Ep. 35, Part 1: Alyce Murphy's Early Life in the Mission

Alyce Murphy turned 100 this May. The third-generation San Franciscan spent her early life in a tiny, crowded house behind St. Luke's Hospital with her grandmother after her mom died when she was very young. It was from that home that Alyce experienced the Great Depression and got into her fair share of mischief, as young kids tend to do. In this very special podcast, Alyce talks about the Mission District back in the 1920s and 1930s, watching people go in and out of St. Luke's, and going to Playland and Sutro Baths (where her dad was a manager). Then she compares going out for a Saturday night walking down Mission Street to getting dressed up for a trip downtown to her favorite store—the Emporium. Check back Thursday for Part 2, when Alyce will talk about meeting and marrying her husband, raising a family, and various jobs she had, including as a toll taker on the Bay Bridge shortly after it opened. We recorded this podcast in Alyce's Noe Valley home in May 2018. Film photography by Michelle Kilfeather