1. Our fair city by the Bay is named after this wealthy 12th century Italian cloth merchant’s son, who renounced a life of riches to minister to lepers, the needy, the suffering, and the poor. He was canonized four years after he died lying naked on the earth. The saint’s name?
2. In Two Lovers, recently shown at the Bridge Theater, characters Leonard (Joaquin Phoenix) and Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow) talk passionately about eloping to:
a. Brisbane b. San Francisco c. Tiburon
3. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” is the opening line of a sonnet penned by this author, whom a San Francisco street commemorates:
a. Milton b. Goethe c. Shakespeare
4. San Francisco supervisor Harvey Bernard Milk, portrayed by actor Sean Penn in the movie Milk, had done all of the following except:
a. served as a diving officer in the United States Navy
b. ran a camera store in the Castro neighborhood
c. owned stock in Christopher Milk dairy products
5. This major general served as commander of the Presidio when the 1906 earthquake hit. He was in charge of questionable demolition operations to stay the rampant burning of the city.
a. Frederick Funston
b. William Tecumseh Sherman
c. Francisco De Haro
6. In 1893, what did railroad tycoon Collis P. Huntington bequeath to the City?
a. The Huntington Hotel on Nob Hill
b. The waterfall at Stow Lake
c. The steam train at the San Francisco Zoo
7. Once upon a time, Grant Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Chinatown, was called:
a. Nanking Road
b. Bubbling Well Road
c. Dupont Street
8. M.H. de Young Fine Arts Museum in Golden Gate Park is named after the businessman and journalist who founded:
a. San Francisco Chronicle
b. San Francisco Examiner
c. San Francisco News-Call Bulletin
9. This tireless social reformer was known as “the angry angel of Chinatown.” She was the staunch advocate of Chinese and Japanese girls and young women pressed into sexual servitude in late 19th century San Francisco. Her landmark mission at 920 Sacramento Street is still standing, today serving low-income Asian immigrants primarily living in Chinatown.
a. Mother Jones
b. Donaldina Cameron
c. Lillie Hitchcock-Coit
10. The Dutch windmill near Ocean Beach was completed in 1902 to pump water to irrigate the flourishing gardens and fields of Golden Gate Park. The construction costs totaled:
a. $160,000
b. $1,600,000
c. $16,000
Answers
1. Saint Francis of Assisi (1182–1226)
2. b
3. c
4. c
5. a
6. b (The dated inscription at the top of the waterfall bears Huntington’s name.)
7. c
8. a (Michael Henry de Young, 1849–1925)
9. b (Donaldina Cameron House)
10. c (The windmill towers over the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Gardens.)
Victor Turks grew up in San Francisco and lives in the Richmond with his wife, Michiko, their three boys, a pug, a cat, and a tankful of goldfish. He teaches English at City College.
