilled laborers or tradesmen in the early decades of the 20th century. The first recorded resident of #67 Ramona Street was machinist, Malcolm Vance, who resided there in 1912. The first family of #65 Ramona was that of printer and lino operator, Louis Muir, in 1913 and 1914. In 1920, Hippolyte Cauwet, in #65, worked as a superintendent at the F. Thomas Parisian Cleaning and Dyeing Works. In the same year, Christopher Merchant of #67 was a building contractor. In 1930, Howard Knoll of #65 was a shipping clerk at a candy factory, and John Boland was a laborer. Among the street’s other male residents in these years was a glass blower, ‘packer,’ auto dealer, miner, veterinary surgeon, chiropodist, janitor, fireman, stevedore, laundry driver, auto mechanic, accountant, liquor merchant, iron worker, bookkeeper, and laborer.

Though women of #65 and #67 Ramona Street; Marguerite Cauwet, Thora Merchant, Marie Knoll, and Tessie Boland; have no listed occupations in 1920 and 1930, many other women on the block contributed economically to their families by working outside the home. In 1920 these included a grocer (age 44), a decorator for Pacific Novelty (age 17), a bank bookkeeper (27), a wrapper in a dyeing company (32), a laundry worker (34), and a worker in an overall factory (24). One woman was the head of her own household, a New York-born unmarried music teacher (42), who owned #69 Ramona Ave. and lived there with her 75 year old, German-born mother. Working women in 1930 included two bank clerks (ages 18 and 23), an office clerk (23), a “marker” at a Dryer & Cleaner (18), and a hospital “janitress” (41).

After the Bolands and Knolls left Ramona Street in the 1950s, #65 and #67 continued to be occupied by skilled tradesmen, laborers, and clerical workers. In 1958, William Holster of #65 was a carpenter, and Chris Carlsen, the owner and resident of #67, was a steel worker. In 1962, Rodney Welch of #67 was a machinist. John Simmons, of #65 in 1964, was an office worker. Rafael Baca, of #67 was a surgery assistant in 1966. Hector Valenzuela, who lived in #65 between 1968 and 1972, was a dye specialist at a bridal-wear shop. Juan Coto, an electrician, lived in #67 from 1969 to 1984.

Ramona Street’s residents reflected the broad change seen in many parts of the Mission District through the 1990s, as young technology workers at the leading edge of the Internet boom years moved to San Francisco. Jonathan Steuer, who lived in #67 between 1991 and 1997, led the growth of the Cyborganic community which combined the company’s offices with a residential group sharing technological and social interests. The project started upstairs in #67 in 1991, expanding to include the residents of #65 in 1993, #59 (next door) and #80/82 (across the street) in 1994, and 1834-1836 15th Street (on the corner) in 1995. From 1995, “Thursday Night Dinners” hosted at #65/67 connected the Cyborganic group to a broader community of like minds. Jenny Cool describes the growth of the Ramona residential group in her 2008 doctoral dissertation:

The housemates at 67 Ramona, single and in their mid-twenties, made a conscious choice to live communally, sharing groceries, household chores and expenses, and social lives. Having lived before in groups that shared nothing but the rent, they decided to create a household where food in the refrigerator was not labeled as personal property, and residents did not simply come and go, as if living in a hotel. Their Ramona Avenue apartment became a gathering place for young techies, ravers, and artists in the City’s burgeoning rave and multimedia scenes. When neighbors moved out of the apartment below (65 Ramona), the household expanded, adding two new members, and beginning the process through which more than thirty community members moved into apartments on the street as they came up for rent over the next few years. Each new apartment was connected to the group’s local computer network via Ethernet cable run-ning over rooftops and across the street. (Cool 2008, page 212).

In 1996, the Cyborganic offices moved away from Ramona Street, though some of the telecommunications infrastructure still remains in the basement of #65/67. No obvious evidence exists to show the reported use of #65’s kitchen as a server room.

