#63: San Francisco’s Treasure Island (pt. 1)

What this episode covers

Treasure Island is easily visible from San Francisco’s Embarcadero, a low-lying front porch jutting out towards the Golden Gate from Yerba Buena Island. Palm trees in a silhouetted row set off massive white buildings, dwarfed by the towering silver Bay Bridge marching across the water towards Oakland. That bridge carries over 130,000 people a day within yards of this artificial lily pad, most of them whizzing by at 70 miles per hour without giving it a second thought. What is Treasure Island? Why is it there? And where is it going? In the first episode of this 2-part podcast series, you’ll learn how politics, pride, and the Great Depression collided to spark this audacious construction project, and the story of its glamorous first occupant — the 1939 World’s Fair. Crazed seagulls, the tooth of a woolly mammoth, Irving Berlin, and a radio signal from Bombay are just a few of the elements that make this story a San Francisco classic. Skip to Part Two. For further edification: » “Trails End for ’39ers” – Almanac for Thirty-Niners – WPA, 1938 » “Western Wonderland” – Time Magazine, 1939 » Gorgeous pre-Fair Publicity Film – Prelinger Archives » Newsreel footage of ’39 World’s Fair – Prelinger Archives » Home movie from the ’39 World’s Fair – Prelinger Archives » “Not So Golden Gate” – Time Magazine, 1939 » “The Legend of Yerba Buena Island” 1936 » Treasure Island – Wikipedia » Treasure Island Music Festival – Noisepop/Another Planet

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