popturf

metro area: san francisco / oakland / fremont, CA

peoples temple (sf)

from jim jones, people’s temple, jonestown posted in history by pete_nice

The Peoples Temple moved to their new digs at this address in 1971, the former home of the Albert Pike Memorial Scottish Rite temple. The church purchased the building the following year for $122,500.

The group opened a branch in Los Angeles in 1972 as well. Eventually, they convinced many of the Angelinos to move to San Francisco. By 1975, Peoples Temple had abandoned their plan of making the Redwood Valley their "promised land", and instead focused on recruiting and building the congregation in the Bay Area.

Today, the location is a post office.

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Note: I'm not really sure if it's People's Temple or Peoples Temple. I initially thought that the apostrophe was used to indicate that the people owned the temple (People's), but maybe since the direction of the ownership was questionable in this instance, it is without the possessive form (Peoples).

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craigslist headquarters

from internet posted in technology by pete_nice

With nearly 20 billion pages views per month, craiglist.org is the 10th most popular website in the US, and 37th most popular worldwide. With only 28 employees, the craiglist empire is headquartered at this location.

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heinold’s first and last chance saloon

from jack london posted in literature by corporate_sunshine

Originally constructed in 1880 from the remnants of a whaling ship, this building was purchased and coverted into a saloon in 1883 by Johnny Heinhold. The name refers to the first and last place sailors could get a drink before hitting the open sea, and the pub was frequented by sailors and adventurers.

After Jack London returned from a fishing trip to Japan and gold-prospecting in the Klondike, the 17-year-old would study at the bar to complete his high school education. London told Heinhold of his desire to attend college to become a writer, and Heinhold lent him the money to attend the University of California at Berkeley.

Although London only finished one year at the university, London used many figures from his time at Heinhold's in his writings (including Captain Alex MacLean, who became Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf).

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the fogerty’s house

from creedence clearwater revival posted in music by pete_nice

During the early days of Creedence Clearwater Revival, back when the they were a junior high/high school band called The Blue Velvets, the Fogerty brothers (John and Tom) lived in the family home at this address.

Tom was a bit older and working on his own musical projects; he didn't join the band until after high school.

John Fogerty lived in the basement. As bandmate Stu Cook put it in a SF Gate article: "John had a basement mentality and he still has a basement mentality."

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plymell and ginsberg’s apartment

from zap comix, allen ginsberg, neal cassady posted in comic books by crabapple

After Beat generation mascot Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty in On the Road) divorced from his wife Carolyn in 1963, he went to live with his poet buddy Allen Ginsberg and his poet/writer/drug-enthusiast roommate Charles Plymell at this address.

A hipster and experience czar from Kansas, Plymell would go on to publish the first issue of the underground Zap Comix, an early example of counter-culture underground comics. According to lore, R. Crumb's wife, Dana, sold the first issue of Zap by peddling the comic out of a baby stoller around Haight-Ashbury.

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