| Chapter 1 | The Original Land and Shores: Sculpting a City | 1 |
| Walk Around the Coastline-Mid-Nineteenth Century | 4 |
| Islands and Rocks | 5 |
| The Filling of the Bay and the Abandoned Gold Rush Fleet | 8 |
| Tearing Down the Hills | 15 |
| San Francisco's Sand Dunes and Marshland | 21 |
| Shelly Cocoas | 22 |
| Chapter 2 | Amusement Parks | 27 |
| Woodward's Gardens | 27 |
| Remembrance of Woodward's Gardens | 31 |
| The Chutes on Haight Street | 37 |
| The Chutes at Tenth and Fulton | 40 |
| The Fillmore Street Chutes | 43 |
| Playland at the Beach | 44 |
| Herb Caen's View on Playland | 54 |
| Chapter 3 | Ocean, Bay & Wharf-side Attractions | 55 |
| Meigg's Wharf and the Cobweb Palace | 55 |
| Cobweb Palace | 58 |
| Sutro Heights | 59 |
| Adolph Sutro's San Francisco | 59 |
| The Cliff House | 61 |
| The Cliff House and the Parallel | 62 |
| Sutro's Baths & Museum | 66 |
| Memories of Sutro Baths | 70 |
| Chapter 4 | Gambling Houses, Parlors, Clubs, Saloons and Dives | 71 |
| The Gold Rush Era | 72 |
| The Enterprise Years | 76 |
| Post-Quake San Francisco | 79 |
| The Depression and War Years | 82 |
| The Fillmore Jazz Clubs | 86 |
| The Beat Era-Post WWII | 87 |
| The Primalon on Fillmore Street | 87 |
| The Curtain Falls | 88 |
| David de Alba at the Finocchio Club | 89 |
| Chapter 5 | Early Theatres & Stage | 91 |
| The Early Years-First Half of the Golden Era | 92 |
| Elisa Biscaccianti | 96 |
| San Francisco's Star Rises-Second Half of the Golden Era | 97 |
| Civil War and Silver | 101 |
| Chapter 6 | California Midwinter International Exposition-1894 | 111 |
| California Midwinter International Exposition | 112 |
| Chapter 7 | Panama-Pacific International Exposition-1915 | 127 |
| The Planning Begins | 129 |
| Building the Exposition | 129 |
| The Exposition City and Its Exhibits | 131 |
| State and International Buildings and Facilities | 137 |
| The Joy Zone | 139 |
| The Panama-Pacific International Exposition Experience | 141 |
| Memories of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition | 142 |
| The End of a Great Fair | 145 |
| Chapter 8 | Golden Gate International Exposition-1939 | 147 |
| The Planning Begins | 148 |
| Building the Exposition | 149 |
| The Exposition City and Its Exhibits | 154 |
| State and Federal Buildings and Facilities | 158 |
| International Participation | 161 |
| The Joy Zone | 168 |
| The Golden Gate International Exposition Experience | 169 |
| The End of a Great Fair | 172 |
| A Young View of the Golden Gate International Exposition | 173 |
| Chapter 9 | San Francisco's Restaurants of the Past | 175 |
| The Poodle Dog | 176 |
| The French Room-Clift Hotel Menu | 182 |
| The Italians | 187 |
| Eating Chinese | 189 |
| Theme Restaurants | 191 |
| Coffee Dan's | 192 |
| The Domino Club | 199 |
| An Exile's Toast | 200 |
| Chapter 10 | San Francisco's Early Grand Hotels | 201 |
| San Francisco's Early Hotels | 202 |
| The Niantic Hotel | 203 |
| Gold Rush Hotels | 204 |
| San Francisco's First Grand Hotels | 208 |
| The Lick House | 210 |
| The Grand Hotel | 213 |
| Senator Sharon and Miss Hill at the Grand Hotel | 214 |
| The Palace Hotel | 215 |
| The Baldwin Hotel | 220 |
| Nearly the End of an Era | 222 |
| Bibliography | 225 |
| Index | 227 |
| About the Author | 237 |
