Emperor Norton

THIRD TIME THE CHARM? — Over the last 12 years, The Emperor Norton Trust has launched and led two different campaigns to name a major landmark after Emperor Norton: (1) the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and (2) the SF Ferry Building clock tower. Here's a third proposal: Name the Bay Bridge tunnel through Yerba Buena Island — the tunnel that connects the East and West sections of the bridge — “Emperor Norton Tunnel.” This year is the 90th anniversary of the opening of the bridge and tunnel in 1936. And it's the 180th anniversary of Joshua Norton's first arrival in the United States in 1846. Go to EmperorNortonTunnel.org and click the “Proposal” button to learn more. The Emperor Norton Trust is pleased to announce that the Treasure Island Museum has issued a statement in support of the Trust's proposal that the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge tunnel through Yerba Buena Island, S.F., be named the EMPEROR NORTON TUNNEL. The Emperor Norton Trust is pleased to announce that the national Freedom From Religion Foundation’s San Francisco Bay Chapter has issued a statement in support of the Trust's proposal that the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge tunnel through Yerba Buena Island, S.F., be named the EMPEROR NORTON TUNNEL. From 1864 or 1865 until his death in 1880, Emperor Norton is documented to have been a resident of the Eureka Lodgings, at 624 Commercial Street between Montgomery and Kearny, in San Francisco. In 1939, Allen Stanley Lane noted that the Emperor's landlord at the Eureka was David Hutchinson. In 1986, William Drury added the detail that Hutchinson was preceded at the Eureka by Aaron Babcock, who probably was the landlord who took on the Emperor at the Eureka. (Drury mistranscribed Babcock's first name as "Alfred.") Our latest discovery — a part of the Emperor’s story that we believe is documented here for the first time — reveals that David Hutchinson and Aaron Babcock had much more in common than a famous tenant whose residency at the Eureka Lodgings stretched across both of their proprietorships. Between September 1870 and May 1875, the Black-owned, San Francisco-based Pacific Appeal newspaper published some 250 Proclamations from Emperor Norton — by far, more than any other publication. After the exceptionally thin-skinned and litigious Charles Peters responded by suing the Appeal’s editor, the editor — Peter Anderson — published a retraction of the Proclamation in which he forbade Emperor Norton from bringing the Appeal any more Proclamations. A Proclamation of Emperor Norton never again appeared in the Pacific Appeal during the Emperor’s lifetime. The received wisdom has been that the unsigned Proclamation that ran in the Appeal on 8 May 1875 was the Emperor’s opening salvo against Charles Peters. The differences in how the Tribune and the Appeal dealt with Charles Peters and Emperor Norton — and in how Peters dealt with the respective papers — is its own fascinating and very telling story. The Emperor Norton Trust is pleased to announce that the San Francisco Historical Society has issued a statement in support of the Trust's proposal that the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge tunnel through Yerba Buena Island, S.F., be named the EMPEROR NORTON TUNNEL. California Lodge No. 1 of Free and Accepted Masons Endorses "Emperor Norton Tunnel" Naming Proposal The Emperor Norton Trust is delighted to announce that California Lodge No. 1 of Free and Accepted Masons has issued a statement in support of the Trust's proposal that the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge tunnel through Yerba Buena Island, S.F., be named the EMPEROR NORTON TUNNEL. The Emperor Norton Trust is pleased to announce that the Chinese Historical Society of America has issued a statement in support of the Trust's proposal that the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge tunnel through Yerba Buena Island, S.F., be named the EMPEROR NORTON TUNNEL. The Emperor Norton Trust is delighted to announce that the Board of Directors of The Imperial Council