20th-Century Demography


1930 United States Federal Census entries for 65 and 67 Ramona Street

1920 United States Federal Census entries for 65 and 67 Ramona Street

20th-Century Demography

A predominance of Irish-Americans and Irish immigrants among the first residents of the reconstructed Mission District after the 1906 earthquake and fire created what is popularly seen as the neighborhood’s early 20th century ethnic character. Between 1906 and 1940, the mixture of German, Irish, Scandinavian, and American immigrants living as neighbors in the district apparently led to the development of a Mission “accent” heard only in the neighborhood (San Francisco Planning Department 2005, page 31). Its working class, primarily Euro-American character was relatively stable until the Second World War, when wartime industrial workers moved into the dense residential areas of the Mission during the 1940s. These migrant workers - including many African-Americans from the southeastern United States - were a first wave of 20th-century population change in the neighborhood, and were followed by Hispanic families from Mexico and Central America through the 1950s, as well as Asian immigrant families in the 1960s.

The 1920 and 1930 United States Federal Census schedules are the most recent censuses with household-level information currently available to researchers. These records give us demographic snapshots of the families living at 65/67 Ramona Street and their neighbors in the second and third decades of the street’s history. In these years, most adult residents of the street were born in the United States, though some immigrated from England, Ireland (or the Irish Free State, such as John and Tessie Boland in #67 in 1930), Norway, Canada, Romania, Bohemia, Wales, Germany, and Switzerland. Anthony Valenzuela, an office clerk rooming at #59 in 1930, was born in “South America.” American-born adults with foreign-born parents had roots in Denmark, Austria, Ireland, France, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, England, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Russia, and Italy.

65/67 Ramona StreetThe house and its residents

Old and new door hardware, 67 Ramona Street


San Francisco Call, April 17, 1912

Throughout 1911, Adolph and Maud Hagemann subdivided their property between Dolores and Guerrero into 75’ by 25’ residential lots for individual buyers’ residential development. On May 4 of that year, the parcel located at 180’ North of 15th Street, later 65/67 Ramona Street, was sold to August C. & Anna Hollin.

The following April, August Hollin applied for a building permit from the City of San Francisco to erect a two story house with a basement on the property. Intended to be occupied by two families, the building would have 9’6” ceilings in both units, patent flues, and a gravel covered roof (SF Permit application No. 41985). The construction contract with A. Debenedetti was reported in the April 17, 1912 issues of the San Francisco Call and Daily Pacific Builder. The Spring Valley Water Company tap records show that water was connected to the residence on June 17, 1912 (#69362, Volume 5, page 1755). The address was “retapped” June 29, 1932.

The Hollin’s new investment, and #59/61 next door, was designed by San Francisco architect John A. Porporato. A prolific designer of residential buildings and Italian-American mausoleums, Porporato was recognized alongside several Italian-American professionals at the 1911 Turin International Exposition with a silver medal for his architectural work in the city of San Francisco (San Francisco Call, October 25 1911, page 2). Although the 1911 Davis Commercial Encyclopedia describes Porporato as a “prominent young San Francisco Architect who has achieved against tremendous odds” (page 176) he is not individually recognized as a “great” San Francisco architect.

65/67 Ramona Street is Built

View northeast on east side of Ramona St., 2010

Daily Pacific Builder, April 17, 1912


The larger front rooms, more elaborate fireplace, better lighting, and possibly more dining-room details in the upper unit (#67) made this a more desirable home. For most of the years during which the house was occupied by the property owners, the owning family lived upstairs and renters lived in #65. When owners John and Tessie Boland moved downstairs from #67 to #65 in the early 1950s, they may have done so to lessen the climb in their advanced age, or because they needed the greater income possible from renting out #67.

In 1977, permits were issued to install modern bathroom fixtures. This is likely when the bathroom windows were partially blocked to accommodate the current bath/shower placement.

A doorway appears to have originally connected the parlor to the main bedroom in #67, but it was closed and plastered over at some later time in the century. Other residences built between 1910 and 1920 in this neighborhood still have sliding doors connecting the parlor to the adjacent bedroom, showing how resi-dents could choose to open the doors for light and ventilation or close them for privacy. The door in #67 may have been blocked to provide greater security, sound insulation, and privacy for unrelated renters and boarders who used the parlor as a bedroom.

The mirrored sliding doors for the closet in #67’s front bedroom/library are a later-20th-century addition, likely expanding access to the storage space to suit modern preferences for a wide opening into clothing storage. The pieced-togeth-er top moulding of the closet and discontinuous flooring show changes made to accommodate modern hardware. The existing, small swinging closet doors in the front bedroom/library of #65 are likely close to what was originally present in #67.

67 Ramona Street, rooms and renovations

Partially covered bathroom windows viewed from the air shaft

A

A

B

B

CC

Parlor Bedroom /

Library

Bedroom

Dining Kitchen

Bathw/c

clos.

clos.

clos.

clos

.

clos

.

firep

l.ch

in.


