A poolroom brawl, a runaway streetcar, and a couple of park controversies are just a few of the events that transpired in the neighborhood on this week in years past. Let's take a gander at the history books, shall we?
1902: On January 20th, a salesman named Charles Oberdeener was mugged on Webster Street, and robbed of $5. Oberdeener "was walking along the west side of Webster street, between Oak and Page, where there are no houses," the San Francisco Call reported, when he passed three men. One stopped him and told him to throw up his hands and make no noise, while another threatened him with what appeared to be a gun. They rifled through his pockets and took his money, then told him to "get," which he did. It's not clear whether the men were caught.
1907: On January 21st, a Monday morning storm caused serious snafus for streetcar lines throughout the city, but particularly on Haight Street. As the overhead wires sagged, "the steep grade on Haight street between Market and Buchanan was too much," the Call reported. "The painful efforts of the cars to overcome the laws of gravitation and stand on end and mount at an angle of forty-five degrees was amusing to every one but the sideguard-hangers who had paid their nickels to ride." It took streetcars 40-45 minutes to make the trip from the Ferry Building to Steiner Street, according to the Call, which dubbed it the worst day for San Francisco public transportation since the 1906 earthquake and fire.
A few days later, on January 25th, a man named Thomas Duffey was killed after a runaway streetcar barreled down Fillmore Street and struck Duffey as he crossed Haight and Fillmore. Duffey "was struck by the runaway and hurled across the street with great force, his head striking the curbstone," the Call described. The streetcar then continued down Fillmore, past Waller, and almost all the way towards the turn at Duboce Avenue, when its emergency brakes finally kicked in and brought it to a stop. It was the 14th streetcar-related fatality in the past preceding eight months, according to the Call.
1908: On January 26th, the First Christian Church at Duboce and Noe was officially dedicated, with services that lasted nearly all day and featured lunch, dinner, an organist, a choir, and various speeches and sermons. The purchase of the lot of land at Duboce and Noe, plus construction of the church itself, cost a total of $38,840, the Chronicle reported.
1911: On January 28th, the Superintendent of Parks rejected a petition by residents to create a playground at Duboce Park. The reason for the rejection is unclear.
1913: On January 22nd, a doctor was arrested at Haight and Scott streets for having sent a young stage actress "a long letter filled with obscenities," the Call reported. The letter requested that the actress, Elizabeth Mayne, meet the doctor, 27-year-old Dr. Samuel Weiss, at Haight and Scott streets, and asked her to place an advertisement in the morning newspaper indicating whether she agreed to show up.
Mayne took the letter to her manager, who helped her set up a sting operation. She placed the advertisement in the paper as instructed, and did indeed travel to Haight and Scott, but with a police officer following closely behind. Once Mayne and Weiss met and exchanged a few words, the officer stepped out of a doorway and swiftly handcuffed Dr. Weiss, and disarmed him of a revolver which he was apparently carrying.
"Oh, let me go," Dr. Weiss reportedly sobbed. "It's the first time and it will kill my poor old mother." His pleas were unsuccessful, and he was taken to jail.
1976: On January 23rd, three men and one woman were arrested after a brawl in a pool room at 698 Haight (now home to Axum Cafe). Officers were called to the scene to investigate a stabbing, and found one man in a closet bleeding from a knife wound. As the man was being put on a stretcher, a woman stole his wallet from his pocket. Police officers confronted her, and she hit one of them twice. A "free-for-all developed," the Chronicle reported, and the woman was arrested, along with two other men who were booked on "drunk charges."
2006: And finally, on January 19th, the SF Recreation and Park Commission approved a plan to split Duboce Park into three sections: no dogs, dogs on-leash, and dogs off-leash.
