Learning About Big Alma, Great Grandmother of San Francisco from a Walking Tour

Thursday - A City Walking Tour


We met our tour guide at 2p.m.at Union Square in downtown San Francisco and started our tour from there.

The first thing we learned was about the hearts placed throughout the square.

This particular one that most tourists take pictures with  is called the Tony Bennett heart for the song he sang - I left my heart in San Francisco.

Union Square, San Francisco

I love learning about the colourful characters and  history of the city we are visiting.


The most interesting part of our San Francisco city tour were learning about the following:

Dewey Monument - Union Square, San Francisco

1. The Dewey Monument & Big Alma

Alma de Bretteville Spreckels was the lady who modeled for the sculptor who create the statue.

She was known as the Big Alma,  the Great Grandmother of SF.

Alma's family immigrated to America from Europe, and was very poor. In order to make money for a living, she posed naked for artists.



Alma, at nineteen years old, posted as Victoria, Goddess of Victory, for the Dewey Monument which stands in the middle of Union Square, San Francisco.

Goddess of Victory Statue, Union Square,  SF

Adolph Spreckels, a wealthy man, fell in love with the Dewey Monument and the lady who modelled for the statue, Alma.

Adolph left his wife of twenty years and married Alma.  Alma was disliked by many people in the city as she was dubbed the gold digger.

Standing on Madam Lane where many men were kidnapped in gold rush days.

Alma nicknamed her wealthy husband,  24 years her senior, a sugar merchant, her 'sugar daddy'. This was how the term was originated.


2. The dark side of San Francisco during gold rush days.

Thousands of prospectors came through the city, stopping by bars for food and drinks.



Unfortunately, many were drugged and kidnapped by dishonest bartenders in the bars. Many were then stripped naked and placed on ships sailing back to various countries without their consent.

These poor kidnapped men were forced to work in slave conditions until they died.

Many of these kidnappings took place in bars located on Madam Lane where many crimes and prostitution took place.

A grand building in downtown San Francisco

3. The POPOS Law - ( Privately Owned Public Open Spaces) included in the 1985 Downtown Plan.



















This law mandates that any privately owned building is required to have a public space, accessible by the public.

The tour guide took us up to one of these POPOS urban park in a downtown office building located on 343 Sansome Street, SF.
















There are at least over seventy nice parks in downtown San Francisco which people can access.

The pubic open space which we visited was a nice, tranquil space for people to escape from the concrete jungle of downtown buildings.

A roof top public space on one of the public buildings - a POPOS law in San Francisco

Standing in one of the public open spaces mandated by a SF law.

This explains the many nice rooftop parks we have seen on our visits to this city.

However, few people in SF know about these beautiful spaces to take advantage of them.

The walking tour was informative and interesting. We were glad we took it! Don't miss it if you are visiting San Francisco!

R.T.
San Francisco
Calif. USA