In the lower unit, #65, the door between the kitchen and former dining room is semi-permanently blocked to provide privacy for tenants using the room as a bedroom.

#65 also lacks built-in dining room storage like that in #67. Future cosmetic or structural upgrades to the wall in #65 could reveal whether this feature was originally absent, or removed at a later time to make #65s dining room more “bedroom-like.”

65 Ramona Street, rooms and renovations

D

D

E

EParlor Bedroom /

Library

Bedroom

Dining Kitchen

Bathw/c

clos.

clos.

clos

.

clos

.

clos

.

firep

l.


Basement and exterior renovations

Permit applications filed with the City of San Francisco show major structural work done at 65/67 Ramona Street has consisted of multiple upgrades to the rear staircase and a significant repair to raise settled portions of the building’s front.

On April 24, 1961, owner Mr. Carlsen filed a building permit application to “Alter base of partition and install masonry base. Alter low post at back stairs and one under building and install masonry bases. Where marked P on attached diagram remove soil and install sill on concrete base.” Permit #222851 was issued May 2, 1961. As the work was done at the same time the Carlsen’s sold the property to Angela Borgen, it was likely a condition of the sale. Unfortunately, the diagram mentioned in the application is not on file at the City of San Francisco.

On November 16, 1973, Angela and Roger Borgen filed a permit to “Replace old stairs and landings on dwelling. Change to switch back type.” Work was completed under permit #383681. These stairs were repaired in 1993 under permit #719053, also issued to Angela Borgen. Though no drawings remain of the original staircase, it likely resembled others on the block which extend perpendicular to the back wall of the house, with switchbacks connecting the two residences to ground level.

On August 2, 1962, Angela Borgen applied for a permit to “Raise front portion of bldg. approx. 2 inches where it has settled. It appears that one or more posts may have been removed in basement, under central lateral girder. Repair sidewalk in front of bldg. (area approx. 108 sq. ft.) Permit #240728 was issued August 8, 1962. It may have been during this work that the second story decorative column bases were cut level with the artificial stone portion of the lower story facade.

Many alterations to homes, especially those not visible from the exterior, are made without city permits. The unframed room subdivisions in the basement of 65/67 Ramona St., and the boarded and altered lower story windows like those pictured below, are evidence of past repairs and renovations made outside of the permit process.

Garage

Rai

sed

Wal

kC

over

ed P

assa

ge

Studio


Urban apartment design

William Tuthill’s 1890 generalized plan for an urban apartment, shown at left, is similar to the layout Porporato used for his 1912 Ramona St. flats. City lots 25’ wide and between 75’ and 100’ in depth presented the same challenges to designers in many cities through these decades, with the needs for room function, light, ventilation, and privacy finding balance in a limited number of ways. Of this plan, Tuthill writes:

The rooms required in an apartment are: a parlor, dining-room, three or four bedrooms, as servant’s room, kitchen and bath-room, together with proper closets and store-rooms. A library is added if the plan permits.

In laying out the following plan, care has been taken to give each room and staircase the maximum ventilation possible, with a free use of smaller light shafts… They have been made as nearly as possible square, that form giving the most light for the space covered…

The location of the dining-room and kitchen at the rear of the building has favor generally from the fact that it removes the noise and odors of the kitchen as far as possible away from the parlor (pages 38-40).

The lack of a servant’s room (like that pictured on Tuthill’s 1890 plan) in the Ramona Street flats shows, in part, to the decline in hired household help employed by working and middle-class American families after the turn of the 20th century.


Early 20th-century kitchen and bath styles

The catalog-perfect bathroom (Sears Roebuck Co. 1912, page 1162) and kitchen (Alabastine Co. 1906) at right show the basic fixture styles that may have been original to the Ramona Street flats. The kitchen range could either have burned solid fuel (coal or wood) or gas.

The Westinghouse refrigerator in the basement of 65/67 matches those advertised as “Dual Automatic” models during the early 1930s. If it was purchased new for this house, it was either the Knolls’ or the Bolands’ fridge.


The original decoration of the Ramona Street flats probably wasn’t dominated by the plain white typical of today’s rental units. Combinations of wallpaper, paint, and stenciling decorated walls of the period, framed by painted or stained woodwork. Each wallpaper style from the 1912 Sears Roebuck Company catalog (left) included complementary patterns for walls, borders and ceiling. The interior paint colors available in 1915 to Montgomery Ward customers (bottom left) offer vibrant options compared to our current tastes.

Almost equally vibrant is the foliage-adorned wallpaper found in the basement studio of 65/67 Ramona (bottom right). this remnant might be an insight into decor from the 1960s-1970s.

Early 20th-century interior paint and wallpaper


Gas, and later electric lights such as those offered in The Harris Brothers Co. 1915 catalog (excerpt below), illuminated the rooms.

Samples of basic hall carpet and linoleum patterns from the 1912 Sears Roebuck Catalog show a penchant for bold, floral and geo-metric patterns in high-contrast colors. Though the Ramona Street flats have hardwood floors throughout, rugs would have provided insulation and quiet in most rooms, including the hall and stairs. The kitchen may have had wood or linoleum flooring.

Early 20th-century lighting and floor coverings

AppendicesResidential Timeline and Documents

Sears Roebuck & Co. 1912 Catalog, Page 1053


Year Property Owner #65 Residents #67 Residents

Residential Timeline

1912

1924

1914

1926

1916

1928

1918

1920

1922

August C. & Anna Hollin(May 4, 1911 - May 2, 1922)

Vance, Malcolm Trimble - Machinist (GRV Oct. 12, 1912)

Muir, Louis Joseph and StellaLouis Joseph Muir was a printer and lino operator. (GRV 1913; CLSF 1913:1320, 1914:1360*) Merchant, Christopher T. and Mrs. Thora M.

Christopher T. Merchant was born in California in 1876 to Australian-born parents. Between 1915 and 1920 he worked as a contractor in house building, for Holm & Son, later Holm & Merchant. Thora Merchant was born in Michigan in 1888 to Danish-born parents. Christopher and Thora had two daughters, Gladys, born in about 1908, and Flora, born in about 1914. (GRV 1914, 1918, 1920; CLSF 1914:1298, 1915-16:1309; USFC 1920)

Cauwet, Hippolyte N. Jr. and Marguerite,Hippolyte Cauwet was born in France in 1887, and immigrated to the United States in 1908. Through the 1920s, Cauwet was a Foreman, Superintendent, and Carpet Manager for the F. Thomas Parisian Cleaning and Dyeing Works of San Francisco. Marguerite Cauwet was born in California in 1887 to German-born parents. Hippolyte and Margaret’s son, Raymond, was born in California in about 1913. (CLSF 1915-16:432 1923:453, 1924:356, 1925:468; GRV

1916, 1918, 1920, 1924, USFC 1920)

Jacob & Katherina Straessler(May 2 1922 - May 8, 1926)

Straessler, Jacob, Katherina, and Miss Margaret J.,Jacob Straessler was a grocer. His daughter, Margaret, was a bookkeeper and cashier. (CLSF 1924, 1925:1770; GRV 1923, 1924)

John J. & Tessie B. Boland(May 8, 1926 - February 6, 1956)

1930

*See Page 33 for source abbreviations

Cauwets’ East Bay misadventureSan Francisco Chronicle,

February 28, 1921

1932

1934

1936

Boland, John and TessieJohn and Tessie bought the Ramona Street house in 1926 and had moved in by 1929. In the following year, Boland estimated the value of the property at $8500.

John Boland was born in the Irish Free State (Ireland minus Northern Ireland) in 1889 and immigrated to the United States in1908. John was a veteran of the First World War, and in 1930 worked as a laborer. He married Tessie Boland who was born in the Irish Free State in 1890, in 1917.

Knoll, Howard and MarieHoward Knoll was born in California in 1897 to German-born parents. A war veteran, in 1930 he worked as a shipping clerk at a candy factory, in 1945 as a teamster, and in 1949 as a driver for the Valley Exp. Co. Marie, born in California in 1907 to a New York-born father and German-born mother, married Howard in 1930. It was his second marriage and her first. The couple paid $50/month rent, and their home was equipped with a “radio set.”

In 1932, lodger Frank J. Shields shared the flat with Howard and Marie.




Knoll, Howard and Marie (cont’d)(CLSF 1945:974, 1949:1041; GRV 1930, 1932, 1944; SFTD

1938; USFC 1930)

1940

1942

1944

1946

1948

1938

1950

John J. & Tessie B. Boland(May 8, 1926 - February 6, 1956)

Edwards, Adolph E. and TamaraAdolph was a clerk (PSF 1951:399)

Boland, John and Tessie (cont’d)In the late 1940s, John worked as a laborer and “hod carrier” (an assistant to a bricklayer or plasterer) for San Francisco Buildings and Public Works.

In 1932, lodgers James Hughes and James Fee-ney lived with the Bolands in #67.

(CLSF 1929:333, 1945:205, 1949:205; GRV 1930, 1932, 1944; PSF 1951:164, 1953:1877, 1954:506; SFTD 1938;

USFC 1930)

Angela Borgen(April 21, 1961 - February 4, 2008)

1952

1954

1956

1958

1960

1962

Thorlief & Barbara Lindstrom(February 6 - August 28, 1956)

Chris J. & Ida Carlsen(August 28, 1956 - April 21, 1961)

Boland, JohnAbout a year before Tessie Boland’s death in No-vember 1954, John and Tessie moved downstairs to #65. (PSF 1953:1877, 1954:506; SFAR Ledgers 1954)

Vacant (PSF 1957:2118)

Holster, William (carpenter) and Margaret (PSF 1958:654)

Welger, Mrs. Mary (widow of Martin) (PSF 1961:1571)


Skrash, C. (PSF 1954:1152)

Carlsen, Chris J (steel worker) and Ida (PSF 1957:209, 1958:218)


Welch, Rodney J. (machinist, California Screw Co.) and Ligia R. (PSF 1962:1698)





1964

1966

1968

1970

Simmons, John (office worker) and Cristina(PSF 1964:1413)

Vargas, Mrs. Lisa (PSF 1966:739)

Valenzuela, Hector and Maria L. Hector was a Dye Specialist at Chance Bridal Company (PSF 1968:1380, 1969-70:1404, 1971:403, 1972:410)

Baca, Rafael (surgery assistant, St. Luke’s Hospital) and Olga M. (PSF 1966:64)

Welch, R. J. (PSF 1968:1425)

Coto, Juan (electrician, Pacific Telephone Co.) and Mina (HDSF 1980:415, 1981:411, 1982:318, 1983:315, 1984:312; PSF 1969-70:293, 1971:403, 1972:410, 1973:410, 1976:210, 1978:435, 1980:218, 1981:215)

1974

1982

1976

1984

1978

1986

1988

1980

1972

Morales, Mrs. Myrna (PSF 1973:410, 1976:422, 1978:715, 1980:709, 1981:560)




1990

Cantrell, David (HDSF 1991:312; 1992:311)

1994

1996

1998

2000

1992

Schneider, Rick (HDSF 1997:344, 1998:370, 1999:379, 2000:425)

In 1999, with Josh Dorff

Steuer, Jonathan S. (HDSF 1993:306, 1996:323, 1997:344, )

In 1994, with Clerici, Gianmaria; Rennella, Viviana (HDSF 1994:313)

In 1995, with Francis, A. (HDSF 1995:321)

Kuniavsky, Mike (HDSF 1998:370; HDSF 1999:379; HDSF 2000:425)

In 1999, with John Slenk (HDSF 1999:379)


Timeline Source Abbreviations:

GRV: Great Register of Voters

USFC: United States Federal Census

CLSF: Crocker Langley San Francisco City Directory

PSF: Polk’s San Francisco City Directory

SFTD: San Francisco Telephone Directory

HDSF: Haines Directory for San Francisco


Documents

Opposite: Application for Building Permit (front and back) by A. Hollin to erect a residence at 65 Ramona, filed April 10, 1912.

Left: Transfer of land title from Adolph and Maud Hagemann to August C. Hollin and wife,May 4, 1911, San Francisco Assessor-Recorder book 534, page 130.


Documents


Transfer of land title from August C. and Anna Hollin to Jacob and Katharina Straessler, May 2, 1922. San Francisco Assessor-Recorder book 547, page 227.

Documents


Transfer of land title from Katharina Straessler (“a widow”) to John J. and Tessie B. Boland, May 8, 1926. San Francisco Assessor-Recorder

volume 1260, page 449. (quality poor in microfilm)

Documents


Documents

Application for building permit by Chris J. Carlsen to alter and repair the partition wall, sill, and staircase posts and bases. April 14, 1961.


Documents

Transfer of land title from Chris J. and Ida Carlsen to Angela Borgen, April 19, 1961. San Francisco Assessor-Recorder, book A255, page 908.


Documents

Application for building permit by Angela Borgen to raise settled portions of building front and repair front sidewalk, August 2, 1962.


Documents

Application for building permit by Angela Borgen to replace exterior staircase and landings, November 16, 1962.


Documents

Application for permit by Angela Borgen, charge notice, and inspector’s record to install updated bathroom fixtures. June, 1977.


Documents

Application for building permit by Angela Borgen to repair exterior staircase and landings, April 9, 1993. Plans are enclosed in back folder.


Primary Sources

Many primary sources for this project were sought in the online sources listed below. If you’re interested in finding out more about your home, neighborhood, or city, these are good places to start.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps: Maps for San Francisco (1887 - 1950) can be accessed online by San Francisco Public Library card-holders. A few original map books, showing color coding for building construction types, are available to researchers in the SFPL San Francisco History Center.

Neighborhood Photographs: Hundreds of historical photos from multiple California repositories can be searched and viewed through Calisphere.

City Directories: The names, addresses and, in some cases, occupations of your home’s past residents are listed in the Crocker-Langley, Polk’s Crocker-Langley, Polks, and Haines directories for San Francisco. A limited range of years are available online at the Internet Archive, and a more complete hard-copy set are stored for public use in the Magazines & Newspapers section on the 5th floor of the San Francisco Public Library’s main branch.

Federal Census Schedules and Voter Registry Indexes: A wide range of these government documents are available online to subscribers of Ancestry.com. The full federal census schedules and limited voter registries are also available on microfilm in the San Francisco Public Library’s Magazines & Newspapers section and San Francisco History Center. These and other online and print resources for learning about individual Californians can also be accessed for a small fee at the California Genealogical Society and Library in Oakland.

Some documents can only be found in person at a library, archive, or government agency. For this house history, these included:

City of San Francisco Department of Building Inspection Permit Services: Building construction and alteration permits.

City and County of San Francisco Office of the Assessor-Recorder: Sales ledgers and title documents, assessor’s block books.

San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library: Spring Valley Wa-ter Company records, assessor’s block books, Edward’s Abstracts of real estate, original Sanborn Fire Insurance Company map books.

The Alabastine Co. Homes Healthful and Beautiful: Sane and Sanitary Decoration of Homes, Illustrated with Designs in Alabastine Tints with Descriptive Letter Press. Paris, Ontario. Alabastine Co., 1906.

Carey & Co., Inc. Revised Mission Dolores Neighborhood Survey, Volumes 1 and 2. San Francisco, CA: Mission Dolores Neighborhood Association, 2009.

Cool, Jennifer. Communities of Innovation: Cyborganic and the Birth of Networked Social Media. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Southern California, 2008.

Harris Brothers Co. A Plan Book of Harris Homes. Chicago, Ill. Harris Brothers Co., 1915.

Montgomery Ward & Co. Montgomery Ward & Co.’s Paint Book. 1915.

San Francisco Planning Department. City Within a City: Historic Context Statement for San Francisco’s Mission District. San Francisco, CA: City of San Francisco, 2007.

San Francisco Planning Department. Inner Mission North 1853-1943 Context Statement. San Francisco, CA: City of San Francisco, 2005.

Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalog No. 124. Chicago, Ill. Sears Roebuck & Co., 1912.

Tuthill, William. The City Residence: Its Design and Construction. New York, NY. William T. Comstock, 1890

Secondary Sources


About the Author

Stacy Kozakavich is an archaeologist and historian with a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley; a specialization in nineteenth and early twentieth-century communities, sites, artifacts, and documents; and over fifteen years of experience working with historical resources in California and western Canada. Her past projects have included researching and documenting historical intentional communities such as the Kaweah Cooperative Commonwealth of Tulare County, conducting archaeological surveys and excavations at sites such as the buried remains of the demolished UC Botanical Conservatory in Berkeley, and researching historical artifact collections for sites such as San Jose’s 19th-century Market Street Chinatown. Stacy has taught university level courses in American material culture, introductory archaeology, historical archaeology and archaeological field methods.

Stacy’s interest in house histories grew from her experience researching historic buildings for cultural resources management projects in the Bay Area, and through her discovery of the past lives connected to her own Berkeley home.

Originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Stacy has resided in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2001. She currently resides in Oakland with her family.

Secondary Sources

Business

65-67 Ramona Street